When the Praetorian Guard assassinated the Emperor Publius Helvius Pertinax, the entire Roman Empire was auctioned off to the highest bidder, Marcus Didius Julianus. Although this was in March 193 AD, we are witnessing a repeat of a similar situation in the Great Lakes region.
Recently, the New York Times reported that ‘Félix Tshisekedi, the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, offered the United States and Europe a stake in his country’s vast mineral wealth, a sector currently dominated by China.’ The American newspapers implied that the DRC government is making big promises to the leaders of these countries in exchange for diplomatic support. In this auction, the DRC is offering national natural resources in exchange for sanctions and public condemnation of Rwanda and the M23.
British officials have already shown their eagerness to meet the expectations of the DRC. This is not surprising. It is not the first time that Western leaders have made decisions based not on values but on greed. Of course, their actions have nothing to do with a lasting solution to the problem. Rather, they are taking shortcuts to the wealth of the DRC, fuelling the conflict rather than offering a lasting solution. As always, the buyers never offer the true value of the property as they are only interested in making a profit.
Understanding the ongoing conflict in eastern DRC should be easy, unless one has been bribed to turn victims into perpetrators. There are two related issues that need to be resolved. The first is the conflict between the AFC/M23 and Kinshasa, which is mainly about the rights of marginalised communities and the return of Congolese Tutsi refugees. The second is Rwanda’s security concerns over the presence of the FDLR, a genocidal militia currently integrated into the DRC forces. These two disputes are linked in the sense that the FDLR, which is a threat to Rwanda, is also responsible for igniting the persecution of the Congolese Tutsi, forcing thousands of them to seek refuge in neighbouring countries.
Instead of focusing on the root causes of these conflicts, Western actors have turned their attention to Rwanda. Various incomprehensible accusations have been repeated, including that Rwanda is interested in plundering the DRC’s minerals and balkanising the country. They provide no evidence of this alleged intention to balkanise Congo, and their evidence of looting is circumstantial at best. It is based solely on the fact that Rwanda, like all the DRC’s neighbours, is the natural route for the export of Congolese minerals through the ports of Mombasa and Dar es Salaam. In other words, while there is incontrovertible evidence of the presence of the FDLR, its collaboration with the Congolese army, its crimes against Congolese Tutsi communities, its attacks on Rwanda and the presence of Congolese Tutsi refugees in neighbouring countries, there is no evidence of any intention on the part of Rwanda to balkanise Congo or plunder its minerals. But the focus is where the evidence is lacking. No wonder the Western world seems to many to be completely out of touch with reality.
In this auction-like competition, the truth is not important. Britain understands that the winner of the race to Congolese wealth will be the one who has condemned Rwanda the most. In this situation, distortion of facts and rules becomes the norm. For example, it is on record that the DRC has been arming militias (Wazalendo) and civilians, including children, and when they are killed in battle, instead of blaming those responsible for the recruitment of children, the blame is shifted to the M23. The UN Human Rights Office accused the M23 of executing three children in Bukavu, who it admitted were in possession of weapons, and said nothing about their recruitment.
It has also been reported that around 3,000 people were killed in the battle of Goma, without distinguishing between civilians and combatants, or between those killed by the M23 and those killed by other armed groups, mercenaries and the military. The impression given by the western media, UN and western officials is that all these deaths are the result of unlawful killings. The use of emotional framing by international radical organisations to capture the emotions of the public in the process of influencing certain decisions is a common practice. If Western officials behave like radical activists, rather than showing statesmanship and restraint, they could become irrelevant in the search for a lasting solution.
In all this gloom, we can appreciate the fact that the DRC has shown that it is possible to use African resources to gain leverage in this global system of changing international order and interests. The remaining question is how this influence can be used for the development and protection of all African peoples, as opposed to the marginalisation of some African communities.
Ultimately, if Africans really want to end this conflict, they must sideline the merchants of death, in whatever form they come: the bidders, the UN experts and staff, the NGOs, and all those whose livelihoods and wealth are built on the misery of our people.
