Hi Roger!
My classmate and I were assigned a project on genocide and were wondering if you had time to answer a question. We understand that you are fighting over there and we want to know exactly why? Is it the rebels causing the havoc, and the army trying to stop it? What’s causing the trouble where you are located?
Yours truly Chelsey Macdonald and Robyn Hay!
1 comment:
Chelsey and Robyn,
Once again I apologize for the late reply but as I explained I was traveling in Europe both on business and pleasure and my only constant contact was through my BlackBerry for which I am not particularly adept where speed is concerned? Additionally, I realized that you were all going to take your Spring break (Easter). I hope everyone enjoyed themselves?
I wish I could really answer your question when you say
“we want to know exactly why?”
If any of us working here with the UN knew “exactly” why Rebels and/or Governments are fighting we could at least try to come up with some reasonable solutions to stop it. Remember a Doctor has to know the disease he/she is treating before prescribing a cure?
I will now at least focus on what I know about the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Personally, since I am considerably older than you guys, I have been hearing about the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) when it went under a bunch of different names such as The Belgian Congo and Zaire.
If your Mother, Father or any of your friends are Boxing fans you might ask them if they remember the Mohammed Ali and Joe Frazier match when it was held here in Kinshasa Zaire at the Tata Raphael Stadium? It was called the Rumble in the Jungle.
Okay down to business. Although today we have a tendency to see these conflicts as “Modern Issues” although they are in fact steeped deep into history. Usually the roots of the problems are planted in History.
If you have the time or interest then you can look up how the Congo was explored by a fellow called Stanley. He is the one where the often quoted saying comes from when he went on the search for Doctor Livingston. When he found him after years of stomping through Africa he is quoted as saying:
“Doctor Livingston I presume?”
Stanley, although an Englishman, was commissioned by the then King of Belgium, Leopold II, to explore the Congo River and to claim a territory as a Kingdom for himself.
I take you this far back in history because at times the “Civilization” of a territory formulates the attitudes of its peoples.
They say that History is written by the “conquerors” and not the “conquered”. So if you read the History of the Belgium Congo as written by King Leopold II and his band of beneficiaries you will find it full of “wonderful” exploits of how they brought “civilization” into the Congo. According to their side of the story they brought Christianity, Peace and a sense of Nationalism to what they deemed to be a “savage and barbaric” land. Does this sound familiar??
In some ways this may not be far from the truth but at what cost? They conveniently leave out the parts where they have also stripped the country of its natural resources (forests, gold and diamonds although the country still has plenty of riches) without it actually benefitting the vast majority of the people of the Congo.
They also leave out the part about the manner in which they managed this exercise. It was accomplished through subjugation, slavery, mass killings and in general pillaging both of Human and Natural resources.
Finally about 60 years ago Congo got its independence from Belgium but only after a bloody Civil War that deeply divided the country in different sectors based on Ethnicity and Geographic circumstances.
The Congo has not really had a large amount of time to enjoy peace or its independence.
As so frequently has happened in these cases of countries obtaining their “freedom” they do so without being fully prepared for it. Initially it is a question of “Nationalism”.
Many great Leaders have emerged from these conflicts but many despots have also snaked out.
One of the fundamental principles that these conflicts continuously exclaim that they wish to meet is that they will establish a “Democracy”. Therefore the word “Democratic Republic of the Congo” comes out.
Unfortunately there is no Civic Education established to help the people understand what this means? Or if there is it is quickly swallowed up by the next “Despot” who thinks that his/her brand of Democracy is the one that should be in power.
Although most conflicts espouse the concept of “Nationalism” it is in fact just another excuse for gaining power, no less different than King Leopold II. Getting to be President of a country means controlling the wealth of the country which translates into power.
I use the example of President Charles Taylor of Liberia who had the Constitution changed to read that “all of the minerals and natural resources of Liberia are under the direct control of the Presidency”.
Another aspect of this Power Struggle is that there are a multitude of Ethnic Races in existence in each country of Africa.
Unfortunately Racial Discrimination is not just the Whites against the Blacks as we see on our side of the Ocean. Here in Africa there is as much Racial Tension amongst themselves meaning Black versus Black.
Here in the DRC a person who comes from Kinshasa believes that a person from Katanga (within the same country) is inferior.
Once a Despot gets into Power or tries to “grab” power he/she eventually leans to the benefit of his/her own ethnicity to the detriment of the others. Therefore the problems really do not get resolved.
Our main Rebel, Laurent Nkunda (who is now under House Arrest in Rwanda) started by stating that he wished to save his People (the Tutsis) from genocide perpetuated by the Hutus. (Read on the Genocide of Rwanda for background). These People are also in the DRC.
In fact he was involved in Commercial Enterprises such as Minerals and the Forest Industry that supplied him with Millions of Dollars in trade. The Genocide statement was just his “Cover Story”.
However, his original “battleground” was North and South Kivu that are two (2) Provinces on our Eastern side of the country bordering on Rwanda.
Nkunda got greedy as his troops were actually beating the Government troops in this territory. He got carried away and finally declared his intention of wanting to replace the current President, Joseph Kabila.
He therefore went too far. His own troops saw that his ambitions were far greater than the reason for which they signed up. Eventually his Dputy by the name of “Bosco” mutinied and abandoned him along with about three quarters of the troops. That is why Nkunda is under House Arrest in Rwanda.
However, the story does not end there. Bosco, who now states that he wishes to belong to the Government side of the House is an “Indicted Criminal” by the International Criminal Court.
Can you start to imagine how complex the situation is at the moment? To add to the confusion the countries surrounding the DRC all want to get a piece of the action where all the riches are. There is Rwanda, Uganda (with the Lord’s Resistance Army -LRA- in the DRC), Sudan on the Northern Border and the Central African Republic with its own brand of Rebels using the DRC as a Safe Haven to hide.
Are you starting to get a feel for the magnitude of the problem?
We must however try to understand. African Countries’ Independence bid only began some 60-70 years ago. Our Western Civilization gave them the minimal tools with which to work in terms of what we call “Civilization”?
We gave them a taste of Freedom after we were the ones to Enslave them but we left them unprepared to deal with “our” brand of Freedom.
Our own Liberation happened close to 200 years ago and we are still fighting amongst ourselves although not as virulently as they are over here.
With patience and assistance I am confident that eventually the way will be found for all of them since we do have fine examples of that already such as South Africa, Ghana, Namibia and a host of others. Optimism is the key.
-Roger
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