What Kagame Wants

With Congolese rebels reportedly only days away from seizing power from President Laurent Kabila, the man they installed in office 15 months ago, the question wasn't "Who will be the new President of the Congo?" but rather, "What does the Vice President of Rwanda want?" That man--Paul Kagame, who is also the Rwandan Minister of Defense--is considered to be the mastermind behind both President Mobutu Sese Seko's removal from power in 1997 and what looks to be Kabila's political demise. What Kagame seems to want is a loose federation of autonomous regions based on ethnicity, which would protect his Tutsi brothers in eastern Congo. If that is what Kagame wants, it might provide an end to the ethnic rivalries that have haunted central Africa for decades. On the other hand, it might be the opening move to redraw the Congo's borders. If that happens, no one can predict where the unraveling will stop. Somaliland has split from Somalia, Eritrea has left Ethiopia, Anjouan has declared its independence from the Comoros. The Africa carved up by Europeans in the 19th century may be completely unrecognizable in the 21st.