DR Congo: Sleeping Giant at the Crossroads of Africa
Robert Cole
The defining feature of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is the mighty Congo River. The deepest river in the world, in places in excess of 700 feet deep, it is only exceeded in volume by the Amazon. This one massive and powerful river symbolizes much of the potential the DRC holds. The country is tremendously rich in freshwater, arable land, and just about every valuable mineral known to humanity. With over 900,000 square miles of land in the very heart of Africa and over 86 million inhabitants, it should be one of the richest and most powerful nations in the world. Yet instead the nation and its people languish in poverty, violence, and general obscurity. One of the only major news stories in US media to come out of the country recently was about the murder of an Italian diplomat on what was considered one of the safest roads in the area by one of the hundreds of armed militias in the country. What went wrong, and what comes next for this sleeping giant of the African continent?
The modern nation known as the DRC first took its current territorial dimensions as the Congo Free State, the crown colony of the Belgian King Leopold II in 1885. The Congolese people were brutally exploited for decades by his regime, which worked millions to death on rubber plantations. Conditions were so bad that between one and five million Congolese perished either directly or indirectly at the hands of Leopold’s men. In the early 1900s, the Belgian government intervened and made the region a full Belgian colony, though the colonial government put relatively little effort into improving the lives of its residents. The country did not achieve independence until 1960, and the Belgian government has never offered an apology for its actions, which were considered cruel even by the standards of European colonial standards.
After independence, Congo was consumed by a series of violent upheavals, brought on by Belgian, American, and Soviet interference in its internal affairs. Today it finds itself still on shaky footing, badly damaged by war, and unable to assert control over its own territory thanks to three new foreign meddlers: Rwanda, Uganda, and Burundi. Each uses militias aligned with its own national interests to fight the other two in the eastern portion of Congo, which is particularly rich in mineral resources. The resulting anarchy has allowed violence to flourish, with unscrupulous outsiders such as disgraced Israeli businessman Dan Gertler using the opening to buy minerals mined by slave labor and gun-toting militias rampaging through the countryside, leading to incidents like the recent murder of the Italian ambassador. In order to change this situation, there would have to be a serious shift in policy, both by President Tshisekedi and by global leaders like the US.
First and foremost, Tshisekedi should find an alternative to his current policy of appeasing his neighbors, which most recently has involved inviting the three belligerents to conduct joint anti-insurgent operations in eastern Congo. It sets a bad precedent of allowing foreign forces to operate within the Congo’s sovereign territory and will not diminish the three belligerent’s mutual animosity. As long as there is not strong pushback by the DRC and the international community, they have no incentive to stop settling grievances in the Congo’s backyard. The US for its part should work to offer a stabilizing hand in the region. Mediating relations between Rwanda and Uganda in particular should be a priority, and the Biden administration should make it clear that it will not tolerate violations of Congolese sovereignty, as well as demanding the UN put more attention toward mediating the dispute. The State Department must also consider ways to counter Chinese influence in the region. With its tolerance of anti democratic governments like those of Rwanda and Uganda, China’s Belt and Road Initiative alleviates pressure on these governments to reform and its hunger for raw materials mined in Eastern Congo will only continue to fund violence. The US must take more seriously its pledges to avoid products mined by slave or coerced labor, and work with its allies to conduct better surveillance of company supply chains.
The value of such actions by the international community serves global interests, not just the people of the DRC. Many of the components necessary for modern technology are abundant in the Congo, and a peaceful, productive DRC would likely drive the price of all sorts of electronics down. Sitting in the very center of the African continent, a stable DRC would be an anchor for development across the region, ushering in a new age for sub-Saharan Africa. Just as it was the site of the worst atrocities of colonialism, Congo could be the beacon of a newly resurgent Africa, and a major power on the world stage. Prudent action now by the US and its allies could make the DRC a rich and powerful friend, but failure to do so will only serve to perpetuate the sorrow and destruction that has gone on there for too long.