Yus This article was very educative. I did not realize hoe deeply involvved USAas with Congo then . Noo wonnder Mobutu ended where he deserves and thannk Good for his end. habib >From: "Yusupha C. Jow" <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list ><[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: THE WESTERN HEART OF DARKNESS >Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2002 16:59:36 EST > >By Asad Ismi > >Rarely has Western savagery been more destructive than in the Congo. After >115 years of Belgian colonialism and U.S. neo-colonialism, the Democratic >Republic of Congo (DRC) today is a war-ravaged, balkanized country where an >incredible 2.5 million people have died and 2.3 million have been >displaced. >Oxfam calls this "the world's biggest humanitarian disaster." The >catastrophic war which began in August 1998 has been imposed on the >long-suffering Congolese by U.S. proxies Rwanda and Uganda, which have >occupied the eastern half of the Congo and are plundering and looting it, >with most of the proceeds going to the West. > >King Leopold and the CIA >Genocide and plunder have been Western policy towards the mineral-rich >Congo >since the Berlin Conference of 1885 when European nations divided Africa >between them, and King Leopold II of Belgium got the Congo as his personal >property. >Ten million Congolese were killed under Belgian rule, which lasted until >1960. The Congo's population was cut in half. Belgian domination was marked >by slavery, forced labour, and torture aimed at extracting the maximum >amount >of ivory and rubber from the Central African country. The people of the >Congo >"probably suffered more than any other colonized group." Their hands were >cut >off for not working hard enough, and on one day 1,000 severed hands were >delivered in baskets to an official. Women were kidnapped to force their >husbands to collect rubber sap, and Congolese were shot for sport. > >These atrocities were documented by George Washington Williams, an >African-American visiting the Congo, who invented the term "crimes against >humanity" to describe them. > >The U.S. took over the Congo from Belgium in 1960-61 in a bloody coup, >after >the CIA arranged the murder of Patrice Lumumba, the country's first elected >leader. In his place, the CIA installed its paid agent, Colonel Mobutu Sese >Seko, who continued the looting and killing started by King Leopold for >another 37 years. > >The U.S. considered the socialist Lumumba to be pro-Soviet, and President >Eisenhower himself approved his assassination. The CIA sent Sidney >Gottlieb, >its top scientist (under the code name "Joe from Paris"), to the Congo with >deadly biological toxins to use on Lumumba. This particular assassination >plot failed, but Lumumba was killed by Mobutu's troops on January 17, 1961. > >Until his ouster in 1997, Mobutu was Africa's most brutal and corrupt >ruler. >He massacred and tortured thousands of people, and plundered his country >with >U.S. backing. From 1965 to 1991, Zaire (as Mobutu renamed the Congo) got >more >than $1.5 billion in U.S. economic and military aid. In return, U.S. >multinational corporations were given much larger shares of Zaire's >abundant >minerals. > >Washington justified its hold on the Congo with the pretext of >anti-Communism, but its real interests were strategic and economic. The >Congo >borders nine African states and, in terms of mineral wealth, it is the >richest country in Africa, holding the world's biggest copper, cobalt and >cadmium deposits. The Congo contains 80% of the world's cobalt (essential >for >jet aviation, defense, and other high-tech production), 10% of its copper, >and one-third of its diamonds, in addition to possessing considerable >reserves of gold, uranium and manganese. Other resources include coltan >(used >in cell phones, jet engines and fibre optics), timber, oil, coffee, tin, >zinc, and palm oil. > >A Balkanized Congo >Mobutu's unlimited greed was his undoing. As long as he shared the looting >with the U.S., Belgian, French, British, Dutch, and other Western >corporations which dominated the Zairian economy, the U.S. supported him. >But, as one observer put it, "when he kept too much for himself and became >an >embarrassment, the U.S. was ready to see him overthrown." >In October 1996, the Rwandan army, along with Ugandan troops, invaded Zaire >and by May 1997 had taken over the country and forced Mobutu to flee. To >give >the invasion the cover of a local rebellion, the Tutsi Rwandan forces >called >themselves the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of >Congo-Zaire (ADFL), and recruited Laurent Kabila, an exiled Congolese >Marxist >opponent of Mobutu's, as a figurehead leader. > >As The Wall Street Journal put it, "Many Africans [concluded that] the >Zairian rebellion was the brainchild of Washington from the very start." >Rwanda and Uganda are the U.S.'s "staunchest allies in the region." Paul >Kagame, the Rwandan leader, was trained at the U.S. Army Command and >General >Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. U.S. Special Forces had been >training the Rwandan army since 1994 in counterinsurgency, combat and >psychological operations. This included instructions about fighting in >Zaire. > >Rwandan soldiers were also trained at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in >July-August 1996 (just before the invasion), in land navigation, rifle >marksmanship, patrolling, and small-unit leadership. Also in August 1996, >Kagame visited Washington to discuss his concerns about Hutu refugee camps >in >eastern Zaire with U.S. officials. The Hutus are the majority ethnic group >in >Rwanda (85%), while Tutsis make up the other 15%. > >In April 1994, the Hutu government unleashed a genocide that killed 800,000 >Tutsis and 50,000 Hutus in 89 days. Kagame's Tutsi rebel force, the Rwanda >Patriotic Army (RPA), then invaded Rwanda from Uganda and took power. A >million Hutus fled to eastern Zaire. Kagame considered the Hutu refugee >camps >a "dangerous threat to his regime" because Hutu militia who had carried out >the genocide were among the refugees. > >As one observer put it, "it was clear to the U.S...that Kagame was prepared >to act and that this was certainly in the U.S. government's interest.." >Once >the Rwandans had installed Kabila in power, however, his relations with >them >quickly deteriorated. In July 1998, Kabila expelled Rwandan and Ugandan >forces from the Congo. He cited as his reasons a failed assassination >attempt >against him, and the Rwandan army's killings of Hutu refugees. > >On August 2, Rwanda and Uganda invaded the Congo and occupied its eastern >half, where they remain today, having set up surrogate "rebel" armies >called >Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD-Goma, created by Rwanda) and the >Movement >for the Liberation of the Congo (MLC, created by Uganda). Angola, Zimbabwe >and Namibia sent their armies to support Kabila, and Burundi joined the >Rwandans and Ugandans. Thus began "Africa's First World War," involving >seven >armies, which has killed 2.5 million people and further devastated a >country >crushed by more than a century of Western domination. > >This domination is being continued through Washington's use of Rwanda and >Uganda to partition the Congo and loot its resources. The U.S. backed the >Rwandan/Ugandan invasion of the Congo, according to Human Rights Watch. The >Washington Post has reported that U.S. soldiers were sighted in the company >of Rwandan troops in the Congo on July 23 and 24, 1998. > >Susan Rice, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, >pressured >Kabila into signing the Lusaka Accord, which treated the conflict as a >civil >war and called for a step-by-step withdrawal of foreign troops (in 180 >days), >rather than an immediate one. The result is a partitioned Congo, with >Rwanda >and Uganda still occupying the eastern half, having ignored all deadlines >for >leaving. The ceasefire is regularly violated. > >Kabila accepted the Lusaka Accord only because of the implicit U.S. threat >that "refusal would be met by even greater assistance to the rebels and the >potential dismantling of the entire country." This message was dramatically >reinforced on January 17, 2001, when Laurent Kabila himself was >assassinated >on the same day that Lumumba had been, 40 years earlier. Joseph Kabila, >Laurent's son, took over as President. Thus the U.S. has ensured continued >Western dominance of the Congo by destroying the country itself as it >existed >when Mobutu was overthrown. > >Just as in the Berlin Conference of 1885, the West is again redrawing the >Congo's boundaries, and this process is once more accompanied by plunder >and >large-scale killing. > >Armies of Business >According to a UN report released in April 2001, Rwanda and Uganda are >looting and plundering the resources of the eastern Congo and illegally >exporting them to the West. The eastern Congo contains most of the >country's >minerals. The report, titled "Report of the Panel of Experts on the Illegal >Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the >Democratic >Republic of the Congo," details "mass-scale looting" and extraction carried >out by Rwanda, Uganda, and Burundi in the occupied zones between September >1998 and August 1999. >During this time, the eastern Congo was "drained of existing stockpiles, >including minerals, agricultural and forest products and livestock." >Rwandan, >Ugandan and Burundian soldiers visited banks, factories, farms, and storage >facilities to remove their contents and load them into vehicles. In >November >1998, the Rwandan army transported seven years' worth of coltan stock >(about >1,500 tons) to Kigali (Rwanda's capital). > >Following the looting of stockpiles, Rwanda and Uganda have been extracting >diamonds, gold, coltan, timber and coffee from the eastern Congo and >illegally exporting these products to the West. Rwanda has made US$250 >million in 18 months from coltan exports alone. According to The Christian >Science Monitor, every day cargo flights full of diamonds, gold and palm >oil >leave the Congo for Kigali and Kampala (Uganda's capital). Seven to ten >such >daily flights come into Kigali. Most of their cargo is loaded onto planes >bound for Europe. > >Diamond exports from Rwanda and Uganda to the West have soared since 1998, >yet neither country has any diamond mines within its own borders. During >1999-2000, Uganda exported US$3 million worth of diamonds. Diamond dealers >in >the Congo provide US$2 million a year to the Rwandan army. > >The looting and extraction of resources has been accompanied by the >"constitution of criminal cartels" in occupied areas, created or protected >by >top military commanders. The UN report blames Presidents Kagame and >Museveni >(of Uganda) for "indirectly giving criminal cartels a unique opportunity to >organize and operate in this fragile and sensitive area." The document >warns >that these cartels, which have "ramifications and connections >worldwide...represent the next serious security problem in the region." > >Significantly, the UN report points out that the illegal exploitation of >the >eastern Congo has been abetted by Western companies, governments, >multilateral institutions, and diplomats. Rwanda's coltan exports are >transported by Sabena, the Belgian national airline, while Citibank carries >out the required financial transactions. > >Ramnik Kotecha, the U.S. Honourary Consul in the eastern Congo, promotes >deals between Rwandan coltan sellers and U.S. companies. Uncertified timber >from occupied Congo has been imported by companies in Belgium, Denmark, >Japan, Switzerland, and the U.S. Western governments rewarded Rwanda for >invading the Congo by doubling aid to the country from $26.1 million in >1997 >to $51.5 million in 1999. The U.S., Britain, Denmark and Germany were the >bilateral donors. Rwanda could thus spend more money on the war. > >The UN report also lists 35 companies illegally importing minerals from the >eastern Congo through Rwanda, but does not give the national origin of >these >companies. Instead, the report specifies the destination of the material. >Twenty-six of the companies' destinations are in the West. The firms >include >Cogem, Transintra, Issa, Finconcorde, Cogecom, Tradement, MDW, Sogem, >Soger, >Cogea, Finiming, Cicle, Eagleswing, Union-Transport, and Banro Resources, a >Canadian company. Ten of the 35 companies are importing coltan to Belgium; >three are importing the same resource to the Netherlands, three to Germany, >two to Britain, and one to Switzerland. > >Along with plundering the eastern Congo, Rwanda and Uganda have committed >"devastating human rights abuses," according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). >The >Rwandan army and RCD Goma "have regularly slaughtered civilians in >massacres >and extrajudicial executions," as well as tortured and raped villagers. As >Alison Des Forges of HRW put it in April 2001, "While Ugandan commanders >were >plundering gold, looting timber, exporting coffee and controlling illicit >trade monopolies in the Ituri district, their troops were killing and >otherwise abusing the local population." > >Uganda's encouragement of (and participation in) fighting between the Hema >and Lendu ethnic groups has resulted in 7,400 deaths. Human rights >violations >are widespread on the Congolese government side, as well, including >"indiscriminate attacks on civilians, extrajudicial executions [and] rape." > >Kabila's allies, Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia, are also profiting from the >war. However, the Kabila regime itself cannot be accused of being a foreign >military occupier; nor did it initiate the current war. > >Canadian companies >Also benefiting from the war are ten Canadian mining companies with >investments in the Congo. These are: Barrick Gold, American Mineral Fields >(AMF), Tenke Mining, Banro Resource, Consolidated Trillion, First Quantum >Minerals, International Panorama Resource, Melkior Resources, Samax Gold, >and >Starpoint Goldfields. These companies have been awarded valuable >concessions >in mining copper, cobalt, gold, platinum and zinc deposits. >Even before Laurent Kabila came to power, he had signed deals with AMF and >Tenke Mining. In March 1997, Jean Raymond Boulle, founder of AMF, signed a >$1 >billion agreement with Kabila's rebel army to develop a zinc mine at >Kipushi, >and a cobalt venture in Kolwezi; Boulle also received approval to sell >diamonds in Shaba province. As part of these arrangements, Boulle lent >Kabila >a leased jet. > >In early 1997, Kabila sent a representative to Toronto to speak to mining >companies about "investment opportunites." According to Dale Grant, editor >of >Defence Policy Review, this trip "may have raised as much as $50 million to >support Kabila's march on the capital of Kinshasa." > >On May 12, 1997, Tenke Mining announced that it had signed a deal with >Kabila >confirming the terms of a contract the company had previously signed with >Mobutu's government in November 1996. At this point, Kabila had not yet >taken >power. The urgent need to finance the war had compelled the Congo >government >to reach quick agreements with mining companies over exploration rights. >The >companies can thus gain resources for less than they would in peace >conditions. > >According to The Christian Science Monitor, Laurent Kabila "adopted a >circle >of Canadian advisers." One of the members of this "Congo inner circle" was >Joe Clark, leader of the Progressive Conservative Party and former Canadian >Prime Minister. In the mid-1990s, Clark became First Quantum Mineral's >special adviser on Africa. He stated: "The government of Congo knows that, >if >it's going to make progress quickly in terms of using assets that create >jobs, mining is more likely to do it than other sectors." > >Barrick Gold and Banro hold mining properties in eastern Congo under >Rwandan/Ugandan control. Banro has 47 mining concessions in Sud Kivu and >Maniema provinces, while Barrick got exploration and exploitation rights to >"a huge tract of land" (82,000 sq.km) in Orientale province. As reported in >Le Monde Diplomatique, Barrick and Banro have been accused of "funding >military operations in exchange for lucrative contracts." > >Banro is also included in the UN list of companies involved in the illegal >exploitation of the eastern Congo. The company is importing cassiterites >(tin >ores) from the rebel area into Canada. > >Heart of Darkness >The destruction of the Congo says much more about the West than it does >about >the Central African country. It reveals most clearly that the West is >guilty >of participation in a criminal enterprise, the prosperity of which is based >on the genocide of Third World people and the theft of their resources. >The Congo is perhaps the worst example of this ruthless form of >exploitation, >but the West has followed the same policy in Asia, Africa and Latin America >for centuries. In this sense, Western countries can be likened to an >international Mafia led by a "godfather" (the United States government) for >whom no amount of wealth, stolen or extorted from others, is ever enough. > >Today, the direct perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide are being tried in >Tanzania. But the Western political and business leaders responsible for >more >than a century of genocide and plunder in the Congo are not being put on >trial, or even accused. Their horrendous crimes against humanity continue >to >go unpunished. > >(Asad Ismi - [log in to unmask] - is a free-lance researcher who specializes >in >foreign investment and human rights issues. He dedicates this article to >the >memory of Patrice Lumumba.) >Taken from The CCPA Monitor, October 2001 >http://www.policyalternatives > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > >To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L >Web interface >at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html >To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: >[log in to unmask] > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HDG _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~