The Courier

National Coffee Office, Dongo (Equator).

© François Misser

This was real progress after such a long period of decline dating back to the beginning of the 1990s – two wars in which four million people died from hunger, illness, abuse by armed gangs and the breakdown of the health sector.

On several occasions, it was thought that Congo’s old demons might derail the electoral process. These concerns were especially rife in August 2006, when the announcement of the results of the first round of the presidential elections gave rise to a battle between supporters of the final two candidates still in contention. Finally, the ‘proactive optimism’ promoted by the European Commissioner for Development, Louis Michel, and the attitude of the Congolese themselves – who wanted to believe that the process would eventually succeed – paid off. But, “the bet has not yet been won”, as the sceptics say. Hence, at the end of January, the indirect election of certain governors in controversial circumstances gave rise to riots and an ensuing crackdown in the Lower Congo. Sadly, there was a high death toll (137 according to UN figures) and the UN Secretary-General has demanded an investigation into these acts of violence.

Certain areas of Ituri, the two Kivu and the Equator Provinces, continue to be pillaged by armed gangs, although their power to cause serious harm is decreasing. The Congo will need external support if it is to undertake significant reconstruction work, particularly to equip its police forces with the training and resources needed to handle such situations in an appropriate manner in the future. The first task, however, is to rebuild the government. The majority of its civil servants are currently not being paid and have ‘privatised’ their own duties, including the police and customs officers. “There are a lot of hands reaching out to drivers in the Congo”, sums up a member of the police disciplinary body of Kinshasa.

An enormous task

The task of the new government, of which the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (DSRP) completed in July 2006 by the transitional authorities forms the strategic basis, is enormous. It is based on five pillars: the promotion of good governance and peace-building through strengthening institutions; consolidating macro-economic stability and growth; improving access to social services; combating HIV-AIDS and supporting the community process.

Today, over 70% of Congolese live below the poverty threshold, so to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 there needs to be an annual GDP growth of 10%. The actual rate in 2006 was 6.6%. According to the DSRP, the minimum monthly wage required to feed one person is 10,000 Congolese Francs (approximately US$20). Putting this into context, it is a little less than a soldier’s pay, and they nearly always have several mouths to feed, making it an impossible task.

On average, the level of access to electricity throughout the country is just 6% and less than a quarter (22%) of the population have access to safe drinking water. Infant mortality rates are high, with two out of every ten children dying before reaching age five. Worse still, there is a resurgence of formerly controlled or eradicated diseases (measles, plague, polio, cholera), not to mention AIDS. Education is also a big concern, with primary school attendance falling from 92% in 1972 to 64% in 2002. There’s a proliferation of shantytowns in Kinshasa (with an estimated 7 million inhabitants) and also at Mbuji-Mayi (almost 4 million).

Families have resorted to building their huts on railway lines in Kinshasa. Unemployment ranges between half the working population in towns to one-third in rural areas. Organising the election was a real feat in a country where entire regions have seen the loss of the transport infrastructure. Bicycle-taxis have replaced mopeds and cars in Kisangani. In Equator, roads have reverted back to tracks and the forest has overgrown plantations.

However, in one respect, travel around the country has improved. Until August 2005, explains the Head of the Waterways Authorities, Jean-Pierre Muongo, it took 40 days’ sailing to cover the 1,700 km separating Kinshasa from Kisangani. Now the journey has been whittled down to just 15 days.

It’s no easy task for the Congolese government to overcome these huge handicaps. Only last year, several instances of poor performance (including an inflation rate of 18.2% and budgetary overspends) led to a suspension of International Monetary Fund (IMF) monies under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility. This move may well affect Congo’s ability to meet its external debt servicing obligations (US $13 billion) before it reaches completion, when the debt can be cancelled under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative.

2007 will be a tough year due to the suspension of external aid in the balance of payments, according to the Governor of the Central Bank, Jean-Claude Masangu.

Taking stock of assets

But the natural assets of the Congo are such that they can provide the means to meet the challenges. The water from the snowmelt of the Rwenzori Mountains and from the Congo River and its tributaries irrigates the tropical rainforest and shelters the extraordinary biodiversity of a country where there are 480 species of mammals, 565 species of birds, 350 species of reptiles and 1,000 species of fish. This is the water which not long ago irrigated the plantations that made the Congo into a giant grain-store and a major supplier of wood and tropical products for export. In future, this will perhaps make it a giant of the world’s bio-fuel market. This river water which, surging into the huge Inga Dam, makes it the Gordian knot of development of the African continent and with a strength of over 40,000 MW, offers hope to Southern Africa in overcoming its energy deficit. Also, much has been said about the ‘geological scandal’ of a country that has over 70% of the world’s cobalt reserves and 10% of its copper reserves, not to mention gold, germanium, columbite-tantalite and diamonds, the Democratic Republic of Congo being ‘neck-and-neck’ with Botswana as the leading producer by volume of diamonds. Mine owners are ready at the starting line. A copper mining project that could quadruple national production by 2008 is to begin at the Kamoto site.

Another Congo is emerging

Naturally, so-called one-sided contracts signed during the wars will have to be renegotiated first. This has already been announced by the politicians and the new head of the exploitation company, Gécamines. In sum, confidence has to be restored and the security of people and property improved, but it is also necessary to “change people’s mentalities”, to quote President Joseph Kabila during his inauguration speech. All of this – or nearly all – is still to be done. Presently, the Katanga and two Kasai mining provinces are on the threshold of a new industrial revolution.

A feeling of hope is felt. Recently, the top hotels in Kinshasa were full. The political will to make this huge reconstruction programme work was illustrated at the end of January with the first trip outside of New York by the new Secretary-General of the UN, followed by the deployment the largest contingent of ‘blue helmets’ to the country (18,000 soldiers). Despite problems, there is also the hope of taking advantage of the fabulous tourism potential of the Congo. The most daring, like the Belgian firm, ‘Go Congo’, have already begun cruises on the river. On top of this, nightlife is starting up once again in what used to be Kin Kiese, or the ‘City of Joy’. There are other signs of promising change, like the people who preserve the Yangambi Biosphere Reserve and the Kisantu Botanical Gardens – information banks on the country’s national treasures. Little by little, another Congo is emerging.