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Rwanda

Uncomfortable Truths

 Rwanda, in common with the other African LLDC, is vulnerable to instability from several
directions, not least from
◦ outside interests who, as the history of post-African Independence shows, are ever
ready to exploit in-country divisions

◦ the economic & political instability from inward flows of refugees, - whose 'disaffection'
can so easily lead to events and actions that simply create long-lasting causes of
instability
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Troubled and Troubling neighbours

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)

Rwanda is bordered for much of its eastern side by Lake Kivu, a vast 90 km long body of

water. Cross Lake Kivu and you reach the lawless DRC provinces of North and South Kivu.
Provinces which in recent years have been the hunting ground of more than twenty armed

groups. One of these was known as M23. They were a 600 person fully equipped fighting

detachment that broke away from the formal DRC army.
For some 20 years, the UN mission, MONUSCO, has deployed up to 18,000 military

peacekeepers in North Kivu, at a cost of almost USD 10 billion. Despite this, there has been

no permanent solution to the troubles there. As MONUSCO chased one of the armed
groups, this would create a vacuum that would simply attract other armed groups to fill the

vacuum, and to go on a new rampage of pillage.

The DRC has always been unstable. As matters stand, there is no realistic hope of
South and North Kivu becoming stable.

By air, the Kivu provinces are almost 1,500 km distant from the DRC capital, Kinshasa.

The route by land is more like 2,400 km and might reasonably take 2-4 days in a 4×4
vehicle. Much longer if trying to journey by whatever means of a local bus is available.

Geographical distance is just one of the reasons for the absence of governance in the
DRC's Kivu provinces.

The DRC has only ever been a battleground for a range of 'interests' - not just

domestic, but international states and corporations who have constantly added to the DRC
legacy of chaotic instability. A legacy of instability that always carries the shadow of the

death of the then UN Secretary General, Dag Hammarskjöld. There are so many conspiracy
theories as to the cause of the plane crash that killed him as he flew to the DRC in order to