Nov 18, 2008
November 2008 was the
100-year anniversary of the Congo's conversion from the personal property
of Belgian King Leopold II to a colonial possession of Belgium, itself.
The King's brutal rule, documented in Leopold's Ghost, embarrassed
the Belgians into switching "landlords" in 1908, but did little
to ease the colonial burden on the Congolese people.
Between the European
powers Berlin meeting that divided up Africa in 1885 and 1908, Belgium's
Leopold II accumulated spectacular wealth for himself while an estimated
10-million Congolese died. Even more died before Congo finally
got its independence on June 30, 1960. But, real independence
has never arrived in the Congo, and foreign military and economic
powers still control its destiny today! In 2008, Leopold's
"Ghost" has been replaced by the United States and the United Kingdom,
and surrogate-armies led by Rwanda's Paul Kagame and Uganda's Yoweri
Musveni, as documented by reports commissioned by the UN Security Council
more than 5 years ago....that the U.S. press has studiously ignored.
U.S. neo-colonial influence
in Congo can be traced to the years just after nominal "independence,"
when Patrice Lumumba, its first democratically-elected prime minister,
was assassinated by a western-backed "anti-communist" coup on January
17, 1961. Belgium apologized for its role in 2002 , but despite exposes
like A Legacy of Ashes, the CIA history
published last year that documents CIA crimes in the Congo, and elsewhere,
the U.S. still downplays its role in assassinating Lumumba, and backing
the "anti-communist" dictator-criminal Mobutu Sese Seko for more
than 3 decades...until he was overthrown in 1997 by a U.S./U.K. sponsored
invasion from Rwanda and Uganda, after the Soviet Union's collapse
made him expendable.
During a lull in the
fighting in the Congo, the UN Security Council commissioned detailed
reports in 2001, 2002 and 2003 that document how the 1996 Ugandan/Rwandan
military-invasion overthrew of Mobutu, put Laurent Kabila in power in
1997 and unleashed an ongoing resource war, when Kabila tried to reclaim
the resource-rich eastern Congo from his erstwhile "allies." That
war eventually brought Angola, Zimbabwe and other nations to the defense
of the Congo's territory in what became known the First "World
War of Africa." Since the 1996 invasion, the Congo has lost an estimated
6 million men, women and children, and the Rwanda/Uganda sponsored war
continues today.
As central Africa teeters
on the edge of another conflagration that threatens to touch off a
Second "World War of Africa" even the New York Times is reporting
that the increasing violence is based in a grab for resources.
But, what has not been reported is that, more
than 5 years ago, at least 3 UN Security Council-commissioned reports
submitted over 3 separate years, identified the resource-grab by Rwandan
and Ugandan elites as the main source of violence and death in the Congo.
Each nation's capital has become the largest trading centers for riches
that don't exist in either country, but exist in great plenty in the
eastern Congo.
The UN reports describe
how elites, related to government and military leaders in Rwanda and
Uganda, are gorging themselves on the riches stolen from the areas
under the control or their armies or their surrogates. For example,
according to the UN reports Rwanda controls an area of the Congo more
than 15-times its national territory.
The map of central Africa
shows Rwanda and Uganda as smallish "bumps" on the backside of the
Congo, a country the size of Western Europe. Uganda's population
is only about 35 million and Rwanda's no more than about 8 million...but
they have both managed to sustain a 12-year war of occupation
in vast areas of the eastern Congo, and have threatened to take control
of the entire country.
The Iraq and Afghanistan
wars have taught the American people just how expensive wars of aggression
and occupation really are. The occupation of the Congo has lasted
nearly twice as long as George Bush's wars, which means that
either the wars are very, very profitable, or the Ugandan and
Rwandan militaries are getting support from outside central Africa...or
both.
The 2001-03 UN-commissioned
reports document just how lucrative the Congo invasion and occupation
has been for its Rwandan and Ugandan sponsors....but it also helps to
know, as reported by the U.K. Telegraph, that Uganda is one of
the largest recipients of U.K military and economic aid on the African
continent. And, Rwandan President Kagame was trained by the U.S.
Army at Ft. Leavenworth and that Rwanda has been Africa's largest
per capita recipient of U.S. military and economic aid. The
Rwandan army has grown from 7,000 troops when Kagame invaded Rwanda
from Uganda in 1990 to between 70,000 to 100,000 troops today. Rwandan
and Ugandan troops and private military contractors are in Darfur, Somalia
and part of the 180,000 "civilians" assisting the U.S. military
in Iraq.
Only the United
States and United Kingdom (not the UN or the "international community")
have the power to stop the killing in the Congo by removing support
for the military and economic crimes of their allies. But, in addition
to direct governmental support, as we know from the movie "Blood Diamonds,"
cutting off the private capital that also fuels Africa's wars
is also necessary. But, if the well-documented governmental and
private Anglo-American interests in central Africa stop turning a blind-eye
to the crimes being committed by their surrogates....that supply "blood"-coltan
for cellphones, "blood"-gold, diamonds, tin and bauxite to North
American and European markets, and proxy-troops in Africa and Iraq,
the "puppet-combatants" would be unable to continue a large-scale
war for very long.
Europe had its own 100-year
war, and the Congo has already experienced an African variation with
a century of European assistance. But, at the dawn of the 21st
Century, the British and Americans can prevent what promises
to be a 200-year genocide in the Congo and central Africa....but only
if they choose to admit their complicity, and end it!
President Obama has many
difficult challenges indeed....but his capacity for deeper understanding
of neo-colonial manipulations in Africa than any U.S. president before
him presents the possibility
that he could emerge as a peacemaker in Africa on a scale that could
even exceed the contributions of Nelson Mandela, and ensure Obama's
place in world history. The question is whether he will have the
wisdom, strength and courage to finally put Leopold's neo-colonial
"Ghost" in its well-deserved grave....and, whether the Pentagon
and U.S. economic interests will permit him to bury U.S. neo-colonialism
in Africa, once and for all.
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November 2008 was the
100-year anniversary of the Congo's conversion from the personal property
of Belgian King Leopold II to a colonial possession of Belgium, itself.
The King's brutal rule, documented in Leopold's Ghost, embarrassed
the Belgians into switching "landlords" in 1908, but did little
to ease the colonial burden on the Congolese people.
Between the European
powers Berlin meeting that divided up Africa in 1885 and 1908, Belgium's
Leopold II accumulated spectacular wealth for himself while an estimated
10-million Congolese died. Even more died before Congo finally
got its independence on June 30, 1960. But, real independence
has never arrived in the Congo, and foreign military and economic
powers still control its destiny today! In 2008, Leopold's
"Ghost" has been replaced by the United States and the United Kingdom,
and surrogate-armies led by Rwanda's Paul Kagame and Uganda's Yoweri
Musveni, as documented by reports commissioned by the UN Security Council
more than 5 years ago....that the U.S. press has studiously ignored.
U.S. neo-colonial influence
in Congo can be traced to the years just after nominal "independence,"
when Patrice Lumumba, its first democratically-elected prime minister,
was assassinated by a western-backed "anti-communist" coup on January
17, 1961. Belgium apologized for its role in 2002 , but despite exposes
like A Legacy of Ashes, the CIA history
published last year that documents CIA crimes in the Congo, and elsewhere,
the U.S. still downplays its role in assassinating Lumumba, and backing
the "anti-communist" dictator-criminal Mobutu Sese Seko for more
than 3 decades...until he was overthrown in 1997 by a U.S./U.K. sponsored
invasion from Rwanda and Uganda, after the Soviet Union's collapse
made him expendable.
During a lull in the
fighting in the Congo, the UN Security Council commissioned detailed
reports in 2001, 2002 and 2003 that document how the 1996 Ugandan/Rwandan
military-invasion overthrew of Mobutu, put Laurent Kabila in power in
1997 and unleashed an ongoing resource war, when Kabila tried to reclaim
the resource-rich eastern Congo from his erstwhile "allies." That
war eventually brought Angola, Zimbabwe and other nations to the defense
of the Congo's territory in what became known the First "World
War of Africa." Since the 1996 invasion, the Congo has lost an estimated
6 million men, women and children, and the Rwanda/Uganda sponsored war
continues today.
As central Africa teeters
on the edge of another conflagration that threatens to touch off a
Second "World War of Africa" even the New York Times is reporting
that the increasing violence is based in a grab for resources.
But, what has not been reported is that, more
than 5 years ago, at least 3 UN Security Council-commissioned reports
submitted over 3 separate years, identified the resource-grab by Rwandan
and Ugandan elites as the main source of violence and death in the Congo.
Each nation's capital has become the largest trading centers for riches
that don't exist in either country, but exist in great plenty in the
eastern Congo.
The UN reports describe
how elites, related to government and military leaders in Rwanda and
Uganda, are gorging themselves on the riches stolen from the areas
under the control or their armies or their surrogates. For example,
according to the UN reports Rwanda controls an area of the Congo more
than 15-times its national territory.
The map of central Africa
shows Rwanda and Uganda as smallish "bumps" on the backside of the
Congo, a country the size of Western Europe. Uganda's population
is only about 35 million and Rwanda's no more than about 8 million...but
they have both managed to sustain a 12-year war of occupation
in vast areas of the eastern Congo, and have threatened to take control
of the entire country.
The Iraq and Afghanistan
wars have taught the American people just how expensive wars of aggression
and occupation really are. The occupation of the Congo has lasted
nearly twice as long as George Bush's wars, which means that
either the wars are very, very profitable, or the Ugandan and
Rwandan militaries are getting support from outside central Africa...or
both.
The 2001-03 UN-commissioned
reports document just how lucrative the Congo invasion and occupation
has been for its Rwandan and Ugandan sponsors....but it also helps to
know, as reported by the U.K. Telegraph, that Uganda is one of
the largest recipients of U.K military and economic aid on the African
continent. And, Rwandan President Kagame was trained by the U.S.
Army at Ft. Leavenworth and that Rwanda has been Africa's largest
per capita recipient of U.S. military and economic aid. The
Rwandan army has grown from 7,000 troops when Kagame invaded Rwanda
from Uganda in 1990 to between 70,000 to 100,000 troops today. Rwandan
and Ugandan troops and private military contractors are in Darfur, Somalia
and part of the 180,000 "civilians" assisting the U.S. military
in Iraq.
Only the United
States and United Kingdom (not the UN or the "international community")
have the power to stop the killing in the Congo by removing support
for the military and economic crimes of their allies. But, in addition
to direct governmental support, as we know from the movie "Blood Diamonds,"
cutting off the private capital that also fuels Africa's wars
is also necessary. But, if the well-documented governmental and
private Anglo-American interests in central Africa stop turning a blind-eye
to the crimes being committed by their surrogates....that supply "blood"-coltan
for cellphones, "blood"-gold, diamonds, tin and bauxite to North
American and European markets, and proxy-troops in Africa and Iraq,
the "puppet-combatants" would be unable to continue a large-scale
war for very long.
Europe had its own 100-year
war, and the Congo has already experienced an African variation with
a century of European assistance. But, at the dawn of the 21st
Century, the British and Americans can prevent what promises
to be a 200-year genocide in the Congo and central Africa....but only
if they choose to admit their complicity, and end it!
President Obama has many
difficult challenges indeed....but his capacity for deeper understanding
of neo-colonial manipulations in Africa than any U.S. president before
him presents the possibility
that he could emerge as a peacemaker in Africa on a scale that could
even exceed the contributions of Nelson Mandela, and ensure Obama's
place in world history. The question is whether he will have the
wisdom, strength and courage to finally put Leopold's neo-colonial
"Ghost" in its well-deserved grave....and, whether the Pentagon
and U.S. economic interests will permit him to bury U.S. neo-colonialism
in Africa, once and for all.
November 2008 was the
100-year anniversary of the Congo's conversion from the personal property
of Belgian King Leopold II to a colonial possession of Belgium, itself.
The King's brutal rule, documented in Leopold's Ghost, embarrassed
the Belgians into switching "landlords" in 1908, but did little
to ease the colonial burden on the Congolese people.
Between the European
powers Berlin meeting that divided up Africa in 1885 and 1908, Belgium's
Leopold II accumulated spectacular wealth for himself while an estimated
10-million Congolese died. Even more died before Congo finally
got its independence on June 30, 1960. But, real independence
has never arrived in the Congo, and foreign military and economic
powers still control its destiny today! In 2008, Leopold's
"Ghost" has been replaced by the United States and the United Kingdom,
and surrogate-armies led by Rwanda's Paul Kagame and Uganda's Yoweri
Musveni, as documented by reports commissioned by the UN Security Council
more than 5 years ago....that the U.S. press has studiously ignored.
U.S. neo-colonial influence
in Congo can be traced to the years just after nominal "independence,"
when Patrice Lumumba, its first democratically-elected prime minister,
was assassinated by a western-backed "anti-communist" coup on January
17, 1961. Belgium apologized for its role in 2002 , but despite exposes
like A Legacy of Ashes, the CIA history
published last year that documents CIA crimes in the Congo, and elsewhere,
the U.S. still downplays its role in assassinating Lumumba, and backing
the "anti-communist" dictator-criminal Mobutu Sese Seko for more
than 3 decades...until he was overthrown in 1997 by a U.S./U.K. sponsored
invasion from Rwanda and Uganda, after the Soviet Union's collapse
made him expendable.
During a lull in the
fighting in the Congo, the UN Security Council commissioned detailed
reports in 2001, 2002 and 2003 that document how the 1996 Ugandan/Rwandan
military-invasion overthrew of Mobutu, put Laurent Kabila in power in
1997 and unleashed an ongoing resource war, when Kabila tried to reclaim
the resource-rich eastern Congo from his erstwhile "allies." That
war eventually brought Angola, Zimbabwe and other nations to the defense
of the Congo's territory in what became known the First "World
War of Africa." Since the 1996 invasion, the Congo has lost an estimated
6 million men, women and children, and the Rwanda/Uganda sponsored war
continues today.
As central Africa teeters
on the edge of another conflagration that threatens to touch off a
Second "World War of Africa" even the New York Times is reporting
that the increasing violence is based in a grab for resources.
But, what has not been reported is that, more
than 5 years ago, at least 3 UN Security Council-commissioned reports
submitted over 3 separate years, identified the resource-grab by Rwandan
and Ugandan elites as the main source of violence and death in the Congo.
Each nation's capital has become the largest trading centers for riches
that don't exist in either country, but exist in great plenty in the
eastern Congo.
The UN reports describe
how elites, related to government and military leaders in Rwanda and
Uganda, are gorging themselves on the riches stolen from the areas
under the control or their armies or their surrogates. For example,
according to the UN reports Rwanda controls an area of the Congo more
than 15-times its national territory.
The map of central Africa
shows Rwanda and Uganda as smallish "bumps" on the backside of the
Congo, a country the size of Western Europe. Uganda's population
is only about 35 million and Rwanda's no more than about 8 million...but
they have both managed to sustain a 12-year war of occupation
in vast areas of the eastern Congo, and have threatened to take control
of the entire country.
The Iraq and Afghanistan
wars have taught the American people just how expensive wars of aggression
and occupation really are. The occupation of the Congo has lasted
nearly twice as long as George Bush's wars, which means that
either the wars are very, very profitable, or the Ugandan and
Rwandan militaries are getting support from outside central Africa...or
both.
The 2001-03 UN-commissioned
reports document just how lucrative the Congo invasion and occupation
has been for its Rwandan and Ugandan sponsors....but it also helps to
know, as reported by the U.K. Telegraph, that Uganda is one of
the largest recipients of U.K military and economic aid on the African
continent. And, Rwandan President Kagame was trained by the U.S.
Army at Ft. Leavenworth and that Rwanda has been Africa's largest
per capita recipient of U.S. military and economic aid. The
Rwandan army has grown from 7,000 troops when Kagame invaded Rwanda
from Uganda in 1990 to between 70,000 to 100,000 troops today. Rwandan
and Ugandan troops and private military contractors are in Darfur, Somalia
and part of the 180,000 "civilians" assisting the U.S. military
in Iraq.
Only the United
States and United Kingdom (not the UN or the "international community")
have the power to stop the killing in the Congo by removing support
for the military and economic crimes of their allies. But, in addition
to direct governmental support, as we know from the movie "Blood Diamonds,"
cutting off the private capital that also fuels Africa's wars
is also necessary. But, if the well-documented governmental and
private Anglo-American interests in central Africa stop turning a blind-eye
to the crimes being committed by their surrogates....that supply "blood"-coltan
for cellphones, "blood"-gold, diamonds, tin and bauxite to North
American and European markets, and proxy-troops in Africa and Iraq,
the "puppet-combatants" would be unable to continue a large-scale
war for very long.
Europe had its own 100-year
war, and the Congo has already experienced an African variation with
a century of European assistance. But, at the dawn of the 21st
Century, the British and Americans can prevent what promises
to be a 200-year genocide in the Congo and central Africa....but only
if they choose to admit their complicity, and end it!
President Obama has many
difficult challenges indeed....but his capacity for deeper understanding
of neo-colonial manipulations in Africa than any U.S. president before
him presents the possibility
that he could emerge as a peacemaker in Africa on a scale that could
even exceed the contributions of Nelson Mandela, and ensure Obama's
place in world history. The question is whether he will have the
wisdom, strength and courage to finally put Leopold's neo-colonial
"Ghost" in its well-deserved grave....and, whether the Pentagon
and U.S. economic interests will permit him to bury U.S. neo-colonialism
in Africa, once and for all.
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