The unrest in the frontier regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo have not yet reached the lethal levels already experienced in Ivory Coast , Nigeria , Somalia , or Sudan , yet the suspected involvement of Rwanda and heightened interest by many regional powers threatens to inflame the factional fighting back to an internationalized civil war as when at least six African nations deployed troops in offsetting alliances not unlike that seen in Europe in August 1914. The five-year conflict ended in 2002, and a United Nations presence had promised some stability for the fledgling Congo government, but continued nagging reports of sexual abuse by UN troops and officials has reduced the organization?s credibility and effectiveness. The African Union has promised to supplement the inadequate UN troop numbers, but the respective militaries have limited credibility in light of their participation in the last round of conflict, and there is a growing concern that such gestures may, in fact, become a pre-deployment for the next full-scale Congo war. Unquestionably, Congo stability remains the biggest security question across all of Africa.

The crisis of the Darfur in Sudan was more than a distraction from the government?s peace negotiations with insurgencies in the south. In its bid to secure its hold on the Darfur region, the government militarily supported ethnically Arab Muslims grabbing territory and local control from non-Arabs. These Janjaweed insurgents served as mercenaries intimidating locals, albeit with the help of the Sudanese air force, while the government was forced to negotiate peace agreements with other ethnic insurgents from the south. Despite Western and UN public diplomacy, by year?s end, the international community had inserted little in the way of actual aid or security for the civilians in Darfur, and the humanitarian crisis looks to continue well into 2005.