Exploitation of Africa's Natural Resources

[Stan]

The obvious initial goal should be shutting down those military machines.

And as I started writing about the requirements for making that happen, and begin providing the kind of political environment M-A identifies as necessary, it became obvious what a gold plated bitch that effort would be.

Based on what I've read, especially from people who post here, at this time it seems as though "Heart of Darkness" was an optimistic view of sub Saharan Africa.

John,
I'm intrigued and had no idea you were working on that. What does the Reduction In Forces look like ? Which brigade do you start with and how many ? Does the RIF include employment ? One of the things the DRC is probably still trying to figure out is where all their firearms and ammo are (not as if they ever knew). As you may already know, when Tom and I were there together, the RIF notion came up several times. While we certainly got a good laugh at the prospect, DOS was in fact serious. Who, exactly would have the honor of presenting this along with the democracy package was another matter. Civil war and the refugee crisis saved many the chance of explaining the plan to Uncle Mo.

The trick in Rwanda and Uganda has been to convert all the idiots that lurk in the army into PMC watchmen. That would not work in DRC, that we both know. But there are solutions, many soldiers want a job, a real one with a pay at the end of the month that give them enough to eat, get drunk and send children to school. They actually do not want to stay in the army.

M-A,
We tossed that notion around with UN deminers in the East. They certainly had far better wages and their daily duties were actually contributing to the country. But, as soon as the team members left, the demining mission came to a halt (even though they were still getting paid). So after nearly 6 months of training, free equipment and a good salary, there is little to show for. Someone actually thought we should have offered a pension or something to sweeten the pot. I almost died when I fell off my chair

I do however agree, that when the foreign instructors were there in the 80s, there were far fewer problems with soldiers. But then, most of us (the military instructors) didn't really know nor notice what was really taking place.

Just a question. Can an argument be made for sub-Saharan state(s) being 'better off' without known natural resources being exploited?

Hey David,
I don't think it's that cut and dried. In the case of the DRC, natural resource revenues never made it to even the hospitals and schools. Strangely, all the while organizations like USAID were pouring money into those projects and the Peace Corps were busy teaching people how to make fish ponds.

I actually don't have a good example where natural resources benefited the entire population (unless we count digging for it as an occupation).