We publish below in full the excellent article published in La Flamme, political organ of the Communist Party of Benin, from July 5, 2024. This is an overview of the roots of the war in the East of our country.
Since 1998, the Democratic Republic of Congo has suffered aggression on its eastern flank, where the country’s significant mineral wealth is concentrated. This war, which lasted approximately 30 years, knew no respite. It fades away then resumes. Specialists estimate that it has caused millions of deaths since then, with some putting the figure at six, others at eight. There are also millions of displaced people fleeing the war.
To these figures, we must add the suffering of women who are victims of rape and abuse of all kinds, as well as children who die in abominable conditions or who are traumatized for life. All this is happening under the eyes of thousands of UN soldiers, either as spectators or accomplices, and a powerless Congolese army.
So what is the origin of all this?
1) Unlike many other countries in Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo began as the private property of King Leopold II of Belgium in 1885. For 23 years, this cynical slave king committed abominable crimes in this country (labor forced, cutting of hands, heads, ears for poorly done work, insubordination, rebellion, etc.). An international campaign against these inhumane practices pushed him to hand over the Congo to the Belgian state, which made it its colony in 1909. For more than 50 years, Belgium engaged in systematic pillaging of this resource-rich country. .
2) It should be noted that not only is the country full of minerals (copper, iron, manganese, diamond, uranium), but recently, coltan, lithium and cobalt, precious metals used in the manufacture of instruments participating in the fourth revolution underway, that of artificial intelligence. With its 2,345,410 km², its population of approximately 100 million inhabitants, it is one of the countries with an impressive hydrographic complex; the great Congo River, second in the world after the Amazon, lakes, varied flora and fauna (making it the second lung of the world after the Amazon).
The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) estimates that the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has untapped mineral reserves worth US$24 trillion, as well as half of Africa’s water resources. , half of Africa’s forest cover and 80 million hectares of arable land which has the capacity to feed the entire African continent.
3) Naturally, when the country gained independence, neither Belgium nor any of the great Western imperialist powers wanted to let go of this great wealth , especially since the prime minister of the young country was called Patrice LUMUMBA, a separatist and pan-Africanist. convinced who wanted to make his country a truly independent country controlling its resources for the happiness of its citizens.
When on June 30, 1960, Patrice Lumumba delivered his historic anti-colonialist speech to the King of the Belgians, his fate was sealed. On July 10, the young, manipulated Congolese army rose up against the government. On July 11, Belgium and France fomented the secession of Katanga, a rich mining province. Following this, the puppet president Joseph KASAVUBU, with the complicity of Western powers, dismissed Patrice Lumumba from his post as Prime Minister on September 5 and placed him under house arrest. The latter was assassinated in Katanga in January 1961 by the American and Belgian services, dissolving his body in acid so that no trace remained for posterity.
4. When Lumumba died, his supporters took up arms to free the country from the clutches of the imperialists. In April 1961, they occupied half of the Congolese territory. But they were betrayed by their leaders who reconciled with Lumumba’s assassins during the conclave of Lovanium (current University of Kinshasa) in July 1961, which appointed a new prime minister.
On January 22, 1964, the great popular uprising of the lumumbists occurred, led by Pierre MULELE and relayed in the east of the country by young leaders like Laurent-Désiré KABILA with his organization, the PRP (Parti Populaire Révolutionnaire). This movement quickly liberated two-thirds of the country. Panicked by the advance of the army of the National Liberation Movement, the USA massively helped its agent Joseph Mobutu to crush the uprising as leader of the army. He also took advantage of this to take power on November 24, 1965.
5. Mobutu remained in power for more than 30 years . If peace returned to the country, it was a peace of cemeteries. He established a dictatorial and corrupt power there with the protection of his Western masters. Prestigious spending, grandiose parties, squandering of public funds, support for reactionary organizations like UNITA (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola of Jonas Savimbi) and the FNLA (National Front for the Liberation of Angola of Holden Roberto ), etc.
In 1992, the Western powers, faced with economic difficulties at home and growing discontent, imposed a national conference on Mobutu as we saw in many countries after that of Benin. All this appeared to be the regime’s swan song. Indeed, during this national conference we saw Mobutu in tears when he decreed a multi-party system and abandoned the leadership of his party.
6. In 1994 the genocide took place in Rwanda followed by the seizure of power of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) led by Paul Kagame, trained in an American military school and having helped President MUSEVENI take power in Uganda, where he became responsible for intelligence services. It was the latter who helped him create the RPF and attack the Rwandan regime from Ugandan territory. When Kagame arrived in Kigali with his troops, the genocidaires fled towards the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, helped and protected by the French army which had armed and coached them.
Paul Kagame saw them as a threat to his power and decided to get rid of them, but it was difficult for him to attack directly in Congo. To do this, it was necessary to take the opportunity to put an end to the Mobutu regime. This is how the AFDL (the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo) was born, led by Laurent-Désiré Kabila, an old Lumumbist who led a maquis inside the Congo.
According to the latter, “it appeared that the dictatorial regime of the Second Republic (the Mobutu regime) had been able to forge friendships with the neighbors, which did not facilitate the attempts of the Congolese revolutionaries aimed at changing the course of things in the country. internal, unable to obtain external help to carry out their actions The fact that the political situation changed in Rwanda (in 1994) was a determining factor, because the internal revolutionary forces could then have access to different sources of aid. supply. The alliance between Rwanda and the Congolese revolutionaries was born around a convergence of interests around, on the one hand, the imperative for the Rwandan political regime to survive in relation to the forces of destruction massed in the Congo, and on the other hand, for the Congolese revolutionaries, the need to find the means to acquire the weapons and equipment that would allow them to fight the dictatorship.
7. Indeed, after the creation of the AFDL, the Ugandan and Rwandan authorities armed and financed the Congolese revolutionaries. However, nothing was free. As Kabila progressed towards Kinshasa, the Americans and the English, sponsors of the Ugandans and Rwandans, signed various economic agreements with him aimed at taking control of the Congo’s wealth once victory was achieved. In addition to helping with weapons, many Rwandan soldiers were part of the command of the Congolese military forces.
When Laurent-Désiré Kabila seized power and ousted Mobutu on May 16, 1997, many Rwandans surrounded him. The chief of staff of the new Congolese People’s Army was General James Kabarebe, current Rwandan minister of state for regional cooperation, who would later become his country’s chief of staff, minister of defense, etc. Many Rwandans also held positions in the Presidency of the Republic, in ministries, etc.
8. Once he came to power, the old Lumumbist resistance fighter, who had taken military training courses in China in his youth, knew that his compatriots did not much appreciate this presence of the Rwandans at his side. He always repeated that it was necessary to distinguish the main contradiction from the secondary contradictions. In a few months, he pacified the country, put in place a new administration and restored confidence to the Congolese.
He was so confident that he could declare on December 31, 1998: “The coming year will be the year of the start of the reconstruction of the Congo.” However, Kabila’s actions and his intransigent nationalism did not please the great imperialist powers. Arriving in Kinshasa, when the multinationals presented him with the agreements signed at the time of his epic journey to Kinshasa, he informed them that the agreements signed with the president of the AFDL did not bind the president of Congo and that they had to sign other agreements.
While Kagame was in the good graces of the IMF and the World Bank, Kabila was ostracized. It must be said that Kabila did them well, since he declared that the greater Congo did not need these institutions to develop.
9. Meanwhile, relations between Kagame and Kabila continued to deteriorate. Realizing the impossibility of manipulating him as they wished, the Rwandan soldiers present alongside Kabila began to foment plots to oust him from power. It was under these conditions that on Monday July 27, 1998, the President’s chief of staff who was also Minister of National Defense read the following press release: “The Supreme Commander of the National Armed Forces, the Head of State of the Republic Democratic Republic of Congo and Minister of National Defense, informs the Congolese people that they have just put an end, as of today July 27, 1998, to the presence of Rwandan soldiers who assisted us during the period of the liberation of our country He thanks, through all these soldiers, all the Rwandan people for the solidarity they have shown us until now. He also congratulates the greatness of soul of the democratic Congolese people for having tolerated, sheltered and mentored. these friendly soldiers during their temporary stay in our country. This marks the end of the presence of all foreign military forces in the Congo.
The next day, a thousand Rwandan soldiers embarked from Kinshasa airport for Rwanda. On July 29, 1998, Rwanda declared that in fact there were only about 100 soldiers left in Congo and that it did not want to interfere in the affairs of that country. In reality, the Rwandan Government, which had made this decision badly, had begun to prepare with Uganda and the complicity of certain Congolese Tutsis, the overthrow of the Kabila Government with the active support of the USA.
10. In Bukavu, Goma, Kisangani, Rwandan soldiers provoked rebellions in the garrisons. On August 3, units of the Rwandan army led by James Kabarébé who had just been dismissed by Kabila hijacked civilian planes to invade the Kitona military camp in Bas-Congo to prepare the attack against Kinshasa. On August 18, they occupied the Inga dam and deprived the capital of electricity.
As a former resistance fighter and close to the Angolan and Zimbabwean presidents, Laurent-Désiré asks for their help. On August 21, Angola sent nearly 2,500 soldiers with military planes and retook the Kitona camp. Zimbabwe, for its part, sends troops to protect Kinshasa. When the attackers arrived in Kinshasa, they were greeted by popular resistance that they did not expect. In the East, Rwandan and Ugandan troops take the towns of Goma and Bukavu and go as far as Kisangani where they will fight among themselves to share the spoils.
The Angolan and Zimbabwean troops will lend many strengths to the Congolese armed forces which will contain the invaders. The Lusaka Agreement signed on July 11, 1999 will put an end to the Second Congo War. He will authorize the sending of a UN contingent which continues to occupy the country until today even though the war has never stopped. On January 16, 2001, Laurent-Désiré Kabila was assassinated in his palace during a plot organized by Western powers. He will be replaced by his son Joseph Kabila, army chief of staff and apparently one of their agents.
11. Today, the war continues in Congo with a new intervention from Rwanda. The UN and the United States recognize this fact but do nothing, on the contrary. Faced with this situation, the Congolese political class with President Tshisekedi at its head (this entire class subservient to the imperialist powers) is powerless or complicit. In reality, the instability in Congo suits all the great powers. It has never prevented or stopped the plundering of the wealth of this country; on the contrary, it favors it. Most recently, Rwanda called into question the borders inherited from colonization by declaring that the Democratic Republic of Congo had benefited from territories belonging to it. He also affirms that he is ready for war. This is the real plan of the imperialist powers: to dismember the Congo.
A Democratic Republic of Congo, with its many riches and which would be master of its destiny, is a threat to the imperialist powers and a great asset for all of Africa. The only moment of stability that the Congo knew was when it was in the hands of Mobutu, one of their agents. Otherwise, it is physical elimination as with Lumumba and Kabila. But Africa is waking up and with it, the Congolese people. Awareness is growing of the fact that the harm that the imperialist powers and their agents Kagame and others are doing to the Congolese people is to all of Africa. This is why we must forcefully denounce this war imposed on the Congolese people and which must end immediately.
Afia