Isn’t it time we split this country up? (Opalo's weblog)

The Democratic Republic of Congo is such a state. This central
African country is the size of Western Europe but with an
infrastructure that is probably worse than the Persians’ during the
reign of Xerxes. Strictly speaking, the DRC has never been a cohesive
nation-state. It began with Katanga secessonists right after
independence. Mobutu’s kleptocracy barely held it together with an iron
feast and bribes. With Kabila I came the chaos in the Kivus. Kabila II
keeps losing battles to ethnic Rwandese rebels. Kinshasa’s control and
political legitimacy does not extend to the Eastern region of the
country.

So the big question is: Is the keeping of the territorial integrity
of the DRC worth the 4 million lives and counting it has cost thus far?
I say no. If Southern Sudan is anything to go by, sometimes partition
can be the answer. It is almost certain that Southern Sudan will vote
to secede in the forthcoming referendum. May be Eastern Congolese ought
to be given this option as well. Kinshasa is very far from the Kivus –
both literally and figuratively. The Easterners are closer (culturally
and economically) to the Swahili speaking East Africans than the
inhabitants of the Western parts of the country. It is and will always
be very hard to forge a cohesive nation-state out of the mess that is
the DRC.

So as I have stated before,
Kabila II has two options. Either declare an all out war and defeat the
rebels once and for all (I am no fan of rebel movements, regardless of
their cause, and never will be) or agree to lose the Eastern part of
the DRC. Eastern Congolese have had enough of this war of attrition. News
that Gen. Nkunda has captured yet another vital army base just serve to
confirm how weak Kinshasa is.  If you cannot fight for the East let it
go, Kabila. Let it go!