'Made in Africa' versus 'out of Africa': Comparing South Africa's non-leadership with Canada's leadership in the 1996 crisis in Eastern Zaire

The response of the international community to the 1996 crisis in Eastern Zaire raises a number of significant questions. This paper looks at the puzzle concerning the nature and degree of direct involvement by outside powers. At a time when 'made in Africa' solutions to crisis situations had begun to generate some impetus, the 'out of Africa' leadership role taken on by Canada stood out as an apparent aberration. Equally, the non-leadership role adopted by South Africa seems curious given its own internal transition. In both Canada and South Africa, the distinctive (even idiosyncratic) approaches by national leaders had a significant impact on the way Canada and South Africa reacted to the crisis. Questions of personality in isolation, however, cannot tell us the full story and a number of other important ingredients must be added. These factors include the relative capabilities the two countries possessed in terms of domestic organisation, reputational influences, the impact of external influences, and the temporal conditions by which this intervention was played out.