100 Civilians, Troops Massacred in Congo

[DuctapeFatwa]

A militia led by a commander named "Cut-Throat" massacred more than 100 civilians and soldiers in southeast Congo, the army said Tuesday, as the government and United Nations struggled to gain control of Congo's lawless east.

The U.N. mission for Congo has sent a team to investigate the killings, the latest in a series reported since January in remote regions of Katanga province, U.N. spokesman Hamadoun Toure said in Kinshasa, the capital.

In one attack, the governt-allied Mayi-Mayi fighters three a grenade into a church during a Sunday Mass, killing 25 people, Congo Gen. Dieugentil Mpia Nzambe Nzambe said.

The Congo army and rights groups blame the killings on Mayi-Mayi leader who uses the Swahili name of Chinja-Chinja, or 'Cut-Throat." He allegedly mutilates many of his victims for fetish rites.

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20040224_1198.html

[dennis4868]

1. too bad....

they dont have all that oil Iraq has...if so, Bush would be the first one there to help them out.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

4. No. This simply underscores that small arms are responsible

for the majority of the world's unrest...a position made clear by the Center for Defense Information and the Congo is home to many minerals that we use daily such as COLTAN:

http://minerals.er.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/country/
http://minerals.er.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/country/africa.html

[Superfly]

5. How can small arms be the source of the world's unrest?

I can see how PEOPLE wielding small arms could, but not the arms themselves.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

8. Perhaps you got lost on your way to the gun dungeon

War or criminality?

Much of what has been called war during the past decade – especially in places like Sierra Leone and



Angola – is merely an extreme form of criminality. Some of the arms dealers and entrepreneurs tracked in the ICIJ investigation crossed regularly between the secretive worlds of war commerce, organized crime and terrorism.

One measure of their influence is the deadly trade in arms. Compared to the legal trade in arms, the number of weapons shipped illegally is small – about 10 percent of total world sales. But small arms have been the weapons of choice in 90 percent of the conflicts since 1990 and were responsible for almost 100 percent of the killing.

Arms dealers such as Bout, Leonid Minin and Jacques Monsieur have been at the forefront of the most extensive yard sale in history – a massive unregulated sell off of low price surplus armaments into the most fragile, conflict-ridden corners of the Earth
http://www.icij.org/dtaweb/icij_bow.asp?Section=Chapter&ChapNum=1

While much attention is paid to the proliferation of the so-called weapons of mass destruction, i.e. nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, it is the ordinary conventional weapons, such as AK-47's, landmines, tanks, and fighter aircraft, which are responsible for the vast majority of casualties in the world's conflicts. As almost anyone who scans the news can tell, conventional weapons are responsible for the death, wounding and uprooting of countless numbers of people each year.

http://www.cdi.org/program/index.cfm?programid=73

If you support Smith and Wesson you are supporting terrorism

[Judi Lynn]

11. More on arms sales to the Congo

(snip)
Major Findings

• Finding 1 – Due to the continuing legacies of its Cold War policies toward Africa, the U.S. bears some responsibility for the cycles of violence and economic problems plaguing the continent. Throughout the Cold War (1950-1989), the U.S. delivered over $1.5 billion worth of weaponry to Africa. Many of the top U.S. arms clients – Liberia, Somalia, the Sudan, and Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo or DRC) – have turned out to be the top basket cases of the 1990s in terms of violence, instability, and economic collapse.
  
• Finding 2 – The ongoing civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) is a prime example of the devastating legacy of U.S. arms sales policy on Africa. The U.S. prolonged the rule of Zairian dictator Mobutu Sese Soko by providing more than $300 million in weapons and $100 million in military training. Mobutu used his U.S.-supplied arsenal to repress his own people and plunder his nation’s economy for three decades, until his brutal regime was overthrown by Laurent Kabila’s forces in 1997. When Kabila took power, the Clinton administration quickly offered military support by developing a plan for new training operations with the armed forces.
  
• Finding 3 – Although the Clinton administration has been quick to criticize the governments involved in the Congo War, decades of U.S. weapons transfers and continued military training to both sides of the conflict have helped fuel the fighting. The U.S. has helped build the arsenals of eight of the nine governments directly involved in the war that has ravaged the DRC since Kabila’s coup. U.S. military transfers in the form of direct government-to-government weapons deliveries, commercial sales, and International Military Education and Training (IMET) to the states directly involved have totaled more than $125 million since the end of the Cold War.
  
• Finding 4 – Despite the failure of U.S. polices in the region, the current administration continues to respond to Africa’s woes by helping to strengthen African militaries. As U.S. weapons deliveries to Africa continue to rise, the Clinton administration is now undertaking a wave of new military training programs in Africa. Between 1991-1998, U.S. weapons and training deliveries to Africa totaled more than $227 million. In 1998 alone, direct weapons transfers and IMET training totaled $20.1 million. And, under the Pentagon’s Joint Combined Exchange Training (JCET) program, U.S. special forces have trained military personnel from at least 34 of Africa’s 53 nations, including troops fighting on both sides of the DRC’s civil war – from Rwanda and Uganda (supporting the rebels) to Zimbabwe and Namibia (supporting the Kabila regime).
  
• Finding 5 – Even as it fuels military build-up, the U.S. continues cutting development assistance to Africa and remains unable (or unwilling) to promote alternative non-violent forms of engagement. While the U.S. ranks number one in global weapons exports, it falls dead last among industrialized nations in providing non-military foreign aid to the developing world. In 1997, the U.S. devoted only 0.09% of GNP to international development assistance, the lowest proportion of all developed countries. U.S. development aid to all of sub-Saharan Africa dropped to just $700 million in recent years.
  (snip)

http://www.worldpolicy.org/projects/arms/reports/congo.htm

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

15. Thanks Judilyn. The thing that astounds me is that people still don't get

this even though it actually HAS gotten decent coverage on mainstream news such as the week Ted Koppel spent down there a couple years ago.

[Judi Lynn]

18. Just found this interesting note

(snip) The covert programmes involving the use of private military training firms and logistics support contractors that are immune to Freedom of Information Act requests, is particularly troubling for researchers and journalists who have tried, over the past several years, to get at the root causes for the deaths and mayhem in the DRC and other countries in the region.

These US contractor support programmes have reportedly involved covert assistance to the Rwandan and Ugandan militaries — the major backers of the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie (RCD factions), and — as reported by the UN ïPanel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the DRC’ — are responsible for the systematic pillaging of Congo’s most valuable natural resources.

The UN panel — chaired by Safiatou Ba-N’Daw of Cote d’Ivoire — concluded that: ïTop military commanders from various countries needed and continue to need this conflict for its lucrative nature and for temporarily solving some internal problems in those countries as well as allowing access to wealth.’

There is more than ample evidence that elements of the US military and intelligence community may have — on varying occasions — aided and abetted this systematic pillaging by the Ugandan and Rwandan militaries.
(snip/...)
http://www.lrpworldnews.com/coup/congo/congo.php?page=congo4

(snip)"The United States military has been covertly involved in the wars in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a US parliamentary subcommittee has been told. Intelligence specialist Wayne Madsen, appearing before the US House subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights, also said American companies, including one linked to former President George Bush Snr, the father of the current US President, are stoking the Congo conflict for monetary gains."

-- John Kakande, US Army Operated Secretly in Congo, allAfrica.com, June 17, 2001
(snip)
http://www.lrpworldnews.com/coup/congo/congo.php?page=congo5


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's possible most people have had their heads buried in simply making it from one day to the other, and actual interest in and curiosity about the rest of the world has never been awakened.

That means they simply BUY ALL THE INFORMATION THEY'VE BEEN FED by our propaganda mills as the truth. They are going to feel very misused years down the road when someone finally says something that triggers a moment of awakening for them. Jeez.

Right now is the time the world NEEDS people to be awake and alert, so their ignorance and lack of involvement don't encourage certain elements in our government to read us as CONSENTING to this fiendish activity towards fellow human beings.

[Superfly]

20. Too funny....

I wonder why "...arms have been the weapons of choice in 90 percent of the conflicts since 1990..." (BTW, do you have a source for this?)

Maybe it's because the gladius and trebuchet went the way of the Dodo around 300 AD? Do you honestly believe that conflict would end if Kalashnikov went out of business? Jeebus...people have been killing each other since the dawn of ages.

On correction: my mistake...the trebuchet was used well through the middle ages and is still used to launch pumpkins at a certain N American contest. So sorry.

[mikehiggins]

6. Uhh...that makes no sense to me. What do you mean?

hundreds of thousands of people will killed in Ruanda using machetes. Are they included as small arms?

Your meaning isn't clear.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

9. Read the articles I linked

[Aidoneus]

13. actually, Katanga is very resource-rich

I imagine that western businesses and governments are already there to "help them out" (they traditionally have), by reducing the troublesome native population. This simplifies the process of the extraction of such materials and raises the profit margins.

[The Stranger]

16. PNAC isn't interested in the Congo.

The Crusade to bring Messianic "Democracy" must only be waged in the Middle East. Sorry, Congo.

[Judi Lynn]

17. I've seen allusions to this repeatedly

Made a quick trip to google, found this easy view of their mineral wealth which seem to interest Europeans and certain Americans:

(snip)
Despite difficulties, and while never enjoying true
economic developments that would have brought a decent
standard of living to Zaire's now 40 million people, Zaire
nonetheless was able to harness and mine some of its
immense raw materials wealth. A sample of what Zaire
accomplished can be gleaned from the report of the
{Minerals Yearbook}, published by the Bureau of the Mines
of the U.S. Department of Interior (Vol. III). In 1988,
among the world's raw materials mining countries, Zaire
held the following rank, for the following commodities:

Cobalt -- world's largest producer and exporter
Diamonds -- 2nd in the world
Copper -- 5th in the world
Tin -- 12th in the world
Zinc -- 20th in the world

Zaire also mined other commodities, such as
barite, boron, magnesium, and gold. Because of
historical ties, Zaire shipped a good amount of these
goods to Belgium. In the 1960s, in order to run its mining
operations, Zaire created the state-owned La
Generale des Carrieres et des Mines du Zaire,
which is known by its acronym, Gecamines. One of its other
important state-owned companies was based in Kivu
province, the Societe Miniere et Industrielle de
Kivu, known by its acronym Sominki.
When Belgium granted Zaire independence, it
bequeathed to Zaire about $5 billion in debt, which
Belgium had run up. By the late 1980s, Zaire's debt stood
at about $8 billion--a large debt for a small economy
based on raw materials and food, but no manufacturing.
Zaire got further and further behind on its debt payments,
and finally defaulted on most of it in the early 1990s.
This was the excuse that the banks wanted. They
demanded that Zaire pay the debt, but also, joined by the
World Bank and others, demanded that Zaire ``democratize''
its government and, especially, privatize its state-owned
raw materials mining concerns. Privatization had three
components: slashing the social services provided to
miners by law, laying off half the workforce at Gecamines,
and selling more than half of the different properties of
Gecamines and Sominki to foreign investors. Secessionist
movements were started in Shaba province; the net effect
would be to dismantle the Zairean state.
(snip/...)

http://www.members.tripod.com/american_almanac/bushgold.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The article, written in the '90's, I believe, makes reference to George H. W. Bush's abiding interest in the area, which is mentioned frequently in general reading. I know I've bumped into it, not even looking for it.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

2. But if we intervene isn't that a crusade based on your loose definition?

[mikehiggins]

7. Thanks to BushCo we couldn't intervene if we wanted to.

Look at what is happening in Haiti.

There are no U.S. forces available to enforce the peace, a fact the rebels are very aware of, though BushCo steadfastedly refuses to concede that.

You can expect lots more trouble around the world now that Big Brother has tied his bootlaces together.

We live in interesting times.

[leftchick]

3. this is so horrible....

I almost posted this earlier today from another source. The details were sketchy and I was hoping it was not true..... :(

[Bandit]

10. Mass graves , mass graves

Attack , attack , Bad bad man there ..... D'oh....no Oil.... never mind.

[leftchick]

12. "Mutilation horror in DR Congo"

A very gruesome read from the BBC....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3516481.stm

The attacks are blamed on a militia led by General "Chinja Chinja" or the Ripper.

Congolese military officials say that he is the last remaining militia leader in the north of Katanga province who is unwilling to integrate into the new Congolese army.

After five years of war, former rebel forces are being merged into a new united army under a peace deal.

Some 10,000 United Nations peacekeepers are in DR Congo to monitor a peace accord but they have not been sent to the scene of the atrocities.

UN spokesman Hamidoun Toure said that verifications were being made.

General Alengbia Nzambe has said that he will neutralise the Ripper.

But an aid worker in the region said that given the atrocities which were committed by the Ripper, he feared that a response from the Congolese army could generate more bloodshed.

[seemslikeadream]

14. War in Congo has claimed over 3 million lives since 1998 alone

The war on Iraq is no the only war in the world and it is not the only war being fought for our material benefit. Western consumers' seemingly insatiable demand for mobile phones, laptop, games consoles and other luxury electronic goods has been fueling violent conflict and killing in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is possibly the most mineral rich place on earth--though this has proved a curse to the people of the Congo. The Congo holds millions of tons of diamonds, copper, cobalt, zinc, manganese, uranium and coltan. Coltan, a substance made up of columbium and tantalum, is a particularly valuable resource - used to make mobile phones, night vision goggles, fiber optics, and micro-capacitors.

What is Coltan?

Coltan looks like black mud, but is three times heavier than iron and only slightly lighter than gold. It is found in abundance in eastern Congo and can be mined with minimal equipment. Coltan is vital to the high tech economy. Wireless electronic communication would not exist without it. The 'mud' is refined into tantalum - a metallic element that is both a superb conductor of electricity and extremely heat - resistant. Tantalum powder is a vital component in capacitors, for the control of the flow of current in miniature circuit boards. Capacitors made of tantalum are found inside every laptop, pager, personal digital assistant, and mobile phone. Tantalum is also used in the aviation and atomic energy industries. A very small group of companies in the world process coltan. These include H.C. Starck Cabott Inc., Ningxia, and Ulba. The world's biggest coltan mines are in Australia and they account for about 60% of world production. It is generally believed, however, that 80% of the world's reserves are in Africa, with DRC accounting for 80% of the African reserves.

http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/newsletter/issue13/issue13_part3.htm

[demdave]

19. Anyone have any info on the French troops and the U.N.

that were sent to the Congo earlier? I remember reading that they were going, and then nothing else. Thanks.