How we fuel Africa's bloodiest war

The deadliest war since Adolf Hitler marched across Europe is starting again – and you are almost certainly carrying a blood-soaked chunk of the slaughter in your pocket. When we glance at the holocaust in Congo, with 5.4 million dead, the clichés of Africa reporting tumble out: this is a 'tribal conflict' in 'the Heart of Darkness'. It isn't. The United Nations investigation found it was a war led by 'armies of business' to seize the metals that make our 21st-century society zing and bling. The war in Congo is a war about you.

Every day I think about the people I met in the war zones of eastern Congo when I reported from there. The wards were filled with women who had been gang-raped by the militias and shot in the vagina. The battalions of child soldiers – drugged, dazed 13-year-olds who had been made to kill members of their own families so they couldn't try to escape and go home. But oddly, as I watch the war starting again on CNN, I find myself thinking about a woman I met who had, by Congolese standards, not suffered in extremis.

I was driving back to Goma from a diamond mine one day when my car got a puncture. As I waited for it to be fixed, I stood by the roadside and watched the great trails of women who stagger along every road in eastern Congo, carrying all their belongings on their backs in mighty crippling heaps. I stopped a 27 -year-old woman called Marie-Jean Bisimwa, who had four little children toddling along beside her. She told me she was lucky. Yes, her village had been burned out. Yes, she had lost her husband somewhere in the chaos. Yes, her sister had been raped and gone insane. But she and her kids were alive.

I gave her a lift, and it was only after a few hours of chat along on cratered roads that I noticed there was something strange about Marie-Jean's children. They were slumped forward, their gazes fixed in front of them. They didn't look around, or speak, or smile. 'I haven't ever been able to feed them,' she said. 'Because of the war.'

Their brains hadn't developed; they never would now. 'Will they get better?' she asked. I left her in a village on the outskirts of Goma, and her kids stumbled after her, expressionless.

There are two stories about how this war began – the official story, and the true story. The official story is that after the Rwandan genocide, the Hutu mass murderers fled across the border into Congo. The Rwandan government chased after them. But it's a lie. How do we know? The Rwandan government didn't go to where the Hutu genocidaires were, at least not at first. They went to where Congo's natural resources were – and began to pillage them. They even told their troops to work with any Hutus they came across. Congo is the richest country in the world for gold, diamonds, coltan, cassiterite, and more. Everybody wanted a slice – so six other countries invaded.

These resources were not being stolen to for use in Africa. They were seized so they could be sold on to us. The more we bought, the more the invaders stole – and slaughtered. The rise of mobile phones caused a surge in deaths, because the coltan they contain is found primarily in Congo. The UN named the international corporations it believed were involved: Anglo-America, Standard Chartered Bank, De Beers and more than 100 others. (They all deny the charges.) But instead of stopping these corporations, our governments demanded that the UN stop criticising them.

There were times when the fighting flagged. In 2003, a peace deal was finally brokered by the UN and the international armies withdrew. Many continued to work via proxy militias – but the carnage waned somewhat. Until now. As with the first war, there is a cover-story, and the truth. A Congolese militia leader called Laurent Nkunda – backed by Rwanda – claims he needs to protect the local Tutsi population from the same Hutu genocidaires who have been hiding out in the jungles of eastern Congo since 1994. That's why he is seizing Congolese military bases and is poised to march on Goma.

It is a lie. François Grignon, Africa Director of the International Crisis Group, tells me the truth: 'Nkunda is being funded by Rwandan businessmen so they can retain control of the mines in North Kivu. This is the absolute core of the conflict. What we are seeing now is beneficiaries of the illegal war economy fighting to maintain their right to exploit.'

At the moment, Rwandan business interests make a fortune from the mines they illegally seized during the war. The global coltan price has collapsed, so now they focus hungrily on cassiterite, which is used to make tin cans and other consumer disposables. As the war began to wane, they faced losing their control to the elected Congolese government – so they have given it another bloody kick-start.

Yet the debate about Congo in the West – when it exists at all – focuses on our inability to provide a decent bandage, without mentioning that we are causing the wound. It's true the 17,000 UN forces in the country are abysmally failing to protect the civilian population, and urgently need to be super-charged. But it is even more important to stop fuelling the war in the first place by buying blood-soaked natural resources. Nkunda only has enough guns and grenades to take on the Congolese army and the UN because we buy his loot. We need to prosecute the corporations buying them for abetting crimes against humanity, and introduce a global coltan-tax to pay for a substantial peacekeeping force. To get there, we need to build an international system that values the lives of black people more than it values profit.

Somewhere out there – lost in the great global heist of Congo's resources – are Marie-Jean and her children, limping along the road once more, carrying everything they own on their backs. They will probably never use a coltan-filled mobile phone, a cassiterite- smelted can of beans, or a gold necklace – but they may yet die for one.

Sources: Johann Hari
Thursday, 30 October 2008
Independent. UK

Vigil in Support of the Congo, Friday October 31, 2008

The situation in the Congo has escalated tremendously in recent days. Congo Global Action, Friends of the Congo, the Africa Faith and Justice Network and their allies are asking all people of goodwill and those who participated in Congo Week to participate in a vigil in support of the people of the Congo.

There will be a vigil in front of the Rwanda Embassy on Friday, October 31, 2008 from 4 pm to 6 pm EST. The vigil will address the escalation of tensions in the East of Congo and Rwanda's implication in the instability in the region.

The location of the vigil is:

Rwanda Embassy
1714 New Hampshire Ave NW
Washington, DC 20009

For questions, call 1-888-584-6510 or 202-884-9780 or send an email to info@friendsofthecongo.org

IT IS TIME THAT THE WORLD ADDRESSES THE CONGO ISSUE. BE A PART OF THE SOLUTION, JOIN US AND BREAK THE SILENCE AROUND THE CONGO!

If you are not able to make it to Washington, DC, organize a vigil in your community in support of the people of the Congo.

Stay abreast of the latest updates by visiting the FOTC blog or joining our Twitter network

Congo rebel general says he wants talks

GOMA, Congo — The rebel general besieging this provincial capital said Thursday he wants direct talks with the Congo government about ending the fighting and his objections to a $9 billion deal that gives China access to vast mineral riches in exchange for a railway and highway.

Laurent Nkunda told The Associated Press in a telephone interview he also wants the urgent disarmament of a Rwandan Hutu militia that he accuses of preying on his minority Tutsi people.

Nkunda launched a low-level rebellion three years ago claiming Congo's transition to democracy had excluded the Tutsi, and despite agreeing in January to a U.N.-brokered cease-fire, resumed fighting in August. He alleges the Congolese government has not protected the Tutsi from the Rwandan Hutu militia that escaped to Congo after helping slaughter half a million Rwandan Tutsis in 1994. Nkunda says government troops are collaborating with the Rwandan Hutus, a claim Congo denies.

"It's not acceptable for government soldiers to be fighting alongside genociders," Nkunda said. "We want peace for people in the region."

Click here to "Read Full Article."

Recap of Congo Week

Last week was Breaking the Silence Congo Week. Several events took place all over to bring awareness towards the ongoing violence and struggle in the DRC. Pictures on that soon to come.

Cong Week Is Here

Tomorrow marks the begining of the international week long student run awareness for Congo. Please support the activities that are set to take place on your campus or campuses around you. And rememeber awarness is the first step.

Meanwhile...Blogging is a fairly new form of communication that has caught wild fire globally. Regardless of police run states and mass censorship, individuals have found a way to inform others about what is taking place in Africa. Thankfully, most blogging sites are free to the public making it not only convient but economical. Please take some time to check out blogging in Africa.
http://current.com/items/88844576_african_bloggers_fight_against_bad_governance

This week your home...next week the World

Break the Silence Congo Week is set to start next week on the 19th. And several universities, organizations and associations are prepraing major festivities to raise awareness of the plight of Congo. We here at drc144k seek to spread awareness of the Democratic Republic of Congo through all means possible. Fashion is just another way for us to express our heritage, pride and history. Please join us and several others in Breaking the Silence.
"The purpose of Break the Silence Congo Week is to raise awareness about the devastating situation in the Congo and mobilize support on behalf of the people of the Congo. It will take place from Sunday October 19th to Saturday October 25th. The key organizers are students from North Carolina A&T , UNC Chapel Hill, UNC Greensboro, University of Maryland, Howard University, Bowie University, and Cornell University (Congoweek.org)."
Check out http://congoweek.org/