Out of DR Congo Too Soon

Mission completed, mission successful? Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung gives the impression that he'd like to quickly put the whole operation behind him. Like a mantra -- unmistakably and repeatedly -- he has asserted that extending the mandate is out of the question.

The punctual pullout recalls the tough route to deciding on the mission in the first place. As the election date in the Democratic Republic of Congo drew ever closer, all Germany's leading politicians were in agreement that a peaceful DR Congo could be a stabilizing factor for the entire region. But sending a Bundeswehr deployment to safeguard elections in the framework of the European Union? Then the tenor of the discussion became more restrained.

It took many more months of debate before the German government finally did agree: 780 German soldiers were sent to DR Congo and Gabun. Germany's condition for participation was that its soldiers would only be deployed in the capital, Kinshasa. Pacification of the country's restive eastern provinces was incumbent upon the United Nations mission MONUC. And a large portion of the soldiers deployed were stationed outside DR Congo, in Gabun.

Was the Bundeswehr's participation in the mission of a purely symbolic nature? Certainly not. The Congolese have lauded the German troops' sober-mindedness and diplomacy. Violent unrest in Kinshasa that left 23 dead was quickly allayed due above all to two factors: diplomatic pressure and intervention on the part of EU and UN soldiers.

But the momentary calm in DR Congo is specious. Challenger Jean-Pierre Bemba contested his electoral defeat and lost in court. Previously there had been gun battles between supporters of the opposing camps in Kinshasa. And in eastern DR Congo on Monday, UN soldiers had used helicopters to block a rebel advance. Thousands of people fled from the violence, which Bundeswehr representatives described as an incidental flare-up.

In the meantime, Bemba has accepted his defeat and resigned himself to a role in the opposition. A powerful rebel group in the country's restive East has just announced they would lay down their weapons. And the fact that the elections proceeded relatively peacefully and fairly is also a positive signal.

Still, it doesn't ensure DR Congo a peaceful, democratic future. The people are still the same. Surely, they must be able to keep their country running -- especially politicians who should serve as a good example for everyone.

It would have been good for DR Congo if the EU soldiers' mission had had a somewhat longer wind. EUFOR has formally fulfilled its job. But DR Congo's government will only be formed in mid-December. It would have been important to accompany the inauguration of the new president in Africa's third-largest state.

But the mandate was not meant for that, according to the Bundeswehr's spokesman. The mission served to safeguard the presidential and parliamentary elections and they were concluded peacefully, he said. The mandate was valid for exactly four months and not a day longer.

Stefanie Duckstein is an editor for Deutsche Welle's Africa service (ncy)