A Snapshot History

Sometimes, I have to go to the Congo for work. As a Rwandan, I go discreetly, stay for a couple of hours, and then I get out of there. I would never stay overnight. They recognize that I’m Rwandan by my appearance, and I fear that they will do something to me. The militias hate Rwandans. They hate everyone. The militias hate outsiders and they hate their own people. They will kill you if you are not one of them and you cross into their sight. They kill you because they don’t know what else to do. They sometimes kill even if you are one of them. They don’t care if you’re black or white, man or woman, girl or boy. They just hate you. Killing is all they know. Killing and hatred. It is their way of life.

--A 23-year-old Uganda-born Rwandan, name withheld, in a conversation with me about the DRC.

This post ran away with itself, so I decided to keep it separate from my own observations in the DRC. I believe this background info is a necessary primer for what’s to come.

_______________________

We cannot look at the DRC as some sort of other world. We’re all people, and we all share the same globe. The people and predicament became staggeringly real to me when I was there. Corruption is pervasive, and it goes way back.

King Leopold II of Belgium (great guy, keep reading) – that’s a good place to start. There’s an eerily common theme here: I told you in an early post that Rwanda’s genocide was fomented considerably by Western influence. The Congo is no different. Ol’ Leo discovered this huge swathe of African territory in the 1870s and took it upon himself to explore and exploit it for over 2 decades. Explorers were sent to chart its territories; mercenaries were sent to establish Belgian control over its land and its people. The King’s focus was to take advantage of the abundance of natural resources in the region, particularly when it came to ivory and rubber. He disregarded international rules and regulations and made a monster of a personal fortune from the ruthless mismanagement of his regime – what he named the “Congo Free State.” His regime was characterized by nothing less than brutality. When the demand for rubber skyrocketed in the late 19^th century, he resorted to systemic enslavement and forced labor of Congolese natives, establishing unrealistic quotas for the collection of sap from rubber plants. He closed off foreign access to Congolese territory and created his own bubble of a kingdom, rife with gross human rights violations. Mass killings, savage beatings, and repeated mutilation occurred when the unrealistic quotas were not met. Millions of people died, directly or indirectly, from the violence that he inflicted throughout the country. This went on for too many years before the international community became appalled and forced Leopold to relinquish control.

There is someone in this story who never set foot on Congolese soil for the entirety of these 2+ decades of brash colonial rule – not once. Who? King Awesome himself.

When the Congo was turned over to the Belgian government, it was a picture of despair. More Europeans began to infiltrate the region, building a scarred and complicated relationship with the locals. Natives were only allowed so much control and autonomy in the political and economic spheres. They were deliberately kept under-educated. The country received independence from Belgium in 1960. It was severely under-prepared to run itself. The Congolese army forces, already poorly-disciplined, mutinied. Tensions mounted between Westerners and natives, and between the native factions that split off to support one side or the other. Small militia groups formed to pursue their own political and economic ends, many affiliating themselves with certain political leaders who were often killed by opposing groups. These groups grew quickly, and so too did the resentment and anger among them in the midst of these killings. Congolese dictator after dictator vied for power and jewels and recognition. Corruption was rampant. Each dictator, with his own signature and style, set out to pursue his own ends, to keep his “throne” (and that’s an appropriate word) and his own party in power at whatever cost necessary. Promises were made and then broken.

Rwanda’s Hutu rebel groups spilled into the DRC after the genocide in 1994. These rebels continue to roam throughout the DRC, wreaking havoc against civilians, Tutsi-dominated militia groups, and Congolese militia groups who will do anything to rid their country of Rwandan presence. Rwandan rebel militias meet with significant resistance from Congolese armed groups, who are convinced that Rwandans (and other foreigners) want to exploit their land, their natural resources, and their people. Congolese militia group fights Congolese militia group; Congolese militia group fights foreign militia group. The poorly-disciplined Congolese army has been sent into the bush on repeated occasions to make order of the disorder, but these soldiers are themselves often swept up in the violence, committing atrocities against civilians and militiamen alike.

The DRC also experiences spillover violence from The LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army), a religious and military group numbering in the thousands, originating in Uganda, and engaged in terrible, totally irrational war against the Ugandan government. The LRA ’s specialty is ruthless violence against pretty much anyone it comes into contact with, including innocent civilians, women, and children. Child soldiers, murder, abduction, mutilation, and sexual enslavement of women and children are cornerstones of the LRA.

In 1998, a chaos of ongoing clashes culminated in The Second Congo War, also known as Africa’s World War. 8 African nations and about 25 armed groups were directly involved in the conflict. By 2008, the war had killed 5.4 million people, making it the deadliest conflict in history since World War II. Since 2003, about 45,000 people have died per month as a result of conflict or preventable diseases and starvation caused by the conflict. Conflict minerals continue to be a driving force of violence. So do ethnic tensions.

I feel like the last paragraphs are chaotic just talking about the chaos. So, you ask after all of this, who exactly is fighting who? And why? Good questions. It’s gotten to the point now where it’s not clear-cut and it’s not formulaic. In many cases, the groups stomping around in the DRC don’t even know why they are killing. All they know is killing, and all they know is hatred, and so these are the things they act on. And civilians have become an easy, vulnerable target of irrational hatred.

How do we get rid of hatred on a massive scale like this? Can we even "get rid" of it? Is there hope? Really, is there? Are there signs of resilience, signs of progress? (I can answer this one now and tell you the good news – yes.) Is peace even making itself known? Is the end in sight? What makes humans capable of this kind of violence? How do we introduce education into a country that is lagging so far behind in skill and stability? What is the role of the rest of the world? I keep digging. Comments and emails are welcome and appreciated.

Some stats/notes of interest:

• Population of the DRC: 68 million
• As many as 250 ethnic groups have been distinguished and named
• 700 local languages and dialects are spoken
• About 70% of the Congolese population is Christian, predominantly Roman Catholic
• In 2007, 21% of the population had no schooling; 46% had primary schooling; 30% had secondary schooling, and 3% had university schooling
• Per capita GDP (2009): $171
• Natural resources: Copper, cobalt, diamonds, gold, other minerals; petroleum; wood; hydroelectric potential
• Agriculture: Cash crops--coffee, rubber, palm oil, cotton, cocoa, sugar, tea. Food crops--manioc, corn, legumes, plantains, peanuts
• Land use: Agriculture 3%; pasture 7%; forest/woodland 77%; other 13%