THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

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THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
THE WORLDS TRAGEDY
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Map of the Congo

• Heart of Africa
• Straddles the Equator
• Bordered by 9 countries
• Third largest country in area
• and fourth largest
• in population with 65 million
• The size of Western Europe
• Second largest rainforest in
• the world behind the Amazon

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Scramble for Africa begins

• 1884-85 Berlin Conference
• 2010 125 Year Anniversary
• King Leopold's Reign (1885 1908)
• An estimated 10 15 million died

David Livingstone British Explorer
Henry Morton Stanley American Explorer
Leopold II King of Belgium
The Berlin Conference
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The First Holocaust

• Extraction of Rubber
• Killing of 10 million Congolese under Leopolds
  Rule

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George Washington Williams
Civil War veteran, minister, politician and
historian. Travelled to the Congo Free State and
his open letter to Leopold about the suffering of
the region's inhabitants at the hands of
Leopold's agents, helped to sway European and
American public opinion against the regime
running the Congo under which some 10 million
people lost their lives.
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Booker T. Washington
American political leader, educator, orator and
author. He was the dominant figure in the African
American community in the United States from 1890
to 1915. He used his platform as a political
figure to denounce the crimes of Leopold II in
the Congo in his article Cruelty in the Congo
Country published October 8, 1904.
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William Henry Sheppard
One of the earliest African Americans to become a
missionary for the Presbyterian Church. He spent
20 years in Africa, primarily in and around the
Congo Free State, and is best known for his
efforts to publicize the atrocities committed
against the Kuba and other Congolese peoples by
King Leopold II's Force Publique.
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Lucy Gantt Sheppard
Wife of William H Sheppard. She lived in the
Congo with Sheppard at the Presbyterian mission
in the Kasai (Central Congo). She was the first
person to translate a Congolese language
(Tshiluba) into English.
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Maria Fearing
Born a slave near Gainesville, Alabama in 1838,
she learned to read and write at age thirty-three
and worked her way through the Freedman's Bureau
School in Talladega to become a teacher. At age
fifty-six she went to the Congo, where for more
than twenty years she worked as a Presbyterian
missionary and eventually established the Pantops
Home for Girls. Her students nicknamed her, "mama
wa Mputu," (mother from far away) as a symbol of
their love and appreciation.
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Other Congo Supporters in the 1890-1908 era
Joseph Conrad (Heart of Darkness), Anatole
France, Arthur Conan Doyle, (Crime of the Congo),
Mark Twain (King Leopold's Soliloquy), Edmund
Dene Morel, and Roger Casement founded the Congo
reform association
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Belgian Congo (1908 1960)

• Economic Consolidation and Extractive
  relationship
• Independence movements disguised as cultural
  associations
• U.S. provided access to Congos uranium for its
  Manhattan Project during WWII
• Belgium accumulates debt in the name of the
  Congolese people

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Patrice Emery Lumumba

• Congo elects Patrice Lumumba as Prime Minister
  (June 30, 1960 Lumumba takes office)
• Lumumba assassinated on January 17, 1961 with
  Belgium, French, British and UN Involvement
• Lumumba wanted the wealth of the Congo to be
  utilized for the people of the Congo and Africa
  at-large
• Crushing of the Democratic aspirations of the
  Congolese people
• Set back the advance of the entire African
  continent

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The Mobutu Era (1960-1997)

• Mobutu Era (1960 1997)
• Installed, backed and maintained primarily by the
  United States
• Reign marked by Kleptocracy
• Destruction of the country
• Overthrown in May 1997

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Laurent Desire Kabila

• Kabilas time (1996 2001)
• Rwanda invades in October of 1996 using the Hutu
  unchecked presence in Congo as the rationale for
  the invasion
• Kabila made spokesperson of Rebellion
• May 1997 - Brought to power by Rwanda and Uganda
  with the help of Angola and the backing of the
  United States

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The First African World War

• Launched in 1998 with the second invasion of
  Congo by Rwanda and Uganda
• Attempt to remove Kabila
• Kabila appeals to Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia
• Marked by the systemic rape of Congos natural
  resources
• Geopolitics - 11 African Countries implicated
• Laurent Kabila assassinated in 2001 and replaced
  by his son Joseph Kabila who later was installed
  after the 2006 elections

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Coltan and the War
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Current Situation in the Congo

• Transitional Government (2003 2006)
• One Four (One president and four vice
  presidents)
• Structural flaws of elections in 2006
• Rebel groups in the North and East of Congo

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Predators in the Congo

• Forrest International (George Forrest)
• Nikanor (Dan Gertler)
• Katanga Mining (Glencore)
• Dodge Phelps (Freeport McMoRan)
• Anvil Mining
• First Quantum
• Trinitech Eagle Wings
• Kemet
• HC Starck
• Citibank
• American Mineral Fields/Adastra
• Cabot Corporation
• OM Group
• AngloGold Ashanti
• World Bank
• International Monetary Fund
• Heritage Oil
• Blattner Group
• Banro

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THE FIVE KEYS TO UNDERSTANDING CONGO

• The affairs of the Congo have not been determined
  by the people of the Congo
• 2. Congo is trapped in the midst of a
  geo-strategic battle for her precious and
  strategic resources
• 3. Congos challenge is both internal and
  external
• 4. Congo is central to the future of the African
  continent
• 5. Congo is blessed with enormous natural and
  human potential

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CONGO CHALLENGES AND PRESCRIPTIONS
CHALLENGESHistorical Slavery, Personal Rule,
Colonialism, Assassinations, Dictatorship,
Kleptocracy, Wars Organizational
DeficiencyExternal Forces Foreign Governments,
Neighboring States, Multilateral Institutions,
Foreign Corporations, Local ElitesPRESCRIPTIONS
Global diplomatic and political engagement
Strengthening of local institutions
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Social Media for Advocacy
Congolese connecting to the world
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HOW CAN I HELP?

• Join the global movement by visiting
  Friendsofthecongo.org and congoweek.org
• Text CLUBCONGO to 467467
• Support Congolese petition to Sec. of State
  Clinton or President Obama
• Make a financial or material (phone, camera,
  laptop, etc) contribution to our social justice
  efforts
• Invite us to your campus or community and
  encourage your family, friends and loved ones to
  do the same