Africans claim ownership of the conflict.
Another development worth mentioning is that African countries and multilateral institutions have been quite eager to play a role in the process of solving this conflict. Or at least preventing it from developing into an open regional war. Not only did they confront the traditional protagonists, they also confronted each other. The International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (Kenya, the DRC and its nine immediate neighbours) worked intensively to keep the conflict within its existing limits, the SADC countries tried to get actively involved (Malawi, South Africa and Tanzania have sent troops for the FIB), the African Union also sought its own visibility and leadership.
It is an interesting development and it is not impossible that the result will be the power balance between and within African regions might be reformulated. The first signs of redrawing the map of African multilateral institutions are already visible: Tanzania’s role in the FIB led to tensions with Rwanda which put a lot of pressure on the East African Community. Rwanda founded the Coalition of the Willing with Uganda and Kenya, which motivated Tanzania (member of ICGLR, EAC as well as SADC) to say that it might consider to withdrawing from the EAC.
Another development worth mentioning is that African countries and multilateral institutions have been quite eager to play a role in the process of solving this conflict. Or at least preventing it from developing into an open regional war. Not only did they confront the traditional protagonists, they also confronted each other. The International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (Kenya, the DRC and its nine immediate neighbours) worked intensively to keep the conflict within its existing limits, the SADC countries tried to get actively involved (Malawi, South Africa and Tanzania have sent troops for the FIB), the African Union also sought its own visibility and leadership.
It is an interesting development and it is not impossible that the result will be the power balance between and within African regions might be reformulated. The first signs of redrawing the map of African multilateral institutions are already visible: Tanzania’s role in the FIB led to tensions with Rwanda which put a lot of pressure on the East African Community. Rwanda founded the Coalition of the Willing with Uganda and Kenya, which motivated Tanzania (member of ICGLR, EAC as well as SADC) to say that it might consider to withdrawing from the EAC.