African peace, the Mbeki way
13 May 2003
South Africa, with President Thabo Mbeki to the fore, has been a key broker in the struggle to forge peace in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo, applying the same model of power-sharing and reconciliation that brought democracy to SA nine years ago.
The world's most influential weekly news magazine, The Economist, has not been alone in praising what it dubbed this week "the Mbeki doctrine".
"Busy days, these are, for South African foreign policy", The Economist writes in its latest edition. "Last week, ex-President Nelson Mandela and two senior ministers presided over a change of president in Burundi. On May 5th President Thabo Mbeki, together with the rulers of Nigeria and Malawi, visited Harare for separate talks with Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader, about ending Zimbabwe's woes.
"Later the same day, Mr Mbeki shuttled to Kinshasa, Congo's capital, to
talk to President Joseph Kabila about sharing his power with opposition groups."
These are no small fires that South Africa is trying to douse. Since 1993, more than 200 000 people have been killed in Burundi's civil war, which pits the Tutsi-dominated army against Hutu rebel groups.
And an estimated 2.5 million people, mostly civilians, have died since war broke out in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 1998, with another three million dying of diseases and starvation that would have been treated in the absence of war. At its height, troops from seven other African countries were involved in what The Economist called "Africa's First World War", a conflict that has claimed more lives than any since World War II, and the deadliest documented in Africa's history.
The Economist is not alone in praising South Africa's peacemaking efforts. John Stremlau, head of international relations at the University of the Witwatersrand, writes in Business Day this week: "In recent testimony on Africa before the US congress and statements from other US and European leaders, there has been a spate of prominent positive comment on SA leadership in trying to resolve some of the world's most intractable conflicts by political means."
According to The Economist, "a Mbeki doctrine is emerging. It goes like this: South Africa cannot impose its will on others, but it can help to deal with instability in African countries by offering its resources and its leadership to bring rival groups together, and to keep things calm until an election is safely held."
Burundi changes presidents
On 30 April, Mandela, South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma and Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota were present as outgoing Burundi President Pierre Buyoya, who has ruled the country for the last 18 months, handed over the reins, for the next 18 months, to Domitien Ndayizeye.
The inauguration
was in line with the Arusha Declaration, hammered out by Burundi's warring factions 18 months ago - the culmination of a tortuous process initiated by Mandela and later taken over by Zuma.
South Africa, Mozambique and Ethiopia will contribute to a 3 200-strong African Union peacekeeping force to monitor and supervise the implementation of the ceasefire agreement, which seeks ultimately to unite the country's rival armed groups in one integrated national army. South Africa already has 932 troops deployed in Burundi, and will increase this number to 1 600.
DRC set for transitional government
Last year, South Africa spent in the region of R150-million hosting two months of talks between Congolese warring factions, finally brokering a deal which opened the doors for a transitional government in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Nine African heads of state converged on Sun City near Rustenburg in South Africa to witness the signing
of the deal, which saw Rwanda and Uganda begin withdrawing their soldiers from the central African country, and a transitional government start to take shape under President Joseph Kabila.
On 8 April this year, Mbeki organised another meeting in Cape Town to smooth relations between Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and the DRC. His strategy, The Economist notes, "has been to get as many actors 'inside the tent' as possible".
According to the agreement signed last year, Kabila will remain head of state for a two-year period, after which elections will be held to elect a new government. He will be backed by four vice-presidents representing the government, one each from the two main rebel groups - the Congolese Liberation Movement and the Congolese Rally for Democracy - and a fourth to be appointed by the political opposition.
The peace process is fragile, however, as demonstrated on May 7 when Uganda withdrew its occupying forces from the north-eastern Congolese town of
Bunia. Chaos ensued as ethnic majority Lendu clashed with minority Hema's for control of the town, the fighting and killing of civilians sparking fears of genocide in the region.
The massacres have prompted Mbeki to call for a changed mandate for the United Nations force in the DRC. Mbeki reportedly wants UN troops, including South African military personnel, deployed in eastern DRC to be authorised to take tougher action to protect civilians caught up in ethnic fighting - and to preserve a shaky peace.
African Union
At the 38th and final Organisation of African Unity (OAU) summit in Durban in July 2002, over 50 African heads of state put the finishing touches to what they hope will be a more effective organisation to tackle the continent's political, economic and social challenges: the African Union (AU).
Mbeki, who formulated the concept of African Renaissance and was a key driver of the AU's economic and political blueprint, the
New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad), became the founding chairman of the AU.
"Ending Congo's enormous problems is close to Mr Mbeki's heart", The Economist writes. "Peace here, he argues, would boost economic development in the region, and show the world that Africa can solve even its biggest wars."
Stremlau argues that while the "Mbeki doctrine" applies to Africa, it could have broader lessons - noting that even US President George W Bush "appears to be cribbing from the Mbeki doctrine.
"In trying to reconcile bitter factions in Iraq, resurrect a Middle East peace process, and forge a US free trade agreement with Arab countries, Bush is pursuing a no less difficult diplomacy than Mbeki. US-SA consultations on these matters might be useful to both countries."
SouthAfrica.info reporter
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