Men with guns disrupt a plan to link Congo to east Africa

months after the fanfare that greeted the Democratic Republic of Congo as the seventh member of the East African Community (), making it a bloc of 300m people stretching from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic, blood is being spilt again in the troubled north-eastern corner of that vast, mineral-rich but chaotic country. The club’s other members had high hopes that, by pulling Congo’s economy eastwards, an array of infrastructure deals including roads and electric power lines would boost trade and prosperity across the region (see map).They also agreed to create a joint military force to sweep away the dozens of armed groups that impede such happy progress. But the latest burst of violence shows how hard it will be to fashion the into a coherent diplomatic and trading power. Indeed, Congo’s membership may exacerbate rivalries, especially involving Rwanda and Uganda, within the club.