Iden Wetherell
When the Democratic Republic of Congo’s President Laurent Kabila paid a flying visit to Harare last week, he told reporters he was there for routine consultations with President Robert Mugabe.
But the presence of Zimbabwe’s defence chiefs suggested a more pressing purpose. Mugabe is chair of the Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) organ on politics, defence and security and it is thought he offered Kabila further military support.
Zimbabwe assisted Kabila’s insurgency against Mobutu Sese Seko last year by supplying military hardware and advisers, and has since provided rations and equipment for the Congolese army through state arms supplier, Zimbabwe Defence Industries.
But as Kabila comes under growing pressure from domestic opponents, it is feared Mugabe may use the SADC to prop up an unpopular regime. This move could expose sharply differing approaches to security management in the region.
With Hutu rebels active in the east, his Angolan allies distracted by Unita in the west, secessionists active in the capital and donors sitting on their hands, it is no wonder Kabila is reaching out to the few friends he has left.
Uganda and Rwanda are disenchanted with their former protg and Congo’s democratic opposition regards his human rights record as no better than his predecessor’s.
Both Mugabe and President Nelson Mandela have defended Kabila against criticism from Western powers. But it is unlikely that South Africa or other SADC members will want to be sucked into Congo’s vortex of turbulent politics.
Zimbabwe and South Africa are at loggerheads over the role of the SADC security organ. South Africa believes it should answer only to the SADC, currently chaired by Mandela. Zimbabwe wants the security organ’s chair to have the right to call summits and take ad hoc decisions.
A summit of SADC heads of state to resolve the dispute has been postponed several times.
Meanwhile, Mugabe has actively been canvassing support among SADC leaders for his view that the organ should be autonomous. Zambia’s Frederick Chiluba is a recent convert to Zimbabwe’s position while Tanzania is a long- standing ally.
In a move to buttress that alliance, Mugabe last November called on Tanzania’s ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party to resist what he termed “regional hegemonism” – a thinly veiled criticism of South Africa.
This followed a letter from Mandela to SADC heads of state threatening to resign as SADC chair if security remained a separate domain.
Government representatives in Harare have been urging businesspeople to open up trade links with Congo before the South Africans overtake them, as they did in Mozambique.
But any move to involve the region in support of Kabila’s besieged regime could bring to the boil again serious policy differences that show Southern African states still have a long way to go before they can parade before the world as a cohesive bloc.