The Pillagers

Sorry for the blogfunk - patience is needed on my part. Knowing the history of DRC is important to understanding the present..why resources worth gobs of money coexist with poverty, scant law, and disorder. Lumumba was determined for independence in 1960, and quickly alienated the US, UN & Belgium with his "At any cost, with anybody's help" rhetoric. Early on the CIA got involved behind the scenes to ensure Congo didn't go Red...its difficult to understand why we were so scared about this, as Belgium had left Congo with infrastructure but little capacity. It wasn't long before Lumumba was taken out, and Western support thrown behind Mobutu to keep him in our fold. We showered him with $$$ and praise as the early 1970s saw some development, stability and world attention as Don King promoted his two boxers Foreman vs. Ali for the 1974 "Rumble in the Jungle". This was apparently the height of the Congo's glory, which crumbled as Mobutu formed a kleptocracy which still echoes today. He pilfered all the money he wanted from the national banks, bought homes all over Europe, chartered Concordes for his flights to visit political allies in the west. Bush and Reagan frenziedly stuffed dollars in his pockets as a "deposit" against communism in the region. Now sadly its difficult to see why it was worth it. From just below the elite, every civil servant had to start robbing and begging to make it. This took off like a disease under Mobutu, and echoes of it are here today...in 1991, looting in Kinshasa by the unpaid military still scares people about protests. Other pillagers have come from closeby, as the Rwanda 1994 crisis seems to have just been exported to the east DRC, causing resource-funded regional battling. Ethnic battles here seem to be taming as ceasefires and reintegration efforts continue. What's in store for the future of this place? We can only hope that American interests here can be conducted with wisdom, foresight and morality. Though the US contributes 0 troops to the 18,000 UN peacekeepers, they supposedly fund a good chunk as penance for our sins.