THE uprising in eastern has plunged the Great Lakes region into one of the worst African crises this century. There is now a possibility that the state of Zaire will disintegrate that the map of central Africa will be redrawn, that tens of millions of people in the region will be displaced from their homes, that unimaginable numbers will die directly in the conflict and from hunger and disease.

The conflict erupting in central Africa has been called the Banyamulenge uprising after the Banyamulenge people of the Zairean province of Kivu, which lies along its borders with Burundi, Rwanda and part of Uganda. The Banyamulenge are descendants of Tutsi pastoralists who settled in the region in the 18th century, long before Europeans arrived.

In 1885, the colonial powers divided Africa and the Brussels Convention in 1910 confirmed the existing frontier between what was then the Belgian Congo (later Zaire) and the neighbouring autonomous states of Rwanda and Burundi.

The Banyamulenge were thus "stranded" in Zaire when it achieved independence from Belgium, in 1960 in much the same way as minorities were cut off from their ethnic homelands in Europe after the first World War.

This is the key to the current crisis in Central Africa. Historically, parts of Kivu province and part of what is now southern Uganda is regarded by Rwandans as originally Rwandan territory as being pail of a Greater Rwanda. The 300,000 ethnic Tutsis in eastern Zaire have long been denied citizenship by the Zairean government and in recent times the Zairean government has been pressurising the Banyamulenge to leave Zaire and go to Rwanda.

THE Banyamulenge have refused to be driven like cattle from homes and land they have occupied for generations and have become very well organised in their efforts to resist Zairean pressure to get out. They are particularly well - placed to do so, for when the Rwandan Peoples Front began as offensive in 1990 against the then regime in Rwanda, it recruited among its Banyamulenge fellow Tutsis in eastern Zaire.

Significantly, with the RPA victory in 1994, many Banyamulenge achieved prominence in the Rwandan army and many other veterans returned to eastern Zaire. These veterans are today the core of the Banyamulenge armed force which is fighting both the Zairean army and the remnants of the pre 1994 Rwandan army, which fled to the refugee camps of eastern Zaire.

It is now widely acknowledged that the Tutsi dominated regimes in both Rwanda and Burundi are sup porting the Banyamulenge, not only for ethnic reasons but for strategic reasons. The tough and well trained Banyamulenge are putting the low grade Zairean forces to flight and are also dispersing the refugee camps that were tilled with Hutus since 1994 and which the Rwandan government has always regarded as being a major threat to its own existence.

It would seem the Rwandan government wants a Tutsi controlled buffer zone in eastern Zaire, driving the Hutu former Rwandan arm further westwards into Zaire, thus disrupting Hutu plans to destabilise the current government in Rwanda.

This course of action is fraught with danger for the whole region. There are indications that the Zairean army and Hutu militias in Zaire are joining forces against the Banyamulenge, thus drawing both the Rwandan and Burundian armies directly, into conflict with the Zaireans. It is also very likely that Israeli and French trained troops of Zairean President Mobutu's presidential guard will be sent to the region to bolster existing low grade forces there. Given Angola's long standing support for President Mobutu, it is possible that country could be drawn into a wider conflict.

The Zairean government says the present crisis has been orchestrated by the Tutsis as part of a plan to create a Hima empire in central Africa - Hima being the umbrella term for the ethnic group to which the Tutsis belong. Significantly, President Museveni of Uganda also belongs to that group, and already the Ugandans have been making noises a bout attacking Ugandan rebel bases further north in Kivu province.

Faced with the disintegration of their country, Zaireans may well be stung into a nationalist, anti foreigner reaction that would plunge the country into total warfare with its neighbour. As well as and Uganda, a widespread conflict in the region will send shock waves throughout Africa and will be an encouragement to other minority ethnic groupings in their struggles for autonomy.

In an even wider global context, there are interests which have designs on Zaire's incredible mineral wealth that includes uranium gold, copper and other resources.

The rapidly evolving conflict in central Africa is far from being localised. It has the most profound implications, not only for the central African region, but for Africa as a whole, and even has serious global implications. In humanitarian terms, tens of millions of people are at risk from death in the fighting and from starvation and disease. If the region is tipped over the edge into the abyss it is doubtful whether even a major international humanitarian relief effort could cope with the crisis. That's why every effort must be made to avert a catastrophe.

A CONCERTED political response to the crisis on the part of African and world powers is absolutely essential in order to defuse the situation. A lasting political solution will only be achieved if the nationality issue of Tutsis in Zaire and other underlying issues are addressed. The Irish Government, in its current role of EU president, must use its voice to influence our EU partners to bring diplomatic pressures to stop the conflict before it deteriorates further.

A full scale humanitarian response to aid the hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the fighting is needed. Despite the current insecurity, Trocaire and other agencies are ready to return to the region as soon as possible.

The international community must begin talks with all governments concerned and local leaders to ensure the agencies have access to the people dispersed by the fighting, who are now in serious need.

Negotiations with rebel forces - should be initiated to allow, safe passage for, refugees seeking to return to their country of origin.

Other regional governments must be persuaded to do everything possible to aid the humanitarian relief effort once access to the vulnerable populations can he secured.

Central Africa is on a knife edge. The international community, in eluding Ireland in its present influential position in the EU context must take very possible action to avert one of the worst crises to affect the continent in many decades. Can the world live with itself if it allows yet another African crisis to descend into an unimaginable catastrophe?