In the 5th
century some well structured societies started to
emerge, with some of them well organized and highly
developed politically, socially, and economically. These
societies were in overall leading a very idealistic and
peaceful living until the arrival of the European
explorers and colonisers.
The area
was delimited by the British born American journalist
Sir Henry Morton Stanley who was hired by the King
Leopold II of Belgium. This later acquired formally this
large and extremely rich territory as his personal
property in the Berlin conference, Germany, which was
requested by Portugal and organized by Otto Von
Bismarck.
The
conference lasted three months, between 15 November 1884
and 25 February 1885, and saw the presence of
ambassadors from fourteen European countries gathered
around the major western powers of that time, initially
tasked to settle the status of Congo River and Niger
River mouths and basins and negotiate questions and
confusions over the control of Africa. The King Leopold
II emerged as a key figure in that forum where European
powers divided up Africa like vultures and created a
cultural mishmash and disruption of the well established
structures of the African societies.
The
Congolese people may be among the less fortunate people
in the world. They have never enjoyed the good
acquisition brought by the modernism, neither
emancipation, nor durable peace resulting into a
dignified life. Since 1885, almost all successive
powers, regimes and individuals that have ever
administered this country have always imposed brutality,
tyranny, exploitation, despotism, coercion, pillaging,
Imperialism and subjugation, without mentioning slavery
than hampered the population of its eastern part.
What makes
this paradoxical is that in all these evil powers are
identified by a similar characteristic in their drive:
the use of mercenaries, massive human rights abuse,
suppression of an important element of emancipation,
mass killings, new name for the country without any
consultation of the primary sovereign and adoption of
well justified names.
Once
Leopold II, pretending the profession of humanitarian
objectives by creating and becoming chairman of the
African International Association, and acquired the
largest and richest estate never owned by a human in the
world at the end of Berlin conference, he quickly gave
the country the name of Congo Free State and created a
special army force, known as Force Publique, full of
mercenaries from other European states. The aim of the
force was to protect the country against enemies, who
did not exist in reality.
He took
advantage of the growing world rubber market with the
development of the rubber tyres to make money by
imposing and establishing a rubber collection quota and
forced labour to the local people. The Force Publique
was then called into rescue to impose and enforce the
rubber quota and ivory collection by brutalizing these
poor people. They went far by setting up the policy and
widespread practice of cutting off the limbs of the
natives, burning and cleansing out villages as a matter
of enforcing these quotas, among many other evildoing.
An
international outcry was then raised up. By the time
international pressure compelled the Belgian government,
in a move to preserve the dignity of their nation, to
adopt the so called Congo Free State from Leopold II in
1908, about 23 millions of people had been murdered.
That was a significant catalyst for the first human
right movement in the world. There never been anything
justifying the name Congo Free State, neither any
philanthropically oriented action sustaining the
adoption of the name African International Association.
Although
the Belgian administration gave it a new name i.e.
Belgian Congo little changed in the life of the local
people. It was just a change of masters not of practice,
as people were still denied a significant element of
emancipation which democracy. Though the country
generated too much income that structurally developed
Belgium and bore the name Belgian as it attribute,
things were very different with the metropolis. The
livelihood of the Congolese did not improve at all. It
was just a total exploitation, massive oppression, human
rights abuse, coercion and subjugation.
This led to
the struggle for the independence.
Leopold
II’s inhumane practices are well stereotyped by the
invading Rwandese army and their ally, the puppet rebel
movement known as the Rally for the Congolese Democracy
(RCD).
In fact
there’s nothing at all related to democracy in the area
invaded by Rwanda and its ally.
As there’s
a rush for coltan these later have impoverished the area
whereby people have got no alternative than to dig for
coltan for survival (paying some of their mined coltan
quantity as a royalty to the Rwandese and the
rebellion). Unless someone is able to pay the forced tax
in cash, failure to mine it attracts persecution similar
to the kind of what was imposed by the Belgian king:
like killing or limb cut out. This is enforced by the so
called rebellion and the patented plunderer, the Rwanda.
Apart from
as a matter of fact, people has to mine it in order to
get food and meet other essential needs; the mined
coltan is bought at very low price, but sold out in
astronomical price, maintaining the Congolese people in
continual and appalling condition.
Schools
were destroyed, thus forcing children to go for coltan,
to be recruited as soldiers and to practice
prostitution. This is a blatant example of subjugation
and coercion.
The rush
for coltan is comparable to the rush for gold; the only
difference is that the two rushes happened in different
moment of the world history, and under different social,
geographical and economical backgrounds. If the dynamism
accompanying the rush for the Congolese coltan is
different to that one of the USA and the Australian gold
rush it is because the world has become politicised than
it was before. Before poor and disadvantaged people were
the one to benefit more from gold rushes; but now in the
coltan rush richer and influential individuals,
corporate bodies, powerful multinational company and
nations are the ones to capitalize.
The DRC’s
coltan rush is just an obvious showcase.
