AFRICANEWS
ZAIREA cry from the wilderness(by a Correspondent - 430 words)
We can no longer hold our peace, when it seems finally as if our compatriots, our governments and our churches have forgotten us. We cannot hold our peace because we are not blind, even though we too are baffled by the complexity of the situation in Eastern Zaire and around the Great Lakes.
We are not blindWe cannot forget the sight of thousands upon thousands of Rwandan refugees, until recently under the protection of the UN High Commission for Refugees. How is it that some of the Commission's delegates, possessing a UN passport, have been humiliated and frustrated in their work by some functionary or officer or group rebels? Who can put pressure on those concerned to stop this abuse of power? Why has no corridor been opened for bringing humanitarian aid? Why has help not been despatched? Why are so many innocent people dying every day?
We are not blindWe see the inability of the UN to send an intervention force; we see too the danger presented by the formation of groups of mercenaries. Who is recruiting and arming these men? In whose services are they, and what is their aim? What are they trying to restore? Have Europe and the United States still not learned the lessons of their interference in places like Somalia, Angola, Sierra Leone, Rwanda? Are we seeing the development of another "cold war", with the Africans as the first victims?
We are not blindWe have watched for months the deterioration of the situation in Zaire, which is now a state only in name. In the solitude of our outposts, we cannot help putting questions to our governments: What is your policy? What does Africa mean to you? What are the economic interests which override the needs of human persons and their most elementary right to live on their own land?
We are not blindWe see people dying of hunger and neglect. We see children with fear in their eyes, and then we hear that the endless conversations at the United Nations have concluded with the decision to do nothing. What will you do tomorrow with these persons from Zaire, Rwanda and Burundi who are arriving in your countries with temporary visas, swelling the already unwelcome number of undesirable immigrants?These are the questions we put to ourselves in the remote vastness of the hills and plains and forests of Eastern Zaire. We put them in the name of all those who have no means of bringing their pleas to your attention. It is a cry from the heart. How will you respond?
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