# 052 THE HEART OF IMPERIALIST DARKNESS: WESTERN INTERESTS AND THE DESTRUCTION OF THE CONGO The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC, formerly Zaire), with a vast wealth of mineral resources, is potentially one of the richest countries in Africa. This same mineral wealth has proven attractive to foreign governments and corporations seeking riches to plunder. From the brutalities of Belgian colonialists and their US imperialist backers to the trespasses of neighbouring governments in Uganda and Rwanda, the Congo has been made a killing floor of exploitation. In Congo, various national armies and local militias, proxies of imperialist powers, have fought or are fighting over control of some of the world's largest and richest deposits of gold, diamonds, cobalt and coltan. The death toll from the war in the DRC, which began in 1998, is higher than in any other since the Second World War, with an estimated 4.7 million killed
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GENOCIDE IN CONGO - Columbia University€¦ · Web viewCONGO: A HISTORY OF COLONIALISM AND NEO-COLONIALISM. Congo has been an important area for imperialism for a number of reasons.
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# 052
THE HEART OF IMPERIALIST DARKNESS: WESTERN INTERESTS AND
THE DESTRUCTION OF THE CONGO
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC, formerly Zaire), with a vast
wealth of mineral resources, is potentially one of the richest countries in Africa.
This same mineral wealth has proven attractive to foreign governments and
corporations seeking riches to plunder. From the brutalities of Belgian
colonialists and their US imperialist backers to the trespasses of neighbouring
governments in Uganda and Rwanda, the Congo has been made a killing floor of
exploitation. In Congo, various national armies and local militias, proxies of
imperialist powers, have fought or are fighting over control of some of the world's
largest and richest deposits of gold, diamonds, cobalt and coltan.
The death toll from the war in the DRC, which began in 1998, is higher
than in any other since the Second World War, with an estimated 4.7 million
killed in the last four years alone (Economist, 2003: 23). The International
Rescue Committee (IRC), an aid agency based in New York, reports that the
mortality rate in the Congo is higher than the United Nations (UN) rates for any
other country on the planet (NewsAfrica, 2003: 6).
According to IRC President George Rupp the crisis in the Congo is "a
humanitarian catastrophe of horrid and shocking proportions. The worst mortality
projections in the event of a lengthy war in Iraq, and the death toll from all the
recent wars in the Balkans, don't even come close" (NewsAfrica, 2003: 6).
Despite these horrible facts, the crisis has gone largely unnoticed and unreported
upon in the West. As David Johnson, the director of IRC operations in eastern
Congo has stated: "This is the worst calamity in Africa this century, and one
which the world has consistently found reasons to overlook" (quoted in Africa
Today, 2003: 6).
The recent war in the Congo started in August 1998 when an uprising
against the Kinshasa government of Laurent Kabila was launched in the east,
backed by forces of the Ugandan and Rwandan governments (which receive their
main support from imperialist "coalition of the willing" leaders, the US and
Britain). The Ugandan government claimed it was defending its western borders
against rebels based in Rwanda, while the Rwandan forces claimed to be
defending themselves against Hutu militias on the Congo border. Apparently this
border protection required Rwandan forces to occupy the diamond-rich town of
Kisangani, 700 miles inside the Congolese border.
Militias were also funded by neighbouring governments hostile to the
Congolese government. The conflict in Congo has over its course seen
involvement from the governments, and rebels, of Angola, Uganda, Rwanda,
Burundi and South Africa. This has led some commentators to refer to the
conflict as "Africa's World War." Along the way there has been evidence of
involvement by mercenary companies including MPRI of the US, Sandline of
Britain and Executive Outcomes of South Africa (Griswold and Stevens, 1999).
African countries have long been viewed by imperialist powers as sources
of exploitation for the West without regard for the development of the countries in
which the resources are located. The strategic industries of the imperialist
countries depend on primary materials such as those found in the Congo. The
metals leave Congo in their primary state of ores or concentrates and thus bring
only minor returns to begin with, even without the depressed prices enforced by
conditions of war.
Throughout the tumultuous periods of post-independence, Congo has
remained subjected to imperialism and neo-colonialism. Imperialist interests
pursuing private gain have always played a significant and sinister part in the
ongoing Congo tragedy.
This article offers an investigation into the contours of contemporary
imperialism through an analysis of specific economic and political interventions
in Congo. The war economies, processes of balkanization and shadow state
networks instituted through imperialist manipulation in Congo have much to teach
about the forms of capitalist geopolitics in the age of globalization.
IMPERIALISM AND AFRICA
A detailed presentation of the various theories of imperialism is well
beyond the scope of this article. Bracking and Harrison (2003: 6) note that
imperialism, despite encompassing different meanings,
has almost always been a concept used to evoke critique of the
global political economy: to identify the inequities of what is now
called 'globalisation'; to condemn the bullying tactics of the
Western states; to investigate the cultural arrogance and discursive
authoritarianism of liberalism's marriage to 'freedom, equality,
property and Bentham..., that is, capitalism.
A great strength of most theories of imperialism is to emphasize the
central importance of exploitation, especially the extraction of value from the
global South, both as a means to defuse societal rotes in the North (Biel, 2003)
and to underwrite and extend regimes of accumulation.
Nkrumah (1965) earlier discussed Western intervention, political and
especially economic, as neo-colonialism which he views as the most developed
and most dangerous phase of imperialism. As Nkrumah has illustrated, under
neo-colonialism the economic systems of nominally independent and sovereign
states are controlled or directed from outside. Decades ago Nkrumah identified
the US, and especially US capital, as the crucial support of the neo-colonial
system.
The U.S. provided arms and/or military training to combatants in 11 of 12
recent conflicts on the continent. Other major U.S. Cold War clients, Liberia,
Somalia and Sudan also succumbed to violence and economic collapse during the
1990s.
As Biel (2003: 82) notes, the specific case of US imperialism as it relates
to Africa "is influenced by the special way Africa has been shaped by colonialism
and imperialism as a whole: an area to be freely plundered of its resources,
initially human, then increasingly minerals and cash crops. Subsequent attempts
at 'modernising' imperialism often intensify these tendencies."
Ismi (2002: 14) details the stunning extent of U.S. economic and political
interests in Africa: "Nearly 80% of the strategic minerals the U.S. requires are
found in Africa, including 90% of the world's cobalt, 90% of the platinum, 40%
of the gold, 98% of the chromium, 64% of the manganese, and one-third of the
uranium." Significantly, these minerals are all indispensable components in jet
engines, missiles, electronic components and iron and steel the raw materials of
imperialist tools of conquest.
Feeding military demands of imperialism has always been as pressing as
feeding economic demands. Before the Second World War most of the West's
iron and steel output was based on local raw materials. After the war much of the
raw materials used in these industries have been imported. The factories and
industries and militaries of the West are fed by the mining production of Africa to
the impoverishment of the countries of origin.
The post-war militarization of Western economies has been built on
African minerals. As Nkrumah (1965: 59) noted in the 1960s: "Africa's raw
materials are an important consideration in the military build up of the NATO
countries." In turn military preparations have had a great impact on the demand
for Africa's minerals.
With the collapse of the Soviet bloc and the re/emergence of neoliberal
capitalist globalization, the scramble for African resources has once again heated
up among the imperialist powers.
This renewed neoliberal scramble is already shaping up as a confirmation
of Nkrumah's earlier fears: "It can be even more deadly for Africa than the first
carve up, as it is supported by more concentrated interests, wielding vastly greater
power and influence over governments and international organisations (Nkrumah,
1965: 109)
In the contemporary context, imperialism has come to refer to "the
predominance of the United States and its militarised bullying of so many post-
colonial states since 1945" (Bracking and Harrison, 2003: 6). The contemporary
global system exhibits mixed characteristics of hierarchy, involving collective
dominance by the North, and hegemony, specifically leadership by the US (Biel,
2003). This sense has only gathered renewed intensity since September 11, 2001
with US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and the implied threats to North Korea
and Iran as part of George W. Bush's "axis of evil" (which included Iraq under
Saddam Hussein's rule).
This is why imperialism is still important, it provides a far more
useful starting point that globalisation to understanding Africa's
relations with the global political economy. Embedded in critique,
imperialism refuses to accept that bourgeois civilisation has lived
up to its own historic claims of progress and well-being. As such,
those who wish to imagine a politics of progress, development and
popular well-being would do well to (re)engage with the concept
of imperialism, both to identify and challenge the hypocrisy of
metropolitan idealism and self-serving discourses of benevolence
(Bracking and Hamilton, 2003: 9)
The relevance of an analysis of imperialism to contemporary situations in
Africa be demonstrated by looking at specific regimes of accumulation. Bracking
and Hamilton (2003) suggest that the most incisive way of using the concept of
imperialism is to understand the particular contours of political and economic
intervention.
CONGO: A HISTORY OF COLONIALISM AND NEO-COLONIALISM
Congo has been an important area for imperialism for a number of
reasons. It is the second largest African country in terms of area, bordering nine
other countries right in the centre of the continent. The country is a link between
the states of the Indian and the Atlantic Oceans. DRC is home to the world's
largest deposits of copper, cobalt, cadmium and coltan.
For many Westerners the Congo "has long been a symbol of Africa. The
very word 'Congo' has resonance for the many Americans who never heard of
most of the African states which quietly reached independence and unobtrusively
went about their business" (Ferkiss, 1966: 169). Imperialist interests would not
allow Congo to go about its business, since for the imperialist powers the Congo
was always viewed as their business. The ongoing imperialist intervention has
ensured that "increasingly the Congo became a symbol not only of bloodshed but
of frustration" (Ferkiss, 1966: 169).
In few areas have Western colonialism and imperialism been so vicious
and destructive as in Congo. Ismi (2001) notes that genocide and plunder have
been Western policy towards the mineral-rich Congo since the 1885 Berlin
Conference assigned Congo as the personal property of Belgium's King Leopold
II.
Congo suffered under 115 years of Belgian colonialism and neo-
colonialism. More than ten million Congolese were killed, halving the population
during that period (Wrong, 2001). Under the brutal Belgian rule, millions of
Congolese were subjected to torture, slavery and forced labour as the colonizers
pursued the maximum exploitation of ivory and rubber from the country
(Hochschild, 1998; Wrong, 2001). Workers hands were severed for not working
hard enough and women were kidnapped to force their husbands to collect rubber
sap (Ismi, 2001). The regimes of primitive capitalist accumulation imposed by
the Belgian colonialists were so horrific that George Washington Williams, an
African-American human rights activist who worked to end the atrocities in
Congo, coined the term "crimes against humanity" to describe what he had seen
upon a visit to the country (Hochschild, 1998; Ismi, 2001). As an eerie precursor
to the present day exploitation of Congo to serve the needs of the information
societies/age, Leopold's brutal predations in the Congo were driven by the newly
emerging appetites of the auto age, notably the growing need for rubber for
pneumatic tires.
As one commentator has noted, "the ghost of a Congo political entity
which was a mask for foreign economic exploitation of Africans was born at the
Free State's demise" (Ferkiss, 1966: 170). Since independence governance in the
Congo has followed "the Free State formula all over again, a sham sovereignty
masking rapacious white corporate interests" (Ferkiss, 1966: 170).
Congo fell within the US sphere of influence in 1960-61 after a CIA-
sponsored coup which saw the murder of Patrice Lumumba, leader of the
country's first elected government. The US government feared that Lumumba
would take Congo into the pro-Soviet camp and President Eisenhower himself
approved of Lumumba's assassination (Wrong, 2001).
Western imperialist machinations were responsible for finally installing
the CIA's paid agent Mobutu in power in 1965 (Taylor, 2003). Under his
dictatorship, which received ongoing US backing, Congo suffered another 37
years of terror and looting similar to what had been imposed under Belgian rule.
In the years following independence in 1960, much of the turmoil centred
on the mineral-rich Katanga Province and its Western-backed secessionist
government. Two major invasions of Katanga Province by opposition forces of
the Congolese National Liberation Front (FLNC, Front de la Libération
Nationale Congolaise) were met by interventions from outside forces in support
of Mobutu: Moroccan forces in 1977 and French forces in 1978 (Taylor, 2003).
Indeed outside forces were instrumental in defending the Mobutu regime from
popular uprisings.
Between 1965 and 1991, Mobutu's regime received more than $1.5 billion
in military and economic aid from the US (Wrong, 2001). At the same time, US
multinational corporations were granted increased access to Zaire's mineral
wealth.
The Western alliance with Mobutu also played a part in Cold War
geopolitics. As an imperialist foothold, Zaire was used by the US as a base to
launch campaigns against the nominally socialist MPLA government in Angola
from its assumption of power in 1975 until Mobutu's ouster in 1997.
Eventually, Mobutu's personal pillaging of Zaire, which saw as much as
95% of the country's budget reserved for his own "discretionary spending," led to
US to seek alternatives in the country which might allow even greater access for
Western corporations. Especially unacceptable to imperialist interests were
Mobutu's attempts to maintain state control over mining operations.
With the removal of Mobutu, outside forces have maintained a steady hold
on the post-Mobutu regimes, continuing to shape the political economy of Central
Africa. The manner in which imperialist forces have maintained their grip on the
post-Mobutu Congo is crucial for any understanding of the political economy of
contemporary Central Africa (Taylor, 2003: 47).
A MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE: WESTERN IMPERIALISM AND THE
RISE AND FALL OF LAURENT KABILA
The struggles that led to the replacement of Mobutu by Kabila in some
ways had the character of classical imperialist battles between competing states as
described by Lenin. Laurent Kabila's rise to power came with considerable
backing from North American interests. US backing of Kabila provided the
opportunity "of playing the modernising card in opposition to the neo-colonial
manipulation of the European powers" (Biel, 2003: 84).
In many respects, Kabila's victorious entry into Kinshasa marked
out a victory for the 'Anglo-Saxons' over French interests, which
had supported Mobutu until the very end. The international aspect
of this supposed internal war in the Congo may be contextualised as
part of the struggle between Washington and Paris for spheres of
influence (and, particularly, markets) on the continent (Taylor,
2003: 49).
In March 1997, AMF's founder, Jean Raymond Boulle, signed a $1 billion
agreement with Kabila's rebel forces to develop a zinc mine at Kipushi and a
cobalt venture in Kolwezi. As part of these arrangements, which also included
approval to sell diamonds in Shaba province, Boulle loaned Kabila a personal jet.
World Policy Institute (WPI) reports that an executive from US-based
Bechtel corporation became a close advisor to Kabila, travelling the country with
the rebel leader and assiting him with information to develop his war strategy
(Hartung and Montague, 2001). Bechtel then had the opportunity to work with
Kabila in drawing up the most complete mineralogical and geographical data ever
assembled on Congo.
In early 1997 a trip by a Kabila representative to Toronto to promote
investment opportunities in Congo may have raised as much as $50 million for
Kabila's forces (Ismi, 2001). Among Kabila's circle of Canadian advisors was
then-leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, Joe Clark, former
Canadian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. In the mid-1990s Clark had
become First Quantum Minerals' special advisor on Africa.
Once in power Kabila surprised his former allies by refusing to hand over
control of Congo's mineral wealth. Kabila also retracted several mining contracts
signed with US and European companies during the period of his alliance with
Uganda and Rwanda, including a US$ 1 billion contract with American Mineral
Fields International (AMFI), a mining company based in former US president Bill
Clinton's hometown of Hope, Arkansas. He also refused to pay the huge debt to
the IMF and World Bank run up under Mobutu. Kabila began to nationalize
resources and allowed mining concessions to China and North Korea. "[B]y
1998, the Kabila regime had become an irritant to the United States, North
American mining interests, and Kabila's Ugandan and Rwandan patrons. As a
result, Rwanda and Uganda launched a second invasion of the DRC to get rid of
Kabila and replace him with someone more servile" (Madsen quoted in Taylor,
2003: 50). International capital grew so frustrated with Kabila's dishonouring of
contracts that he had signed with foreign businesses that some companies offered
him $200 million to leave the Congo (Taylor, 2003). There is even reasonable
speculation that Kabila was assassinated because he refused to concede outright
control over the enormous mineral deposits, including some of the world's most
significant deposits of gold, diamonds, cobalt, manganese, uranium, copper, zinc
and increasingly important, coltan, a key component in cell phones and
computers.
Furthermore, Kabila Sr. began constructing alliances on a private
basis with both individual companies that shouldn't by rights have
benefited from Kabila's emergence and, with African regimes such
as Zimbabwe and Angola that were, at best, ambivalent about the
encroaching Western influence in the region and at worst (Mugabe
in his more excited flourishes) rabidly 'anti-Western' (Taylor,
2003: 51).
Tellingly, the new president, Kabila's son Joseph, has openly embraced
neoliberal capitalist policy. One of his first acts as president was to fly to the US
to give back mining concessions to companies that had had them revoked under
his father's rule. In trips to Paris, Brussles, Washington and New York he has
held many private sessions with top European and American business leaders.
Additionally he publicly pledged during a trip to the United States to deregulate
the Congolese economy, privatize major state-run companies and introduce neo-
liberal investment codes in line with IMF demands.
Kabila has also met with Maurice Tempelsman, head of the US-based
Corporate Council on Africa, a figure with a long and dubious history of illicit
involvement in Congolese affairs, including arms and diamond trading and, who
has been linked, incredibly, to the assassination of Patrice Lumumba.
WESTERN MINERAL INTERESTS
The UN Group of Experts on Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources
and other forms of Wealth in the Congo concluded that resource exploitation was
directly responsible for the ongoing "an economy of war" in the region. Illegal
exploitation of resources had established a predatory network of elites, including
army and government leaders and multinational companies. Multinational
companies played the crucial roles, both direct and indirect, in this situation.
Indeed without the corporations the illegal mineral trade would not be possible.
The panel identified 29 companies and 54 individuals involved in "mineral
rape" and human rights violations, occurring with "complete impunity." 85
multinational mining firms were accused of ignoring OECD ethics guidelines.
The list included firms in violation of guidelines prepared by the Organization for
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) which outline acceptable
business conduct for multinational companies operating or based in 33 adhering
countries.
Most of the gold production in Congo comes, not surprisingly, from the
northeastern parts of the country that have suffered the worst fighting of the war.
The main gold exploration ventures in Congo are those of Banro, a Canadian
company cited for violations by the UN Security Council, and the Anglo-
American/Barrick joint venture. Barrick and Banro have both been accused of
funding military operation in exchange for lucrative contracts (Ismi. 2001).
Official gold production in Congo in 1999 was 207 kg but since 1960
minimal exploration has taken place. The Kamituga-Mobale mine was producing
approximately 800000 ounces per year until the start of the most recent civil war.
Imperialist interests are also quite interested in the Lugushwa concession where
gold production was 800 kg per year in the early 1960s. The state owned Okimo
gold mine has a production capacity reported to be almost six tons of gold per
year. The company signed an agreement with Barrick Gold. The Kimin Gold
Mining Company, which had its activities suspended by the government has
planned to raise production from 1.5 tons to 8 tons per year from gold reserves of
124 tons. During the civil wars, both Banro and the Anglo American/Barrick
joint venture continued to make progress in Congo gold exploration projects.
Through a settlement with the DRC government, Banro came to hold a 100% title
to the Twangiza, Kamituga, Lugushwa and Namoya gold deposits, with the
government retaining the tin rights.
Banro Resource Corporation, through its 93%-owned subsidiary,