Still Starting Over: Research on the Democratic Republic of Congo
By Steve Gleason and Robert Rozzi
The
intention of this work is to show that the Congo ideology that has been
festered came from the severe exploitation of its immensely valuable resources,
which in turn has had a profoundly detrimental effect on the maturation process
of the social classes within the republic.
Since
1999, roughly 3.5 million Congolese have been killed in war brutality that has
become to resemble a modern day holocaust.
Vicious wars, colonial paternalism, and the rampant spread of a
ridiculously vast amount of disease are to this date the only natural resources
the Congolese have been allowed to be exposed to.
Through
forced labor and price fixing the Democratic Republic of the Congo has
deteriorated into a monetary dysfunction, without remedy in sight. No economic infrastructure and no taxation
of any kind has led to there being no money for any kind of productive school
system, no money for the construction of modern roads, and no type of
facilitating proper vaccinations or necessary medical care for the Congolese.
Simply stated the Congo has zero access to the means necessary in which the
severe social underdevelopment of the nation can be reversed. The Congolese have no inheritance toward any
type of modern day amenities.
When
the Congo achieved their independence in 1960 only 8 individuals at the time
had attained college degrees. Some
forty years later, though there is a very minuscule percentage of the Congolese
population, which can experience some standard of educational exposure, for the
most part there are no opportunities for the Congolese to be able to receive
any formal education. Daily survival is
the main course for most Congolese. The
DRC is a nation where the preoccupation of the average civilian is gathering
enough cassava for their family to eat for the day.
When Africa was divided
amongst the colonial powers they paid no heed to the overtones of religion or
ethnicity, regional economic systems, local political states, etc. The effects of this partition reverberate to
this very day. These effects came to
ahead in April of 1994 in the bordering country of Rwanda. The main two ethnic groups were the Hutus
and the Tutsis. These are also the main
two ethnic groups within the Congo.
They have never had good relations in either country.
In Rwanda, the Hutus had a
majority over the Tutsis. Juveral
Habyarimana was the president in Rwanda in the early 1990’s. In October of 1990, a militia known as the
Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) attacked from neighboring Uganda. It was not a significant threat to the
stability of the country, but was considered more of a nuisance. Somewhere between 1991-1992, Habryarimana
decided to polarize ethnic groups within Rwanda into Hutus and people who
supported the RPF, which consisted of Tutsis and opposition Hutus. He drove ethnic mistrust and hatred
reminiscent of Hitler’s Germany. He
forced people in the country to register as Tutsis.
In another move reminiscent
of Nazi Germany, Habryarimana trained the youth of his party for a special
militia (not unlike the SS) called the Interhamwe (Those Who Stand Together or
more to the point, Those Who Attack Together).
In April 1994, President
Habryarimana’s plane was shot down inside the country and this spread what was
the Rwandan genocide. The assassins
were never found. Colonel Bagosura
headed a quickly formed interim government.
He quickly instituted a policy of murdering opposition Hutus, and then
eventually ALL Tutsis. He used a
platform of retaliation for past offenses by the Tutsis as justification for
murder, which would coincide, with the further entrenchment of his government.
He offered land, money, and
jobs to young men that were in the throes of poverty to help participate with
the killing. He gave them someone to
hate for their plight. He spoke of the
killing as “work” for these men, and machetes and guns as “tools”. 77% of all registered Tutsis were murdered
in the genocide.
Finally, as a result of
eventual global disapproval and the renewal of other conflicts among the Hutus
themselves, the genocide finally stopped.
Though it still reverberates today in retaliation of rebel forces in the
Congo, such as the Mai-Mai. These
groups practice ethnic cleansing in Congo cities such as Kisanghani, Shebunda,
and Lubumbashi as retaliation for genocide in 1994 up to the very minute, even
while you are reading this.
Religious
wars, rape the rampant spread of diseases, none more debilitating than A.I.D.S.
(due to the excessive raping on the part of rebel military men) have all become
the begotten child of the colonial process in Africa, which continues today.
The
problems that ravage the area known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo are
a contemporary issue of global significance, deserving serious examination and
further investigation. Western
conceptions of barbaric communities must adhere to the pressing knowledge that
the actions of our world inherently disturb the actions within the Congo.
Computers, cell phones, and video games are all byproducts of and cultural mainstays of the high-paced technologically advanced times of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Industrial super power nations around the world have developed these items into major sources of both international business and cultural habitance among the technologically advanced nation i.e. nations within both North America and Europe. The impact of such devices, and social dependency these items have generated, seems on the surface to have no significant relationship with regard to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Seemingly computers cell phones, and video games do not play a part in the everyday life of a Congolese civilian. A closer investigation however shows that the supply and demand nature of such items among the industrialized world have significantly contributed to the expanding severe social retardation of the Congo, and have in the process radically contributed to financing the continuance of war within the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A war, which has seen nearly 3.5 million people viciously, killed, while many others are left the victims of disease and or work imposed injury.
Right
now somewhere in the eastern part of the Congo a young man is busy digging,
sorting, and cleaning colombu-tantalite ore, or what is more commonly refereed
to as coltan. Coltan is a precious
hardening agent for metal used in a range of High Tech industries. Coltan coats an important component of such
electronic devices as cell phones, computers, and video games. Tantalum is essential in the manufacture of
electrical components known as pinhead capacitors. These regulate voltage and store energy in mobile phones, tens of
millions of which have sold in the past few years.
With
the demand for coltan being so high, and the presence of large deposits of the
valuable mineral found within the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
seemingly there should be a finical opportunity which would offer the
essentials of hope and peace, along with the view of prosperity, the likes of
which the Democratic Republic of the Congo has yet to been able to
conceive.
However,
coltan and the high demand for its presence around the world have had the
complete opposite effect on the Congo’s land and its people. Regional analysts agree that the
international demand for coltan has been one of the key driving forces behind
both the continuance of war in the Congo, and the environment and elephant
massacres within the northeastern area of the Democratic Republic of the
Congo. Nearly 4,000 out of the 12,000
elephants were killed in Garamba Park.
A UN panel disclosed that the elephant massacres are carried out not only
to allow easier access for coltan production, but more significantly due to the
fact that elephant tusk and meat are both sold at local market places.
Coltan
is the latest resource casualty extracted from the Congo to meet the needs of
the industrialized, imperialistic superpowers of the world. The presence of coltan within the Congo has
created the sense of a “gold rush” of sorts with a continuance of bandit like
acts and hostile type takeovers.
The
process of producing coltan starts out by groups of men digging in areas where
metallic tantalum (key element in capacitors) is found. The young men toss it up into the air as if
they were winnowing rice. Then they
sort it with magnetic tweezers to eliminate any particles of iron ore. It is then washed, crushed manually in a big
pestle and mortar, and tested again for iron ore before being fed into a
photospectrometer to test its tantalum content.
Seems
like a simple enough procedure. Even
though the manufacturing and retail of coltan seems less than legit, coltan
seems to be on the surface an endless opportunity for the Congolese to make
some economic improvements, and a useable tool for social betterment. However, like in so many other previous
cases, the Congolese civilians share little in the benefits of containing such
a useful commodity. In the matter of
coltan, and other such natural resources, the Congolese are exploited from, and
put very much in harms way of rebel armies.
The conflict in the Congo of rival rebel armies and
divided territorial boundaries, which Rwandans, Ugandans, and Burundi armies
surround, is fueled very much by the abundant supply of minerals, which
dominate the region. Foreign armies
exploit diamonds, copper, cobalt, gold, and the aforementioned coltan in a
systematic and systemic way. Private
companies based within North America and Europe forever fuel the conflict by
trading wealth or arms for the natural resources or by facilitating access to
funds for weapon purchase. Thus is the
procedure of exploiting the Congo of whatever grows within. Wherever the presence of coltan, there is
the presence of a rebel militia. Rebel
armies force civilians to mine for coltan while they steal all the profits from
the Congolese civilians. In one way or
another the riches and benefits it provides wined up in the hands of rebel
armies.
The
RCD, Congolese Rally for Democracy, is one particular rebel army who happens to
dominate the great coltan rush. The RCD
relay the coltan to the motley functioning airport, which happens to be under
the control of the Rwandans.
Since
Rwanda controls the airport they essentially control the sale of all coltan to
outside nations. What makes groups like
the RCD important are that not only do they gather and preside over the
production of coltan, they also keep other rebel forces such as the Hutu
militia out of the way of the their rival Rwanda counterparts. Because of their efforts the RCD is rewarded
with a small portion of what is economically generated from the coltan
business.
For Rwanda, the DRC is too
big a cash cow to ignore. They have
looted and sold the Congo’s natural resources at an unprecedented manor. However it is only possible with the
continued cooperation of multi-International corporations based within North
America and Europe. At the height of
coltan production and sale, Rwandan groups could earn as much as up to $250
million within a year and a half. In
turn the RCD could expect to gain about a million dollars worth of profit a
month. Those members of the RCD are not
paid, however, in replacement military men are essentially given a license to
live off the land. What results are
military men having authority to basically rape, pillage, and kill within the
Congo. The greater the production of
coltan the greater the benefits the military are rewarded. With that kind of incentive rebel groups
like the RCD are in the business of working the Congolese to death. Also because of the authoritarian lifestyle
that the military man encapsulates, the spread of disease in the form of HIV,
or A.I.D.S. is at epidemic proportions because of rampart raping of female
Congolese. Living off the land is a
practice that has a 150-year history behind it.
For
more than 100 years Europe and the United States have been taking Congolese products,
using them, selling them, and reaping all of the external benefits while the
Democratic Republic of the Congo remains savagely poor. It is a severely lopsided illegitimate
business practice, which allowed African armies to pillage the Congolese. This however, is a system, which was devised
by King Leopold II of Belgium within the 19th century.
King Leopold II stationed
white officers to lead black soldiers to work for a commission for all the
ivory and rubber they could send back.
This gave all the incentive to just as the RCD today work the Congolese
to death. It was a dirty, nasty system
then, and remains so 150 years later.
In
the Democratic Republic of the Congo natural resources are abundant, and
seemingly meant to benefit all those around the DRC except the DRC itself. Those natural resources generate money from
industrialized, wealthy nations. That
money generates the spread of weopentry for rebel armies to get a hold of which
helps to promote the continuance of violent eruptions between rebels armies of
the area. A feed and distribute cycle
which only contains severe detrimental overtones.
And
at the heart of this nasty system are helpless Congolese who are both exploited
and socially retarded at the benefit of others. It is an old practice with a common theme. Those attributes and natural resources which
should only provide the Democratic Republic of the Congo with economic
stability and overall social betterment, are used at their cost, used by others
while the Congolese are left with their continued struggle for cultural and
social development and modernity.
Groups
such as the Security Council, and The World Conservation Union have publicly,
and more importantly internationally criticized the business practices of
multi-International companies with regard to the Democratic Republic of the
Congo. However, the possibility that
production and sale of coltan can somehow shift in favor of the Congolese is
seemingly unapproachable at the present moment. Critical investigations and severe sanctions are necessary for
culminating the end of this heinous cycle.
A cycle where everytime a cell phone goes off or a computer turns on,
the war in the DRC continues.
While
the outrageous human atrocities which have befallen onto Africa seem like
pressing, news worthy material, it seems as though major national media outlets
of the colonial powers that be, have no interest in informing the on goings
happening in Congo to the public.
Serious neglect to these issues are based upon “national interest”,
where it may serve a superpower better to neglect or abandon the situation in
the Congo because the diamond trading business might come under some sort of
attack or the price of coltan might somehow become less of a convenience.
Right
now as you read over this work, a Congolese mother has just experienced the
death her newborn infant. Right now as
you read over this work another young female in the Congo has contracted the
A.I.D.S. virus because she was either the helpless victim of rape conducted by a
member of some rebel military group, or through biological inheritance from her
mother. Right now because of diamond
trading and the production of coltan a Congolese young man has just been robbed
and or killed for his profits by any number of rebel forces. Right now there is war in the Congo. Right now natural resources that fill the
Congo, are being extracted by nations that have the power to not only influence
rebel forces to deal with them, but also have the power to keep the
exploitation under the heaviest of blanketed coverage. Right now the Democratic republic of the
Congo are stuck in the middle of an endless vicious cycle, where their
neighbors gain off the riches that grow within the land.
The
Congolese have been the victims of countless number of atrocities. The only hope for these people to reverse
the current social circumstances is for the Congo to start reaping the benefits
of their many wondrous resources. The
Congo holds 6% of the world’s rain forest, and a countless supply of valuable
minerals that serve extremely valuable services for industrialized
nations. It is time for the Congo to
start getting what it deserves. Serious
global attention, and moralistic business treatment from the likes of North
America and Europe. The exploitation
that King Leopold II conducted during the 19th century has yet to
cease. People must become aware that
engagement rings, cellular phones, and many other modern type amenities are
covered with the blood of the Congolese.
The
Congolese are no less tangible than their western counterparts. Basic human rights should be for all. It is time for the killing to end in the
Congo. The exploitation conducted by
neighboring nations must halt immediately.
The Congolese are people and should be granted the universal human
dignity in which they deserve. “The
White Man’s Burden”, is nonexistent, what does exist is “The Black Man’s
Burden”. The burden has been festered
and nurtured because of the ill-moralistic nature of imperialistic colonial
powers that continue to grow and prosper at the expense of the continuing time
honored practice of dehumanizing those nations who have fallen victim into a
vicious cycle of inhumane degradation.
Country Official Name: Democratic Republic of the Congo
Geography:
Area Location: Central
Africa
Area Size: total:
2,345,410 sq.km; land: 2,267,600
sq.km; water: 77,810 sq.km
National Facts:
Capitol: Kinshasa
Government type: Republic
Political Leaders: Joseph
Kabila, president; Likulia Bolongo, Prime Minister
Independence achievement: 30 June 1960 (From Belgium)
Constitution: Drafted
June 24, 1967; revised in 1978,
amended in 1974 and 1990
GDP-composition by sector: agriculture:
(58%), industry: (17%), services (25%)
Population Statistics:
Population: 53,624,718
Birth rate: 46.02
births/ 1,000 population
Infant Mortality rate: 99.88 deaths/ 1,000 births
Average life Span: total
population: 48.94; males: 46.96 females: 50.98
HIV/AIDS-adults: 5.07%
HIV/ AIDS-children: Not
available
Education:
Languages:
Religions:
Religion: Roman Catholicism (50%), Protestant (20%), Kimbanguist (10%), other syncretic sects and indigenous beliefs
·
1500s-1800s—Portuguese
and other European traders purchase black African slaves from regional leaders.
·
1885—The
Congo Free State is formed as King Leopold II of Belgium personal colonial
property.
·
1908—Under
heavy criticism the Congo Free State formerly becomes the Belgian Congo.
·
1920s-1940s—The
colony’s natural resources bring in great wealth and abundance to European
beneficiaries.
·
June
30, 1960—Responding to an independence drive sweeping Africa, the Republic of
the Congo gains their independence from Belgium.
·
July
5, 1960—The army mutinies and Katanga province (currently known as Shaba)
secedes. The United Nations sends
troops to protect Europeans and maintain order.
·
1960—Joseph Kasavubu becomes President, and
Patrice Lumumba becomes Prime Minister.
·
September
14, 1960—Colonel Joseph Desire Mobutu arrests Patrice Lumumba. Lumumba, a major source of Congolese pride
and prosperity, is handed over to Katanga rebels.
·
1961—Patrice
Lumumba is assassinated. (Evidence
later emerged connecting Mobutu and the United States Central Intelligence
Agency to Lumumba’s murder)
·
August
1964—The nation is renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
·
November
25, 1965—Mobutu stages a coup. He
declares himself president and cancels upcoming elections.
·
May
21, 1970—Mobutu establishes his Popular Movement of the Revolution (MPR) as the
only political party with the DRC.
Membership is required. In a
one-candidate race Mobutu is elected President.
·
October
27, 1971—Mobutu changes the DRC name once again and renames it the Republic of
Zaire.
·
1970s—Zairian
economy crumbles, while Mobutu and his officers grow rich off wealth generated
by the country’s affluent supply of natural resources.
·
1970s—Two
rebel attempts to kill Mobutu are denied.
·
March
8, 1977—Former Katangan secessionist invade Shaba from Angola. Mobutu dissolves of the incident with the
help of troops from Morocco and military assistance from Western allies,
including the U.S. and France.
·
1980s—Living
standards within the nation drops a mist political pressure to build an
autocratic government. Rebel forces
(Mai-Mai, and the Hutu) grow in stature.
·
April
24, 1990—Mobutu, under pressure from opposition, announces the creation of a
multiparty democratic system.
·
September
29, 1991—Mobutu forms a coalition government, with UDPS leader Etienne
Tshisekedi as premier. He is fired
October 20th.
·
November
14, 1992—Multiparty conference led by Tshisekedi, adopt a constitution, setting
up a bicameral parliament and a system of universal suffrage to select the
president. Tshisekedi would remain
premier of the nation until 1994.
·
1994—Some
1.3 million ethnic Hutus flee Rwanda’s civil war and immigrate to Zaire. Many Hutu militants who were responsible for
Rwanda’s genocidal killings.
·
October
1996—Ethnic Tutsis in Zaire revolt. Led
by Laurent Kabila and with the support of neighboring countries, the revolt
grows into an anti-Mobutu rebellion.
Mobutu emigrates to his villa in France.
·
May
16, 1997—With his army in place, Kabila takes Kinshasa; Mobutu relinquishes
power and fled the capital. Mobutu left
the country the next day to begin his life in exile. Kabila declares himself head of state and changes the name of the
country back to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
·
1999—Continued
violence and sporadic war stemming from a continued civil war.
·
2000—Widespread
disease and violence plague the Congo a mist continuing war, while North
American and European industrial imperialistic super powers extricate and
exploit the Congo of all their natural resources.
·
January
2001—Laurent Kabila is assassinated; his son Joseph Kabila is named head of
state.
·
February
2002—A volcanic eruption wracks the DRC and causes severe structural damage on
both an economic and social scale.
·
2002—War
continues to ravish the Congo. Natural
resources continued to be extracted by world superpowers. The spread of disease is as rampart as ever.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is still starting over.
With that said, there was an
extremely implausible, yet tremendously impressive television investigation
facilitated by the news program “Night Line” with Ted Copel. The program was stationed with the Congo for
a week’s time and aired five episodes all of which were dedicated and concentrated
to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. What resulted was some of the greatest television journalism that
has ever been aired. The program took
a critical view at the situation within the Congo with consideration to human
rights, business policy, and American government intervenes. It was a highly enlightening and stimulating
examination into the crucial circumstances that surround the everyday life
of the Congolese.
The Western world is highly ignorant to the inhumane
everyday atrocities that threaten the lives of millions of Congolese each
day. With national media coverage
severely lacking, and with both governmental and business policy stationed
with their relationship with the nation, there seems to be no answer into
releasing critical information to the masses of the West.
1.) WWW.Congo2000.com
2.) Herities.org
3.) Mediascongolias.com
4.) Cristianscience.news
5.) CIA
– The World Factbook – Congo, Democratic Republic of the… .. http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/cg.html
6.)
E-Commerce
News: Cell Phones, Elephants and War…… http://www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/9446.html
7.)
BBC
News; Africa; Congo’s Coltan rush….. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/africa/newsid_1468000/1468772.stm
8.)
Modern
History Sourcebook: Edward Morel: Black Man’s Burden 1903….. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1903blackburden.html
9.)
Modern
History Sourcebook: Rudyard Kipling, The White Man’s Burden, 1899….. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/kipling.html
10.) American
Broadcast Company; “NightLine; The Heart of Darkness”, Ted Koppel, executive
producer; Tom Betlag
1.)
“King
Leopold’s Ghost; A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa” author; Adam Hochschild
2.)
“The
Poisonwood Bible” author; Barbara
Kingsolver
3.)
“Killing
Hope” author; Willium Blum
4.)
“Facing
the Congo; A Modern Day Journey into the Heart of Darkness”
Author; Jeffrey Tayler
5.)
“In
the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in Mobutu’s Congo”
author; Michael Wrong
6.)
“The
Assassination of Lumumba” author;
Ludo De Witte