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Zaire Relations with Other Neighbors
During the 1980s, the closest threats to Zaire seemed
to lie to
the east, because relations with Zambia and Tanzania had
sunk to
the lowest point since the first years of the Mobutu
regime, and
Burundi and Sudan seemed open to anti-Mobutu activity as
well. The
"rebel" attacks on Moba, on the Zairian shore of Lake
Tanganyika,
in 1984 and 1985 led to harsh Zairian criticism of
Tanzania,
Rwanda, and Burundi, which were alleged to have permitted,
if not
encouraged, the attacks.
Relations with Zambia were at least as bad, with
several
shooting incidents taking place along the frontier. In
August 1984,
long-standing tensions heated up when Zaire rounded up
Zambians
(mostly in Shaba) and announced they would be deported, in
reaction
to Zambia's expulsion of immigrants from Zaire and West
Africa in
July. Mobutu revoked the expulsion orders on August 25 and
ordered
government officials to release all detained Zambians, but
reportedly hundreds had already fled across the border.
Lusaka
radio alleged that Zairian officials had tricked the
Zambians by
calling them to stadiums on the pretext of disseminating
important
information from Lusaka; they then were detained and many
were
beaten.
The strains in the Zambia-Zaire relationship are linked
to
Zaire's position in the global economy. Smuggling from
Zambia into
the isolated Shaba Region of Zaire has long caused
considerable
tension between the two countries. In 1983 Zambia
stationed troops
on the border to stem the flow of contraband. Since then
there
reportedly have been occasional border incidents involving
exchanges of gunfire between Zairian and Zambian soldiers.
Late in
1984, Zaire announced creation of a Civil Guard to patrol
the
frontier so that such incidents would not lead directly to
confrontations between the two armies. The smuggling
problem
remained, and in 1988 the two countries introduced strict
visa
controls in an attempt to deal with it. In 1989 Zaire and
Zambia
signed an agreement defining their common border. In early
November
1991, rail traffic between Zaire's Shaba Region and Zambia
resumed,
following an incident reportedly provoked by Zairian
troops
deployed along the border.
Relations with Congo and Uganda also continued to cause
problems. In 1989 Congo expelled a large number of
Zairians whose
status was "irregular," and Zaire responded in kind. It
was thought
unlikely that Congo would close the border, however, since
it was
so dependent upon goods imported (or smuggled) from Zaire.
In
February 1993, a breach in relations between Zaire and
Congo
occurred following a ferry accident on the Congo River
that
resulted in the deaths of nearly 150 Zairians being
deported from
Congo. In the early 1990s, Congo undertook an operation
designed to
deport 15,000 illegal Zairian immigrants.
Historically, Ugandan-Zairian relations have been
complicated
by border problems, including cross-border smuggling and
disputes
over fishing rights in the lakes along the border. Border
incidents
caused by Zairian rebel groups operating from bases in
Uganda
increased the strain between the two countries, as did an
appearance in Zaire by former Ugandan president Idi Amin
Dada in
January 1989. He apparently intended to return to Uganda
with an
estimated 500 armed supporters who were to meet him in
northeastern
Zaire. Uganda requested the former president's
extradition,
intending to try Amin for atrocities committed during his
eightyear reign. Kinshasa rejected this request because there
was no
extradition treaty between Uganda and Zaire. Instead, the
Mobutu
regime detained Amin in Kinshasa and expelled him from the
country
nine days later. Thereafter, relations between Kampala and
Kinshasa
were cool, leading to the mutual expulsion of ambassadors.
On
September 8, 1989, however, the two countries restored
full
diplomatic ties.
Throughout 1990 Ugandan and Zairian officials worked to
stabilize their common border, but the failure of these
meetings to
achieve any progress has prompted Zaire to close the
borders
periodically. The border between the two countries appears
likely
to remain unstable for the foreseeable future.
Unrest in Zaire arising out of economic deterioration
and a
stalemate over political reform also contributed to the
security
crisis in southwestern Uganda in 1992 and 1993. Ugandan
officials
claimed that more than 20,000 Zairian refugees had entered
Uganda,
seeking refuge from marauding Zairian troops and
antigovernment
rebel banditry. By contrast, Zaire served as a refuge to
thousands
of Burundians fleeing ethnic violence in their country in
1993.
Zaire has fostered close relations with Rwanda. In
October
1990, when Rwanda was invaded by Uganda-based forces of
the Rwandan
Patriotic Front, Belgium, France, and Zaire intervened
militarily
to protect the lives of foreigners and to back the Rwandan
government. In February 1991, Mobutu was mandated by a
regional
meeting of presidents and the secretary general of the OAU
to
initiate a dialogue leading to a cease-fire agreement
between the
Rwanda government and the rebels. Representatives of the
OAU, along
with officials from Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, and Zaire,
met
several times in 1991 and 1992 and urged the warring
parties to
observe the cease-fire agreed to in March 1991, but
fighting
continued.
Data as of December 1993
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