Congo: One Hundred Years of Colonialism, Dictatorship and War (1908 - 2008)

Saturday, November 15, 2008 marked the 100-year anniversary of the removal of the Congo from King Leopold II of Belgium as his own personal property. Global outrage of the King’s brutal rule resulted in his losing the Congo treasure trove on November 15, 1908.

Leopold II accumulated spectacular wealth for himself and the Belgian state during his 23-year dominion (1885 – 1908) over the Congo. During this period an estimated 10 million Congolese lost their lives while Leopold systematically looted the Congo of its rubber and ivory riches. Congo was handed over to Belgium who ruled as a colonial power from 1908 to 1960. Congo finally got its independence on June 30, 1960 when Patrice Emery Lumumba, its first democratically elected prime minister took office. Unfortunately, the western powers, primarily the United States and Belgium could not allow a fiercely independent African to consolidate his power over such a geo-strategic prize as the Congo. He was removed from power in a western backed coup within weeks and assassinated on January 17, 1961. Belgium apologized for its role in Lumumba’s assassination in 2002 and the US still downplays its role in Lumumba’s assassination. The US replaced Lumumba with the dictator Mobutu Sese Seko and backed him until he was overthrown in 1997. The overthrow of Mobutu unleashed an ongoing resource war that has caused deep strife and unbearable suffering for the Congolese people, particularly the women and the children. It is estimated that Congo has lost nearly six million people since the 1996 invasion by Rwanda and Uganda with support from the United States and other Western nations.

A century later, Congo is at another crossroads. In spite of the advances in technology and the shrinking of the world, it is curious that there is such silence around the suffering of the Congolese people due to the exploitation of powerful corporate and foreign forces beyond its people’s immediate control. Unlike the early 1900s, remarkably, today there are few if any voices the likes of Mark Twain who wrote King Leopold’s Soliloquy, Joseph Conrad, The Heart of Darkness (PDF) (Often misread as Congo or Africa being dark but he was referring to the dark hearts of the exploiters of the Congo), and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle of Sherlock Holmes fame who wrote Crime in the Congo. The Congo Reform movement that drew from the work of African Americans such as William Sheppard and George Washington Williams and led by European figures such as Robert Casement and E.D. Morel gave birth to the modern international human rights movement.

One hundred years later we are again calling on the global community to be at the side of the Congolese. This time, there is one fundamental difference, the Congolese are agents in this narrative and the call this time is not a hand-over to a colonial power or neo-colonial institutions but rather to the people of the Congo.

The clarion call is for the combating of the forces (local elites and rebels, foreign governments, foreign corporations, and multi-lateral institutions) that have the Congolese people in a death trap. The charity prism of the humanitarian industry is not the answer. It only perpetuates dependency and dis-empowerment. Should Congo be truly liberated, the Darfurizaton (emptying of agency from the afflicted people) of the global movement in support of the Congo
must be avoided at all cost. Congolese must be agents rather than objects in the pursuit of the control of their land and their lives. The sovereignty of the people and control and ownership of the riches of their land is the fundamental human right for which we must advocate. It is a call not only for the Congo but the entire African continent.

Becomea part of the global movement to Break the Silence as the Congolese pursue
true sovereignty and liberty.

Kambale Musavuli, Student Coordinator, FOTC
Maurice Carney, Executive Director, FOTC


Useful links:
Rapper and Spoken Word Artist
Omekongo's "Welcome to the Congo"
Powerpoint Primer on the
History of the Congo (PPT)
Dan Rather All Mines Report on I-Tunes
FAIR on media coverage of Congo

Huffington Post Journalist Says Next President Must Address Congo Crisis

The current tragedy in the Democratic Republic of Congo is not an "ethnic conflict," as reported by the US State Department and seconded by the candidates. It is a proxy war, fueled by international competition for the vast mineral wealth of Congo.

Over ten years of war propagated on a scramble for the vast resource wealth of the Democratic Republic of Congo has intensified in recent weeks as "rebel" leader General Laurent Nkunda (CNDP) intensified his offensive against the regular Congolese army (FARDC) and threatened to take the city of Goma, headquarters of MONUC, the United Nations Mission to Congo.

Read entire article and make comments so that the Huffington Post can continue to report on the Congo in an in depth manner.

NPR's Gwen Tompkins Gets to the Heart of the Matter

In recent days we have seen more honest reporting on the Congo. The true cause of the conflict is finally being revealed. This offers some modicum of hope because with correct analysis comes correct prescriptions. Click here to listen to Gwen Tompkins as she articulates the true source of the conflict in the Congo.

Who jendayi Frazer Should See and What She Should Say

It is reported that Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer was heading to Kinshasa, Congo and would arrive today. She issued a statement on yesterday warning Nkunda's rebel group not to take Goma, capital of the North Kivu province of Congo.

We believe that Secretary Frazer's first stop in the region should be in Kigali to speak to President Paul Kagame of Rwanda. According to La Libre Belgique, rebel Leader Larent Nkunda is also in Kigali convalescing from an illness or injury. She should deliver a clear message to US Allie Rwanda that they should immediately stop supporting Nkunda in the Congo and cease once and for all the destablization of Eastern Congo. Far too many people have died and suffered as a result of Rwanda's intervention in the Congo. Moreover, she should make it clear to Kagame that its time to genuinely participate in a political process that would result in the return of the Rwandans who are now in the Congo.

The United States has considerable leverage on Rwanda and can play a decisive role in bringing this conflict to an end. There is no way that thousands of rebels should be allowed to hold millions of Congolese hostage because of the backing from Rwanda.

Rebels in Congo Continue to Wreak Havoc

The situation in eastern Congo is beyond the pale. Due to the fact that the world community and the key players in the Great Lakes region of Central Africa have not fully and comprehensively addressed the root causes of the conflict in the Congo. At the root of the conflict as the scramble for Congo's spectacular wealth.

When Rwanda and Uganda first invaded the Congo in 1996 and again in 1998, the invasions unleashed what the United Nations calls the deadliest conflict in the World since World War Two. Several peace accords later and the holding of historic elections in 2006 have not brought peace and stability to the beleaguered people of the Congo. This is in large part due to the fact that the world community has not demonstrated the will to put the necessary pressure on Paul Kagame of Rwanda to cease his support of rebel groups in the Congo. In addition, the international community's rush to install a weak government that would provide unfettered access to Congo's wealth but not the ability to mobilize a nation to properly deal with its historic challenges has compounded the problem.

The prescriptions for resolving the conflict have been clear for quite sometime now but they require the political will of the global community and they include the following:
1. An understanding that there is no military solution to the conflict. A political solution must be sought.
2. Pressure must be put on Rwanda to stop its support of Launrent Nkunda's rebel movement in the Congo. Rwanda continues to benefit from instability in the Congo.
3. A peace process that engages Rwanda, Uganda, Congo and the Rwandan Hutu rebels in the Congo
4. The creation of political space inside Rwanda that will accommodate disparaged groups in Congo
5. The creation of a system that punishes perpetrators of crimes against humanity, particularly the outrageous rapes of women and children. The climate of impunity in the Congo must be stopped now and the global community can play a constructive role in this process.

Latest News:
Thousands of protesters attacking UN in east Congo

UN: Rebels fire rockets at peacekeepers in Congo

DR Congo rebels seize army camp

Congo Accuses kagame-Nkunda Collaboration

The Congolese government formally accuses Rwanda of what many people already know. Bloomberg news quotes the Congo government as saying that Rwanda is visibly supporting rebels in the Congo. Congo's foreign minister, Antipas Mbusa Nyamwisi told the United Nations Security Council that Rwanda's actions are ``in flagrant violation of all the processes in progress'' to end fighting in the region. (Read entire article>>)

The State Department has chimed in but you will hardly hear Rwanda or Kagame mentioned in any of their proclamations as Kagame is a long-time client of the U.S. who will not come in for an admonition or pressure whatsoever.

Rethinking the Congo: A Dedication to Daniel Boteti

By George Bakaly Sembe

After a 15 year « exile », I have been back in the DRC for exactly 16 months, given my age (29) it is not surprising that in that span of time I have learned more about my country than when I was watching it from afar. From the corruption to the lack of leadership and capacity to lead what I have seen is far more complex, I still can’t comprehend it fully, than anything you can be told in the West. We spend so much of our time discussing the symptoms of Congo’s malady that we tend to overlook its root causes. In my view it is not colonialism, or neo-colonialism the former is an historical fact that can no longer be used as an excuse almost 50 years after independence, the latter along with interventionism from different external interests is a symptom rather than a cause, the true source of our woes is the rot within our society, it is deeply rooted in our tendency to never do the right thing, our tendency to never look for the greater good, our tendency to believe that, a messiah will come down from the heaven and fix our mess for us. One of my favourite quotes from Lumumba says: “...to make you forget that you were a man they taught you their hosannas and made you believe that one day good white god will come down from the heavens and free you...” my personal experience in the DRC in the last year and a half has lead me to believe that Congolese have forgotten that they were men.

We do not believe in our own agency, a couple of years back we let the “international community” or the West, lead us to peace and through a fraught electoral process and today we believe that it will be the Chinese who will save us by building us roads and bring us “development” in all this we have accepted that the destiny of the Congolese people does not lay in the hands of Congolese. This national trait of ours translate into two things, because we hope that someone with “superpowers” will come and save us from ourselves we, collectively as a people, suffer from what can best be described as a “messiah syndrome” at one time Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Gwendu Wa Za Banga was that messiah, then it was Etienne Tshisekedi the self proclaimed “leader maximo” after that came the turn of Mzee Laurent Desire Kabila, who was succession was bitterly contested by his son Joseph “Momemi Maki” Kabila and Jean Pierre “Mwana Mboka” Bemba with the former winning that battle by TKO. Back in Mobutu’s time his proponent claimed that everything that was good and right about Zaire as the country was known then was a credit to Mobutu, his opponent of course opined that everything was wrong about the country and the blame lay at the “Leopard’s” hands, current Minister of Infrastructure Pierre Lumbi who was minister of foreign affairs in the brief Tshisekedi I government in 1991 said “the problem of Zaire is Mobutu” well today 10 years after Mobutu died, the DRC still has problem and H.E. Pierre Lumbi hopes that the Chinese will solve it.

Today, it is the same thing the country is divided in two, Pro-Kabila who argue that the fragile peace in DRC is due, ONLY, to Kabila and anti-Kabila who blame all the ills of the country on the “Rais” and believe that Bemba and, or Ngbanda, like Tshisekedi yesterday, are the answers to all our problems, in all of this there is never an hint of inward inspection and no one takes a step toward making things better, yesterday we said “once Mobutu goes, everything will be better” today we say the same thing about Kabila, everything will just magically fix itself, no one has a plan how we just hope that we can wish that into happening.

Two events in the past week illustrate that peculiar Congolese attitude, on 30th June we celebrated our independence, I organised a football game in the town of Lemba, there was easily 700 people in attendance and though I did not utter a single word about my values or belief I automatically became known as “leader” even though I did not show any ability to do that, but these people are so desperate that they are in the search for leaders, they have lost all hope so it is easy for them to convey all their aspiration into any one who cares to accept that. Be it Mobutu, Laurent Kabila, Bemba or Joseph Kabila, we do not look at their ideas we accept them simply because they allow us to put all our burden, the burden of an entire society onto their shoulders though they could never deal with it alone.

In that Faustian bargain, the “leader” is merely asked to help his “followers” get by, he is asked to permit them to hope, he is never asked to lead, ideology is not required in exchange he is treated like a King, he becomes the archetypal African “Big Man”. Jean Pierre Bemba called his troops “my children”, Mobutu called himself “the father of the nation”, Mzee Laurent Kabila was the “liberator” and his son has brought us “peace, stability and prosperity” can you imagine any Western leader adorning such superlatives?

In my case, I realized that to my new “fans” I was the one who could bring in a job or whichever solution was needed for their problems, those people never took the time to introspect and think about what they could do for themselves, and this creates a corrupted relationship between leadership and the people whereby it is the latter that fears the former rather than the contrary, as a result the country and its meagre resources are managed in a manner characterized by a tendency to think in the short term and to exclude the masses.

The second event occurred this week end as my friend Daniel “Danou” Boteti , the Vice-President of the Kinshasa Provincial Government, was shot down by soldiers in the Ngaliema municipality. Danou four months shy of his 30th birthday leaves behind two children and a pregnant wife. What is revolting about his death is that his murderers; troops belonging to the Republican Guard, that is the President’s Praetorian guard, have been known to wreak havoc in the same neighbourhood for at least as long as I have been here, beside Danou at least 4 people I know have been attacked by these thugs in the past 6 months, the security services believe that they kill at least two people per day. Yet nothing has been done to stop them, we all try to arrange our lives in such a way that we won’t be caught outside our own neighbourhood between the hours of 10 PM and 5 AM. So the people do not demand that this situation be resolved and the authorities do not act on it, rather the presidency asks members of his cabinet to move out of the neighbourhood. Thus in an extraordinary show of incompetence the Government acknowledges its inability to secure a suburb in the capital city, we acknowledge the inadequacy and incapacity of our own agency and therefore we do nothing.

This is why we must rethink the Congo, we must engrain in our society a belief in self-help and self reliance, we must awaken from our collective slumber and ask ourselves what we can do, individually, to make our country better, Kabila’s departure like Mobutu’s will not be the answer, it is up to us all to create the conditions that can allow a just, peaceful and prosperous society to flourish and this we the people, and only we the people, can do for our country.