JChang
07-03-03, 11:18 PM
The Bush Administration has generated significant public attention because of Ari Fleischer's recent refusal to rule out the possibility of sending troops to Liberia. The administration now says that it will make a decision before Bush's upcoming Africa trip and Pentagon planners are busy drafting options.
Yes, Liberia was founded by freed slaves and has historic connections to the U.S., but why is Bush getting ready to intervene here while continuing to ignore other pertinent crises, specifically that in the DRC?
Economic considerations certainly come into play:
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June 23, 2003 – Salt Lake Tribune
Nearly 70,000 Congolese die monthly from starvation and disease precipitated by corporate-funded bloodshed. On May 30, the United Nations Security Council authorized the deployment of about 1,400 peacekeepers to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, (DRC), formerly Zaire. Simultaneously the United States stated it would not participate in the U.N. effort. It is in the economic interest of corporate America not only to ignore the bloodshed, but to prolong the misery.
DRC is an African country whose eastern borders front Rwanda and Uganda. Its eastern provinces contain 80 percent of the world's reserve of the mineral tantalum. When combined with the mineral niobium they compose a rare substance called Columbite-tantalite -- coltan for short.
In its raw stage, coltan looks like black mud. Processed coltan efficiently conducts an electrical charge, which powers high-tech equipment like cellular phones, computers, play stations and DVD players. It also helps power jet engines, missiles, satellites and weapons systems.
Advertisement
The technology explosion of the late 1990s created an immense demand for coltan. International technology and mining companies were hungry for exclusive mining rights in the coltan rich areas of the DRC. When rebel leader Laurent Kabila overthrew the existing regime in 1997 he was propped up by international companies which, as reported by The New York Times, were "swarming around this region of mineral riches and signing lucrative deals despite the uncertainty hanging over the nation's future".
The Bechtel Corporation provided NASA satellite infrared maps of the mineral rich areas. Bechtel executives even helped Kabila strategize on how to subdue ethnic uprisings. But Kabila made a fatal error. In May 1998 he nationalized the Congolese railway and talked about other industries he thought were best run by government. This alarmed outside investors who could see nationalization cutting them off from cheap mineral supplies.
In August 1998, Rwanda and Uganda invaded the Congo. Aware they could not finance a war, the two countries concentrated on securing the coltan-rich areas. They entered into deals with international mining companies allowing them to mine coltan with protection from Rwandan and Ugandan armies. In 1999 and 2000, the Rwandan army was reportedly earning $20 million a month providing the service.
The United States, Japan and Western Europe are the largest consumers of the minerals illegally extracted and shipped from the DRC through Rwanda and Uganda. Not wanting to buy directly from the invaders, our government buys and stockpiles needed minerals from third-party mining companies that exploit the situation by contributing to the invaders who keep the DRC government ineffective.
A strong centralized government would control mineral development for national economic purposes. But, as reported April 20 by the New York Times, " . . . neither the United States nor any other nation seems to have much interest in seeing a strong Congolese central government keep profits . . . "
The corporate hunger for coltan through clandestine rebel support has devastated the Congolese. Starving inhabitants kill gorillas, elephants and rare species. The DRC ecosystem is being pillaged by uncontrolled mining. Congolese have become forced laborers. More than 4 million Congolese have died of starvation and disease in four years.
We have engaged in two wars to maintain our access to oil. It appears we now condone inhuman treatment to maintain our access to a precious mineral.
Some of the largest beneficiaries of the bloodshed are Sony, Intel, Hitachi, NEC, Hewlett-Packard, Lucent, Motorola and Nokia. Of course we, the consumers, are beneficiaries.
Our government's refusal to render humanitarian aid and disregard of the exploitation is not compatible with our true nature. We are a nation of good people. But, that is not enough, we must act like good people.
----
But if the situation in Liberia demands US intervention, certainly the ongoing violence in the DRC also begs US involvement:
--
UN Office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs
DRC: UN's multinational force "totally insufficient", says crisis group
NAIROBI, 16 Jun 2003 (IRIN) - The French-led multinational force being deployed to Bunia, the main town in the embattled Ituri District of northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), is "totally insufficient", the International Crisis Group, a global analysis and advocacy organisation, said in a report published on Friday.
In its report, titled "Congo Crisis: Military Intervention in Ituri", the crisis group calls for a larger UN intervention force that covers a greater geographic area and stays much longer than the 1 September deadline currently mandated. The existing UN Mission in the DRC, MONUC, is expected to take over when the multinational force leaves.
The multinational force is "conceived only as a stopgap, to hold the line until additional MONUC troops are deployed in September", Francois Grignon, the group’s Central Africa project director, said in a statement issued with the report. He added that if the multinational force did not demilitarise Bunia, "it was likely to be caught in competing accusations from all the militias that almost certainly will lead to conflict".
Grignon said, "The militias must be cantoned at least 15 km out of Bunia to allow displaced populations to access the town freely and receive relief."
By mid-August, the crisis group added, MONUC must also have the physical capability, reinforced mandate and political backing to intervene in support of Ituri's pacification and be geared towards restoration of Congolese state sovereignty.
"There must also be sustained pressure on Rwanda, Uganda and Congo's leaders - and their proxy militias - to support the local pacification process in the area and finalise negotiations towards the establishment of a legitimate transitional Congo government," Grignon said.
The crisis group also said it was important that MONUC's reinforcement not be limited to Ituri, but to the provinces of North and South Kivu, to the south of Ituri, which have been at the heart of DRC's wars for the past decade and where the conflict's toll has been even higher.
"The pacification of Ituri should provide a formula for the wider, directly linked task of bringing stability and security to the entire eastern Congo," the crisis group stated.
---
The U.S. response to this crisis has been, in a word, inept.
---
Newshour, June 30
JIM LEHRER: Well, for instance, another country, Congo, there are little boys and girls carrying weapons there and shooting at each other, where rape is being used as what they call a weapon of mass destruction. They're talking about genocide. Is that on the list of U.S. priorities as well?
COLIN POWELL: Yes, and we've been participating in the debates in the U.N., and we are looking at the latest request from the secretary general to increase the size of the U.N. force in Congo. And we have been in close touch with our French, and other European, colleagues about their activities in Northeast Congo around the town of Bunia. And I spoke to French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin about the situation today.
--
As with the DRC when fighting intensified after the failed ceasefire in recent months, Kofi Annan and other members of the international community have urged the US to assist in peacekeeping in Liberia. Rumsfeld immediately rejected that possibility in the DRC with very little public discussion, but Liberia has floated to the top of the agenda.
We've established that the US has a compelling disincentive to act in the DRC, but the question still remains of what unique benefits the US garners from entering Liberia.
Why Liberia but not the DRC?
Yes, Liberia was founded by freed slaves and has historic connections to the U.S., but why is Bush getting ready to intervene here while continuing to ignore other pertinent crises, specifically that in the DRC?
Economic considerations certainly come into play:
---
June 23, 2003 – Salt Lake Tribune
Nearly 70,000 Congolese die monthly from starvation and disease precipitated by corporate-funded bloodshed. On May 30, the United Nations Security Council authorized the deployment of about 1,400 peacekeepers to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, (DRC), formerly Zaire. Simultaneously the United States stated it would not participate in the U.N. effort. It is in the economic interest of corporate America not only to ignore the bloodshed, but to prolong the misery.
DRC is an African country whose eastern borders front Rwanda and Uganda. Its eastern provinces contain 80 percent of the world's reserve of the mineral tantalum. When combined with the mineral niobium they compose a rare substance called Columbite-tantalite -- coltan for short.
In its raw stage, coltan looks like black mud. Processed coltan efficiently conducts an electrical charge, which powers high-tech equipment like cellular phones, computers, play stations and DVD players. It also helps power jet engines, missiles, satellites and weapons systems.
Advertisement
The technology explosion of the late 1990s created an immense demand for coltan. International technology and mining companies were hungry for exclusive mining rights in the coltan rich areas of the DRC. When rebel leader Laurent Kabila overthrew the existing regime in 1997 he was propped up by international companies which, as reported by The New York Times, were "swarming around this region of mineral riches and signing lucrative deals despite the uncertainty hanging over the nation's future".
The Bechtel Corporation provided NASA satellite infrared maps of the mineral rich areas. Bechtel executives even helped Kabila strategize on how to subdue ethnic uprisings. But Kabila made a fatal error. In May 1998 he nationalized the Congolese railway and talked about other industries he thought were best run by government. This alarmed outside investors who could see nationalization cutting them off from cheap mineral supplies.
In August 1998, Rwanda and Uganda invaded the Congo. Aware they could not finance a war, the two countries concentrated on securing the coltan-rich areas. They entered into deals with international mining companies allowing them to mine coltan with protection from Rwandan and Ugandan armies. In 1999 and 2000, the Rwandan army was reportedly earning $20 million a month providing the service.
The United States, Japan and Western Europe are the largest consumers of the minerals illegally extracted and shipped from the DRC through Rwanda and Uganda. Not wanting to buy directly from the invaders, our government buys and stockpiles needed minerals from third-party mining companies that exploit the situation by contributing to the invaders who keep the DRC government ineffective.
A strong centralized government would control mineral development for national economic purposes. But, as reported April 20 by the New York Times, " . . . neither the United States nor any other nation seems to have much interest in seeing a strong Congolese central government keep profits . . . "
The corporate hunger for coltan through clandestine rebel support has devastated the Congolese. Starving inhabitants kill gorillas, elephants and rare species. The DRC ecosystem is being pillaged by uncontrolled mining. Congolese have become forced laborers. More than 4 million Congolese have died of starvation and disease in four years.
We have engaged in two wars to maintain our access to oil. It appears we now condone inhuman treatment to maintain our access to a precious mineral.
Some of the largest beneficiaries of the bloodshed are Sony, Intel, Hitachi, NEC, Hewlett-Packard, Lucent, Motorola and Nokia. Of course we, the consumers, are beneficiaries.
Our government's refusal to render humanitarian aid and disregard of the exploitation is not compatible with our true nature. We are a nation of good people. But, that is not enough, we must act like good people.
----
But if the situation in Liberia demands US intervention, certainly the ongoing violence in the DRC also begs US involvement:
--
UN Office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs
DRC: UN's multinational force "totally insufficient", says crisis group
NAIROBI, 16 Jun 2003 (IRIN) - The French-led multinational force being deployed to Bunia, the main town in the embattled Ituri District of northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), is "totally insufficient", the International Crisis Group, a global analysis and advocacy organisation, said in a report published on Friday.
In its report, titled "Congo Crisis: Military Intervention in Ituri", the crisis group calls for a larger UN intervention force that covers a greater geographic area and stays much longer than the 1 September deadline currently mandated. The existing UN Mission in the DRC, MONUC, is expected to take over when the multinational force leaves.
The multinational force is "conceived only as a stopgap, to hold the line until additional MONUC troops are deployed in September", Francois Grignon, the group’s Central Africa project director, said in a statement issued with the report. He added that if the multinational force did not demilitarise Bunia, "it was likely to be caught in competing accusations from all the militias that almost certainly will lead to conflict".
Grignon said, "The militias must be cantoned at least 15 km out of Bunia to allow displaced populations to access the town freely and receive relief."
By mid-August, the crisis group added, MONUC must also have the physical capability, reinforced mandate and political backing to intervene in support of Ituri's pacification and be geared towards restoration of Congolese state sovereignty.
"There must also be sustained pressure on Rwanda, Uganda and Congo's leaders - and their proxy militias - to support the local pacification process in the area and finalise negotiations towards the establishment of a legitimate transitional Congo government," Grignon said.
The crisis group also said it was important that MONUC's reinforcement not be limited to Ituri, but to the provinces of North and South Kivu, to the south of Ituri, which have been at the heart of DRC's wars for the past decade and where the conflict's toll has been even higher.
"The pacification of Ituri should provide a formula for the wider, directly linked task of bringing stability and security to the entire eastern Congo," the crisis group stated.
---
The U.S. response to this crisis has been, in a word, inept.
---
Newshour, June 30
JIM LEHRER: Well, for instance, another country, Congo, there are little boys and girls carrying weapons there and shooting at each other, where rape is being used as what they call a weapon of mass destruction. They're talking about genocide. Is that on the list of U.S. priorities as well?
COLIN POWELL: Yes, and we've been participating in the debates in the U.N., and we are looking at the latest request from the secretary general to increase the size of the U.N. force in Congo. And we have been in close touch with our French, and other European, colleagues about their activities in Northeast Congo around the town of Bunia. And I spoke to French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin about the situation today.
--
As with the DRC when fighting intensified after the failed ceasefire in recent months, Kofi Annan and other members of the international community have urged the US to assist in peacekeeping in Liberia. Rumsfeld immediately rejected that possibility in the DRC with very little public discussion, but Liberia has floated to the top of the agenda.
We've established that the US has a compelling disincentive to act in the DRC, but the question still remains of what unique benefits the US garners from entering Liberia.
Why Liberia but not the DRC?