Archive for the ‘The Writings’ Category

Posted on June 2, 2010 - by Kambale Musavuli

Avatar’s Pandora: A Modern Day Battle in the Congo

Avatar, the highest-grossing film of all time, may be more real and current than what the average person may know. The battle of Pandora is taking place right now in the Congo! Since 1996 a war has raged in the Congo to get access to resources vital for modern technology and global investors. Nearly six million Congolese have lost their lives, millions more have been displaced, hundreds of thousands of women have been systematically raped as a strategy of war, mass scale logging is taking place at an alarming rate in the second largest rainforest in the world and an $80 billion plan is being pursued by the World Energy Council to dam the Congo River, ostensibly to provide electricity to Europe while the people are still in the dark. All the while, there is a deafening silence within the international community about the root causes of this fourteen year-old war waged in the heart of Africa.

Ann Hornaday, in her December 18, 2009 article in the Washington Post delves into Avatar’s historical connection with the Congo as she shows how Joseph Conrad’s Marlow is the Avatar corollary of James Cameron’s Jake Sully. In Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, we see the dehumanizing description of Congo natives as “mostly black and naked, [moving] about like ants” and “black shapes” remarkably similar to Cameron’s Avatar label of “fly-bitten savages” and “blue monkeys.”

Using computer-animation and 3-D technology, Cameron takes us into a virtual world, where characters maintain humanness throughout this action-packed film. The three-dimensional experience of Avatar places the audience inside the plot. They witness in real time the resource exploitation of indigenous land at the expense of local populations in the name of profit for corporations and investors. Being sunk into the special effects, ordinary people fail to realize how they are also complicit in the destruction similar to that portrayed in the movie and leave the theater or their couch with a predominant sentiment in their mind: “This is a great movie!” Yet no global outrage, nor action, is seen on the part of the viewers for a worldwide mobilization campaign to stop the real-life, current exploitation of the Congolese people.

This film creates space for a much-needed dialogue about what we are doing to our planet Earth. It illustrates how interconnected humans are and touches on issues from the environment to spirituality. It lays bare the connection between the dehumanization of native people and corporate greed whereby profit takes priority over people. To achieve their aim, corporations create chaos in order to access certain key resources at the expense of the indigenous people. Avatar addresses the most important of wars in the world today, yet it calls for a state of amnesia. Dots are left unconnected between the movie and what is happening right now in the heart of the African continent.

This is also the set of Congo’s plight. Congo is arguably the richest country on the planet in terms of natural resources. It is the storehouse of strategic and precious minerals that are vital to the functioning of modern society. Its minerals are key to the consumer electronics, technology, automotive, aerospace and military industries. Its diamonds, gold, copper, cobalt, uranium, iron, tin, tungsten, and coltan (a mineral that is central to the functioning of our cell phones, laptops and other technology and electronic devices) are coveted from China to the United States. Its rainforest, being the second largest in the world after the Amazon, is vital to the fight against climate change as noted by Sun Sentinel, while American companies such as The Blattner Group are cutting the trees down day by day in the name of profit.

This geopolitical and geostrategic battle to control Congo’s vast mineral wealth is devastating for the entire continent of Africa. Bordered by nine African countries, Congo straddles the equator and is the fulcrum on which the entire continent swings. Whatever happens in the Congo affect the entire continent. As foreign governments and multinationals fight to exploit Congo’s resources, a second Congolese holocaust in just over a century is taking place. Because of these resources, the Congolese people have faced distinct challenges since its modern founding in 1885 at the Berlin Conference when Congo was given to King Leopold II of Belgium as his own personal property. A similar challenge transpired in the late 1800s when an estimated 10 to 15 million Congolese lost their lives due to the world’s appetite for rubber and ivory. The difference in present-day Congo is that it is primarily US allies Rwanda and Uganda who are carrying out the depopulation and control over Congolese land and resources.

The central question in the Congo, as in Avatar, is who is going to control the resources and for whose benefit? The answer to this question is evident in the very conflict that is the Congo: in the unsafe natural gas exploitation in Lake Kivu by American company Contour Global, mass displacement and environmental degradation of local indigenous people by Freeport McMoran, odious mining contracts by American companies such as OM Group, or the illegal logging and massive exploitation of plantation workers by The Blattner Group to name a few.

In the midst of all of this exploitation, there is a trait worth mentioning that demonstrate the resiliency and self-determination of the Congolese people. For more than 400 years, the Congolese have been fighting for sovereignty over their land. They have lost many leaders such as Kimpa Vita, who was burned at the stake at age 21 with her infant son; she was accused of heresy by the Portuguese given she had organized the people in the Kongo kingdom to fight for the sovereignty of the land. Another notable freedom fighter is Simon Kimbangu, who spent more years in prison fighting Belgian colonialism than Nelson Mandela did while fighting apartheid. Congo also saw the rise of Lumpungu II, who spoke out about sovereignty of the land and was hanged in front of his people by Belgian colonial officials. Congo’s first democratically elected prime minister, Patrice Lumumba, can never be forgotten as he fought to retain Congo’s resources for the benefit of the Congolese people in particular and Africa in general. As a result of Lumumba’s stance, he was assassinated within months of taking office by Belgium in cahoots with the United States, other western nations and local elites.

The Congolese youth have initiated a worldwide mobilization campaign in partnership with other young people around the world. The Jake Sullies of the Congo who have helped in the awakening of national consciousness for centuries have fortunately been Congolese. And though they have nearly all been brutally assassinated, the Congolese fight to control their own resources and determine their own affairs has not yet died. The spirit that lives in the Congolese youth who continue to rise up for change of their nation is immortal. As self-determination in the rebuilding of their country runs through their veins, their ancestors’ history becomes a reminder of the struggle now waged for centuries.

Frantz Fanon says that each generation must find its destiny, and when found, either betray it or fulfill it. Congolese youth of today are fulfilling that destiny by breaking the silence both inside their country and globally. Just as in Pandora, the battle of Congo is the battle of humanity, especially given Congo’s importance in the fight against climate change, its large fresh water reserves, and mineral resources that are key to modern society. Being true agents of change, the youth are organizing events, winning the hearts and minds of people in their respective communities by sharing their personal stories and mobilizing support for Congolese on the ground. Youth groups inside Congo are organizing film festivals in eastern Congo where the conflict is more acute. Others are also doing their part in the education of young Congolese through history teach-ins.

Today, in the Congo, there is a new breed of Avatars. The Congolese youth are playing that role, as they are scattered around the world in countries fueling the war in their home country. Their mission is different than that of Jake Sully’s. Theirs is to win the hearts and minds of the citizens of these nations to pressure their country’s government and corporations to stop the plunder of Congo’s resources. With that diplomatic mission, we bear witness to a global movement in support of Congolese people energized by their youth in a quest to bring peace and stability to their home.

Ordinary people throughout the globe can play a critical role in bringing about change in the Congo. We all benefit from Congo’s wealth and have a responsibility to make sure we are not benefiting at the expense of the people. What is taking place in the Congo as we speak is a scar on the conscience of humanity. Congo’s problem is a worldwide problem, hence it demands a global response. The global movement in support of the Congo is as important today as the free South Africa movement was yesterday. We all must get involved by demanding that our leaders make Congo a priority, hold our corporations accountable and support Congolese institutions fighting for peace, justice and human dignity.

As Fanon presciently noted, “Let us be sure never to forget it; the fate of all of us is at stake in the Congo.”

Posted on December 14, 2009 - by Kambale Musavuli

Conflict Minerals: A Cover For US Allies and Western Mining Interests

Published on the Huffington Post.

As global awareness grows around the Congo and the silence is finally being broken on the current and historic exploitation of Black people in the heart of Africa, myriad Western based “prescriptions” are being proffered. Most of these prescriptions are devoid of social, political, economic and historical context and are marked by remarkable omissions. The conflict mineral approach or efforts emanating from the United States and Europe are no exception to this symptomatic approach which serves more to perpetuate the root causes of Congo’s challenges than to resolve them.

The conflict mineral approach has an obsessive focus on the FDLR and other rebel groups while scant attention is paid to Uganda (which has an International Court of Justice ruling against it for looting and crimes against humanity in the Congo) and Rwanda (whose role in the perpetuation of the conflict and looting of Congo is well documented by UN reports and international arrest warrants for its top officials). Rwanda is the main transit point for illicit minerals coming from the Congo irrespective of the rebel group (FDLR, CNDP or others) transporting the minerals. According to Dow Jones, Rwanda’s mining sector output grew 20% in 2008 from the year earlier due to increased export volumes of tungsten, cassiterite and coltan, the country’s three leading minerals with which Rwanda is not well endowed. In fact, should Rwanda continue to pilfer Congo’s minerals, its annual mineral export revenues are expected to reach $200 million by 2010. Former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Herman Cohen says it best when he notes “having controlled the Kivu provinces for 12 years, Rwanda will not relinquish access to resources that constitute a significant percentage of its gross national product.” As long as the West continues to give the Kagame regime carte blanche, the conflict and instability will endure.

According to Global Witness’s 2009 report, Faced With A Gun What Can you Do, Congolese government statistics and reports by the Group of Experts and NGOs, Rwanda is one of the main conduits for illicit minerals leaving the Congo. It is amazing that the conflict mineral approach shout loudly about making sure that the trade in minerals does not benefit armed groups but the biggest armed beneficiary of Congo’s minerals is the Rwandan regime headed by Paul Kagame. Nonetheless, the conflict mineral approach is remarkably silent about Rwanda’s complicity in the fueling of the conflict in the Congo and the fleecing of Congo’s riches.

Advocates of the conflict mineral approach would be far more credible if they had ever called for any kind of pressure whatsoever on mining companies that are directly involved in either fueling the conflict or exploiting the Congolese people. The United Nations, The Congolese Parliament, Carter Center, Southern Africa Resource Watch and several other NGOs have documented corporations that have pilfered Congo’s wealth and contributed to the perpetuation of the conflict. Some of these companies include but are not limited to: Traxys, OM Group, Blattner Elwyn Group, Freeport McMoran, Eagle Wings/Trinitech, Lundin, Kemet, Banro, AngloGold Ashanti, Anvil Mining, and First Quantum.

The conflict mineral approach, like the Blood Diamond campaign from which it draws its inspiration, is silent on the question of resource sovereignty which has been a central question in the geo-strategic battle for Congo’s mineral wealth. It was over this question of resource sovereignty that the West assassinated Congo’s first democratically elected Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba and stifled the democratic aspirations of the Congolese people for over three decades by installing and backing the dictator Joseph Mobutu. In addition, the United States also backed the 1996 and 1998 invasions of Congo by Rwanda and Uganda instead of supporting the non-violent, pro-democracy forces inside the Congo. Unfortunately and to the chagrin of the Congolese people, some of the strongest advocates of the conflict mineral approach are former Clinton administration officials who supported the invasions of Congo by Rwanda and Uganda. This may in part explains the militaristic underbelly of the conflict mineral approach, which has as its so-called second step a comprehensive counterinsurgency.

The focus on the east of Congo falls in line with the long-held obsession by some advocates in Washington who incessantly push for the balkanization of the Congo. Their focus on “Eastern Congo” is inadequate and does not fully take into account the nature and scope of the dynamics in the entire country. Political decisions in Kinshasa, the capital in the West, have a direct impact on the events that unfold in the East of Congo and are central to any durable solutions.

The central claim of the conflict mineral approach is to bring an end to the conflict; however, the conflict can plausibly be brought to an end much quicker through diplomatic and political means. The so-called blood mineral route is not the quickest way to end the conflict. We have already seen how quickly world pressure can work with the sidelining of rebel leader Laurent Nkunda and the demobilization and/or rearranging of his CNDP rebel group in January 2009, as a result of global pressure placed on the CNDP’s sponsor Paul Kagame of Rwanda. More pressure needs to be placed on leaders such as Kagame and Museveni who have been at the root of the conflict since 1996. The FDLR can readily be pressured as well, especially with most of their political leadership residing in the West, however this should be done within a political framework, which brings all the players to the table as opposed to the current militaristic, dichotomous, good-guy bad-guy approach where the West sees Kagame and Museveni as the “good-guys” and everyone else as bad. The picture is far grayer than Black and White.

A robust political approach by the global community would entail the following prescriptions:

1. Join Sweden and Netherlands in pressuring Rwanda to be a partner for peace and a stabilizing presence in the region. The United States and Great Britain in particular should apply more pressure on their allies Rwanda and Uganda to the point of withholding aid if necessary.

2. Hold to account companies and individuals through sanctions trafficking in minerals whether with rebel groups or neighboring countries, particularly Rwanda and Uganda. Canada has chimed in as well but has been deadly silent on the exploitative practices of its mining companies in the Congo. Canada must do more to hold its mining companies accountable as is called for in Bill C-300.

3. Encourage world leaders to be more engaged diplomatically and place a higher priority on what is the deadliest conflict in the World since World War Two.

4. Reject the militarization of the Great Lakes region represented by AFRICOM, which has already resulted in the suffering of civilian population; the strengthening of authoritarian figures such as Uganda’s Museveni (in power since 1986) and Rwanda’s Kagame (won the 2003 “elections” with 95 percent of the vote); and the restriction of political space in their countries.

5. Demand of the Obama administration to be engaged differently from its current military-laden approach and to take the lead in pursuing an aggressive diplomatic path with an emphasis on pursuing a regional political framework that can lead to lasting peace and stability.

To learn more about the current crisis in the Congo, visit www.conflictminerals.org.

Posted on September 22, 2009 - by Kambale Musavuli

End Resource War, Urge Congolese Activists

Published on the All Africa.com.

The challenges of Congo advocacy in the 21st century

One hundred years ago, a global outrage surrounding the death of an estimated ten million Congolese resulted in the end of King Leopold II of Belgium’s rule in the Congo. Ordinary people around the world from all walks of life stood at the side of the Congolese and demanded the end of the first recorded Congolese holocaust. A century later, the world finds itself facing the same issue where the Congolese people are subjected to unimaginable suffering.

Although advocacy for the Congo has a rich and illustrious tradition dating back to the dawn of the 20th century, contemporary advocacy is faced with unprecedented obstacles: corporate interests, humanitarian industry, geo-strategic battles, the devaluation of black lives, and media caricatures and misrepresentation of Africans.

In 1908, international advocacy resulted in Congo being taken from King Leopold II and given to the Belgian state as a colony. The ultimate aim of today’s advocacy is to see the Congo removed from the clutches of multi-national corporations, foreign governments, multi-lateral institutions, the humanitarian industry and local elites and placed in the hands of the people of the Congo. The challenge of 21st century advocacy is for the affairs of the Congo to be determined by the people of the Congo.

Challenges of the Congo

In his 1967 book Challenge of the Congo, Kwame Nkrumah noted that the struggle of the Congo is both an internal and external one. As we look at the Congo today, this has not fundamentally changed. A wide array of interests is aligned against the people of the Congo attaining true independence, liberty and human dignity.

Corporate Interests

US business interest in the Congo is focused primarily on the mining sector in resources such as: tin, gold, diamonds, copper, cobalt, coltan, tungsten, uranium and many other natural resources. Minerals sought by US businesses are vital to the US aerospace, military, automobile, electronics and technology industries. For example, the Congressional Budget Office has reported that cobalt is vital to the US military and aerospace industries.

A number of U.S. companies such as OM Group, Cabot Corporation, Eagle Wings and Kemet Electronics were listed in the 2002 UN report among companies accused of benefiting from the pilfering of Congo’s wealth. The report entitled, “Final 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” exposed how these and other companies benefited from the conflict in the Congo and there is little doubt that they would prefer that as little attention as possible be brought to the Congo and their activities in the country.

It is practices by these companies and others from the West that led UNCHR chief, Antonio Guterres to say in an interview with the Financial Times that “the international community has systematically looted the Congo.”

Humanitarian industry

Unfortunately the humanitarian industry has been trapped in the charity prism whereby Congo is viewed and approached almost strictly from the perspective of poverty, conflict, atrocities and depredation.  Some of the effects of this approach is that the humanitarian industry is silent in the face of oppressive governments and often work in cahoots with the very corporations that are pilfering Congo’s wealth. Probably the most deleterious effect of this way of viewing Congo is the military prescription that these institutions lobby for in Washington, DC. They often support policies that prolong conflict, prioritize military option and in the final analysis serve the propaganda of belligerent U.S. allies (Rwanda & Uganda for example) as well as U.S. corporate foreign policy interests.

In the final analysis, the humanitarian industry functions more as an instrument of Western soft power than a genuine help to Africans in need. If they truly have the interests of the people of Africa and Congo at heart, their number one aim should be to put themselves out of business by calling for justice and not charity. When the people of Congo attain justice, charity will not be needed, hence no further need for these humanitarian institutions that breed dependency and prolong poverty.

Geo-strategic Battle

Congo is a storehouse of geo-strategic minerals that are vital to the industrialization of great powers in the east, mainly China and the maintenance of western economic and military dominance, mainly the United States. China has invested $9 billion in the Congo in a mineral for infrastructure swap with the Congolese government. The United States has financed Freeport McMoran with nearly a half a billion dollars so that the American company can control what is considered to be the world’s richest deposits of copper and cobalt. The U.S. government has provided financial backing to Freeport in spite of the well-documented evidence that the contract between the American company and the Congolese government is odious and does not benefit the people of the country.

Congo will be the playground of Great Power interests for the foreseeable future. Its location, size and mineral wealth are far too valuable to be left alone. Hence, irrespective of the type of government put in place by the Congolese people, they will need a permanent third force to function to be allies of the people and serve as a check against Great power interests.

Devaluation of Black Lives

Nowhere else in the world could an estimated six million people perish in a twelve year period and there not be a global outcry than in Africa, especially the heart of Africa – Congo. The United Nations says the conflict in the Congo is the deadliest in the world since World War II. It prompted former Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Jan Egeland to say that the Congo is “the killing fields of our generation.” Yet, the world community is silent. Doctors Without Borders has consistently reported over the past decade that Congo is one of the top ten most underreported stories. Unfortunately, the silence around the suffering in the Congo is due in part to the fact that Congolese are Black people or Africans. We live in a world where Black lives are undervalued and underappreciated. However, things do not have to remain this way. We can change the attitudes and beliefs that have the world trapped in a mindset that undervalues a fellow member of the human family.

The global community has an opportunity to break the Silence around the Congo and demonstrate that Black lives in the heart of Africa are as valuable as any other lives on the planet. In Breaking the Silence and raising our voices we will value not only the lives lost in the Congo but those living and future generations to come.

Pathological Media Prism

The mainstream media has remained true to its creed when it comes to the Congo. They have presented the Congo as an internecine tribal conflict with no discernible beginning or hope of ending. The media’s coverage of the Congo has been presented through a narrow pathological prism, which leaves people of goodwill who really want to do something to help, hopeless, despondent and disempowered. If more stories were presented that clearly articulate the true nature of the conflict, that of a resource war and that there are major identifiable players in our own backyard that we can hold accountable, one would get a dramatically different response from consumers of the mainstream media. The few moments when Congo gets coverage, it is usually grossly distorted:

1. There is usually a white expert telling the world fantastic tales of  why Congolese are “killing” each other

2. These experts are usually a part of the US foreign policy complex of think tanks, research institutions and humanitarian entities who recently conducted a “fly-by” in the Congo or elsewhere in Africa

3. One almost never sees a Congolese scholar, thinker, activist or intellectual articulating the issues of the Congo

4. The Congolese people are almost always presented as hapless and in need of saving by Western do-gooders, usually a Hollywood star

5.  The U.S. policies and US Corporations who contribute to the fueling of the conflict are either obfuscated or left out all together

6. Finally, slain gorillas usually get more attention and sympathy and in depth analysis than the Congolese people

Prescriptions

A global Congo movement is as important today as the Free South Africa or anti-apartheid movement was yesterday. Former South African president Thabo Mbeki presciently noted, “There cannot be a new Africa without a new Congo.”

Contrary to presentations by Western scholars and thinkers, the conflict in the Congo is not intractable. In fact, should the correct policies be implemented, the conflict can come to an abrupt end or at the least be mitigated. The two basic goals of today’s global movement in support of the people of the Congo are as follows:

1. To bring an end to the twelve-year resource war being waged on the backs of the Congolese people, particularly women and children

2. To make sure that the affairs of the Congo are determined by the people of the Congo so that they can determine how best to use their enormous resources for the benefit of their people and Africa at-large.

Pressure placed on aggressor nations (mainly US allies Rwanda and Uganda) by countries such as Sweden, Netherlands, and Canada, has resulted in some action by the United States, but not action that instigates peace and lasting stability. Global pressure must be mobilized to call for a diplomatic and political approach to ending the conflict as opposed to the military heavy policies favored by the U.S. government, think tanks and humanitarian institutions in Washington, DC.

There is a growing global grassroots movement around the Congo. Thanks to the Internet, the Congolese can speak to the world uncensored. Inside the Congo, Congolese are organizing teach-ins and rallies. We are seeing Congolese women staging sit-ins, Congolese artists using their talent to break the silence, and civil society rallying to reconstruct the Congo. Though this movement is not covered by the mainstream media, there is an emerging youth movement in countries such as New Zealand where high school students are boycotting usage of their cell phones, in Japan where students are organizing photo exhibits on their college campuses, and in America where students are building a global movement in support of people of the Congo. With their help, we have been able to connect with people around the world using social networking sites and utilizing video messages and podcasts to mobilize an otherwise unaware population.

In October of 2008, Friends of Congo along with its allies organized a week of awareness raising called Congo Week from October 19 – 25, where 35 countries and 150 university campuses participated. We will do the same again in October 2009 with Congo Week II (October 18 – 24, 2009).

As more people get involved, it is critical that the integrity of the movement be safeguarded. The last thing the people of the Congo need, is for the movement to be darfurized (objectify the people and empty the issue of cultural and historical context).

The integrity of the global movement will be maintained if the justice narrative is adhered to as opposed to the charity narrative that many humanitarian institutions are currently pushing. A justice narrative embodies the following elements:

1. Congolese and Africans would be seen as agents of their destiny

2. Political, social, economic and historical context would be central to the analyses and campaigns issued from a justice narrative.

3. The corporate forces wreaking havoc in the Congo would be exposed

4. The culpability of US based corporations and the historic destructive role of US foreign policy would be acknowledged and called on to make a radical departure from the status quo

5. Congolese would be given a global platform to articulate to the global community the true nature of the challenges faced by the people and prescriptions preferred by the people.

A driving force in our advocacy has been the famous quote by Frantz Fanon when he said “Let us be sure never to forget it; the fate of all of us is at stake in the Congo”.

Posted on February 19, 2009 - by Kambale Musavuli

The Conflict Is a Resource War Waged by U.S. and British Allies

Published on All Africa.com.

Since Rwanda and Uganda invaded the Congo in 1996, they have pursued a plan to appropriate the wealth of Eastern Congo either directly or through proxy forces. The December 2008 United Nations report is the latest in a series of U.N. reports dating from 2001 that clearly documents the systematic looting and appropriation of Congolese resources by Rwanda and Uganda, two of Washington and London’s staunchest allies in Africa.

However, in the wake of the December 2008 report, which clearly documents Rwanda’s support of destabilizing proxy forces inside the Congo, a series of stunning proposals and actions have been presented which all appear to be an attempt to cover up or bury the damning U.N. report on the latest expression of Rwanda’s aggression against the Congolese people.

The earliest proposal came from Herman Cohen, former assistant secretary of state for African affairs under George Herbert Walker Bush. He proposed that Rwanda be rewarded for its well documented looting of Congo’s wealth by being a part of a Central and/or East African free trade zone whereby Rwanda would keep its ill-gotten gains.

French President Nicholas Sarkozy would not be outdone; he also brought his proposal off the shelf, which argues for essentially the same scheme of rewarding Rwanda for its 12-year war booty from the Congo. Two elements are at the core of both proposals.

One is the legitimization of the economic annexation of the Congo by Rwanda, which for all intents and purposes represents the status quo. And two is basically the laying of the foundation for the balkanization of the Congo or the outright political annexation of Eastern Congo by Rwanda. Both Sarkozy and Cohen have moved with lightning speed past the Dec. 12, 2008, United Nations report to make proposals that avoid the core issues revealed in the report.

The U.N. report reaffirms what Congolese intellectuals, scholars and victims have been saying for over a decade in regard to Rwanda’s role as the main catalyst for the biblical scale death and misery in the Congo. The Ugandan and Rwandan invasions of 1996 and 1998 have triggered the deaths of nearly 6 million Congolese. The United Nations says it is the deadliest conflict in the world since World War II.

The report “found evidence that the Rwandan authorities have been complicit in the recruitment of soldiers, including children, have facilitated the supply of military equipment, and have sent officers and units from the Rwandan Defense Forces” to the DRC. The support is for the National Congress for the Defense of the People, or CNDP, formerly led by self-proclaimed Gen. Laurent Nkunda.

The report also shows that the CNDP is sheltering a war criminal wanted by the International Criminal Court, Gen. Jean Bosco Ntaganda. The CNDP has used Rwanda as a rear base for fundraising meetings and bank accounts, and Uganda is once more implicated as Nkunda has met regularly with embassies in both Kigali and Kampala.

Also, Uganda is accepting illegal CNDP immigration papers. Earlier U.N. reports said that Kagame and Museveni are the mafia dons of Congo’s exploitation. This has not changed in any substantive way.

The report implicates Tribert Rujugiro Ayabatwa, a close advisor to Paul Kagame, president of Rwanda. Rujugiro is the founder of the Rwandan Investment Group. This is not the first time he has been named by the United Nations as one of the individuals contributing to the conflict in the Congo.

In April 2001, he was identified as Tibere Rujigiro in the U.N. Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as one of the figures illegally exploiting Congo’s wealth. His implication this time comes in financial contributions to CNDP and appropriation of land.

This brings to light the organizations he is a part of, which include but are not limited to the Rwanda Development Board, the Rwandan Investment Group, of which he is the founder, and Kagame’s Presidential Advisory Council. They have members as notable as Rev. Rick Warren, business tycoon Joe Ritchie, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Scott Ford of Alltell, Dr. Clet Niyikiza of GlaxoSmithKline, former U.S. president Bill Clinton and many more.

These connections provide some insight into why Rwanda has been able to commit and support remarkable atrocities in the Congo without receiving even a reprimand in spite of the fact that two European courts have charged their top leadership with war crimes and crimes against humanity. It is only recently that two European nations, Sweden and the Netherlands, have decided to withhold aid from Rwanda as a result of their aggression against the Congolese people.

The report shows that the Congolese soldiers have also given support to the FDLR and other armed groups to fight against the aggression of Rwanda’s CNDP proxy. One important distinction must be made in this regard. It appears that the FDLR support comes more from individual Congolese soldiers as opposed to overall government support.

The Congolese government is not supporting the FDLR in incursions into Rwanda; however, the Rwandan government is in fact supporting rebel groups inside Congo. The Congolese population is the victim of the CNDP, FDLR and the Congolese military.

The United Nations report is a predictable outgrowth of previous reports produced by the U.N. since 2001. It reflects the continued appropriation of the land, theft of Congo’s resources, and continuous human rights abuses caused by Rwanda and Uganda. An apparent aim of these spasms is to create facts on the ground – land appropriation, theft of cattle and other assets – to consolidate CNDP/Rwandan economic integration into Rwanda.

Herman Cohen’s “Can Africa Trade Its Way to Peace?” in the New York Times reflects the disastrous policies that favor profits over people. In his article, the former lobbyist for Mobutu and Kabila’s government in the United States and former assistant secretary of state for Africa from 1989 to 1993 argues, “Having controlled the Kivu provinces for 12 years, Rwanda will not relinquish access to resources that constitute a significant percentage of its gross national product.”

He adds, “The normal flow of trade from eastern Congo is to Indian Ocean ports rather than the Atlantic Ocean, which is more than a thousand miles away.” Continuing his argument, he believes that “the free movement of people would empty the refugee camps and would allow the densely populated countries of Rwanda and Burundi to supply needed labor to Congo and Tanzania.”

Cohen’s first mistake in providing solutions to the conflict is to look at the conflict as a humanitarian crisis that can be solved by economic means. Uganda and Rwanda are the aggressors. Aggressors should not define for the Congo what is best, but rather it is for the Congo to define what it has to offer to its neighbor.

A lasting solution is to stop the silent annexation of Eastern Congo. The International Court of Justice has already weighed in on this matter when it ruled in 2005 that Congo is entitled to $10 billion in reparations due to Uganda’s looting of Congo’s natural resources and the commission of human rights abuses in the Congo. It would have in all likelihood ruled in the same fashion against Rwanda; however, Rwanda claimed to be outside the jurisdiction of the court.

The United States and Great Britain’s implication is becoming very clear. These two great powers consider Rwanda and Uganda their staunch allies and, some would argue, client states. These two countries have received millions of dollars of military aid, which in turn they use in Congo to cause destruction and death.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame is a former student at the U.S. military training base Fort Leavenworth and Yoweri Museveni’s son, Lt. Gen. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, graduated from the same U.S. military college in the summer of 2008. Both the United States and Great Britain should follow the lead of the Dutch and Swedish governments, who have suspended their financial support to Rwanda.

With U.S. and British taxpayers’ support, we now see an estimated 6 million people dead in Congo, hundreds of thousands of women systematically raped as an instrument of war and millions displaced.

A political solution will resolve the crisis, and part of that requires pressure on Rwanda in spite of Rwanda’s recent so-called “house arrest” of Laurent Nkunda. African institutions such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union are primed to be more engaged in the Congo issue. Considering Congo’s importance to Africa, it is remarkable that they have been so anemic in regard to the Congo crisis for so long.

Rwanda’s leader, Paul Kagame, cannot feel as secure or be as arrogant as he has been in the past. One of his top aides was arrested in Germany as a result of warrants issued by a French court and there is almost global consensus that pressure must be put on him to cease his support of the destabilization of the Congo and its resultant humanitarian catastrophe.

In addition to pressure on Kagame, the global community should support the following policies:

1. Initiate an international tribunal on the Congo.

2. Work with the Congolese to implement a national reconciliation process; this could be a part of the international tribunal.

3. Work with the Congolese to assure that those who have committed war crimes or crimes against humanity are brought to justice.

4. Hold accountable corporations that are benefiting from the suffering and deaths in the Congo.

5. Make the resolution of the Congo crisis a top international priority.

Living is a right, not a privilege, and Congolese deaths must be honored by due process of the law. As the implication of the many parties in this conflict becomes clear, we should start firmly acknowledging that the conflict is a resource war waged by U.S. and British allies.

We call upon people of good will once again to advocate for the Congolese by following the prescriptions we have been outlining to end the conflict and start the new path to peace, harmony and an end to the exploitation of Congo’s wealth and devastation of its peoples.

Posted on January 17, 2009 - by Kambale Musavuli

Congo’s Riches Belongs to the Congolese People

Published on the San Francisco Bay View.  Speech delivered Jan. 17 in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States.

Forty-eight years ago, on this 17th day of January, 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. He, as a public servant to his people, fought day in and day out to bring the Congolese people independence from Belgium.

On this day we commemorate him, we need to always remember that he gave his life for us to have a better future than he had. His legacy lives and his bullet-proof ideas still resonate in our generation. As I speak to you today, the underlying reason of his murder still remains the central question for the conflict in the Congo since 1996: The underlying issue is who is going to control Congo’s wealth and for whose benefit.

To those of you who may not know what is taking place in the Congo, I would like to tell you that Congo is bleeding and dying a thousand deaths. The Congo is the greatest humanitarian crisis in the world today, where nearly 6 million people have died since 1996 – half of them children under the age of 5 – and hundreds of thousands of women have been raped, all as a result of the scramble for Congo’s wealth.

The United Nations says it is the deadliest conflict in the world since World War II. Yet, Doctors Without Borders say that it is one of the most under-reported stories of our time. The media is silent, the government is silent and the world is silent.

Why is the world silent? “A time comes when silence is betrayal,” says Dr. Martin Luther King. He goes on to say, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” It is a scar on the human conscience to know what is happening in the Congo and do nothing about it.

It is up to all of us to help the children of the Congo who live in a refugee camp for months, sometimes years, just because the world needs the resources of the Congo. As Che Guevara stated years ago, “The Congo problem is a world problem.”

As Gaza receives the media attention due to the unthinkable tragedy taking place there, we shall not forget that immeasurable tragedies are taking place in the Congo – with 45,000 people dying every month just for the blings of our lives and the rings of our phones.

What can we all do to work with our brave brothers and sisters in the Congo waging a fight for peace and human dignity?

I will start with you, my Congolese brothers, sisters and elders. I want you to remember what Lumumba said before his death in his last letter to his wife, “that the future of the Congo is beautiful and that it expects for each Congolese to accomplish the sacred task of reconstruction of our independence and our sovereignty; for without dignity there is no liberty, without justice there is no dignity, and without independence there are no free men.” A greater sacrifice on the part of Congolese is needed for the

What sacrifices are we willing to make so that our brothers and sisters in Congo can live peacefully as we do in America? What kind of sacrifices are we making so that our Congolese children can go to school as they do here, so that our young mothers are not widowed, so that our sisters are not raped, so that our brothers are not joining militias because there is no better option, so that people do not go hungry in the most fertile land in Africa? What sacrifices are we willing to make so that our Congolese families can live in dignity, as we do here? WHAT SACRIFICE ARE WE MAKING!

We are the ones who will rebuild our beautiful country. We need you in every sector of life. The world will help us, but they won’t fight for our country. The world would put pressure on their governments but will not elect our leaders in 2011. The world will advocate for us but will not reform our political system for us.

We must sacrifice our time to the Congo, our life if necessary. Some of us are Congolese Americans and should pressure the American government by lobbying day in and day out to alleviate the suffering of our brothers and sisters at home. Some of us work for hospitals and could help in sending medical supplies to many clinics that need it at home. Some even own companies, and they could help in any way possible.

Our people on the ground need your help. Always remember our origin. They can take you out of the Congo, but they cannot take Congo out of you. We need to support our people at home. The future of the Congo is bright, as I can see in the eyes of students and people I meet all over the country.

Fifth graders at Kipp DC: Will Academy, a middle school in Washington, D.C., raised $800 in one day for the movement after a presentation about the conflict taking place in the Congo. The Avonside Girls’ High School students mobilized their whole school to join the international cell-out (cell phone usage boycott) and had a public relations firm help them to get the word out on the war in Congo in their community.

Not to forget my beloved Aggies, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University students, who went around the campus and collected 1,200 student signatures and the endorsement of more than 40 student organizations’ presidents so that our university would join the Break the Silence Movement and receive an official letter of recognition from the chancellor of the university.

Through all my travels, I’ve met so many compassionate people from all races and faiths. And all of them were ready to support the Congolese people. To all of you who are here on this cold day, remember that Congo needs you. As Dr. King explained: “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

The forces against the Congo are tremendous. We want you to join the global movement to break the silence around the atrocities taking place in the Congo. We hope that this new wind can be TODAY what the Free South Africa movement was yesterday. Bring your talents, your ideas, your skills to help us support the Congolese people.

Call your local leaders, radio stations, inform your professors in your universities, talk with Congolese as they try to find healing from this suffering. Let people in your network know about the Congo.

Just imagine Congo’s spectacular potential, which ranges from its fauna and flora to its untapped reserves of resources. It is a storehouse of strategic minerals we use in our daily lives. Sixty-four percent of the world’s reserves of coltan are found in the Congo. It is a part of the second largest rainforest in the world behind the Amazon. It has the hydro capacity to provide electricity for the entire African continent, southern Europe and parts of the Middle East. It could feed the entire world through 2050.

Did you know that the oldest mathematical artifact was found in the Congo? It is called the Ishango bones and is about 22,000 years old.

All the potential of the Congo can be realized with unity, dedication and the submission of individual and personal aspirations to the collective will. We ask that you BREAK THE SILENCE in your daily lives and support us in our quest to bring about fundamental changes in the Congo.

Lumumba stated, “We are not alone. Africa, Asia and free and liberated people from every corner of the world will always be found at the side of the Congolese.” I hope you will stay engaged in our quest to bring peace and stability in our Congo and finally start rebuilding our country and help it rise like a phoenix.

When the Congo won independence in 1960, Lumumba pointed the way: “Together, my brothers, my sisters, we are going to begin a new struggle, a sublime struggle, which will lead our country to peace, prosperity and greatness.”

Thank you, God bless you, God bless the Congo!

Posted on December 8, 2008 - by Kambale Musavuli

New York Times getting closer to the truth on the resource war in the Congo

Published on San Francisco Bay View.

Although the New York Times did not reveal the whole truth in Jeffrey Gettleman’s piece, “Rwanda Stirs Deadly Brew of Trouble in the Congo,” it no doubt laid the foundation for a more honest dialogue about the resource war in the Congo, which has resulted in dying and suffering of holocaust proportions.

It is only a matter of time before the New York Times and other mainstream media get to the root of the matter that both French and Spanish courts have already broached regarding Paul Kagame and Rwanda’s destructive actions in the Central African region. Even the International Court of Justice has weighed in on Rwanda’s partner in crime in the Congo: Uganda and its leader Yoweri Museveni, another staunch British and U.S. ally.

In 2005, the court ruled that the Congo is entitled to $10 billion in reparations from Uganda because of the human rights abuses it committed in the Congo and the looting of Congo’s resources. There is very little doubt that the court would have issued a similar ruling against Rwanda, especially considering that Rwanda is even more implicated in the Congo, but the court lacked jurisdiction in the case brought to it by the Congo against Rwanda.

The New York Times and other media should consider asking people such as Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Rick Warren, Bill Gates, Howard Schultz, Andrew Young, Cindy McCain and others why they have been silent about the atrocities in the Congo, when they are known to have the ear of Rwanda’s leader Paul Kagame.

All of these individuals have an historic opportunity to use their notoriety, access and standing in the world to play a key role in ending what U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon calls one of the worst tragedies of our time or what former U.N. official Jan Egeland calls “the killing fields of our generation.” Can they really continue to remain silent about the Congo and travel the world as paragons of morality and human decency when they have the ear of someone who unleashed what the United Nations says is the deadliest conflict in the world since World War II?

Considering how vital Congo is to modern society and the world’s fight against climate change – Congo is a part of the second largest rainforest in the world – Congo’s issues are not just Congolese or African issues but are world issues and they demand frank and honest engagement and responses from world leaders.

The best way the West can contribute to bringing an end to the conflict is not an intervention force but rather real intervention diplomacy. Western nations can take their cue from the Economist when it notes: “Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame is best placed to rein in Gen. Nkunda’s men, and must be pressed to do so, with the threat of aid withheld if he does not. In the long run, he must also make political space in Rwanda for the Hutu rebel forces who maraud through eastern Congo and give Gen. Nkunda a pretext for his depredations.”

The former Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, military student Paul Kagame is not destabilizing the Congo on his own. He certainly has the backing of the United States and British taxpayers, as Timothy Reid laid out while at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, when he published “Killing Them Softly: Has Foreign Aid to Rwanda and Uganda Contributed to the Humanitarian Tragedy in the DRC” in the Africa Policy Journal, Spring 2006, Vol. 1.

Maybe, just maybe, finally, we can have frank and honest talks about the Congo, put an end to the tremendous suffering and set my country on a path to peace and stability. We are hopeful that the Obama administration, if it will not listen to what Friends of Congo have been articulating for the longest, will at least in this case listen to the New York Times or the Economist and craft policies based on a sound assessment of the situation.

I have articulated our policy prescriptions in an article published by thedailyvoice.com and sfbayview.com entitled “Congo in crisis: What President Obama can do to right past wrongs in U.S. policy.”

Posted on November 25, 2008 - by Kambale Musavuli

Congo: One hundred years of colonialism, dictatorship and war

Published on Pambazuka News. Article was co-written with Maurice Carney, Executive Director of Friends of the Congo.

Saturday, November 15, 2008 marked the 100-year anniversary of the removal of the Congo from King Leopold II of Belgium as his own personal property. Global outrage of the King’s brutal rule resulted in his losing the Congo treasure trove on November 15, 1908.

Leopold II accumulated spectacular wealth for himself and the Belgian state during his 23-year dominion (1885 – 1908) over the Congo. During this period an estimated 10 million Congolese lost their lives while Leopold systematically looted the Congo of its rubber and ivory riches. Congo was handed over to Belgium who ruled as a colonial power from 1908 to 1960. Congo finally got its independence on June 30, 1960 when Patrice Emery Lumumba, its first democratically elected prime minister took office. Unfortunately, the western powers, primarily the United States and Belgium could not allow a fiercely independent African to consolidate his power over such a geo-strategic prize as the Congo. He was removed from power in a western backed coup within weeks and assassinated on January 17, 1961. Belgium apologized for its role in Lumumba’s assassination in 2002 and the US still downplays its role in Lumumba’s assassination. The US replaced Lumumba with the dictator Mobutu Sese Seko and backed him until he was overthrown in 1997. The overthrow of Mobutu unleashed an ongoing resource war that has caused deep strife and unbearable suffering for the Congolese people, particularly the women and the children. It is estimated that Congo has lost nearly six million people since the 1996 invasion by Rwanda and Uganda with support from the United States and other Western nations.

A century later, Congo is at another crossroads. In spite of the advances in technology and the shrinking of the world, it is curious that there is such silence around the suffering of the Congolese people due to the exploitation of powerful corporate and foreign forces beyond its people’s immediate control. Unlike the early 1900s, remarkably, today there are few if any voices the likes of Mark Twain who wrote King Leopold’s Soliloquy, Joseph Conrad, The Heart of Darkness (PDF) (Often misread as Congo or Africa being dark but he was referring to the dark hearts of the exploiters of the Congo), and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle of Sherlock Holmes fame who wrote Crime in the Congo. The Congo Reform movement that drew from the work of African Americans such as William Sheppard and George Washington Williams and led by European figures such as Robert Casement and E.D. Morel gave birth to the modern international human rights movement.

One hundred years later we are again calling on the global community to be at the side of the Congolese. This time, there is one fundamental difference, the Congolese are agents in this narrative and the call this time is not a hand-over to a colonial power or neo-colonial institutions but rather to the people of the Congo.

The clarion call is for the combating of the forces (local elites and rebels, foreign governments, foreign corporations, and multi-lateral institutions) that have the Congolese people in a death trap. The charity prism of the humanitarian industry is not the answer. It only perpetuates dependency and disempowerment. Should Congo be truly liberated, the Darfurization (emptying of agency from the afflicted people) of the global movement in support of the Congo must be avoided at all cost. Congolese must be agents rather than objects in the pursuit of the control of their land and their lives. The sovereignty of the people and control and ownership of the riches of their land is the fundamental human right for which we must advocate. It is a call not only for the Congo but the entire African continent.

Become a part of the global movement to Break the Silence as the Congolese pursue true sovereignty and liberty.

Posted on November 20, 2008 - by Kambale Musavuli

Congo in Crisis: What President Obama Can Do To Right Past Wrongs In US Policy

Published on the DailyVoice.com

The Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly Zaire, has been entangled in a humanitarian catastrophe for the past 12 years. 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.

But for many of us, our memory of the Congo is the “Rumble in the Jungle” when Muhammad Ali pulled off the improbable victory against George Foreman in 1974. Today, there is plenty of rumbling in the Congo and it does not bode well for the people.

A modern day holocaust is occurring in this picturesque land of abundance. This central African country, which sits in the heart of Africa, straddles the equator and is bordered by nine other African countries. It is the size of Western Europe and pivotal for the entire African continent; as Congo goes so does Africa.

Since 1996, it is estimated that nearly 6 million people have died in the Congo, hundreds of thousands of women have been raped as a tool of war, and Congo’s enormous wealth has been plundered by the international community. The United Nations says that the conflict is the deadliest since World War II. Unfortunately, the conflict has been presented to our community through the pathological lens of the mainstream media, much the same way stories are presented about issues of violence in urban America.

We have been led to believe that this is a case of depraved Black people wantonly killing each other. As a result, we shy away from the issue in shame. The truth is 6,000 armed rebels backed by U.S. ally Rwanda are holding a nation of approximately 60 million peace-loving people hostage.

The central cause of the conflict is the scramble for Congo’s spectacular wealth of gold, diamonds, copper, cobalt, tin, zinc, coltan (a mineral that is central to the functioning of cell phones, lap top computers, video games and many electronic devices). The issue at hand is who is going to control Congo’s wealth and for whose benefit. This has been the main issue in the Congo since the late 1880s and what lead to the assassination of Congo’s first freely elected Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba, by the U.S. and Belgium.

President-elect Barack Obama is intimately aware of the current situation in the Congo. He sponsored a bill on the Congo as a Senator, which passed in 2006. He is clear about the importance of the Congo to the entire African continent. He says “if Africa is to achieve its promise, resolving the problem in the Congo will be critical.”

In light of the current upheaval in the Congo that has resulted in unbearable suffering for a beleaguered people, President-elect Barack Obama should put the Congo at the top of his list of foreign affairs issues to tackle. In addressing the Congo, there are concrete policy prescriptions that he can pursue which would put the Congo and the Central African region on a path to peace and stability.

1. Stop giving President Paul Kagame of Rwanda carte blanche to intervene in the Congo. Kagame invaded Congo twice (1996 and 1998) and occupied Congo for six years (1996 – 2002), and the biggest fight he had in the Congo was with his ally Uganda over minerals and not the so-called Hutu rebels who participated in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, which he uses as a pretext for invading the Congo.

2. Call for a political process that leads to the democratization of the Rwandan political landscape, which would allow disaffected “Hutus” to leave Congo and go back to Rwanda to participate in political life. Lack of democracy in Rwanda feeds instability in the Congo

3. A radical change is needed in US policy, which currently favors corporate exploitative interests (see Dan Rather’s “All Mine” report below) and has contributed to the exacerbation of the problem in the country.

The International Crisis Group study of July 2007, “Consolidating the Peace,” clearly documents how the U.S. skewed the electoral system to favor former rebel leaders, one of whom is Joseph Kabila, who is now the President of Congo (shown here with President Bush). Kabila had no political history whatsoever in the Congo, yet the West provided him nearly unconditional support to ascend to the head of government. Many brilliant Congolese leaders who truly care about their people have been systematically sidelined because the U.S. is not confident that these Congolese men and women will serve its corporate interests. Hence, the U.S. assured the victory of a weak “leader” who would guarantee unfettered access by U.S. corporations to Congo’s wealth.

4. The solution to the current crisis is political and not military as is being proffered by many European states. Should the U.S. tell Kagame to stop its support of proxy rebel forces in the Congo, the killing and mass displacement of the people would stop. The U.S. has enormous leverage over Kagame and it has not exercised it.

5. Finally, the U.S. should support national reconciliation in the Congo and support the rightful ownership of Congo’s wealth for the people of the Congo. The Carter Center and the United Nations have made clear policy recommendations that would further this policy but the US government has refused to act on those recommendations, which would ultimately give the Congolese more control over their own wealth and set them on a path to self-sustainability.

For President-elect Obama and the newly strengthened Democratic majority in Congress to act on the above prescriptions, they must be made aware that there are people throughout the country who care about what happens to Black people in Africa. Join the global “Break the Silence” movement around the Congo and let our leaders know that change must come to Congo if Africa is to move forward as a continent.

Posted on October 22, 2008 - by Kambale Musavuli

What the World Owes Congo, the online chat

Published on the Washingtonpost.com

In his article for The Root, “What the World Owes Congo,” Kambale Musavuli writes: “Last summer, the national news media announced the deaths of four gorillas killed in a national park in eastern Congo. A United Nations delegation was quickly dispatched to investigate. As a Congolese living in the United States and hungry for news back home, I was thankful for the coverage. But since my grandparents still live in East Congo, I would have also liked to have heard about some other recent breaking news items: women being raped, children being enslaved, men being killed, and many more horrors. I would like to hear about the nearly 6 million lives lost, half of them children under age 5 — that every month, 45,000 people continue to die in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC); that the scale of devastation in Darfur happens in the Congo every 5 1/2 months.”

Kambale Musavuli, who was born in Congo, was granted asylum in 1998 and is currently a civil engineering student at North Carolina A&T State University and an activist with Friends of the Congo, was online Wednesday, October 22 to discuss the ongoing violence and humanitarian crises in his home country, and share what he and other students around the world are doing to raise awareness of Congo’s plight during this week’s Breaking the Silence campaign.

Kambale Musavuli: Hello All:

Thank you for joining me today to talk about the most pressing issue of our lifetime, The Congo. I am Kambale Musavuli. I am pursuing my civil engineering degree at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. I am a member of Friends of the Congo and also the Global Student Coordinator for Congo Week. I am glad that you are all here to learn and discuss about my beautiful country, the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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Zellik, Belgium: What do you think, if Obama is elected as US president, will he do something to stop the war in DRC? So, the Democrat Party has a stake of responsibilities in the DRC war by the way of Clinton. Could the Congolese still trust Westerners to stabilise their country or do they have to fight by themselves?

Kambale Musavuli: The United States President has the job of protecting and defending the US constitution. He is there to make sure that the US interests are kept the way they are.

If any President is elected, which will be the case on November 4th, Congolese should continue to press the issues we face. The world will not fix the issues of the Congo. The Congolese people will… and while we fight to regain sovereignty of our land, people of good will all around the world will be at the side of the Congolese.

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Fairfax: I think there is less outrage about the human tragedies in Africa for several reasons. First, it is so impossible to imagine. Most can imagine being raped once; none can imagine being tied to a tree for days/months and being raped endlessly. Second, it happens too often in Africa; it’s Hutus vs Tutsis, it’s Rwanda, it’s somewhere else. Third, it does feed into the “savages” idea; wrongheaded, but there nonetheless. And what the heck can anyone do? It is such a vast area, remote, rugged, etc etc. So many ingrained beliefs and customs to overcome.

Kambale Musavuli: The conflict in the Congo is not as complex as you may think. The conflict is not about tribal rivalries as you are portraying it. It is fueled by exploitation. I always say that these crimes are mastermind for a mass displacement of the people in the areas where minerals are found.

A few key points

1. The rape is a weapon of war against women. Its aim is to destroy the society especially considering the central role of women in African societies, hence the entire Family is affected by the rapes

2. The source of the rapes is the conflict

3. The source of the conflict is the scramble for Congo’s wealth

Hence, ONE cannot talk about the rape of the women without talking about the rape of the land as the two are inextricably linked.

To stop the rape, you must stop the conflict and to stop the conflict, you must END the exploitation.

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Munich, Germany: It’s been two years since the election in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and if I recall, there was a lot of hope for the future of the country. The Washington Post had an online chat in Sept. 2006 to discuss the PBS film, “Democracy in the Rough” and the Congolese election (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2006/09/11/DI2006091100839.html)

How have things progressed since then? I’ve not heard very much about Kinshasa at all, only news of renegade soldiers and militias in the east of the country. Is there still a conflict between the Lingala speaking population and the Swahili speakers in the east?

But one of the first things that I think of in connection to the Congo is the musician Ray Lema. Has music returned to the streets of the cities or is it still too dangerous?

Kambale Musavuli: There was an election in the Congo. It was definitely not as democratic as the West portrayed it. In a country of 65 million people, we had 13 million registered voters. Of the 13 million, 80 % voted yes for the referendum of the Constitution. And 40 % of them voted for Kabila as President. So the numbers says roughly 5 million people voted for Kabila, the current President.

The conflict in the West of the Congo barely comes out in the media. We have students in the Makala prison in Kinshasa because they spoke out. We have the Freedom Fighters of Bundu Dia Kongo that were killed in Bandundu, and a few months ago, the United Nations found mass graves of Congolese.

So there is a balkanization of the Congo. The East is controlled by rebel leaders backed by Rwanda and Uganda. The West is controlled by a thug called Kabila who does not hesitate to kill anyone.

The tribal rivalries are only fueled when you have rebel leaders such as Laurent Nkunda threatening to take over the Congo and the world allowing him to do so, by giving him military support.

It is never about tribal rivalries, more so resource exploitation, and the Congolese are paying the price!

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Arlington, VA: You mentioned the source of conflict is the scramble for the wealth of the Congo. What is that wealth primarily? Diamonds?

Kambale Musavuli: Congo has been blessed by so many things. We have gold, diamonds, copper, uranium, coltan, oil, methane gas, water, iridium, cobalt, and just many more…

This is what has caused the chaos in the Congo. We cannot assess Congo today without looking at its history from King Leopold’s reign to Belgian Colonialism, the assassination of Lumumba and of course the four-decade long imposition of Mobutu on the people by the West and finally the backing of the war of aggression by Rwanda and Uganda. All being strategic points that promote the exploitation of its resources.

What we are mobilizing for:

1. An end to the conflict and an end to the suffering of our people

2. An end to the economic exploitation and for Congolese to benefit from the wealth with which we have been blessed. We reject the notion of a resource curse. If anything, greedy men are the curse, not resources in and of themselves.

Visit our website at www.congoweek.org or www.friendsofthecongo.org for more info on the minerals in the Congo.

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clueless American: So far this discussion is way over my head. I’m not familiar with the issues already, so I have no idea what the posters from Europe are talking about, nor do I understand your answers (but I want to understand). Would you please give us a short resume of your take on things, i.e. what resources are being exploited, by whom, etc.? Please, very basic-level.

Kambale Musavuli: The Congo is located in Central Africa and is essential to modern technology.

All resources are being taken… trees are being cut down, coltan from the Congo is being put in your electronic devices and so on.

Companies like OMGroup, Cabot, People like George Forrest, Dan Gertler and Benny Steinmetz, Anglo and Debeers are all well connected in the West so they have no doubt played a role in the Greatest Silence. You should also look at Freeport out of Phoenix Arizona.

It is not as complex as it may sounds. AFRICA is the last place with all the resources the World needs. And the Congo having all these blessings is just one reason why Corporations rush out there to get the resources.

What the world, especially the Americans, can do:

1. Call for political path to Peace like the UN head for the Congo just did, Alan Doss

2. Pressure the corporations exploiting Congo’s wealth to cease

3. Call on your governments to implement policies that benefit the people and not local elites and foreign corporations

4. Call on the World Bank, IMF and other multilateral institutions to remove the noose from around the Congolese neck. There is no way in this world that Congo should be indebted to any Western country or corporation.

5. Rally around the Congolese in protecting its precious environment and wildlife habitat that is home to the second largest rainforest in the world, which is central to the fight against climate change.

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Evanston, Illinois: You stated that it is up to the DRC to solve the country’s problems with the help of the U.S. Many here are committed to helping, especially in the northeast region, but specifically what can we do?

Kambale Musavuli: The Congo face tremendous obstacles ahead and needs all of our support to regain its sovereignty

Here are just a few internal Challenges for Congolese

1. Develop their organizational capacity

2. Bring in new leadership that have the people’s interests at heart and the leadership skills to meet the needs of the people

3. Overcome the debilitating cultural legacy of the Mobutu era

4. Articulate a vision that can rally the entire nation around a call of a hopeful future

As I mention on my last post we need all to support the Congo by:

1. Call for political path to Peace like the UN head for the Congo just did, Alan Doss

2. Pressure the corporations exploiting Congo’s wealth to cease

3. Call on your governments to implement policies that benefit the people and not local elites and foreign corporations

4. Call on the World Bank, IMF and other multilateral institutions to remove the noose from around the Congolese neck. There is no way in this world that Congo should be indebted to any Western country or corporation.

5. Rally around the Congolese in protecting its precious environment and wildlife habitat that is home to the second largest rainforest in the world, which is central to the fight against climate change.

Seeing that you are in Evanston, you should connect with two wonderful people who are helping rebuild the schools in the Congo. Jan and Tom Sullivan. Their contact is sull1300@comcast.net

They really are working hard there to rebuild Congolese schools, thus showing that people of good will around the world are always found at the side of the Congolese.

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Evanston Illinois: What is Rwanda’s role in the Congo’s conflicts?

Kambale Musavuli: This was the rationale but we quickly found out through UN reports that both Rwanda and Uganda were looting the Congo of its wealth. At one point Uganda and Rwanda started fighting each other in the Congo over control of mineral rich areas. Moreover, for all intents and purposes Rwanda occupied Eastern Congo for six years and with all their claimed military prowess, they did not dislodge the Hutus, yet they found time to fight their ally Uganda. Moreover, they found time to extract gold, tin, coltan, timber and other resources from the Congo.

If Rwanda was having problems with the Hutu in 1996, they were on solid ground to call on the African Union and the rest of the global community to deal with this issue. But instead they chose to invade with the Backing of the US as outlined in a 2001 Congressional hearing by Cynthia McKinney and Tom Tancredo.

An end must be brought to the conflict. And the solution must be a political one not a military one. There has already been too much killing and too much suffering.

Rwanda and Uganda must be implicated in the solution in a serious way, particularly Rwanda. Pressure must be brought on Rwanda to stop supporting negative forces inside the Congo.

Political space must be created in Rwanda to facilitate the return of the Rwandans who are in the Congo. Leading world figures like Bill Gates, Tony Blair, Bill Clinton, Rev. Rick Warren, Cindy McCain and many others can play a constructive role in this. They all have the ear of President Kagame in Rwanda and can impress upon him the need to resolve this issue politically. These figures cannot consciously be working with children and orphans in Rwanda while an estimated 3 million children under the age of five die right next door in the Congo.

As it relates to the responsibility of the Congolese, National reconciliation is needed. Justice systems must be put in place so that impunity can cease. Those who have been wronged must be restituted psychologically, socially and of course economically. Unfortunately, should the foreign corporations continue to fleece the country with the collaboration of the current government, problems will persist and poverty will deepen.

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Columbus, OH: What advice will you give to individuals who want to help?

Kambale Musavuli: We want you to be engaged in our campaign to raise awareness about the conflict and provide support to the Congolese people on the ground?

Break the Silence Movement allows you to just do that.

Someone asked me earlier why people should care about the Congo?

Aren’t Congolese humans too? Should you not care that your fellow human being is suffering? It is a scar on the consciousness of the world community to know that nearly six million people have been estimated to be dead in the Congo since 1996. Is that not enough for every single human being on the face of the earth to be concerned? Estimated hundreds of thousands of women raped, child labor and child soldiers, while we benefit from Congo’s resources. Surely, this is sufficient to cause one to care, is it not?

Noam Chomsky talks about the power of the people and the media illusion (Manufacturing consent).

I want you in your daily lives to include the Congo. If you are a singer, sing about the Congo, a poet… write a poem about the Congo… a teacher… teach a class on the Congo.

Did you know that the Congo has one of the oldest mathematical artifacts in the World? It is believed to be one of the first calculators and a lunar calendar. It is dated 20,000 BC.

I know some of your friends will be amazed to see that they just learned something on the Congo they did not know.

I know I am running out of time, but I want to be able to answer all your questions. If I am not able to, just email me your questions to me at kambale@friendsofthecongo.org after the chat.

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Washington, DC: Hello Kambale, my name is Autumn.

While trying to talk to people about the Congo, I notice something interesting. I have received comments from a few African Americans who don’t feel a connection with what’s happening with the Congo. Which I find insane and very ignorant. I think to myself, how could you say such a thing, when Africa is where we as African Americans descend from? Therefore the connection is eternal. If you have experienced this, how do you address such comments? Thank you

Kambale Musavuli: World activists historically have been at the side of the Congolese. William H. Shepherd, the first African-American to become a Presbyterian missionary to the Congo reported in 1909 so frankly on the atrocities he witnessed in the Congo during colonization. George Washington Williams, another notable African American, traveled to the Congo before Shepherd and advocated for the Congolese when he called the atrocities happening there “crimes against humanity” after he witnessed the brutality of King Leopold in which ten million people lost their lives. Their advocacy brought other activists to create the Congo Reform Association and caused Belgium on November 15th, 1908 to take Congo away from Leopold II. 100 years later, African American students at North Carolina A&T State University have started a global movement to raise awareness and provide support to the Congolese people.

You should also let them know that the cousins who came here in the 1600′s came from the Angola/Congo region. You also can’t blame them. People of color have been mis-educated since we do not use our own curriculum. It is a daunting task to educate the masses, but one must do it!

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Hickory, North Carolina: Thank you for make me more aware of what is going on in the Congo. I was unaware that it was that bad there. I will be at your visit to Catawba Community College today Have a safe trip.

Kambale Musavuli: I look forward to the presentation this evening!

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Atlanta: How did you become affiliated with the Breaking the Silence campaign?

Kambale Musavuli: On March 26, 2008, students on my campus (NC A&T SU) organized a cell phone boycott. For about two years, I have been educating my friends and campus community about what is happening at home. After the successful boycott, we had students around the world wanting to do more since they did not even know what is happening in the Congo.

We decided to then have a week long event to educate the globe, and through the planning… many and I say many people came to help create this campaign. I am forever thankful for my friends who have supported me through all my travels around the country.

My affiliation with the campaign is more so who I am. I want to reach out to the whole world, to the leaders of tomorrow, so that 20 years from now when they become policy makers … they will always remember their college experience when they worked with the Congolese people in their quest for peace, justice, and human dignity. I love my country so much and I know that Congo will be sovereign soon. If Argentina and Chile was able to do it in 10 years, the Congo can do it in 5. IT IS JUST A MATTER OF POLITICAL WILL!

I am going to get the chat to a close but wanted to add a few items for research

Our country was invaded twice by Rwanda and Uganda. It was these invasions that unleashed the mass deaths. In addition, small groups who are well armed and well financed are holding an entire population hostage. It is for this reason we are calling on countries like Rwanda who are supporting rebel groups to stop NOW. We all can become stakeholders at the peace in the Congo. We all have CELL PHONES…

The tribal rivalries have been exploited to benefit the west.

I also am calling all the Congolese, where we are, to unify… We have so many professors in renowned colleges who can rebuild our home.

I am making an appeal to the people of good will in the world. We need you to be our world supporters by pressuring your specific governments not to exploit the Congo.

There is a tremendous amount of hope and everyone can do something to work with the Congolese to bring about positive and lasting change:

1. Support the Break the Silence global campaign

2. Pressure their governments and corporations to do right by the Congolese people

3. Encourage your local and national media to provide better coverage on the Congo

4. Support the people on the ground

5. Learn more about the Congo and spread the word about the valiant fight the Congolese people are waging to recapture their country

Visit our website http://www.congoweek.org

We tried to have the most comprehensive website we can.

IT HAS BEEN A LONG TIME COMING, BUT CHANGE IS HERE!

Be sure you visit our website

http://www.congoweek.org

http://www.friendsofthecongo.org

And whatever your faith is, PRAY FOR US!

Posted on October 20, 2008 - by Kambale Musavuli

What The World Owes Congo

Published on the Root.com

Last summer, the national news media announced the deaths of four gorillas killed in a national park in eastern Congo. A United Nations delegation was quickly dispatched to investigate.

As a Congolese living in the United States and hungry for news back home, I was thankful for the coverage. But since my grandparents still live in East Congo, I would have also liked to have heard about some other recent breaking news items: women being raped, children being enslaved, men being killed, and many more horrors. I would like to hear about the nearly 6 million lives lost, half of them children under age 5 —that every month, 45,000 people continue to die in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC); that the scale of devastation in Darfur happens in the Congo every 5½ months.

I was granted asylum in 1998. Every day since then, I have appreciated the privilege of living in a peaceful community and pursuing a college degree at North Carolina A&T State University. But I will never forget that my people are not free—or the responsibility that comes with the privilege of living in the most powerful country in the world.

Oct. 19-25 is “Break the Silence” Congo Week, a global initiative led by students to raise awareness and provide support to the people of Congo. There will be participants in more than 30 countries and on 125 college campuses, including key student leaders at North Carolina A&T, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Greensboro, the University of Maryland, Howard University, Bowie State University, Bryn Mawr College and Cornell University. Students will show films, hold teach-ins, host fundraisers, organize forums, participate in a cell phone boycott on Wednesday and undertake many more activities to raise awareness about the dire situation in Congo. Communities are also organizing interfaith prayer vigils to ask for peace in the DRC.

Part of the challenge is educating people about the history of Congo, which has struggled to overcome its Belgian colonial past, and the present scramble for its rich natural resources by multinational corporations.

Joseph Conrad’s 1902 novel, Heart of Darkness, covered the period in the country’s history when King Leopold II owned Congo as his own private property. The widespread misreading of Conrad’s novel cemented an incomplete picture of the continent as a dark, uncivilized place. In reality, the source of the conflict in Congo for most of its history has been the scramble for its enormous wealth—not the internecine, ethnic bloodletting more commonly blamed. In the late 1990s, Congo was invaded twice by Rwanda and Uganda with the backing and support of the United States, as documented in the 2001 congressional hearings held by Reps. Cynthia McKinney and Tom Tancredo. It was these invasions that unleashed the tremendous suffering that exists in Congo today.

But it is not just history that needs to be reexamined. From copper, tin and cobalt to coltan (a mineral found in cell phones, video games and other gadgets we have come to rely on), American corporations stand to make millions at the expense of the people of Congo. Dan Rather’s recent report on Phoenix-based FreePort McMoRan’s odious contract in acquiring what many say is the world’s richest copper deposit is but a window into the systemic exploitation of Congo’s wealth.

There are strong advocacy relationships that can be built on. Even before 1974, when Congo (then known as Zaire) gained international attention hosting the Rumble in the Jungle, the historic boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, African-Americans in particular have a long history of championing the cause of Congo. In 1909, William H. Sheppard, the first African American to serve as a Presbyterian missionary to Congo, gave a frank account of atrocities he witnessed during King Leopold’s barbaric reign. During the same period, the African-American historian George Washington Williams did the same.

Today there is a new imperative for the global community, and African Americans in particular, to bring light to the story of Congo. “Break the Silence” week is an apt place to start. In 1961, Congo’s first freely elected Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba, said: “We are not alone. Africa, Asia, and free and liberated people from every corner of the world will always be found at the side of the Congolese.”

We must not be left to stand alone now.