The problems of the DRC began long ago before independence and were caused mainly by the excessive interest of foreign forces for its abundant natural resources. This has been confirmed by several studies that proved the existence of a significant relation between natural resources abundance and the outbreak of civil war (Collier 2000; Collier and Hoeffler 2000; Collier and Hoeffler 2004). While these studies support that there is a link between resource dependence and civil war, other studies reject the idea of the existence of a concrete link between a situation of natural resource dependence and the onset of civil war (Fearon and Laitin 2003, Fearon 2005). However all these studies agree about the likelihood for the lootable resources such as diamonds and petrol to protract conflict (Ross 2004a; Humphrey 2005; Lujala et al.
2005) and therefore their findings can be applied to the case of the DRC which does not only possess abundant natural resources but also has lootable resources and its economy has always depended on natural resources.
External interests have been shaping the history of the DRC since late 17th century when the exploration of the African continent began as a consequence of the Industrial Revolution. Europe was in need of natural and mineral resources for its industry therefore it had to search for places where to find them. Several missions de reconnaissance and of scientific study of unknown lands were then organised in Africa by European explorers. These missions had three fundamental factors:
economy, science and religion.25
25 The process of colonisation of the Congo was based on the ’colonial trinity’
which had three components – commerce, education and evangelisation. The process of evangelisation was done through two distinct perspectives – Catholicism and Protestantism and priests and evangelists were intelligence collectors/analysts.
These exploration missions allowed Europeans to install exploitation and development colonies throughout Africa with logistical means and appropriate administrative management.
The first exploration mission was that of Tuckey in 1816 and whose expedition on the Congo River brought to Europe the first advanced studies on the Congo. In 1858 Burton and Speke arrived on Lake Tanganyika and two years later Baker reached Lac Albert. Other expeditions in the Congo were conducted by David Livingstone in 1870 followed by a missionary explorer Henry Morton Stanley in 1871 who was commissioned by the American newspaper, the New York Herald, and Veney Cameron in 1874.
At the end of these exploration missions, an international geographic conference was organised in Brussels in 1876 with the aim of proclaiming the end of slavery in Africa, civilising Africans and liberalising commerce in the Congo basin for all European Nations.
The International Association for Africa was then created and was composed of a central committee as well as national committees. The Central Committee was headed by Colonel Maximilien Strauch, a henchman of King Leopold.
In 1878 the Central Committee employed the British journalist Henry Morton Stanley to establish bases in the Congo; he thus became the first governor of the state-to-be of Congo. One of the missions given to Stanley was the supervision of the construction of a railway line by a French company called Batingolles which exploited Congolese people forcing them to do work that could normally be done by machine (Péan 2010:143).
In 1879 Leopold II changed the International Association for Africa into International Association for the Congoandas he considered Congo as his personal property he brutally exploited the natural resources of the Congo causing the death of half the population (an estimated 10
millions) through forced labour during the exploitation of rubber (Hochschild, 1999).
On 26 February 1885, at the Berlin Conference and by the Act of Berlin, all European states including the United States recognised the International Association for the Congo as a sovereign state. The sharing of African Rivers, amongst which the Nile and Niger and most importantly the Congo River, was one of the aims of the Berlin Conference26 (Ndaywel et al 2009). However, media campaigns took place all over Europe and north America against the atrocities that were committed against the Congolese population in King Leopold’s name and because of this pressure, the International Association for the Congo was transformed into Congo Free State on 29 May 1885 and few years later in 1908 it was made a Belgian colony27, a year before the death of King Leopold II.
Unfortunately and just as King Leopold II, the Belgian state administered the colony without any regards to human rights; it employed a racially discriminative system and through involvement of the infamous trinity of state, the Catholic Church and mining companies, it continued the implementation of the agenda of international powers even after the post-independence period. It should be mentioned that in 1960s when total independence was granted to most African states, Belgium granted only political independence to the Congo not economic independence. This was in line with the neo-colonial system that was
26The first intervention of the United Nations Organisation on the African continent was in the Congo and its largest peacekeeping mission is currently in the Congo. Despite their humanitarian dimension these interventions show how strategically importance Congo is to the world.
27A sovereign state (the International Association for the Congo) became a colony in 1908 before becoming once again sovereign in 1960. The question is whether Congo has ever been a colony or a sovereign state? Answers to these questions may help to understand why it is difficult for the DRC to have effective and efficient armed forces and intelligence services despite the political will of its current democratically elected leaders and their predecessors.
put in place by Western powers to ensure a continued control of Congo’s resources and to prevent the economic incursion of other powers (Péan 2010:145).
As already mentioned in Chapter Two the role of intelligence services in a state is mainly to predict, detect and analyse internal and external threats to state interests and to inform and advise the executive about the nature and causes of these threats. The role of intelligence services in the Congo has changed several times during different phases of its political history. It went from protecting the interests of King Leopold II to protecting Belgian and Western interests during the pre- colonial period and changed into the protection of Western interests against covetous states and most importantly to discourage any idea of independence from the Congolese people (Respondent No. 2 & No.3).
The protection of Western interests continued to be one of the key functions of these services during the post-independence period.
Congolese intelligence played an important role in the last confrontation between Washington and Moscow in Angola after the departure of Portuguese in 1974 which brought Agostinho Neto in power (ibid p.145). They were also involved in the killing of the pro-communist president of Mozambique Samora Machel in 1986. This has been confirmed by the current Mozambican President Armando Guebuza during a ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of Machel's death in a plane crash inside South Africa. President Guebuza claimed that:
“The context of Machel's death was a diplomatic drive by the Front Line States to attempt to separate South Africa from its regional allies - the dictatorships of Kamuzu Banda in Malawi, and Mobutu Sese Seko in Zaire. He stated that Machel, and the Presidents of Zambia, Kenneth Kaunda, and of Angola, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, had been mandated by a meeting of the Front Line States held in Maputo a week earlier to speak directly with Mobutu whose army and secret services giving direct
support to Jonas Savimbi’s anti-communist guerrilla movement of UNITA, União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola, (The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola) in alliance with the apartheid regime of South Africa”.28 Congolese defence and security services played a role a gendarme of Western countries during President Mobutu’s reign. Not only they were actively involved in combatting pro-Communist governments in Angola and Mozambique but they also ensured peace and stability in central Africa. They provided training to Burundian, Rwandan, Chadian and Togolese armies and intelligence services and supported governments in these countries in order to maintain stability; they also provided training to Angolan intelligence services and the Angolan army which has become one of the respectable and respected armies on the African continent (Respondent No. 4).
One of the intelligence analysts of the UN Peacekeeping mission in the DRC notes that:
“During the Cold War period Congolese intelligence services were involved in the last struggle that completely reduced Soviet influence on the African continent in favour of the West but now they are working closely with China and this may be less advantageous to the U.S. and its Western allies. He argues that economic war between the U.S. and China in the resource-rich DRC may be a deciding factor in determining the next world super power”.29
The respondent’s argument is so correct in the sense that highlights the US-China rivalry that has been seen in the DRC since the signing in
28Guebuza, A. (2011) ‘Mozambique: Apartheid Murdered SamoraMachel’, available from http://allafrica.com/stories/201110200009.html
29Interview, 2011, Respondent No. 17.
2008 of an $8.5 billion loan agreement between China and the DRC30 for the construction of infrastructures such as roads, railway lines, hospitals and schools that the DRC lacked cruelly and its traditional Western partners did not provide. This loan agreement, which is considered by the Congolese government as a win-win contract, aroused indignation in the West. Unhappy with China’s economic penetration in Africa, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and some Western companies called on the DRC government to review the agreement arguing that the DRC is exposing itself to a deep overhang and a great risk of macroeconomic imbalance. However Western experts such as Brautigam (2010) and Smith (2010) have condemned Western economic policies toward Africa and have acknowledged the rise in trade between China and Africa. Brautigam (2010:8) specifically argues in this regards that Africa is rich; the West have not figured out a way to link Africa’s riches to its development but the Chinese are actively trying to do just this.
In his response to the National Assembly’s questions regarding the so-called “Chinese Contracts”, the former minister of infrastructures who negotiated these contracts and who is now the Special Security Advisor to President Joseph Kabila, commented that:
“Westerners say that these are one-sided contracts which will bring virtually nothing to the Congolese state and to the Congolese people; they also say that Chinese always act without transparency, without consultation with other partners and in ignorance of the rules that govern international economic relations. They accuse them of ignoring rules of good governance and respect for human rights”. He then concluded by saying that
“Westerners have no lessons to give to China or the DRC and
30According to the loan agreement, the repayment of the loan will be made by exploitation of an equivalent quantity of mineral resources by Chinese companies.
that their reaction against the “Chinese Contracts” is due to the fact that they are now forced to share the cake.”31
Pressure continued to be made by the IMF and the World Bank on the DRC government but without any positive effect. However, an agreement was reached between these traditional partners in July 2010 - these international financial institutions agreed to wipe off DRC’s debt and the DRC agreed to re-negotiation the Chinese contract.
Consequently, the loan amount was reduced to $6.2 billion.32
The US-China rivalry demonstrates that the struggle between super powers on the African continent is no longer ideological but rather economic. This is a wake-up call for Congolese politicians to act wisely to avoid suffering of the DRC as it is always said that it is the grass that suffers when two elephants are fighting.