The Foreign Service Journal, September 2004

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 4 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 11 L E T T E R S could have resisted the joint invasion of its territory in 1998 by its much smaller neighbors Rwanda and Uganda if it had a functioning gov- ernment with a decent military. But that invasion cost three million lives inside the Congo and set the country back in its development far more than it would have suffered if erratic President Laurent Kabila had contin- ued in power another few years. Dysfunctional as he was, Kabila was beginning to devote state resources to rebuilding infrastructure. He even conquered inflation and stabilized the economy, weak as it was. To “punish” Uganda and Rwanda, the internation- al community plied them with bud- getary support and debt relief. After all, Uganda and Rwanda were imple- menting structural adjustment by the book. The so-called internal anti- Kabila rebels supported by Uganda and Rwanda were totally organized, financed and armed by these two aggressor states. The armed Congolese opposition factions were pure political fiction. Cote d’Ivoire enjoyed decent political, economic and social institu- tions in 1999 when an army mutiny was financed and supplied by neigh- boring Burkina Faso. It went down- hill from there. The French were remiss in not using their garrison near Abidjan to quell the mutiny. Five years later, the French were forced to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to pacify the southern half of the country that is now de-facto parti- tioned in a manner that makes no sense. A country that was once an economic engine of growth in West Africa has been set back 50 years because of internal destabilization imported from next door while the international community remained passive. The authors are wearing blinders if they fail to see that external aggres- sion is making state dysfunction in Africa virtually incurable. Liberia and Sierra Leone were failed states before they became victims of external aggression via so-called internal fac- tions. But does that mean the inter- national community should say “we told you so” as it later spends billions picking up the pieces? If we continue to maintain a state of denial about proxy wars in Africa, our policy toward that troubled conti- nent doesn’t stand a chance. Fortunately, the current U.S. admin- istration has started to use its consid- erable leverage to begin eliminating this plague. Herman J. Cohen Ambassador, retired Washington, D.C. Remembering Howard Myers While the Journal has noted the death of an old AFSA warhorse — Howard Myers — no one has come forward with any recounting of the terrific behind-the-scenes contribu- tions Howard and his late wife, Hope, made to AFSA. How well I remember the dark days of the mid-1970s, when the elec- tion of a disparate set of AFSA Governing Board members caused internal turmoil and lots of acrimony. The slate was headed by a selected- out FSO who came into office with his own personal vendetta against the Department of State. His plan was to use AFSA as his speaking pad, totally ignoring the views of the board. Howard was the steady hand guiding many of us on the board to cope with this situation. When some of us were sued in court, again Howard provided calm and wise counsel. He then helped orchestrate the recall of this presi- dent, insisting that we follow all applicable regulations and laws irre- spective of the emotions in evi- dence, which were admittedly at an all-time high. For this counsel, Web access to major advertisers. Go to www.afsa.org Click on Marketplace tab on the marquee Bukkehave www.Bukkehave.com Charles Smith Corp. Living www.SmithLiving.com Clements International www.Clements.com Diplomatic Auto. Sales www.DiploSales.com Executive Club Suites wwwEexeClubdc.com Harry Jannette International www.Jannetteintl.com Hirshorn Company, The www.Hirshorn.com Laughlin Management www.Laughlincompanies.com Long & Foster www.Simunek.com Marriott www.StayatMarriott.com/ relocations Oakwood www.Oakwood.com Prudential Carruther/Piekney www.foreignservicehomes.com Prudential Carruthers www.PrudentialCarruthers.com Quality Hotel www.HotelChoice.com/hotel/ va58 Remington www.Remington-dc.com SDFCU www.sdfcu.org State Plaza www. StatePlaza.com U.S. Gov’t Printing Office http://.bookstore.gpo.gov/sb/ sb-075.html WJDManagement www.WJDpm.com For more information about advertisers in the Journal go to: www.afsa.org/marketplace MARKETPLACE