Abounding with raw materials, to the point where it has been termed ‘a geological scandal’, victim of the greed of the colonial powers at first, then more recently victim of its direct neighbours, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) suffers from no longer owning its own destiny. And it is in a quasi-bankrupt condition. According to Bob Kabamba, lecturer in the Department of Political Sciences at the ULg, who has just devoted a book to the subject, co-written with Arnaud Zacharie (National Centre for Cooperation and Development), the leaders of the DRC can still put their country on the right path. On condition that they no longer succumb to the sirens of the past…

Close to 50 years after achieving independence, the Democratic Republic of Congo finds itself once again at a crossroads. ‘Several questions and the expectations of the population remain in suspension and without a response,’ observe Arnaud Zacharie and Bob Kabamba in the conclusion to their work. ‘They risk in the mid term throwing this country-continent back into the abysses of the past. Much remains to be done in different areas, starting with peace and security, social and economic development, as well as the decentralisation of the way democratic institutions function.’ Often termed ‘a geological scandal’, so much is the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) overflowing with little or poorly exploited natural resources, the Congo is also the site of another scandal, that of millions of deaths (over 5 million) caused by the last two civil wars, carried out to the quasi indifference of the international community. For Bob Kabamba, the DRC finds itself faced with a double choice: either the Congolese leaders are guided by short term interests, thus leading the country into the abysses of the past, or they decided to let themselves be guided by long term objectives and the DRC could thus rediscover itself on the path towards a fully constitutional state. Which path will in the end be chosen by the Congolese leaders? ‘Several signs show that we are not heading in the right direction,’ worries Bob Kabamba already. And raises the situation of recurrent crises in which the East of the country finds itself – an area in which are concentrated the main diverse mineral mines which attract the greed not only of the sector’s main international actors but also that of the country’s direct neighbours. Neither the joint operation (carried out with Rwandan troops) in North Kivu nor the Kimya-2 operation in South Kivu have solved anything, but have above all caused enormous problems in security and humanitarian terms. The hunt for the Interahamwe has for example quite simply turned into a nightmare for the civilian population, who were the victims of mass rape, pillaging, extreme violence, etc. A second negative sign: the problem of supervising the state as the decision by President Kabila to place the Minister for Public Finances under the control of a form of trusteeship is forbidden by the constitution. The breakdown of the reform of the organs of security - army, police, intelligence services, immigration department, etc. - equally constitutes a worrying sign in the same way as the drastic reduction of income drawn from the sale of raw materials because of the global financial and economic crisis which was immediately translated by a drop in value. A direct consequence: state revenues, of which a considerable part were already allocated to the war effort in the East, fell, and investors deserted whilst international aid dried up.