From Slaves to Oil

The Congo Considered the worst humanitarian disaster since WW II, atrocities in the Congo can be attributed at least, partly, to the United States. The Congo was one of the keys to America’s foreign policy’s objective to replace the French as the dominant power in Central Africa. Central Africa is blessed with an abundance of resources, some of them vital for manufacturing electronic products. In the process of pursuing this objective, the United States used Rwanda and Uganda as surrogate armies for the invasion of the Congo where many of the resources were located. These countries joined forces with a local insurgency in order to overthrow the government but in their effort to gain control of the Congo, at least six other countries such as Angola and the Sudan were drawn into the conflict resulting in what many historians refer to as the Third World War in Africa. Tragically, the conflict in the Congo resulted in approximately six million civilian deaths, hundreds of thousands of rape victims, massive displacement of the population, a tremendous loss of resource wealth and zero development. The crisis originated when nationalist riots threatened Belgium’s control over the Democratic Republic of the Congo and it was granted independence on June 30, 1960. Patrice Lumumba was elected the first Prime Minister in the embryonic democracy but by declaring his neutrality during the Cold War and harboring dangerous beliefs such as socialism, his tenure became problematic and led to his assassination sixty-seven days later. His assassination remains somewhat of a mystery but it is known that Eisenhower ordered Allan Dulles, Director of the CIA, to eliminate Lumumba. Mobutu, his replacement, a U.S. hand-picked dictator, was installed as president in 1965 and was heavily subsidized militarily by the U.S. in the amount of $1.5 billion from 1965 to 1991. Notwithstanding his corruption and brutality, American support was forthcoming by virtue of his anti-communism and his penchant for supporting the American agenda in Africa. A central tenet in American objectives in Africa was to capitalize on its Congolese, Rwandan and Ugandan allies to secure control of Central Africa mainly for the rich repository of resources particularly in the Eastern Congo. To strengthen their control over the resource-rich Eastern Congo, U.S. policy-makers decided to establish allies in Uganda and Rwanda who would inevitably invade the Congo as proxies of the United States. President Museveni of Uganda was to become a strong ally of the United States by providing them with a strong proxy army to pursue both Ugandan and American interests. In Museveni’s pursuit of power, he stormed Kampala and overthrew President Milton Obote in 1986 with 3,000 Tutsi fighters who had become refugees from the Hutu government in Rwanda. These same exiles had wanted to return to Rwanda but were denied the right of return. In 1987, leading exiles decided to resort to force if necessary and formed the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) with an armed wing known as the Rwanda Patriotic Army (RPA). In 1990, the RPA launched an attempt to gain control of Rwanda by means of guerrilla attacks but with the intervention of the French, who also had ambitions in Rwanda, RPA soldiers were forced to retreat into Uganda. New life was breathed into the RPA when Paul Kagame, an exiled Tutsi from Rwanda and a major in the Ugandan army, became the leader of the RPF. By 1991 he had organized the RPA into a disciplined guerrilla force of 5,000 men. The RPF continued its efforts to defeat the Hutu government in Rwanda and ultimate victory can be partly attributed to the United States who was determined to establish allies in both Uganda and Rwanda. American leaders did not want a coalition government of Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda as demanded in the Arusha Accords since they felt that the Hutus might not be amenable to the American agenda. To avert a coalition government, the U.S. supported Paul Kagame in his invasions of Rwanda. According to Global Research: “From 1989 onwards, America supported joint RPF-Ugandan attacks on Rwanda.” (Michel Chossudovsky, The US was behind the Rwandan Genocide: Installing a US Protectorate in Central Africa, Global Research, April 7, 2010) The U.S. armed Paul Kagame to enable him to organize a militia, the RPA, for the purpose of invading Rwanda and to gain control of the country The United States provided $183 million in economic aid between 1989 and 1992 which was also diverted to military purchases to finance the invasion of Rwanda. (Barrie Collins, In the waiting room of the Rwandan Genocide Tribunal, May 26, 2006) Kagame’s insurgency eventually succeeded and his ascendancy to president coincided with the end of the genocide in 1994. The RPF formed its own government and was immediately recognized by the U.S. who established strong military ties with Rwanda in order to prepare for the invasion of Zaire. One of the consequences of the genocide and civil war in Rwanda was the inundation of refugees into Zaire. During the genocide approximately one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus fled into Zaire to escape the machetes of the extreme Hutus responsible for the genocide. When Kagame and the Tutsis took over the Rwandan government, about one hundred thousand extreme Hutus fled to escape the fierce vengeance of the new government in Rwanda. Once both Museveni and Kagame were in power, the United States was ready to direct its attention to a valuable prize, Zaire. (Mobutu changed the name from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Zaire). Rwanda and Uganda were poor countries and could benefit from purloining the large repository of resources in Eastern Congo but they were also serving the interests of their ally, the U.S.