Considering local challenges and harmful international interference in the Democratic Republic of Congo for the past 400 years, it takes the greatest courage to overcome fear of oppression and to act for change. The courage demonstrated by grassroots Congolese women to resist and overcome fear of their local and international oppressors is extraordinary in the history of Africa.
If Rwanda’s three viable opposition parties are allowed to register and participate in free and fair elections, they have a good chance, in coalition, of defeating Rwandan President Paul Kagame and his ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) Party. Those three parties condemned the Feb. 19 deadly grenade attacks in Kigali, calling them “an attempt to instill fear in the population” prior to Rwanda’s August presidential election.
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We now know where a lot of coltan and cassiterite stolen from Congo go, in the end. They go to Ghana and other parts of Africa as toxic electronic waste, often disguised as charity: European and North American “contributions” of worn-out, broken, no longer fashionable tech garbage.
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When opportunity presented itself in the form of widespread warfare in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zimbabwean military leaders were quick to provide troops in exchange for permission to establish Zimbabwean corporations to exploit Congolese raw materials.
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ZANU-PF,
Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA),
Zimbabwe Executive Vice President Grace Mujuru,
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe
You don’t have to be a soccer fan to see that this is great stuff, especially the scooch victory dance, performed sitting down on the soccer field.
Forty-eight years ago, the first freely elected prime minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Patrice Emery Lumumba, was brutally murdered by the United States, Belgium and certain local elites because he wanted the resources of the Congo to benefit the Congolese people.
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Some of us remember the first elected prime minister of the Congo, Patrice Lumumba, as he brought to the world the vision of a prosperous Congo where this beautiful land will benefit the Congolese people and not world corporations. A modern day holocaust is occurring in this picturesque land of abundance.
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The war in Congo is a U.S. proxy war; the U.S. uses Kagame, the Rwandan army and terrorist Gen. Laurent Nkunda as their African proxy force in Congo, but this is war. It has been the deadliest, though barely reported, war on the planet for years.
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Zaire
Vanguard journalist and Current TV producer Christof Putzel traces gold to its origins in one of Africa’s biggest gold mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Originally posted Aug. 6, 2006, this report remains current and so chilling we hope it’ll make you swear off bling this holiday season and forevermore.
One viewer commented, “Watchdog groups [...]
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What makes this conflict particularly sickening is the role of U.S. and European corporations, together with Rwanda and Uganda, in the plunder of DRC’s resources. This is a war about self-interest and greed.
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