Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) – The Democratic Republic of Congo, which in June will celebrate 50 years of independence, is increasingly the focus of strategic moves of major world powers and neighboring countries interested in controlling its immense natural resources, using local armed groups.
It is from this perspective that we can understand the reasons for the continued instability of this vast country that is located in the heart of Africa and has been called “the trigger of Africa”: whoever controls the DRC, will have control over all Africa.
The "Network for Peace in Congo", promoted by the missionaries operating in the country, sent an analysis to Fides based on the latest reports submitted by some international organizations for human rights (Human Rights Watch and Global Witness) dedicated, respectively, to the situation in Kivu (northeastern DRC) and the Eastern Province. In Kivu, Global Witness reveals that, contrary to the official version, the military operation Kimya II (see Fides 19/11/2009) against Rwandan Hutu Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) has allowed the National Congress for the Defence of People (CNDP), the military political movement founded by Laurent Nkunda, to obtain or consolidate its access to the mines abandoned by the FDLR. The control of the mines was transferred, so to speak, by one armed group to another and, thus, illegal trade of mineral resources in Kivu continues under the eyes of all, to the detriment of local people who do not receive any benefit from it.
Human Rights Watch reveals the massacre of 300 Congolese civilians made in December by the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), when the military authorities did nothing but repeat that the LRA had been defeated. If that had been the case, the LRA could not have made a slaughter of this size. There is a growing hypothesis that there is, beyond the official statements, an alliance between the President of Uganda, Museveni Joweri, and rebel leader Joseph Kony regarding the occupation of the Eastern Province, rich in gold and oil. The hypothesis remains to be shown, but it is true that the LRA is a somewhat mysterious group and it is active, despite the hunt it has been subject to since the mid 1980s.
The analysis of the Network for Peace in Congo addresses, finally, the attack on Easter in the town of Mbandaka (see Fides 04/09/2010). This, according to the network, "shows that the disturbances reported in the Equator Province since October 2009 do not result from a mere tribal dispute for control of certain private pools for fishing, but instead reveal a deep malaise in relation to political institutions, both on a provincial and national level, which has resulted in a military uprising led by experienced and well-equipped members of the ranks of former dictator Mobutu's Presidential Guard, along with the involvement of provincial and national political figures and the Congolese diaspora living abroad, particularly in Europe." (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 04/23/2010)
