Economic integration or cross-border development?

The M23 was put out of harm's way by the FARDC. Several factors explain this pleasant surprise: change at the head of FARDC Command, the popular support FARDC actions, the presence and support of the UN FIB, but also diplomatic pressure from Congolese to American and British leaders, asking them to impose sanctions on Rwanda , and prevent them from backing up the M23, as they had used to. These elements put together have ensured the success of FARDC operations against the m23.

The guns are still smoking, and already "experts in DRC” talk of economic integration. Some ensure that the size of the Congo is such that it would be "absurd" not to include the Kivu in the East African Community (EAC) with Rwanda and Uganda. It is pertinent to note that the involvement of these two countries in the war in Congo is an established fact. What incentives did the United States dangle to Rwanda to support peace efforts? Several "specialists of war in the Congo" recently proposed economic integration as a solution to the long lasting conflicts in the Great Lakes, and some have named the EAC (denounced by some Congolese scholars as an economic balkanization) Since the signing of the Addis Ababa peace protocol, Rwanda's involvement in the EAC has reached an unprecedented zeal, placing the country among the key decision makers. Within the EAC Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya are part of the “coalition of willing” , of which Tanzania and Burundi are excluded .

Recently, for different reasons and sometimes due to personal feud between leaders, the diplomatic relations between Rwanda and Tanzania on the one hand, and Rwanda and South Africa on the other hand have deteriorated. Meanwhile, the three states that have contributed to the Brigade for UN intervention (FIB) are Malawi, South Africa and Tanzania, all three active members of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) of which the DRC is already a member. This community has played an important diplomatic role in competition with the ICGLR. It is towards greater involvement of the DRC within this community that Tanzania and South Africa are pushing.

Each of these two communities (EAC and SADC) is hoping to become important partners in the Congolese economy. However, the situation in Congo is not so simple. Any integration (or greater involvement) should be carefully analyzed before being adopted. Any integration to compensate or reward the involvement of a country in the war in Congo is an invitation to bid. Some have therefore argued that neither Tanzania nor Rwanda should set preferences for partnership on behalf of Congolese population.

The fragile situation in the provinces of North and South Kivu requires serious efforts to consolidate peace. At the same time as the country should establish a transitional justice to end impunity in the sub-region. It is also important that the Congolese government focuses on restoration of State authority throughout the national territory with particular emphasis on areas recently "liberated”. The differences between the countries in the sub -region and the DRC in terms of security, GDP, state capacity, natural resources and geographical location are such that no integration in these conditions can benefit the Congolese population.

Economic integration aiming at opening up borders to facilitate the free movement of goods and people , a single government and a single currency, is often possible between countries with similar levels in human development, economies and similar natural resource endowment. However, some mechanisms exist to facilitate the integration of countries with different potentials. They generally recommend that the least naturally endowed countries develop infrastructure capacity for value addition and specialized and competitive manpower. On the other hand, resource-rich countries should focus on their governance, their tax collection system, their security and their human developement. The establishment of conditions for a fair and integration of the DRC in either SADC (total integration) or EAC will take another few years. It is therefore unnecessary for “Foreign Powers" and their “Congo experts” to push the Congo in this direction. In the meantime, I propose an alternative to economic integration: The development of Cross-border infrastructure.

With such a development each state keeps its borders, perceives the customs taxes and visa fees, as well as the freedom to decide what treaty will be adopted or rejected without being branded as “unwilling”. Since the provinces of eastern Congo are land locked, it is important to open the Katanga and South Kivu in the ports of Mombasa and Dar Es Salaam. An example would be through opening roads and railways from Kenya, via Uganda and Rwanda and/or from Dar es Salaam via roads and railways in Tanzania , Burundi and Congo, upgrading the ports of Kigoma , Uvira and Kalemie ( this entirely fortuitous example is not intended to separate the “willing” from other countries ). In addition to these sub-regional efforts , each country should develop its transport infrastructure internally. Eg: Congo to connect Maniema province to the port of Kalemie and Uvira. The river port of Kisangani could be connected by road to the border town of Aru etc.

Several countries in the sub-region suffer from a lack of electricity. This limits their ability to accommodate industries that could generate employment. There exists however a strong human and hydroelectric potential which could be either straddling across two or more borders (Rusizi ) or located in one country with the possibility of consumption in other countries ( the Grand Inga serving Mining Industries within the SADC region etc.) . These are some examples of the creation of cross-border infrastructure.

The advantage of this second option on the first is that it constructively buys time for country to level their development to similar standards while waiting for a potential change of leadership in some countries in the sub –region.