Essay: Wars in the Congo – annotated bibliography

Bibilography:
White King, Red Rubber, Black Death. Directed by Peter Bate. Belgium: Périscope Productions, 2003.
Weissman, Stephen. “What Really Happened in Congo.” Foreign Affairs 93(2014)
This source details American involvement in the Congo in the context of the Cold War. Most importantly, how CIA involvement led to the rise of Joseph Mobutu, the country’s military dictator and president until 1997. The US was concerned over the country’s prime minister, Patrice Lumumba, forming relations with the Soviets and the spread of communism in Africa following Congolese independence from Belgium, and sought to displace him. This meant financing and propping up Joseph Mobutu, then army chief of staff, a political opponent of Lumumba. The CIA station chief in the Congo, Lawrence Devlin, became instrumental in supporting Mobutu’s efforts and as such “Devlin became not just the paymaster but also an influential de facto member of the government he had helped install.” (Para. 8) Eventually Lumumba, having been put under UN protection following Mobutu’s CIA backed military coup, was captured by forces following Mobutu, and was planned to be relocated to a province which was exceptionally hostile to him. Devlin hid this information from his superiors, fearing that the incoming Kennedy administration would hinder CIA efforts in the Congo, and before he communicated with Washington again Lumumba had been assassinated.
Following the murder of Lumumba, the CIA used bribes to ensure that the new government was once again favorable to them. However, the new government was not particularly successful and thus the US found itself involved in a Congolese civil war between the government they installed and pro-Lumumba forces, who’d been ousted out of parliament, in a “[..] a particularly bloody conflict. When they seized rebel-held areas, the white mercenaries and government forces indiscriminately slaughtered the rebels and civilians they found there. Although there was no systematic counting of the casualties, it is estimated that at least 100,000 Congolese perished during this phase of the war.” (Para. 23) Following the conclusion of the civil war, Mobutu performed another coup to seize power fully for himself once more, remaining there until 1997 and exploiting his country for immense personal gain during that time period.
The importance of this article is that it explains a key portion of the Congo’s history. Namely, how Mobutu, a key figure for the last three decades of the 20th century in the Congo, came to power and the results of one of the numerous civil wars in the country. Without CIA backing, it’s unlikely that Mobutu would have ever seized power and the Congo’s history would likely look radically different if it had been a truly representative government since its independence. The long-term effects of American interventionism can still be felt today, and it’s interesting what might have occurred if Lumumba had been supported by the US rather than a militaristic despot who ran the country as a “kleptocracy.”
French, Howard. “Anatomy of an Autocracy: Mobutu’s 32-Year Reign.” New York Times. https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/world/africa/051797zaire-mobutu.html (Accessed September 14, 2018)
This article gives a brief outline of Mobutu and his leadership of the Congo. Contrasting to the Congo’s destitute poverty and poor quality of life, Mobutu lived lavishly by exploiting the Congo’s rich natural resources and maintaining strong relations with an anti-Soviet America. Even while the country’s economy floundered due to his ineffective planning and human rights violations ran rampant in a country bereft of functioning government Mobutu created a cult of personality, vanity, and did manage to create a sense of nationality for the Congo, only to be deposed in seven months following a Rwanda-backed rebellion.
Emizet, Kisangani. Civil Wars in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 1960-2010. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2012.
This book details the numerous civil wars that have affected the Congo since its independence from Belgium, starting with the secessionary wars following independence that led to the rise of Mobutu, due to Lumumba losing power as the secessions raged and the UN trying to suppress them, rebellions occurring, and final Mobutu securing power in a non-violent coup. This led to another war of mutiny in an attempt to install the former secession leader to power, but was eventually put down by Mobutu’s forces and white mercenaries, followed by even more mutinies against Mobutu. Due to American backing he was able to remain in power despite mutinies and invasions, though as the Cold War waned so did US support, and a revolt successfully displaced him in 1997, following the Rwandan genocide and Rwanda backing the revolt. Unfortunately, even displacing the despot didn’t solve the Congolese violence problems, with ethnic wars and outside influence still keeping violence raging. All of these wars have kept the Congo economically malnourished and undeveloped, without safety or any certain future for the country or her people. “Congo’s GDP in 1967 ($4.4 billion), which was above that of South Korea ($3.8 billion) at the time, barely experienced perceptible growth in the four decades that followed (World Bank 2010).” (pg. 211)
The Economist. “Congo is sliding back to bloodshed.” The Economist. https://www.economist.com/leaders/2018/02/15/congo-is-sliding-back-to-bloodshed (accessed September 12, 2018)
This article from The Economist details a brief history of the Congo, most importantly the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide on the country. “The perpetrators of that abomination, defeated at home, fled into Congo. Rwanda invaded Congo to eliminate them. Meeting almost no resistance, since no one wanted to die for Mobutu, the highly disciplined Rwandans overthrew him and replaced him with their local ally, Laurent Kabila. Then Kabila switched sides and armed the génocidaires, so Rwanda tried to overthrow him, too. Angola and Zimbabwe saved him. The war degenerated into a bloody tussle for plunder. Eight foreign countries became embroiled, along with dozens of local militias. Congo’s mineral wealth fuelled the mayhem, as men with guns grabbed diamond, gold and coltan mines. Warlords stoked ethnic divisions, urging young men to take up arms to defend their tribe—and rob the one next door—because the state could not protect anyone. Rape spread like a forest fire.” This conflict was a result of the instability caused by Joseph Mobutu’s control over the country, which decimated the Congo’s economy, allowing both a refugee crisis and foreign invasion to the Congo at the same time, resulting in a death toll of anywhere from one to five million people. This conflict also spurred no small amount of natural resource plundering, due to remoteness of much of the DCR and its abundant mineral wealth.
The current plight of the Congo is based around long-standing political instability and human rights violations dating back to the Belgian colonial period, resulting in 4.3 million displaced persons with ten provinces in armed conflict. With the reduction of UN peacekeepers, who were already only tenuously keeping peace in the major areas of the Congo (unable to patrol much of the country’s interior or remote areas, where mineral wealth lies) and a recent civil war, bloodshed in the Congo might come to a head once more.
Okapi, Radio. “Presidential election scheduled for December 23, 2018.” Congo Planet. https://www.congoplanet.com/2017/11/05/news/2152/presidential-election-scheduled-for-december-23-2018.jsp (accessed September 11, 2018)
This is an article from a Congolese newspaper in English, detailing the upcoming presidential elections scheduled for the 23rd of December. This is a major step forward for the Congo, as the current president was put in place after the Rwandan genocide and has overstayed his current election by two years with only 10% of the country backing him. Hopefully some political stability will emerge in the Congo as a result of the elections, to the country can begin to work on its myriad of other issues. Hopefully the results of the election don’t end up reigniting conflict, however.