Continued
from page 2
On January 17, 2001, Laurent Kabila himself
was assassinated on the same day that
Lumumba had been, 40 years ago. Joseph
Kabila, Laurent's son, took over as president.
Thus the U.S.A. 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 U.N. report released in
April 2001, Rwanda and Uganda are looting
and plundering the resources of the eastern
Congo, which contains most of the country's
minerals, and illegally exporting them
to the West. 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,
Jgandan and Burundian soldiers visited
banks, factories, farms and storage facilities
to remove their contents and load them
into vehicles. Diamond exports from Rwanda
and Uganda to the West have surged since
1998 yet neither country has any diamond
mines. Significantly, the U.N. report
points out that the illegal exploitation
of the eastern Congo has been abetted
by Western companies, governments, multilateral
institutions and diplomats.
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.A.,
Britain, Denmark and Germany were the
bilateral donors. Rwanda could thus spend
more money on the war. Rewards have been
promoted for Rwanda and Uganda by the
World Bank too, which has praised the
latter's economic performance following
its Congolese diamond and gold exports.
The Bank has pushed the case of both countries
for the Highly Indebted Poor Countries
initiative (a new debt relief program)
and dismissed the fact that Uganda's improved
economic statistics stem from its illegal
exploitation of the Congo.
The U.N. 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.
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.
Canadian Companies
Also benefitting from the war are 10
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.
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