Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides)-In the colonial history two methods were used to conquer other territories and other empires or independent States. One is the "balkanization" which consists of replacing a large or medium-State with a series of smaller States, easily influenced by foreign powers.
The other is the financial leverage to hold "the sick elephant " (the empire in crisis, such as the Ottoman Empire in the late nineteenth century) so that whole sectors of its economy came under the control of banks and foreign countries.
In the case of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to an analysis sent to Fides by Peace Network for Congo dealt with in the magazine "Dialogue", a new formula has been reached called "elefalkan" that "combines the advantages of balkanization to those of the sick elephant , avoiding the risks. A formula, therefore, where there would be no expenses concerning sovereignty, as in the balkanization, nor any obligation to waste money for "humanitarian projects", as in the colonies".
In fact, both in the case of small balkanized States, which in the case of "sick elephants", whose logical conclusion of the decay process is the absorption of the victim in a colonial empire, even if only in the form of a protectorate, who handled the power had the burden of protecting its citizens (or indigenous people, as in the colonial case), to maintain order, and so forth. Therefore handling these two formulas resulted in direct or indirect costs at the expense of the colonizer.
In the DRC, however, areas such as Kivu (in the north-east) are in fact not subject to the scrutiny of the central government, allowing private interests to the exploitation of rich deposits of coltan (as well as other important resources), while local people not only are left to fend for themselves, but are also victims of the various armed groups that give orders.
According to the analysis of "Dialogue", to understand the real reasons for the Congolese instability, local and foreign economic interests should be analyzed and not so much the actual or alleged attempts of secession of this or that province. "Speaking of the " Balkanization " it is ultimately a task that distracts from the real problems. With its historical references, the word draws attention to the secession and territorial issues of nationality, when the real dangers come from all those, Congolese or foreign, who are not at the service of people , but of the capital " the analysis concludes . (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 05/08/2011)
