Hei Jaja !
You always have only the hard questions !
Yep, worked right inside his presidential palace at Gbadolite in 1984 as a team leader instructing on armored vehiclesOriginally Posted by KingJaja
I quickly picked up Lingala and began my bastardized version of Belgian Frog too !
Those were the days when Kinshasa was truly "Kin La Belle" !
There were no defined goals back then, and the EUCOM objectives were at best foggy. My team ended up all over the country and our mission statement was baffled by the Zairois. SIGH ! We had Russians and Cubans across the river trading diamonds for anything that remotely appeared to be military hardware, rebel insurgents 300 clicks west, expats building and maintaining a power dam, and very hungry businessmen mining everything that Zaire stood for. A vast country with no infrastructure outside of perhaps Bas-Zaire and Shaba Provinces.
It wasn't intended to be an "exit strategy" and you have a very valid point and concern. Sitting in your shoes I would also be worried.
Our history in Zaire was strange for most of us working there. The end of the Cold War did not have to mean the end of Zaire, but the US Administration and half of Europe were no longer in need of a dictator and pushed for a democratic Zaire along with the Zairois. Well, as JMA so eloquently put, how do you force free and democratic elections on a country that never had them and has no need for elections (Uncle Mo was not leaving) ?. The pace that the Clinton Administration pressed on the Embassy was unrealistic for even a modern western culture. Our Ambassador, a tall and attractive white female, would have the honor of addressing Mobutu with the plan
The rest you know !
I was optimistic when Obama was elected, and I'm sure the Africans were also relieved and had some high hopes (Americans did).
Gotta answer your questions backwards:
The NGO crowd has no real influence and they are quick to back off when one considers where all their operating money comes from. Don't bite the hand that feeds you.
Trade and prosperity were always on the table, but, as you already described perfectly, the Congolese govt. will only play along until the next tranche of aid is provided. We can change the name of the country, but we will never manage to change the Zairois mentality by playing an American game with Zairian rules. I believe an open trade policy is also on the table for Nigeria, but I don't know what the conditions are with the exception of our stupid selective-vision/hearing human rights policies tied directly to foreign aid. With that, I'll answer number 3..
The (current) USG concern about China is her provision of unconditional foreign aid. China achieves diplomatic, military, and economic influence in African nations in exchange for unconditional foreign aid, regardless of the benefiting country's human rights record or political practices. That's probably not good for anyone in Africa but dictators love free cash
Dayuhan has an excellent post to you on China. He hit every single salient point as if he lived in Zaire with me. The only thing he might have missed was how much China got involved with the Zairian Army. That spelled real trouble when we are trying to clean up what the FAZ has been accustomed to doing for 3 decades.
What I despise about US foreign policy with regards to financial aid is we often end up selectively blind or deaf when we need to; It should never get to that point. If we're going to get on our high horse with moral judgement, then we should stay there.
I agree but I have no clue how to get there. My programs are also partly financed by the USG and there are more rules than I can even begin to comprehend. Estonia is a small country and very easy to manage. Congo is huge and Africa is a giant. AFRICOM was designed to handle that while trying to battle for the same pot of money the rest of us are expected to share. A real hard nut to crack.
More war stories:
In 94 I literally watched over 4,000 people die a day as a member of a 3-man team. That was the longest 6 months of my life.
Inchi ya Katanga
Katanga has been saying that since 1960 and things would be slightly different if they had nothing to mine and sell. Let's be realistic, Katanga constitutes almost 50% of all revenues even today. Would your break up of the DRC include equal shares of revenues ? How do you propose to prop up the remainder of the country ? Be careful, the Russians are also trying to get into Katanga and nearly support their desire to become and independent State. That my friend is what they do all over the world and make the Chinese look like amateurs.
Regards, Stan
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