Congo: The Invisble War

Cyre2067

The Living Force
Another one I plucked off the newsvine:

_http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2008/1/24/the_invisible_war

Congo: The Invisible War

By Amy Goodman

It’s the deadliest conflict since World War II. More than 5 million people have died in the past decade, yet it goes virtually unnoticed and unreported in the United States. The conflict is in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Central Africa. At its heart are the natural resources found in Congo and multinational corporations that extract them. The prospects for peace have slightly improved: A peace accord was just signed in Congo’s eastern Kivu provinces. But without a comprehensive truth and reconciliation process for the entire country and a renegotiation of all mining contracts, the suffering will undoubtedly continue.

In its latest Congo mortality report, the International Rescue Committee found that a stunning 5.4 million “excess deaths” have occurred in Congo since 1998. These are deaths beyond those that would normally occur. In other words, a loss of life on the scale of Sept. 11 occurring every two days, in a country whose population is one-sixth our own.

Just a little history: After supporting the allies in World War II, Congo gained independence and elected Patrice Lumumba, a progressive Pan-Africanist, as prime minister in 1960. He was assassinated soon after in a plot involving the CIA. The U.S. installed and supported Mobutu Sese Seko, who ruled tyrannically for more than 30 years, plundering the nation. Since his death, Congo has seen war, from 1996 to 2002, provoked by invasions by neighboring Rwanda and Uganda, and ongoing conflict since then.

A particularly horrifying aspect of the conflict is the mass sexual violence being used as a weapon of war. Congolese human-rights activist Christine Schuler Deschryver told me about the hundreds of thousands of women and children subjected to rape:

“We are not talking about normal rapes anymore. We are talking about sexual terrorism, because they are destroyed—you cannot imagine what’s going on in Congo. We are talking about new surgery to repair the women, because they’re completely destroyed.” She was describing the physical damage done to the women, and to children, one, she said, as young as 10 months old, by acts of rape that involve insertion of sticks, guns and molten plastic. Deschryver was in the U.S. as a guest of V-Day, Eve Ensler’s campaign to end violence against women, in an attempt to generate public awareness of this genocide and to support the Panzi Hospital in Deschryver’s hometown of Bukavu.

Maurice Carney is executive director of Friends of the Congo, in Washington, D.C.: “Two types of rape, basically, are taking place in the Congo: One is the rape of the women and children, and the other the rape of the land, natural resources. The Congo has tremendous natural resources: 30 percent of the world’s cobalt, 10 percent of the world’s copper, 80 percent of the world’s reserves of coltan. You have to look at the corporate influence on everything that takes place in the Congo.”

Among the companies Carney blames for fueling the violence are Cleveland-based OM Group, the world’s leading producer of cobalt-based specialty chemicals and a leading supplier of nickel-based specialty chemicals, as well as Boston-based chemical giant Cabot Corp. Cabot produces coltan, also known as tantalum, a hard-to-extract but critical component of electronic circuitry, which is used in all cell phones and other consumer electronics. The massive demand for coltan is credited with fueling the Second Congo War of 1998-2002. A former CEO of Cabot is none other than the Bush administration’s current secretary of energy, Samuel Bodman. Phoenix-based Freeport-McMoRan, which took over the Phelps Dodge company’s enormous mining concession in the Congo, is also in on the game.

The United Nations has issued several reports that are highly critical of illegal corporate exploitation of the Congo’s minerals. A Congolese government review of more than 60 mining contracts call for their renegotiation or outright cancellation. Says Carney, “Eighty percent of the population live on 30 cents a day or less, with billions of dollars going out the back door and into the pockets of mining companies.” An important question for us in the U.S. is: How could close to 6 million people die from war and related disease in one country in less than a decade and go virtually unnoticed?

Amy Goodman is the host of “Democracy Now!,” a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on 650 stations in North America.
To think that this kind of karma is associated with things that I own... ugh this is why i refuse to buy/wear diamonds and now I discover that my cell, tv and computers and all hooked into the same horrible cycle of violence. Could you imagine the outrage if these people were American? I just wanna smash the illusion, shred the veil to pieces, the anger and frustration i feel while reading these kinds of stories literally makes me sweat. I just try to keep it at the neck.. let it burn, let it burn, let it burn.
 
I recently watched 'Gorillas in the Mist' for the first time and was shocked to see that the conflict in the Congo has been ongoing since the late sixties. The war may have 'officially' broken out in 1996 but people have been in turmoil there for decades. The movie briefly illustrates this though the main focus is of course on the wildlife and Dian Fossey's research. Dian's guide in the movie says that his entire family was murdered and there are scenes of mass exodus, chaos and extreme political upheaval - this during the 60's.

From a short online biography http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Fossey.html

encyclopedia.com said:
Dian "worked for a short time as an occupational therapist before traveling to Africa to meet Louis Leakey . He encouraged her, and she began her field studies in the Congo in 1966. Arrested and forced to leave during a military uprising, she moved to Rwanda and set up the Karisoke Research Center, which she directed from 1967 to 1980..."
It's rumored that her murder was perpetrated by those who were determined to end her research which interfered with the financial exploitation of the mountain gorillas. In any case, the movie is worth a look see or a revisit if this topic interests you. It's actually more informative than 'Blood Diamonds' which was just...ugh, I'm not even going to go there.

Cyre said:
Could you imagine the outrage if these people were American?
...well of course so many have become so numbed to the scenes of grief in Africa that yeah, it's hard to imagine it happening anywhere else.
 
Telperion said:
It's rumored that her murder was perpetrated by those who were determined to end her research which interfered with the financial exploitation of the mountain gorillas. In any case, the movie is worth a look see or a revisit if this topic interests you. It's actually more informative than 'Blood Diamonds' which was just...ugh, I'm not even going to go there.
On the contrary I dont think there was a political plot to murder Diane Fossey.
I think it wasrandom act while her ego played big part in it. This is hinted in the movie but it was quite obvious in the BBC documentary I saw years ago.
If you spit in the face of general law in the manner she did, surely enough you will meet a tragic end.
 
Deckard said:
Telperion said:
It's rumored that her murder was perpetrated by those who were determined to end her research which interfered with the financial exploitation of the mountain gorillas. In any case, the movie is worth a look see or a revisit if this topic interests you. It's actually more informative than 'Blood Diamonds' which was just...ugh, I'm not even going to go there.
On the contrary I dont think there was a political plot to murder Diane Fossey.
I think it wasrandom act while her ego played big part in it. This is hinted in the movie but it was quite obvious in the BBC documentary I saw years ago.
If you spit in the face of general law in the manner she did, surely enough you will meet a tragic end.
Though I do not know much about this particular case, I wonder how one does actually "spit in the face of general law". Could you eleborate on that some more Deckard? Also, if you know about an online source for that documentary, it would be very much appreciated. Thanks!
 
The Mechanic said:
Though I do not know much about this particular case, I wonder how one does actually "spit in the face of general law". Could you eleborate on that some more Deckard? Also, if you know about an online source for that documentary, it would be very much appreciated. Thanks!
General Law
http://glossary.cassiopaea.com/glossary.php?id=29&lsel=

This might be a good way to get a picture of what Deckard meant.
 
The Mechanic said:
Though I do not know much about this particular case, I wonder how one does actually "spit in the face of general law". Could you eleborate on that some more Deckard? appreciated. Thanks!
Think of Don Quijote charging on windmills ;)
Now in her case add delusional ego and you get recipee for the disaster

The Mechanic said:
Also, if you know about an online source for that documentary, it would be very much
Well it was probably in early 90-ies, and on TV ( I am not certain which channel , most probably BBC) and I remember it was not just about her but also about jane goodal and differences in their approaches
 
Back
Top Bottom