Gazing in the Congo (DRC): the dark heart of Africa (2006-2017)

[M-A Lagrange]

I see we are in agreement.

The issue is tied to why I found Hochschild's book, King Leopold's Ghost ultimately patronizing. For all the faults of the Congo Free State and King Leopold, the horrors of the Congo were not merely a product of the Europeans who exploited the area and the people. King Leopold did not commit the original sin by biting the African apple, although he was infamous for declaring his desire for a slice of the African cake.


C'est le Congo

Tom

Tom,

Well, we can be in agreement. Not on everything but that's life.

I personally think that what ever Leopold did, he just emplfied an existing behaviour.
What really estanished me in my research was that before the coming of the Portugese and then the Brits and the French in Kongo Empire, the notion of soldier was pretty much "modern".
Alright, they fought on other tribes and killed women and children and took slaves but it was for defense purpose or to expend the imperium of the Empire. Which was not that unified but still, had some very common roots with what was done in Europe at that time. The Army was a nobel profession and its purpose to defend the land and the people.
When the Portugeses arrived, they disturbed that military tradition by imposing slave trade to a first willing King and then an unwilling King. After the fall of the last King of Kongo, the army tradition changed and the practice of razzia and political deportation through slave trade became the army bread and butter.
Leopold's mercenaries came after and took benefit from it.
I do believe that it did influence deeply the Congolese understanding of governance and security management.

Stan,

You're so right. the network was so crazy in Goma. But what was funny in the end was that we all figured out that if celtel was down it would mean someone is coming or CNDP was giving trouble to the FARDC.
We just had to look at the UN choppers:
If they were in the sky: VIP visit,
If none in the sky: CNDP. (great parties to forget that the city was only protected by Nkunda will to not take it).

C'est comme ca. Petit a petit, l'oiseau fait son nid.

M-A

[Stan]

Hmmm...

Tout d’abord, l’oiseau doit s’assurer qu’il est en sécurité

C'est comme ca. Petit a petit, l'oiseau fait son nid.

M-A

[M-A Lagrange]

Yes, well... The bird is here to be eaten in the end

But tell me, Did you, or Tom, put your hands on the last report from the Human Rights Commission fom the UN on the war crimes in DRC between 96 and 2003 ?

Apparently, sometimes, even for wolfs time are tuff.
I'll be happy to get a copy, could not find it in open sources yet.

[Stan]

I read about the leaked report at this blog, but I haven't seen it on any of the secured sites I frequent. But then, most of the sites I work with probably couldn't find the DRC on a map

Yes, well... The bird is here to be eaten in the end

But tell me, Did you, or Tom, put your hands on the last report from the Human Rights Commission fom the UN on the war crimes in DRC between 96 and 2003 ?

Apparently, sometimes, even for wolfs time are tuff.
I'll be happy to get a copy, could not find it in open sources yet.

[Rex Brynen]

U.N. Congo Report Offers New View on Genocide
By HOWARD W. FRENCH
New York Times
Published: August 27, 2010

A forthcoming United Nations report on 10 years of extraordinary violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo bluntly challenges the conventional history of events there after the 1994 Rwandan genocide, charging that invading troops from Rwanda and their rebel allies killed tens of thousands of members of the Hutu ethnic group, including many civilians.

Killings in Congo and Rwanda have led to long inquiries.
The 545-page report on 600 of the country’s most serious reported atrocities raises the question of whether Rwanda could be found guilty of genocide against Hutu during the war in neighboring Congo, but says international courts would need to rule on individual cases.

...

While Rwanda and Congolese rebel forces have always claimed that they attacked Hutu militias who were sheltered among civilians, the United Nations report documents deliberate reprisal attacks on civilians.

The report says that the apparently systematic nature of the massacres “suggests that the numerous deaths cannot be attributed to the hazards of war or seen as equating to collateral damage.” It continues, “The majority of the victims were children, women, elderly people and the sick, who were often undernourished and posed no threat to the attacking forces.”

The existence of the United Nations document, titled Democratic Republic of Congo, 1993-2003, was first reported by the French daily newspaper Le Monde. But participants in the drafting of the report have described its progress and difficulties over a period of seven months to The New York Times, which obtained the most recent version of the report.

...

The release of the report appears to have been delayed in part over fears of the reaction of the Rwandan government, which has long enjoyed strong diplomatic support from the United States and Britain. There is concern in the United Nations that Rwanda might end its participation in peacekeeping operations in retaliation for the report.

...

[M-A Lagrange]

The release of the report appears to have been delayed in part over fears of the reaction of the Rwandan government, which has long enjoyed strong diplomatic support from the United States and Britain. There is concern in the United Nations that Rwanda might end its participation in peacekeeping operations in retaliation for the report.

Not sure that would be such a bad thing. We cannot have 2 weights for such things as genocides. What ever your contribution is, the political challenge of replacing you (and please not by zimbabwean soldiers...) cannot compete with the gravity of the crime.

[JMA]

Not sure that would be such a bad thing. We cannot have 2 weights for such things as genocides. What ever your contribution is, the political challenge of replacing you (and please not by zimbabwean soldiers...) cannot compete with the gravity of the crime.

When the (Zimbabwean) Gukurahundi genocide took place in the early 80's the Brits (Margret *#@*# Thatcher) let it slide, then the Rwandan and Bosnian genocides saw Bill #@*#@ Clinton frozen in indecision after the "Black Hawk Down" debacle just sit on his hands.

Did anyone think a deterrent with regard to mass murder/rape and genocide had been established? I suggest the thugs of the world thought "see they got away with it then so can I".

Now we read that some gutless bureaucrats at the UN delay the publication of the report based on a concern about upsetting the (alleged) perpetrator.

When was the last time we had significant political leader with balls?