State collapse in Africa : the case of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:The African State is a product of colonialism. It did not emerge from the needs ofAfrican people; indeed, the very concept is foreign to traditional African notions ofauthority. When the colonial era came to a close, its institutions were turned over tolocal elites who were either too inexperienced or too out of touch with the people theysupposedly represented to effectively govern and manage the newly independentstates. The result was widespread and continual ethno-regional violence, coupled withthe progressive disintegration of the state authority and civil society. When suchconditions remain unchecked, they ultimately lead to what political analysts refer toas the collapse of the state.The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), formerly Zaire, constitutes a recentexample of this phenomenon. At present, approximately half of its territory is underforeign military occupation, with no fewer than six states involved, whether officiallyor unofficially: Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi intervening on the side of the rebels,and Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia supporting government forces (These stateshave since withdrawn their forces). To this number must be added a number ofopposition groups from neighbouring states, including The Union for the TotalIndependence of Angola (UNITA), some elements from the all-Hutu militia wing ofBurundi's Conseil national pour la démocratie (CND) and remnant Rwandan Hutu,the so-called Interhamwe, as well as Mai-Mai and FRF (les Forces républicainesfédéralistes, led by Muller Ruhim) factions who fight the presence of the Rwandanarmy in the DRC (neither of which could be described as pro-governmental).The DRC is a failed state. All structures of legitimate power and authority havedisintegrated; political order and the rule of law have been suspended. As a result, thestate is rendered impotent: it cannot seek the welfare of its citizens, provide healthcare and education, dispense justice or maintain existing infrastructure. Civil societylacks the ability to fill the vacuum, and tribal and ethnic conflicts have steadilyintensified.The study analyses the reasons for state collapse in general and examines theimmediate causes of the conflict in the DRC in particular, including the legacy ofcolonial rule, land shortages and ethnic rivalry. It attempts to show that the collapseof the state in the ORC resulted largely from the imposition of poorly adaptedwestern-style political institutions on traditional African structures of authority.Against this background, the study shows that the poor performance of the Congolesegovernment in terms of its ability to constitute a legitimate arena for political activity,to confer a national identity and to act as security guarantor for its populationrepresent the broad causes of the failure of the ORC state.State collapse is a long-term degenerative process, marked by the loss of controlover political and economic space. As neighbouring states encroached on the failingORC, its legitimacy was gravely undermined through the direct involvement of thesestates in its political processes. Moreover, these neighbouring countries harbourdissident movements who seek to influence ORC politics from within the safety oftheir borders.The collapse of the ORC poses a grave threat to African, and indeed global,stability, compromising neighbouring states through the vast influx of refugees andstimulating the illegal arms trade. The extent of the crises compels the internationalcommunity to intervene. The immediate priority should be the reconstruction of alegitimate state system within the limits of the present borders. This can only be madepossible through the implementation of the Lusaka agreement, which offers the mosthope for a solution through the restoration of legitimate government, the reassertionof Congolese sovereignty, the reconstruction of a disciplined and efficient militaryand the convocation of a body for inter-Congolese dialogue.The ORC has been characterised by gross mismanagement ever since itsindependence in 1960; it is of the utmost urgency that the crisis not be allowed toescalate further. The ORC state needs total reconstruction: a process that will beextremely complex and time consuming, aimed at reviving institutional mechanismsthat will return legitimate power to the state and re-establish social trust. In order toachieve these goals, a forum of national reconciliation, where all the belligerents inthe conflict must participate towards finding a solution, will have to be established.The first priority of such a body should be the creation of a strong democratictransitional government before any further reconstruction of the state can beattempted.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University