EDITORIAL PAGE — Hope for Zaire

Zaire is a country in crisis, which is not surprising considering its corrupt, inept leadership and the fact that it is surrounded by countries in conflict.

For decades, arms, rebels and refugees have swept across the borders of Angola, Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda. It comes as no surprise to many experts that the Rwandan crisis, which erupted on the international stage in early 1994, has embroiled Zaire’s eastern border region in violence. Zaire has many hundreds of thousands of Hutu refugees and the country’s ailing president, Joseph Mobutu, is believed to be sympathetic to their cause.

Zaire is not having an easy time coping with the spill-over from Rwanda’s ethnic violence, which pits Hutus against Tutsis. Experts believe international intervention will be required before peace is restored in the region.

But solving the refugee crisis will not solve Zaire’s internal problems, which are deep-rooted and complex. The country has fabulous mineral wealth and ought to be one of the most prosperous of African nations. But economic performance since independence has been abysmal.

Annual per capita income has plunged to about US$115 in 1994 from a peak of more than US$500 in the early 1970s. The economy contracted by an estimated 40% from 1990 to 1994, and inflation soared to an estimated 4,200% in 1992 and 8,500% in 1993. The currency is so debased that American money has become a popular substitute for the large bundles of Zairian bills required to conclude a small transaction. Transportation infrastructure has deteriorated to the point that this country, one quarter the size of the U.S., has only 2,415 km of paved road. The phone system barely functions, and mining, manufacturing and commercial agriculture are at a virtual standstill — the result of shoddy maintenance and a lack of reinvestment. Also, it is no secret that senior government officials have used the country’s mineral wealth for self-enrichment. Add to this food shortages, a poorly disciplined army, a health-care crisis and rivalry among the country’s many ethnic groups, and Zaire’s prospects look grim indeed.

For decades, President Mobutu has proved to be a wily political strategist, playing one country off of another and winning support from the U.S. for his anti-communist stance. Opposition forces charge that the U.S. played a major role in placing Mobutu in power and keeping him there during the Cold War.

But America’s foreign policy has changed, and the country, along with France and Belgium, is now pressing for democratic reforms. Zaire’s leadership was further alienated from the international community in 1990, when it harshly suppressed student dissent at Lubumbashi University. Mobutu’s steadfast refusal to introduce meaningful political and economic reforms has brought about widespread civil unrest and heightened international censure.

But hope is on the horizon: There is deep opposition to Mobutu from students, professionals, government workers and others. Gecamines, the state-owned mining company, is moving forward on its own with a back-door privatization program aimed at revitalizing the country’s mining sector. New joint ventures are being signed with a variety of mining companies, and capital, despite the current refugee crisis, is starting to flow into the country.

Gecamines could become a powerful agent of social and economic change in Zaire. It has some of the best trained personnel in the country and owns some of the richest mineral deposits on earth. We hope that, as the company grows and prospers, the beneficiaries this time ’round will include the people of Zaire, and not just Mobutu and his cronies.