November 21, 2008 (LPAC) -- Lord Malloch Brown has spent three days in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and then went to neighboring Rwanda, intent on ensuring that the destabilization will continue. In Congo, he opened an officers' training school. He said that building up the Congo army (something that should have been done ten years ago, after the end of the Mobutu regime, and before the subsequent, foreign-sponsored civil wars) was better than sending British troops.

Today, he was in Rwanda, whose government has been sponsoring the rebel, Laurent Nkunda, who kicked off the latest unrest when he broke a ceasefire in August. Malloch-Brown called on Rwandan President Paul Kagame to use what he euphemistically referred to as "influence" over Nkunda, to end violence in eastern Congo. Malloch-Brown protested too much when he said "this rebel group [Nkunda's group] is just a puppet group whose strings are pulled from Kigali" [capital of Rwanda]. He said he would ask the Rwandan leader "to use his influence on the rebel movement."

Putting all this blabbering pontification in its proper perspective, it is sufficient to observe, as London's Daily Telegraph reports today, that "Rwanda is one of Britain's closest African allies, receiving 46 million British pounds of aid last year." So Malloch-Brown has a lot of leverage, if he wanted to use it. He could stop the destabilization overnight, since according to rebels cited in the Telegraph, Rwandan officers crossed the border and joined Nkunda's offensive in August.

Malloch-Brown also said that the mediation of former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, the official UN mediator, has helped to ease tensions. Obasanjo is closely linked to George Soros.