By Oweyegha-Afunaduula
Congo has been variously called Belgian Congo, Zaire and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which is the name by which Congo is known today. It was brutally ruled by the Belgian colonialists from 1908 to 1960, when it gained political independence from Belgium.
However, as we shall see in this article, it has not been an easy journey to meaningful independence and sovereignty, due mainly to its mineral wealth. The more we advance towards the middle of the 21st Century, the more it appears that the sovereignty and independence of Congo will be eroded by a multiplicity of forces (political and military).
A few days ago one critical thinker, Prof. Paul Wangoola, who spurred me to write this article, told me that Congo has been the graveyard for at least two leaders of Uganda.
He mentioned Dr. Apollo Milton Obote, who, in the 1960s, faced Parliamentary investigation in connection with the Gold of Congo; and General Tibuhaburwa Museveni, whose incursions into the DRC in the late 1990s, ostensibly to flush Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels out of the country, led to accusations by the Government of that country of pillage of its resources, such as Gold and timber, by his soldiers, who were also accused of rape of women, murder and recruitment of child soldiers between 1997 and 2003.
The military activities of Rwanda and Uganda army units in Congo precipitated the downfall of the long ruling Congolese strong man, Joseph Mobutu, who seized the instruments of power in 1965, named himself Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbenda Wa Za Banga at the height of his power, and changed the name of his country from Congo to Zaire.
He hired mercenaries from disintegrated Yugoslavia and constituted them in what was called the White Legion Mercenary Unit during the first Congo war in 1996-1997 to defend his power against Uganda-backed Laurent Desire Kabila. He lost, and his Legion disbanded in March 1997.
He was forced into exile in Morocco and could not live beyond September 1997. He was buried in upright position in his grave, after 32 years in power. There was a limit to what White Mercenaries could do to keep him in power.
Subsequently, according to UN News of 9th February 2022, the criminal actions of President Tibuhaburwa Museveni’s soldiers in Congo earned Uganda a big fine of $325m, imposed by the International Court of Justice in favor of the Kinshasa-based Government and the sovereign people of DRC.
However, President Tibuhaburwa Museveni told Ugandans and the World that he personally did not take anything out of DRC, except two sticks. For the purpose of this article, I will adopt the name Congo in place of DRC.
Congo is widely believed to be the richest country on Earth in terms of natural resources ( including the so-called elements of power such as Platinum, Aluminium, Cobalt and Copper, which are used in high-tech industries).
High-tech industries include those of aeroplanes, mobile phones and computers. However, Congo remains one of the 10 topmost financially-poor countries in the World, yet its untapped deposits of minerals are estimated to be worth in excess of US$ 24 trillion.
Imagine! Avery Koop (2021), in his article published by www.visualcapitalist.com, and titled “Mapped: The 25 Poorest Countries in the World”, lists Congo as number 5 among the poorest countries on Earth.
So, Congo’s riches are its tragedy.
If its resources were not stolen to finance the development of Belgium or to enrich the greedy and selfish, or if they are not used to rebuild Ukraine, badly destroyed by Vladimir Putin’s Russia since early 2022, but were exploited to develop humanity in Africa, Congo alone could easily and effectively finance the development of a United States of Africa.
There would be no need for foreign aid, which is robbery by other means. The robbery of Congo’s natural resources, however, continues unabatedly. In the past, the robbery was achieved through the employment of white mercenaries or mercenary units of armies that served as killer squads. Today robbery is achieved through Black mercenaries or mercenary units of armies.
When it is mercenary units of armies, robbery of Congo’s resources is disguised as fighting rebels to ensure peace and security, as was the case when, in 2007, the President of Uganda, Tibuhaburwa Museveni, sent soldiers to Somalia, without Parliamentary approval, to fight Al Qaeda linked to Al Shabaab.
However, it was widely believed this was a proxy war in service of USA interests in Somalia. The Daily Monitor of September 29, 2016, updated on January 17 2021, revealed that USA had given President Tibuhaburwa Museveni’s army U.Shs. 265bn in form of MI-24 helicopters, to fight Al-Qaeda in Somalia.
Apparently, Somalia has a wide spectrum of mineral wealth, which includes gold, uranium, iron ore, kaolin, tin, gypsum, bauxite, copper, salt, silica and tantalum, but also has natural gas. There will never be peace and security in Somalia so long as such minerals exist in the country and USA desires them.
In a way the Uganda army unit in Somalia is like Mobutu’s White Legion Mercenary Unit, whose members he recruited from disintegrated Yougoslavia and paid dearly during the first Congo War in 1996-97, to defend his hold onto power.
Uganda’s soldiers in Somalia are paid like those of Mobutu’s White Legion Mercenary Unit were, although not as dearly. Let me now define mercenaries as “soldiers who are paid for their martial services by a country’s leader, or other employer, frequently by proxy, to fight in another country, and who get extra income from the spoils of war”.
The wars may be created for the soldiers to make some extra money for themselves, while at the same time enriching those who sent them. The soldiers, individually or as units, may think and believe they are carrying out a national or pan African duty.
It is believed that right from the 16th Century, when the word mercenary first appeared, most of the income the mercenaries earn goes to the one who made the decision to deploy them..
On the other hand, mercenary army units in 16th Century Europe were structurally an integral aspect of European armies, which could be dispatched for mercenary work. Some people believe, but thorough research is needed to establish the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, that Uganda’s President Tibuhaburwa Museveni and Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, have been applying the 16th Century European army model of mercenary army units in Congo and, therefore, dispatching mercenary army units in the mineral-rich Eastern Congo.
These are the ones being referred to as Black mercenaries. Like, in the case of White Mercenaries, they act under the guise of combating rebels in pursuit of peace and security in Congo, but the end result, as in the past, is reigning terror and accessing mineral wealth, many believe.
Thus, there has been transition from White Mercenaries to Black Mercenaries in Congo for the same purpose under the same guise. Proxy wars are believed to be in process in present-day Congo by Black Mercenaries as in the past by White Mercenaries.
However, their activities are being shrouded and, perhaps, exacerbated by the rebel activities of the Banyamulenge Rwandese who occupy the Mulenge area of Eastern Congo. These are believed to be receiving military backing from both Rwanda’s and Uganda’s army units in the region.
The combined military activities are undermining and destabilizing the new administration of President Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilomb, who has ruled Congo since 25th January 25th 2019. Apparently 25th January was the date Idi Amin overthrew the Government of Apollo Milton Obote in 1971 and Tibuhaburwa Museveni overthrow the Government of Tito Okello in 1986 in Uganda.
It seems the entry of Congo, with its mineral wealth, into the East African Community is a curse rather than a blessing. The East African Community has imported fresh chaos, violence and terror well into the future. The White Mercenaries reigned their terror for a brief period of time, but Black Mercenaries are likely to reign their terror in the hearts of civilians and national armies of East Africa well in the future.
The phenomenon of Black mercenaries deserves detailed analysis, but I will not do it now other than state that there is continuity in purpose between White Mercenaries and Black Mercenaries: access to the mineral wealth of Congo.
However, the Difference between White Mercenaries and Black Mercenaries is that the Black Mercenaries have designed to capture the instruments of power in Kinshasa, or else to conquer Eastern Congo and then take it away from Congo, either as a separate country or fused with Rwanda and Uganda.
This may sound theoretical but is practically possible. In this article, I want to concentrate on White Mercenaries and their activities in Congo in the 1960s and late 1990s, because the phenomenon of White Mercenaries serves perfectly well as a prelude to the emergence of Black Mercenaries in the late 20th Century and early and medium 21st Century..
TO BE CONTINUED….
For God And My Country
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