Another Afghanistan ahead? A Congolese perspective
The Nation article was very interesting. So far, there is just a small number of U.S. Special Forces guys in the Eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and officially, they’re not there to take part directly in the fighting.
Their mission will be to train Congolese troops engaged in fighting the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), as well as train some ecoguards from the National Park of the Virunga since the rebels are also operating within the park.
But we all know this type of story by now - think about Putin’s Wagner Group, a possible Russian equivalent in some ways. We never know what's hiding underneath.
Will the size of the U.S. Force grow and will the U.S. unwittingly get entangled just like Afghanistan? That's a good question.
As for possible threats, there are very few Muslims in Congo, and they definitely don't share that much with radical Islamist groups. I guess that’s why you'll find lots of foreign nationals - Somalis, Kenyans, etc. - among the ADF, which originally was a Ugandan group.
Now some people are getting more and more concerned about the possible arrival of Afghanistan's refugees in Uganda - fearing it will possibly fuel the ADF with religious ideologues and maybe fighters as well. We’ll wait and see. Perhaps the extent of ADF’s ties with the Islamic State has been exaggerated.
Some say that insecurity had been created on purpose by people who want to exploit minerals without the control of the Kinshasa government. The funniest aspect of this hypothesis is that most of those people work in the government and the army.
Another possible reason for the ADF to be listed as a terrorist group right now would be to obtain a lifting of the United Nations embargo on armament for the Kinshasa government.
Whenever the explanation, why the increased interest now in such a listing, considering the ADF’s long-time record of violence? The ADF existed for over 20 years in the Eastern DRC (where it started with some Ugandans involved) without threating the locals. But suddenly, at least seven years ago, they started killing civilians, as if they got a new vocation.
The week ahead will tell us more about what is at stake.
