Rock and a Hard Place

January 2008 | Ratings Update

President Joseph Kabila now finds himself in an unenviable position. Hardliners in his administration believe that he should not give in the demands by General Nkunda and his rebels, but the abject failure of an army offensive in December means that there now seems little option but to negotiate a political settlement, especially since Kabila's stated objective after last year's elections was to bring peace to the troubled east. Nkunda is in a position of strength and would be unlikely to accept anything less than becoming a military commander of one of the country's ten provinces.

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