Congo DRC: A Country cursed by natural resources

As I wrote in a short story about Congo, the line about following the money does not seem to be very distant. Even if we go back as far as 1885 the main reason for the problems has been Congo's natural resources. It would be very naive to think that money and outside powers intrests are not the main drivers of the continued instability Congo faces, even as I write this today.

1885 - 1908 Congo Free State
King Leopold II created the Congo Free State as his private possession, his private playgarden through the creation of a dummy NGO with him as the sole shareholder. Mainly to exploit the country on its Rubber. About 10 million people died either of deceases or due to the practice of chopping of peoples legs if they could not harvest rubber fast enough for his taste.

Rubber mainly exported to USA and a few other Car producing countries, as rubber tires is the invention of the day. This in addition to other inventions which came with rubber. Hoses, Insulation for electical wires and so forth.

1908 - 1960 Belgian Congo
The Belgian government was more or less forced by the international community to annex the Congo Free state as the cruelty of Leopolds management was far beyond what could be accepted at the time.

The Belgians built up a society of expats in Congo who ran the country and exploited the countrys resources. The Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs are built with Congolese Uranium and a large part of the US cold war warheads are supplied by congolese uranium. There was some people among the rulers at the time who actually wanted to raise the standard of the Congolese and make sure they could develop in a more productive way but it was voted down by a large margin. Why change a winning concept they thought.

1960 - 1961 Congo gain independence
Patrice Lumumba together with Kasavubu and Mobutu manages to gain independence and Lumumba becomes president. Unfortunately he does not manage to gain control fast enough as there are lot of parties including the Belgians who were making the changeover as difficult as possible.The Belgians had large mines in the Katanga region so they started supporting a split off of that region from the country, well knowing that it is probably the richest mining area in the Country. Lumumba was seeking US support then asks UN for support to stabilize the country but was denied in both cases. Thus he turned to the Soviets who was more than eager to help. This by default sealed his fate as the US wanted him removed by any means after that. There are traces that even the US President through CIA was planning to remove or even kill Lumumba as they claimed he was a communist. Something Lumumba denies on the strongest and history has concluded he was not. (note. seems the intelligence of USA keep repeating the same mistakes?! over and over and over)

While trying to fight the Katanga region Lumumba lost the initial battles and was deposed by Mobutu and Kasavubu and Kasavubu then took control of the Country.

1961 Lumumba is under house arrest and is later for his own protection?! flown down to Katanga. ther he was held in the hands of Belgian troops and the party he was fighting against and is executed. Years Later the Belgian government formally apologizes to the Congolese for the role they played in the assasination.

1961 UN moves in and on request of various parties attacked Katanga but the leader managed to escape to Rhodesia.

1961Dag Hammarskjoeld dies in mysterious ways while enroute to Rhodesia to negociate a seize fire with the Katanga rebel regime. (Who had most to gain from his death I wonder?! I dont believe it was an accident)

UN attacks once more in 1962 and Katanga is finally reunited with Congo again in 1963.

1965 - 1997 Congo transforms into Zaire
Mobutu takes over after a military coup and start his 30 odd years reign of terror. He is supported by USA as its suits their purpose of not allowing Congo to become a communist state and are very happy to help mine the resources as they are still in the cold war era and in need of the Uranium and other resources. Mobutu has made concessions and is not concerned about the exploitations of the country as long as he can get his share. 60% of the worlds uranium exportation takes place from Congo to USA via Belgium. 80% of the worlds Industrial Diamonds are exported from Congo. And a large amount of copper is mined and exported mainly to USA and Europe.

Already in 1965-66 L. Kabila start various rebel activities and the Chinese are very happy to support with finances as Kabila has communist ideas. There is an autonomous area around Kivu which thrives under the communist rule until 1988 when it is finally crushed. Meanwhile the Chinese has been able to exploit the area against continued support with arms and funding.
In the late 70s and early 80s Kabila meet up with Museveni, Nyerere and Kagame who are all about to become presidents are all starting to support L. Kabila. Everyone thinks Kabila is dead as he vanishes in 1988.

In 1990 with the fall of the Soviet union and end of the cold war the US regime withdraw any support of the Mobutu and his regime as it is no longer on their intrest to support him. But exploitation of the country for the resources continues at an undiminshed rate.

With the Rwanda genocide and the influx of refugees in Kivu there is a new wave of rebel activities coming in and this is supported by Kabila's friends in Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania. Behind the scenes USA is also supporting the rebel activities as Mobutu is becoming an old unpredictable dictator and change of rule is a matter of time only. At the same time it is known that USA can not trust a Kabila who in the roots leaned towards communism.

1997 Congo's First war
In 1997 Kabila finally mange to overthrow Mobutu. Unfortunately for L. Kabila he does not necessarily play the game as his supporters had planned and Rwanda, Uganda and the USA instead help fund Bemba, a new rebel leader in the Kivu area. This leads to what they call they Second Congo war.

1998 Congo's Second war
Kabila is backed by new found allies in Angola, Chad, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Sudan . A seize fire is agreed in 1998. By this time there is a large amount of various foreign troops in Eastern Congo who help to exploit the resources.

2001 Kabila is assassinated and his son takes over the presidency. UN moves in and create the MONUC to maintain the peace in the country.

2003 all countries except Rwanda agrees to remove their troops from Eastern Congo. This after more than 5 years of massive illegal expolitation of the resources. Uganda and Rwanda continue with outspoken support for the rebels in Kivu area. Due to the rich Coltan mines in the Kivu/Katanga area the support for the rebels is reaching far beyond the shores of Africa.

2007 - 2009 The third Congo war?
With about 1,5 million people suffering in the Kivu region, the findings of Oil in Kivu and continued illegal exploitation of the mines including Coltan the fuel is at the critical mass to create another full scale war in Congo. Once again the foreign policy of various countries are being heavily lobbied by commercial corporations to support one or the other side. All depending on which "horse"they think will give them the best concessions for easy access to the natural resources. Yet again the people who rightfully should be getting a share of the cake will be left out unless the World finally WAKE UP!!! and is determined to stop this slaughter of people for greed.

I have been many times to then Kivu area. It could be paradise on earth with all the beautiful nature that is there and the friendly people that you will keep running into. Yet they continue to live in despair and are just trying to survive one more day.

People are tired of having to donate to this cause yet unless the same people stand up and say enough is enough everyone will keep having to give support (weither they like it or not) so that a number of corporations and their shareholders can continue to do major profits at the expense of the people in Congo as well as from you.

People suffer - YOU pay direct or in taxes -Corporations exploit and get rich- People suffer - YOU pay - Corporations get even richer