Dangerous comparisons...

Ever since that day of April 1994 when I left Rwanda under a cloud of flying bullets, in the first fiery and chaotic week of the Rwandan genocide, and throughout all the havoc that has been wrought in its aftermath in my country, the DRCongo, I have been dreading some of the "parallelism" in the article below, and its dangerous implications

Lessons from Rwanda, the 'Israel of Africa' | Op-Ed Contributors | Jerusalem Post: "In some ways, Rwanda is the 'Israel' of Africa. The conflagration there set the entire region on fire - witness the two Congo wars, which were largely the outcome of the events in Rwanda. The two peoples - Tutsis and Hutus - had been at each other's throats for decades, and foreign powers had not desisted from meddling in their conflict.

The president spelled out the lessons, as he saw them, in precise, cogent, terms: self-reliance, because you cannot rely on help from the world when you are in trouble; and reconciliation, the need to live in peace with the 'other.'

'If we could do it, after all that happened here, surely you can, too?' he said.

For me there was a third lesson - the need for an outstanding leader. If it had not been for President Kagame - who, in my opinion, is one of the most remarkable and preeminent leaders in Africa, and possibly in the world, today - Rwanda would not be the peaceful and stable country that it is. It would not be called 'the Singapore of Africa.'

Rwanda is lucky in having its own David Ben-Gurion at a critical time in its history. We were lucky in having the original, back then when our state was established. What we need now is to have our own Paul Kagame!"

First of all, I must say, quite honestly, that I hold President Paul Kagame, and his regional policies, personally responsible for much of the mess in the Great Lakes region, and for the proliferation of militias, warlords, and sexual terrorists. His tendency to use the guilt of the Western world for its inaction in 1994, to get away with expansionism, and facilitating the plunder of the Congo's resources, is exactly the fuel that allows for this conflict to fester. And that is why the parallelism with Israel is so dangerous.

See, Israel does its share of shaming the Western world, to get away with murder (no palestinian would disagree with me), and that is a bloody shame. Using the past, tragic suffering of your people, to get away with illegally and brutally usurping another people, is simply despicable (Bible notwithstanding). The relationship between Israelis, and their Palestinian distant cousins, could have been worked in much more constructive ways over the years. But despite that, the one thing Israel has, is democracy. A stratocratic democracy, yes, but a democracy nevertheless. Kagame's regime is far from a democracy, and the tensions that spurred the genocide are simply dormant because of the threat of military anihilation. My fear is that if we start allowing the Kagame-regime to cast Rwanda as Africa's Israel, the 5 million people that have already died in the past 12 years of Kagame and his multinational corporate allies' foray into Congo, will pale in comparison to what we will see then.

Kagame is not a model for Israel; if anything because, quite officially, Israelis do not want a truly multicultural country - it must be a Jewish state. Kagame, officially, wants a united Rwanda, with equal rights for all. Kagame needs to beware. If there is no true, heart-to-heart, open national dialogue in Rwanda on the real, deep-seded tensions between Rwanda's ethnic groups, the Great Lakes will be Tchernobyl II. Should this dialogue occur, and should Kagame realize the error of his ways in the Congo, then, and only then, would Kagame be a model-leader for Israel.

Tags: Congo|Rwanda|Israel|DRC|DR Congo|News|Opinion

Congo: One hundred years of colonialism, dictatorship and war (1908-2008) | San Francisco Bay View

From Sfbayview.com

by Kambale Musavuli and Maurice Carney
January 2, 2009

Congo's holocaust by Khalil Bendib

2008 marked the 100-year anniversary of the removal of the Congo from King Leopold II of Belgium as his own personal property. Global outrage at the King’s brutal rule resulted in his losing the Congo treasure trove on Nov. 15, 1908.
Leopold II accumulated spectacular wealth for himself and the Belgian state during his 23-year dominion (1885-1908) over the Congo. During this period, an estimated 10 million Congolese lost their lives while Leopold systematically looted the Congo of its rubber and ivory riches. Congo was then handed over to Belgium, which ruled as a colonial power from 1908 to 1960.

Congo finally got its independence on June 30, 1960, when Patrice Emery Lumumba, its first democratically elected prime minister took office. Unfortunately, the Western powers, primarily the United States and Belgium, could not allow a fiercely independent African to consolidate his power over such a geo-strategic prize as the Congo. Lumumba was removed from power in a Western-backed coup within weeks and assassinated on Jan. 17, 1961.

Belgium apologized for its role in Lumumba’s assassination in 2002, yet the U.S. still downplays its role in murdering this great young leader. The U.S. replaced Lumumba with the dictator Mobutu Sese Seko and backed him until he was overthrown in 1997.


The overthrow of Mobutu unleashed an ongoing resource war that has caused deep strife and unbearable suffering for the Congolese people, particularly the women and the children. It is estimated that nearly 6 million Congolese have been killed since the 1996 invasion by Rwanda and Uganda with support from the United States and other Western nations.

A century later, Congo is at another crossroads. In spite of the advances in technology and the shrinking of the world, it is curious that there is such silence around the suffering of the Congolese people due to the exploitation of powerful corporate and foreign forces beyond its people’s immediate control. Unlike the early 1900s, remarkably, today there are few if any voices the likes of Mark Twain, who wrote “King Leopold’s Soliloquy,” Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness” (often misread as Congo or Africa being dark, but he was referring to the dark hearts of the exploiters of the Congo), and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle of Sherlock Holmes fame, who wrote “Crime in the Congo.”

The Congo Reform movement that drew from the work of African Americans such as William Sheppard and George Washington Williams and led by European figures such as Robert Casement and E.D. Morel gave birth to the modern international human rights movement.

One hundred years later we are again calling on the global community to be at the side of the Congolese. This time, there is one fundamental difference: The Congolese are agents in this narrative and the call this time is not for a handover to a colonial power or neo-colonial institutions but rather to the people of the Congo.


The clarion call is for combating the forces - local elites and rebels, foreign governments, foreign corporations and multi-lateral institutions - that have the Congolese people in a death trap. The charity prism of the humanitarian industry is not the answer. It only perpetuates dependency and dis-empowerment.

Should Congo be truly liberated, the Darfurizaton (emptying of agency from the afflicted people) of the global movement in support of the Congo must be avoided at all costs. Congolese must be agents rather than objects in the pursuit of the control of their land and their lives.

The sovereignty of the people and control and ownership of the riches of their land is the fundamental human right for which we must advocate. It is a call not only for the Congo but the entire African continent.

Become a part of the global movement to “Break the Silence” as the Congolese pursue true sovereignty and liberty.

Maurice Carney is executive director and Kambale Musavuli is student coordinator of Friends of the Congo, 1629 K St. NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20006, (202) 584-6512, info@friendsofthecongo.org, www.friendsofthecongo.org.

Friends of the Congo is led by people of African ancestry and others of goodwill. With strong support from friends of the Congo throughout the globe, the vast human and natural resource potential of the Democratic Republic of Congo can serve as an instrument to meet the great needs of the people of Congo and Africa.

Tags: Congo|DRC|DR Congo|News|Opinion