David Miliband

Foreign Secretary

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Tuesday 04 November, 2008

Congo

Bernard Kouchner says it was a "good camp". And he has visited 100s. Built on volcanic lava in the last three years, there were puddles not a swamp; the people were there in large numbers: they looked scared, but they had energy even if they did not have resources. The word is that the aid convoys are now moving, so hopefully as they are closest  to Goma they will be in line for help.


 
Humanitarian Help - Kouchner style
 

My French colleague Bernard Kouchner must be the only foreign minister to have set up his own NGO - Medecins sans Frontieres - which he founded twenty years ago. His definition of foreign policy is simple: "save lives". His passion is inimitable - and his memory seemingly elephantine.  At the Goma IDP camp he rushed towards a Japanese aid worker for a great embrace. He said on the plane after that he remembered he had worked with her in Africa in the 1990s. He doesn't forget...


 
Sunday - Tanzania
 

The idea of flying to Dar es Salaam came from Bernard Membe the Tanzanian Foreign Minister. He understood straight away that one to one meetings between the leaders of Congo and Rwanda were not on; but a regional meeting could engage them both; and he realised too the high stakes for the AU and for his country with President Kikwete as AU chair.
 
I really want the AU to work. Regional organisations make sense in the modern world.  Kikwete saw immediately the vexed politics. But the ball is now rolling - he has various players coming to see him this week, and the EU can support him.


 
Congo Next Steps
 

This is written in Marseille where EU foreign ministers are meeting. The ceasefire is holding. The aid is moving. The AU is engaged. And the UN Secretary General has appointed former President Obasanjo of Nigeria as his special envoy to the region. The key now is to hold the gains on the security front, drive forward the aid provision, and make sure the politics gets into gear.

Posted at 10:13 04 November 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[5]

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Good work David and Bernard. Great to see the Tanzanians getting properly involved. As I've noted elsewhere, they are the ones who can make this work.

Posted by Paul on November 04, 2008 at 11:25 AM GMT #

The arrival of the UK and French Foreign Ministers in Congo to help broker a peace deal - or an EU armed intervention - is perhaps a taste of things to come. Rightly so in my opinion. We know that the UK, EU and US will only stand and watch over 200,000 die in Burma in the cyclone and political protests this time last year – but perhaps Africa is different. It seems an astonishing failure that, say, the Spanish and German military – with little African colonial baggage - are not able to put a substantial force of troops and helicopters into the war zone to enforce peace under a UN and EU flag. The current UN force has over 20 nationalities: nice to share the burden in a UN-kind-of-way, but not conducive to effectiveness in the world’s last major war zone? An EU/UN force could be permanently based in Goma on rotation with a little international will. Or should they sit in the barracks in Stuttgart and Seville watching their helicopters rust? It’s not often you hear the phrase: ”thank goodness the Japanese Army is coming” but with a “Self-Defence Force” an army by any other name of 200,000 troops and 500! helicopters and 1,000 armoured cars!, and initial deployments to Mozambique and Iraq, isn’t this the time for Japan to fund a force for Africa? With almost all Japan’s oil imported it may not be so much a Self-Defence Force as a Self-Interest Force, and would be a counterpoint to the Chinese military advisors across Africa.

Posted by tim garbutt on November 05, 2008 at 07:08 PM GMT #

I think that 's the right approach to the problem.In my opinion, the more implemented countries in resolving this regional conflict there are, the more lasting peace we'll have.

Posted by Louisa on November 06, 2008 at 10:26 AM GMT #

But What about Zimbabwe? It is now quite clear that Mugabe IS the problem. Nothing will change until he goes. No deal can work until he is gone.

Posted by Charles on November 11, 2008 at 04:39 PM GMT #

I feel the trip to DRC was rather pointless in many respects & feel this matter is a UN issue and not the responsibility of the British or French Governments to intervene. Are we aware that when David went to DRC that he was investigating a rebel army that is supported by both the USA and Rwandan Governments. David could hardly go up against his NATO buddy!. We understand the horrors of Rwanda but remember that during this terrible time masses of IDP's crossed over the border into DRC. They have taken over an area that does not belong to them and I am sure that with the help of the US and Rwandan Governments may eventually seek their own enclave. The Eastern aspect of DRC is extremely rich in natural resources and one could understand why the above two governments are helping the rebels establish this enclave.....at the moment the US Government cannot get its hands on these rich resources but I am sure that if the rebels succeed then for sure US companies will role in.

Posted by Peter Eyre on November 13, 2008 at 04:09 PM GMT #

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