The war in Congo has been going on for a decade and a half. The conflict has many causes, among them the collapse of the kleptocratic regime of Mobutu Sese Seko. A case of an abandoned former Cold War ally of the United States, his fall led to a government that was not able to control vast areas of the country. This brought about the rise in many armed rebel groups.

Additionally, many of Congo’s neighbors took advantage of the country’s unstable political situation and porous borders to extract and smuggle vast amounts of the country’s mineral wealth. Profits from these operations further fueled the war.

‘A peace process in 2002 brought many of the rebel groups into government, leading to an election in 2006. The election did succeed in solidifying the rule of Congo’s 35-year-old president Joseph Kabila, who came to power following the suspicious death of his father, Laurent Kabila, a former rebel leader.’

Congo’s tragedy is that no capable foreign power ever stopped the incursions of Congo’s autocratic neighboring countries into it. Also, Congo is ‘located next to close American allies, all of whom came to power through military means and none of whom seem likely to leave any time soon.’ Among these regimes that were allowed to take advantage of Congo were Rwanda’s Kagame, Yoweri Museveni in Uganda, and Jose Eduardo dos Santos in Angola.

The United States depended much of its ‘policy toward Congo to its militaristic neighbors, each of which has taken advantage of this relationship to pursue their own interests.’

Via The Root