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A Call to All Congolese and Friends
of the Congo
By George Bakaly
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating
it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can
be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the
people from the political, economic and/or military consequences
of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State
to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth
is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the
truth is the greatest enemy of the State. ”
Joseph Goebbels
This is a call to all Congolese and friends of the Congo
to resist and speak out against the new Congolese institutions.
The budget of the Democratic Republic of Congo is financed
by the “international community” to the tune of
57% , so I urge those who support the Congolese people to
write to their representatives and ask that this issue be
clarified. At the moment, your taxes are used to pay the band
of brigands that have bled the DRC in the past 3 years. Consider
the following: When the belligerents of what came to be known
as “Africa’s First World War” met in Pretoria
to bring an end to the war, they claimed that their logistical
needs, funded by you, the Western Tax-Payer, also known as
the “international community”, included 107 villas
and 405 luxury cars.
In 2004, President Joseph Kabila went a full 100% over-budget
as his office used 15.8 billion Congolese Francs or $37,176,470
rather than the 7.9 billion Francs allocated. Zahidi N’Goma,
the Vice President in charge of Culture and Social Affairs
(welfare), also used double the amount allocated, 1.56 billion
Francs or $ 3,670,588. Last but not least, Mwana-Congo (“Congo’s
son”) himself, Jean Pierre Bemba, the Vice President
in charge of Economy and Finance, went 600% over his 5 billion
Francs budget, meaning he used 30 billion Francs, $ 70,588,
235. In the meantime, the funds allocated for health, welfare,
and agriculture (52% of economic activity ) respectively amount
to 12.5%, 16.6%, and 6.25% of those allocated to the Presidency.
Meanwhile, public school teachers are yet to receive the $100
raise that would multiply their wages tenfold and the average
Congolese earns just under $120 a year , 55% of the population
does not have access to safe drinking water , only 21% of
the population is using adequate sanitation facilities , 50%
of the population has no access to drugs , in a country of
more than 60,000,000 inhabitants there are only 5,827 physicians
, and per capita health expenditure by the government is a
mere $4 or 0.0016% of the monthly salary ($2500) the representative
of the people have given themselves. The worst part is that
the “international community” is aware of this,
yet it continues to finance these modern day Black-Slavers
with no strings attached. The second round of the presidential
election scheduled for October 29th and the legislative elections
have given legitimacy to those who have ruined the Congo and
members of the “international community” are patting
themselves on the back and congratulating each other on the
magnificent success of the elections. Here is a brief composite
of the two candidates vying for the presidency.
1) Joseph Kabila: Not much is known about the incumbent. Some
in Kinshasa even doubt that he is the son of his predecessor,
the slain dictator Laurent Kabila. However, it is clear that
his leadership has been inefficient. As the President of the
transition, he ought to be the first person responsible for
its failure, yet some in the West are under the impression
that he is “the hope of Congo” and he has proved
very successful in Eastern Congo where he has won 98.8% of
the vote in some districts. His lack of formal education was
one of his biggest weaknesses but the chairman of his Parti
du Peuple pour la Reconstruction et la Démocratie (People’s
Party for Reconstruction and Democracy-PPRD), Vital Kamehre,
found the solution to the problem: in a political meeting,
he announced that Joseph Kabila has a BA in international
law from Washington International University. According to
the same source, Condoleezza Rice herself has certified the
degree! Thus Joseph has a degree that does not exist from
a phantom university certified by the US secretary of State.
On August 20th, troops loyal to Kabila assailed the private
residence of Jean Pierre Bemba, his rival for the second round.
They fired mortars and other rockets at his opponent’s
house who at the time was entertaining ambassadors from 16
countries including the US, Belgium, France, South Africa
and the UK. At least 23 people died as a result of the ensuing
scuffle. He has retained a praetorian guard of 15,000 men;
that is in direct violation of the oath he took as president
of the transition to create a single army command. Not one
but two of his closest allies have been accused of corruption
by the UN : Jean Charles Okoto, also involved in a conspiracy
to kidnap viscount Etienne Davignon, a member of the Trilateral
Commission investigating money laundering in the Congo , and
General Kalume. A third advisor, Evariste Boshab, had to resign
following a Congressional enquiry, which found him guilty
of attempting to defraud the state of $ 28 million. Yet Kabila
is favorite to win the elections.
2) Jean Pierre Bemba: The self-proclaimed “Mwana-Congo”.
For some reason, he is popular in Kinshasa. He has lead a
campaign bordering on xenophobia (doubts about Kabila’s
nationality) reminiscent of Laurent Gbagbo in Cote d’Ivoire.
Jean Pierre Bemba has allied himself with another unsavory
character, Honoré Ngbanda, a.k.a. Terminator . Together
they have come up with the vague concept of “Congolité”
which basically exclude those whom Bemba and Ngbanda see as
not being Congolese enough. Bemba has used his media empire
(he owns a host of TV stations across the Congo) to spread
his message of hate. The first case brought to the International
Criminal Court (ICC) by the International Federation of Human
Rights (Fidh) concerned activities by Bemba’s troops
in neighboring Central African Republic . Bemba has been accused
of gross violations of basic human rights. There are also
claims that fighters for Bemba’s movement, the Mouvement
pour la Libération du Congo (MLC), are guilty of cannibalism,
as it appear they fed on pygmies . Of course, Bemba has denied
all claims but the mere fact that they exist is an indication
of who the man is. During the war, Bemba was the client of
Uganda, a country which the International Court of Justice
(ICJ) has ordered to pay damages to Congo for its illegal
occupation. “By the conduct of its armed forces, which
committed acts of killing, torture, and other forms of inhumane
treatment of the Congolese civilian population ... [Uganda]
violated its obligations under international human rights
law,” Shi Jiuyong, President of the 17-member court
based at The Hague, said in the judgment. It said Ugandan
forces deployed child soldiers, stirred ethnic tension, and
stole natural resources. Close associates of Bemba were also
named by the UN panel on the plunder of the Congo cited above.
Both candidates are responsible for what many have seen as
the worst case of sexual violence in conflicts throughout
the world today. In the words of UN humanitarian chief Jan
Egeland, “Sexual abuse has become a cancer in Congolese
society that seems to be out of control....Military and civilian
authorities are still virtually unaccountable for crimes against
civilians.” Both candidates actively took part in a
war that has claimed the lives of at least 4,000,000 Congolese,
the highest toll in any conflict since World War II. Yet the
international community is about to rubber-stamp the authority
of one of these two murderers under the veil of democratic
elections. Arguments will be made that the Congolese people
have chosen their leaders freely for the first time in more
than four decades and that these elections have been a success
and a testimony to the will of the “Free World”
to spread democracy across the globe.
The reality is much starker for whatever your views are on
these elections you must admit that structural factors favored
these war-criminals vis-à-vis candidates for true change.
It is bewildering to think that the International Community
really believed that those who had forced it to intervene
in the Congo (i.e. Kabila, Bemba et all.) were honest and
capable enough to create a system, the use of political violence
and impunity, that had enabled them to amass wealth and power.
It would have been much wiser to follow the precedent set
in Liberia where a non-belligerent technocrat was asked to
organize elections in which he did not stand; the result was
a peaceful election as opposed to the coronation of a warlord.
Despite claims to the contrary, Congolese people regarded
these elections with much antipathy; a quick view of some
key stats attest to that: Out of a population of 62,660,551,
about half or 31,330, 225 were eligible to vote. Out of those,
around 25,700,000 registered that is 82%. A third of those
who did register did not bother to vote. This means that at
the end roughly 17,000,000 people took part; that represents
a turnout of 54.2%, which is much lower than the 70% turnout
that most media outlets have raved about, factor in the fact
that all sides pumped up their numbers (e.g. in some quarters
in the war ravaged eastern parts of the country voter turnout
was an incredible 98.8% despite the insecurity and the millions
of displaced. Somehow, voters managed to brave the different
militias roaming the land and the distance to go and vote
) and you get an idea of the true threshold of participation.
In the end, the international community told a big lie: the
elections in Congo had been successful. This was necessary
because they had to justify the billions spent there during
the transition. Unfortunately for them, the consequences of
their lie quickly became apparent as Bemba and Kabila’s
camp fought each other for three days in the streets of Kinshasa,
even though both will contest the second round, proving once
again their inability to lead. Today, the only hope for real
change rests with the Congolese people and those who stand
with them; once again they must resist both the corrupt local
elites and the international plunderers behind them.
____________
Notes:
1. Report from the Netherlands Institute of Southern Africa
(NIZA) : “L’État contre le Peuple”
:
http://www.niza.nl/docs/200606301309211840.pdf
2. ibid
3. ibid
4. CIA World-fact-book:
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html
5. “RDC. Le budget 2005 et ses contradictions”
; Le Phare, 29/08/2005
6 . The average monthly salary for a primary school teacher
is $10 that of a high-school teacher is $15 : “Éducation-RD
Congo : L'enseignement en panne, faute de soutien de l'État”
; Juakali Kambale :
http://www.ipsnews.net/fr/_note.asp?idnews=2556
7. World Bank :
http://devdata.worldbank.org/wdi2005/index2.htm
8 . ibid.
9 . World Health Organization :
http://www.who.int/nha/country/cod/en/
10 . ibid
11 . ibid
12. ibid
13. According to the World Bank, Congo received 1,815,000,000
in aid in 2004. The authorities have claimed that putting
conditions on the aid amounts to subverting the sovereignty
of the Congolese people, according to NIZA China and Russia
have supported this stance in the UN security council
14. EU commissioner for cooperation and development, Louis
Michel, in a televised interview with the RTBF, 12/08/2006
15. Kabila’s website:
http://www.presidentjosephkabila.net/apropos_quiestjk.shtml
16. “Heavy gunfire erupts in Kinshasa in third day of
fighting, EU sends in reinforcements”: USA Today, 22/08/2006.:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-08-22-
congo_x.htm?csp=34
17. The full report is available online at: www.un.org
18. “Belgolaise : Nouvelle arestation” : DH Net
:
http://www.dhnet.be/dhinfos/article.phtml?id=103791
19. NIZA : “L’État contre le Peuple”
20. Ngbanda got the name after he gave the order to suppress
a march by priest as Mobutu’s national security advisor.
21. You can visit Ngbanda’s website at
http://www.aparecordc.org/forum/portal.php?pid=147
22. Crimes de Guerre en République Centrafricaine "Quand
les éléphants se battent, c’est l’herbe
qui souffre" :
www.fidh.org/article.php3?id_article=1091
23. “U.N. Says Congo Rebels Carried Out Cannibalism
and Rapes” : January 16, 2003, Thursday
(AP); Foreign Desk:
genocidewatch.org/CongocannibalismrapesJanuary16.htm
24. guardian.co.uk/uganda/Story/0,2763,1671176,00.html
25. http://www.crimesofwar.org/africa-
mag/afr_01_porteos.html
26. for more information visit: http://www.cei-
rdc.cd/clcr/index.html
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