Congo Massacre

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Field Marshal Klesh
Yes, unfortunately their is no oil in the Congo.

No, but there is plenty of other mineral wealth there. Congo is very, very important.

[DanS]

There are diamonds in Congo, however.

[klesh]

If only tanks and cars etc ran on diamonds...

[ravagon]

Originally posted by Field Marshal Klesh
If only tanks and cars etc ran on diamonds...

Tanks and cars also run on roads - of which Congo also has a deficit.

[chequita guevara]

There is also most of the world's cobalt, as well as tungsten, uranium, and lost of other very important minerals.

[red_mustard]

I dont know anyone from Congo. I dont pay Congo taxes. And I dont work for Congo. To say I give a **** is overstating my concern. These are there own problems.

[klesh]

perfect.

[red_mustard]

yawn

[red_mustard]

I know this whole thing was a troll anyway. I could tell after seeing the first few comments about how we should somehow feel sorry about these guys. Which I wont.

And life goes on.

[Az]

I wanted to post this story. Good work, FMK.

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by GePap
Best guess is that sicne 1998 at least 2 million people have died in the low intensity war there. The reality is, that for all the constant attention the US and Europe pay to the ME, Africa and Asia remain the places were the most human suffering occurs, and Europe and the US really don't plant to really get involved at all.

Uh, Gepap, as I may have mentioned briefly in the 'educating Ted Striker on African history' thread a while back- the U.S. has had its largest C.I.A. presence in Africa in the Demo. Rep. of Congo (formerly Zaire), since the overthrow of Patrice Lumumba and the installation of kleptocrat dictator Mobutu (now sadly dead without having stood trial). The U.S. donated in excess of 860 million dollars to Zaire, and in return got the eighth poorest country in the world. On the other hand it did get a very nice staging post for those American backed incursions into Angola (which does have significant oil deposits, Gulf Oil subsidiaries which export to the U.S., and has had a hideous civil war).

As chegitz mentioned, and as I mentioned previously too, Zaire/Congo contains 70% of the world's cobalt, significant deposits of uranium and the 'blood' diamonds which helped fund Mobutu's corrupt regime and Unita's civil war atrocities in Angola. You'll also be glad to know the Rockefellers had serious business interests in Zaire/Congo- so the devaluation of the Zairean currency meant also those lovely Zairean raw materials were jolly cheap- and all those finished export goods from the U.S. jolly expensive to import.

Nice to see some people making a profit from Africa's misery though. Wouldn't want to think all those Yanqui tax dollars had gone to waste...

[Az]

Best guess is that sicne 1998 at least 2 million people have died in the low intensity war there. The reality is, that for all the constant attention the US and Europe pay to the ME, Africa and Asia remain the places were the most human suffering occurs, and Europe and the US really don't plant to really get involved at all.

a simple Cost/benefit analysis really.

[GePap]

Originally posted by red_mustard
I dont know anyone from Congo. I dont pay Congo taxes. And I dont work for Congo. To say I give a **** is overstating my concern. These are there own problems.

Which is the same most people would say about Iraq if they had not been told "hey, Invade Iraq, payback for 9/11!".

And people wonder why others around the world look at the US and UK funny when they talk about how much they "care about democracy" and ending misery.

Molly Bloom:

The current war in Congo, I beleive, stems frm the aftermath of the Rwanda disaster. For all of the US's previous involvement in the area, I do believe what happened in the Congo was an all African production.

[C0ckney]

yes it is. after the rwandan civil war, the victorious tutsis (sp?) backed a rebellion which eventually led to mobutu's downfall. this brought (the now late) laurent kabelia (sp?) to power, things seemed to be going allright, but then the rwandans found out that some of the hutus who had been responsible for the genocide in rwanda in 1994 were hiding in eastern congo.

they sent troops in to eastern congo and when the new congolese government complained, they decided that they didn't like them any more and started backing new rebel groups. they were joined by burundi and uganda in backing the rebels, while zambia, angloa and zimbabwe sent troops to back the government. the result has been a bloody war, which as others have said has claimed as many as two million lives. most foriegn troops have now left the country but the violence between various communities and groups still continues.

[Sava]

I wonder if the wonderful humanitarian George Bush is paying any attention to this.