{"id":319425,"date":"2026-08-17T12:00:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T11:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=319425"},"modified":"2026-08-17T08:54:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T07:54:15","slug":"no-monsieur-constitution-will-not-save-the-congo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2026\/08\/no-monsieur-constitution-will-not-save-the-congo\/","title":{"rendered":"No, \u201cMonsieur Constitution\u201d Will Not Save the Congo"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Washington’s Mineral Peace to a Genuine Great Lakes Settlement<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In a village in Congo, I once met this elderly woman who spoke with the grave confidence of someone who had survived several governments without ever being properly governed. She had often heard that the country’s problems came from “Mister Constitution.” She therefore wanted to meet this troublesome man.<\/p>\n

“Who is Monsieur Constitution?”<\/em> she asked. “Where does he live? Why does he cause so many problems? I never met him, but if he is that bad, he should go then, or they should remove him and bring another Monsieur or madame Constitution.” <\/em>She concluded.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Her question was innocent. It was also more intelligent than much of the political debate in Kinshasa. Today, once again, politicians speak of constitutional reform as though the Constitution were a badly behaved civil servant who could be transferred, retired or replaced. Meanwhile, armed groups occupy territory, citizens flee their homes, minerals cross borders more easily than refugees, and public institutions dissolve into speeches. Monsieur Constitution is summoned whenever Monsieur Governance has disappeared.<\/p>\n

The danger is not only that Congo may change its Constitution. Constitutions can be amended. The real danger is that constitutional engineering becomes a respectable disguise for prolonging power while the country is amputated in the East.<\/p>\n

A War That Has Become a Business Model<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The conflict in eastern Congo is often presented through competing simplifications. One version says Rwanda is responsible for everything. Another says Congo is merely the victim of its own disorder. A third blames Western companies, colonial borders or ancestral ethnic hatred. Each explanation contains part of the truth. None is sufficient alone.<\/p>\n

The uncomfortable diagnosis is that the war has become a system of shared profit and unequal suffering. Rwanda’s military involvement and support for armed proxies have been extensively documented. Its strategic ambition cannot be separated from the control of territory, influence and mineral routes. But indignation becomes selective when it stops at the Rwandan border. Minerals do not eat themselves in Kigali. They travel onward\u2014to refineries, traders, technology manufacturers and respectable international markets. A smartphone has no conscience. Its supply chain is often designed to have none either.<\/p>\n

Western capitals denounce predation while signing strategic agreements with the very networks through which contested minerals circulate. Sanctions are announced with stern faces, but partnerships survive through side doors. Kigali is reprimanded as an aggressor and courted as a security partner. It is useful in peacekeeping operations, in Mozambique, in the Central African Republic and in broader Western security calculations. In diplomatic language, this is called pragmatism. In the market of ordinary morality, it would be called buying stolen goods while lecturing the thief about professional ethics.<\/p>\n

Yet the focus on Washington\u2019s hypocrisy, however justified, risks overlooking a more opaque and structurally dominant force: Asian state-owned enterprises and Emirati trading hubs. While American and European companies are increasingly scrutinised by NGOs and litigated in Western courts, Chinese, Singaporean and Gulf-based buyers operate with fewer transparency obligations and far greater financial leverage over both Kinshasa and Kigali. They do not need to sign high-profile “strategic agreements” plastered across diplomatic cables; they purchase entire mineral cargoes through shell companies in Dubai, finance infrastructure projects in exchange for concessions, and maintain quiet relationships with military commanders on both sides of the border. If the mineral chain is ever to be disentangled, the spotlight must pivot eastward\u2014and southward\u2014not merely westward. A smartphone may have no conscience, but the refineries in Southeast Asia and the trading floors of the Gulf have lawyers, accountants and clear corporate addresses. Their impunity is not a function of Western realpolitik; it is a function of Western neglect and Eastern opportunism.<\/p>\n

Washington’s agreements were presented as instruments of peace and prosperity. But peace was treated less as a human necessity than as an investment climate. The underlying message was clear: stop disturbing the battlefield long enough for business to begin. That is not peace. It is the air-conditioning of conflict. If the principal objective is to secure access to strategic minerals and outmanoeuvre China, Congolese civilians become a secondary consideration. They enter the negotiations as statistics and leave them as displaced persons.<\/p>\n

Yet Congo cannot outsource all responsibility to Rwanda, Washington, Brussels or Beijing. Congolese elites have helped manufacture the weakness that others exploit. Corruption has hollowed out the army, customs administration, mining governance and justice system. Officers trade what they should defend. Politicians negotiate national resources as though selling furniture inherited from a dead uncle. Alliances change according to access to power, not according to the security of citizens.<\/p>\n

Yesterday’s “brother” becomes today’s aggressor; today’s ally becomes tomorrow’s smuggler. Uganda may cooperate with Kinshasa on security while benefiting from regional mineral circuits. Rwanda is accused\u2014correctly\u2014of predation, but Congolese officials and business networks have repeatedly participated in the same economy. Patriotism becomes suspicious when it begins at the microphone and ends at the bank account.<\/p>\n

The Congolese state is therefore both assaulted from outside and betrayed from within. Recognising internal responsibility does not absolve Rwanda. Recognising Rwandan aggression does not absolve Kinshasa. Intellectual honesty must be able to hold two criminals in the same photograph.<\/p>\n

A Region Preparing Its Next War<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

If current policies continue, the Washington framework will produce contracts without reconciliation, sanctions without structural change and ceremonies without peace. Military pressure may temporarily alter front lines, but it will not resolve the political and historical conflicts beneath them. Court proceedings may establish state responsibility, while prosecutions before competent criminal jurisdictions could identify individual perpetrators. Both are necessary. Impunity has become one of the region’s most reliable institutions.<\/p>\n

But justice used only as a diplomatic weapon will eventually lose credibility. If Kinshasa invokes international law exclusively when the government feels threatened, rather than when citizens are massacred, justice becomes another instrument of regime preservation.<\/p>\n

The constitutional question presents an equally dangerous diversion. Changing presidential limits or redesigning institutions during territorial occupation and national fragmentation risks transforming law into electoral camouflage. A constitution cannot defend a country when its institutions have been privatized. Nor can a third mandate repair two mandates of unfinished governance. Replacing the text without changing political practice is like repainting an ambulance while the patient bleeds inside.<\/p>\n

The regional prognosis is even darker. The unresolved wounds of Rwanda remain linked to Congo’s instability. The genocide against the Tutsi, the crimes committed before, during and after 1994, the mass flight into Zaire, the wars beginning in 1996 and the violence against Congolese communities have produced rival memories, guarded by rival states. Each government promotes the history that legitimises its authority. Each silence feeds another grievance. Trauma has become both a wound and a passport to power.<\/p>\n

Without a genuine Rwandan\u2013Rwandan dialogue, Rwanda\u2019s internal contradictions will continue to be projected across the border. Without a Congolese\u2013Congolese dialogue, Kinshasa will continue to blame foreign aggression while refusing to examine exclusion, predation, military failure and the abandonment of peripheral communities. And without direct dialogue between Congolese and Rwandan societies\u2014not merely their presidents\u2014the region will remain hostage to two political establishments that speak of security while producing permanent insecurity.<\/p>\n

Put Peoples Before Presidents and Peace Before Minerals<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The first step is truth. Congo needs an independent national commission to examine military command failures, mineral trafficking, political complicity and the financing of armed groups. Its mandate must include senior officials, army commanders, companies and cross-border networks. Accountability cannot stop with poor soldiers while generals and ministers enjoy diplomatic immunity from reality.<\/p>\n

The second aspect is justice. Proceedings at the International Court of Justice should be conducted earnestly, but they must also be complemented by efforts to hold individuals accountable through appropriate international or hybrid mechanisms. The UN Mapping Report should not remain a forgotten document cited only in speeches. Victims require investigations, preserved evidence, reparations, and prosecutions\u2014regardless of whether the perpetrators are Rwandan, Congolese, Ugandan, members of armed groups, or actors beyond this geography. Justice should be guided by evidence, not by nationality or flags.<\/p>\n

The third treatment is economic surgery. All mineral agreements involving Congo and its neighbours should be subjected to public disclosure, independent traceability and community oversight. Companies purchasing gold, coltan, tin, tantalum or cobalt must prove the lawful origin of their supplies. When they cannot, market access should be suspended and executives held accountable. Sanctioning a few intermediaries while allowing corporations to profit is theatre. The mineral chain must become legally transparent from the pit to the processor, from the processor to the manufacturer and from the manufacturer to the consumer.<\/p>\n

The fourth treatment is political restraint. No constitutional revision affecting presidential tenure should proceed during war, occupation or mass displacement. Before discussing an extension of power, the government must restore electoral credibility, strengthen institutions and demonstrate measurable progress in protecting citizens. Our elderly woman was right: if Monsieur Constitution is causing trouble, summon him. But first introduce her to Monsieur Corruption, General Impunity, Madame Electoral Fraud and their wealthy cousin, Honourable Mineral Contract. She may discover that the Constitution has been framed by a more organised family.<\/p>\n

The fifth treatment is dialogue\u2014but not another summit of exhausted presidents. A structured Rwandan\u2013Rwandan dialogue should bring together government representatives, peaceful opposition figures, exiles, survivors, youth, women, religious actors and civil society. Its purpose must not be regime change disguised as reconciliation, nor reconciliation used to preserve a regime. It must address political inclusion, historical memory, security fears, refugee questions and guarantees against renewed violence.<\/p>\n

Alongside it, Congo needs a Congolese\u2013Congolese dialogue that does not distribute ministries among armed entrepreneurs. It should confront corruption, centre\u2013periphery exclusion, citizenship disputes, land conflicts, military reform and the political economy of mining. These two internal dialogues should eventually feed into a Great Lakes Peoples’ Conference: Congolese speaking with Rwandans, Burundians and Ugandans\u2014not as ethnic delegations bargaining over ancestral guilt, but as citizens designing shared security. The principle should be simple: no community can purchase its security through the permanent insecurity of another.<\/p>\n

Here, however, these prescriptions encounter an uncomfortable limit. Truth commissions, civil-society conferences and judicial proceedings rest on the noble assumption that belligerents are ultimately responsive to moral suasion or legal process. In eastern Congo, armed groups, foreign armies and their commercial partners do not relinquish control of mines because they are invited to a dialogue in Nairobi or threatened with a report in Geneva; they relinquish territory only when the cost of holding it exceeds the revenue extracted from it. The liberal deliberative framework, for all its moral legitimacy, offers no immediate mechanism to compel a commander to abandon a coltan pit worth millions per month.<\/p>\n

This is the unspoken tragedy of the Great Lakes: peace requires justice, but justice requires power\u2014or at least the credible threat of coercive economic and military consequences that target the financiers, not just the foot soldiers. Until regional powers, permanent Security Council members and global mineral buyers agree on enforceable penalties\u2014asset freezes against corporate purchasers, travel bans for intermediaries, rigorous sanctions against patron states, and the deployment of a neutral verification force with teeth\u2014the conference table will remain a revolving door through which armed entrepreneurs pass before returning to their hilltop strongholds. Dialogue is essential, but without a credible stick, it is merely an intermission between massacres.<\/p>\n

Finally, peace negotiations must be separated from mineral negotiations. Security commitments should come first and be independently verified: withdrawal of foreign forces, cessation of support to armed groups, protection of civilians, humanitarian access and credible disarmament arrangements. Economic integration may follow, but only under transparent rules and with benefits reaching affected communities. Otherwise, “regional integration” will become polite language for integrating Congolese minerals into foreign balance sheets.<\/p>\n

The Congo does not suffer from a curse of resources. Gold, cobalt and coltan do not organise rebellions, bribe officials or sign secret contracts. The curse has names, offices, military ranks and corporate addresses. Nor does the country lack peace agreements. It has accumulated them like funeral programmes\u2014beautifully printed, solemnly signed and quickly forgotten.<\/p>\n

What Congo and Rwanda lack is not another photograph in Washington, Doha, Nairobi or Luanda. They lack a political settlement built from truth, accountability and mutual security. They lack leaders prepared to lose certain privileges so that their peoples may stop losing children.<\/p>\n

Monsieur Constitution may indeed need revision one day. But today, the most urgent amendment is not to the document. It is to the behaviour of those holding the pen.<\/p>\n

____________________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Ra\u00efs Neza Boneza is the author of fiction as well as non-fiction, poetry books and articles. He was born in the Katanga province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (Former Za\u00efre). He is also an activist and peace practitioner. Ra\u00efs is a member of the <\/em>TRANSCEND Media Service<\/em><\/a> Editorial Committee and a convener of the <\/em>TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment<\/em><\/a> for Central and African Great Lakes. He uses his work to promote artistic expressions as a means to deal with conflicts and maintaining mental wellbeing, spiritual growth and healing. Ra\u00efs has travelled extensively in Africa and around the world as a lecturer, educator and consultant for various NGOs and institutions. His work is premised on art, healing, solidarity, peace, conflict transformation and human dignity issues and works also as freelance journalist. You can reach him at <\/em>rais.boneza@gmail.com<\/em><\/a> – <\/em>http:\/\/www.raisnezaboneza.no<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Washington’s Mineral Peace to a Genuine Great Lakes Settlement – The Constitution may indeed need revision one day. But today, the most urgent amendment is not to the document. It is to the behaviour of those holding the pen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[237,1991,4059,329,1412,380],"class_list":["post-319425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial","tag-africa","tag-d-r-congo","tag-minerals","tag-resources","tag-rwanda","tag-solutions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319425"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319425\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":319426,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319425\/revisions\/319426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}