45 As always, reliable statistics are hard to come by in the region. According to the United States Geological Survey, columbo-tantalite exports for 2000 amounted to 1,011 tons for Rwanda and the Congo combined, while a UN experts panel estimated exports to be around 1,200 tons for the same period. Rwanda has several, smaller coltan mines, but the bulk of their exports comes from the Eastern Congo. The local price in Goma peaked in the second half of 2000 at $75 per kilo of 20 to 40 percent coltan and $150 for higher-grade product. The world price, however, peaked at around $600 for refined tantalum, so middlemen had handsome profit margins. See George Coakley, The Mineral Industry of Congo-Kinshasa, U.S. Geological Survey Country Report, 2002, 10.3, www.usgs.gov.
46 Stephan Marysse and C. Andre, “Guerre et pillage économique en République Democratique du Congo,” in L’Afrique des Grands Lacs; see also Bjorn Willum, “ Purely Beneficial or Contributing to War,” PhD diss., October 21, 2001, University of Copenhagen. Willum conducts a comprehensive analysis of gold, coltan, and diamond exports from the Eastern Congo and concludes that the Rwandan army and its business associates were making around $250 million in profits from mineral trade in the Eastern Congo at the height of the war.
47 Report of the United Nations Panel, 27.
48 International Institute for Security Studies, The Military Balance (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002).
49 Author’s interview with Colonel Vincent Kitoko, Kinshasa, July 2008.
50 Rwanda: The Search for Security and Human Rights Abuses, Human Rights Watch, vol. 12, no. 1(A), April 2000.
51 Author’s interview with Patrick Karegeya, Dar es Salaam, January 2008.
52 Final Report of the United Nations Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, S/2002/1146, United Nations, October 16, 2002, 15.
53 World Bank: Doing Business 2009 (Washington: World Bank, 2008), 43.
54 Final Report of the United Nations Panel; Report of the United Nations Panel; Cuvulier and Raeymaekers, Supporting the War Economy.
55 Stewart, Corporate War Crimes, 34–36.
CHAPTER 20
1 Gaetan Kakudji was a longtime associate of Kabila, his representative in Belgium during the 1980s, and his interior minister once he came to power; Victor Mpoyo was minister of the state portfolio for several years and handled much of Kabila’s financial dealings.
2 According to Edy Kapend, the following people attended this meeting: several of Laurent Kabila’s old comrades from his early days as a rebel, namely General Celestin Kifwa, General Sylvestre Lwetcha, General Francois Olenga, Victor Mpoyo, Gaetan Kakudji, and Yerodia Ndombasi; and members of the new vanguard, including Mwenze Kongolo, Didier Mumengi, Nono Lutula, and Henri Mova. Others say the group was smaller but did not include any other names.
3 Author’s interview with anonymous presidential aide, Kinshasa, July 2009.
4 Ibid.
5 Danna Harman, “A Shy Son in Congo’s Hot Seat,” Christian Science Monitor, January 23, 2001.
6 Jean Omasombo and Erik Kennes, Biographies des acteurs de la transition (Terveuren, Belgium: Musée Royale de l’Afrique Centrale, 2006), 70. Tanzanian security officials and numerous members of Joseph Kabila’s entourage have confirmed this.
7 Author’s interviews conducted in Kinshasa in 2007–2009; interestingly, this version is also supported by Laurent Nkunda, who fought alongside Joseph Kabila—albeit as a junior officer—in the AFDL war.
8 Erik Kennes with Jean Omasombo, Essai biographique sur Laurent Désiré Kabila (Paris: L’Harmattan, 2003), 300.
9 Colette Braeckman, “ Mama Sifa, la mère du president parle,” Le Soir (Brussels), June 6, 2006 (my translation).
10 Author’s interview with Kenyan security official, Nairobi, June 2009; “Portrait: Joseph Kabila,” La Revue (July/August 2006): 37.
11 “Kabange” denotes the second born of twins in Laurent Kabila’s native language, Kiluba.
12 Francois Soudan, “Portrait: Joseph Kabila,” La Revue (July/August 2006): 41.
13 He had been nominally in charge of some military operations during the AFDL offensive, but according to soldiers serving under him at the time, he worked in the shadow of Rwandan commanders.
14 Gérard Prunier, Africa’s World War: Congo, the Rwandan Genocide, and the Making of a Continental Catastrophe (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 258.
15 Ibid.
16 Chris McGreal, “Western Allies Urge Rwanda to Leave Congo,” Guardian (Manchester, U.K.), February 9, 2001.
17 “Congo Rebels Deny Clearance to U.N. Troops Trying to Land,” Associated Press, April 16, 2001.
18 Prunier, Africa’s World War, 263.
19 Author’s interview with UN official, Nairobi, June 2009.
20 Author’s interview with American diplomat, Kinshasa, July 2009.
21 Author’s interview with foreign journalist, Kinshasa, July 2008. The ambassador in question was Georges Serre.
22 Author’s interview with UN official, Nairobi, June 2008.
23 Author’s interview with Philip Winter, Kinshasa, June 2008.
24 Netherlands Institute for Southern Africa (NIZA), The State vs. The People, 2006, , 41.
25 Author’s interview with UN official, Nairobi, June 2008.
26 Special Commission Charged with Examining the Validity of Economic and Financial Conventions Concluded During the Wars of 1996–1997 and 1998: The Lutundula Report, National Assembly of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, February 26, 2006, 63–64.
27 Final Report of the United Nations Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, #S/2002/1146, United Nations, October 16, 2002, 7; Toby Heaps, “A Glimpse of the World: Joseph Kabila,” Tea with the FT, Financial Times (London), April 9, 2006.
28 Brooderlink Delen, “Memorandum to the Attention of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Member States of the International Committee of Support for the Transition in the DRC,” Rights and Accountability in Development, 11.11.11, February 20, 2006, 8.
29 “Office Memorandum from Craig Andrews, Principle Mining Specialist, to Pedro Alba, Country Director for the DRC,” September 4, 2005, in the author’s archive.
30 Author’s interview with presidential advisor, Kinshasa, November 2007; author’s interview with presidential pilot, Kinshasa, June 2008; Gertler is also named in Report of the United Nations Panel on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, United Nations, April 12, 2001.
31 Author’s interview with Congolese politician, Kinshasa, July 2009.
32 Author’s interview with Congolese mining lawyer, Kinshasa, July 2009.
33 Author’s interview with Gérard Gerold, Kinshasa, January 2007.
34 For a study of Laurent Nkunda, see Jason Stearns, “ The Emergence of a New Rebellion in North Kivu,” in Afrique des Grands Lacs: Annuaire 2007–2008, eds. Stefaan Marysse and Filip Reyntjens (Paris: L’Harmattan, 2008); for Rwandan support to Nkunda, see Final Report of the United Nations Group of Experts on the DR Congo, S/2008/773, United Nations, December 12, 2008.
35 We Will Crush You, Human Rights Watch Report, November 2008.
36 I was speaking with a presidential intelligence officer after an abortive coup attempt by Major Eric Lenge in July 2004.
37 Author’s interview with officer in staff headquarters, Kinshasa, July 2009.
38 Author’s interview with presidential advisor, Kinshasa, July 2009.
CONCLUSION
1 Philip Gourevitch, “Forsaken,” New Yorker, September 25, 2000, 65.
2 The International Rescue Committee, in its most recent mortality study in 2007 concluded that 5.4 million people had died as a result of the conflict in the Congo between 1998 and 2007, not counting those who had died between 1996 and 1998, or those who have died since 2007 in the ongoing violence. “IRC Affirms Congo Mortality Findings,” J
anuary 21, 2010, www.irc.org. Figures of rape are notoriously difficult to estimate, but the United Nations believes that over 200,000 women have been victims of sexual violence since 1998. “Nearly 200 Women and Children Raped in Systematic Attack in Eastern DRC,” Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, August 27, 2010, www.torturecare.org.uk/news/latest_news/3173, accessed September 30, 2010.
3 Eve Ensler, “The Beginning of Hope or the End of It,” Huffington Post, October 30, 2008, www.huffingtonpost.com/eve-ensler/the-beginning-of-hope-or_b_139423.html.
4 Jeffrey Gettleman, “Rape Victim’s Words Help Jolt Congo into Change,” New York Times, October 17, 2008.
5 Author’s interview with Sue Hogwood, Bujumbura, March 2008.
6 Author’s interview with presidential advisor, Kigali, February 2008.
7 In 1993, a large UN mission (UNOSOM) was deployed to Somalia to secure the distribution of food aid to a starving population. It became embroiled in urban firefights with local militia commanders, leading to the highly publicized death of U.S. soldiers.
8 “Code Cable 00283 from American Embassy in Kigali to Rwanda Collective, Secretary of State, Washington DC,” January 6, 1997.
Index
Afande, Robert
AFDL
background
blocks humanitarian access to camps
commits atrocities, massacres
kadogo abused, deployed
mobilizes Congolese Tutsi
repression in new Congo regime
welcomed by Zairians as anti-Mobutu
Albright, Madeleine
Alex (Banyamulenge boy)
Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Zaire. See AFDL
American Mineral Fields
Amin
Amnesty International
Anglo American Mining Corporation
Angola
in coalition to overthrow Mobutu
and L. Kabila’s assassination
sends Katangan Tigers to help RPF
supports Kabila against RCD advance
and UNITA rebels
drops L. Kabila (2000)
Anti-Tutsi ideology
attacks in Kinshasa
bred by AFDL, RCD
and citizenship ban by Mobutu
exacerbated by youth in RPF
as FAR military tactic
as justification for violence
in Uganda
in Zaire
See also Stereotyping
Arendt, Hannah
Bagosora, Théoneste
Baldo, Suliman
Bantariza, Shaban
Banyamulenge (Congolese Tutsi)
attain RCD positions
barred from citizenship by Mobutu
civilians massacred
conditions after Rwandans depart DRC
evacuated by UN from Bukavu
evicted from Zaire
persecuted
protected by embassies
as soldiers to overthrow of Mobutu
Baramoto, Philemon
Baril, Maurice
Bas-Congo Province
BBC Swahili Service Radio
Belgian colonial era. See Colonial era of the Congo under Belgium
Bemba, Jean-Pierre
about
as MLC political, military, leader
as prime minster of Congo
Bemba, Saolona
Bembe, Anzuluni
Bembe tribe
A Bend in the River (Naipaul)
Biblical theory of Tutsi and Hutu
Bisengimana, Barthélémy
Bizimungu, Pasteur
Bokassa, Bedel
Bonino, Emma
Boulle, Jean-Raymond
Boutros Ghali, Boutros
Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo
refuge for kadogo
refuge for Mobutu officials
refuge for Tutsi civilians
Bredenkamp, John
Bugera, Deogratias
background
chosen to lead Rwanda rebellion
as RPF leader
defects from RPF for new Tutsi rebellion
and L. Kabila
Bukavu, Zaire
anti-Tutsi sentiments
civilians, army, flee attacking Rwandans
L. Kabila recruits kadogo
refugee camp
Bululu, Lunda
Burundi
embassy protects Kinshasa Tutsi
–Hutu refugees in Rwanda
and mass killing of Hutu
mercenaries work for L. Kabila
with Tutsi refugees (1962)
Bush, George W.
Butera (Rwandan commander)
Buyoya, Pierre
Canada
Caritas Catholic aid group
Castro, Fidel
Catholic parishes and priests
Bembe tribe prophesy
lead protests of Rwandan invasion
massacred
seek revenge for Hayarimana’s death
seminaries forced to accept Mobutu’s cells
Trappist monks
Central African Republic (CAR)
Child malnutrition and mortality
in Kisangani
in refugee camps
throughout Congo conflict areas
Child marriages
Child soldiers. See Kadogo
China
The Choice of Freedom (Bemba)
Churches
Catholic
of Kasika massacre
Malkia wa Ubembe in Abala
Methodist (Mariam Kinyamarura)
Pentecostal
in siege of Kisangani
in Tingi-Tingi refugee camp
CIA (Central Intelligence Agency)
and Lumumba’s assassination
and Mobutu
and Savimbi
Citizenship
denied to Congolese Tutsi in Zaire
denied to refugees in Uganda
issue sparks invasion of Zaire
Mobutu changes position
used to fuel anti-Tutsi sentiment
Colonial era of Congo under Belgium
brutality of
dismembers kingdoms, local rule
ethnic prejudices against Hutu–Tutsi
Hamitic theory of race
and L. Kabila’s father
Leopold’s private business empire
mismanagement of mineral assets
Rwandans brought to Kivu
with weak military
Colonial era of Rwanda under Germany
Coltan mining and market
Conflict minerals as moral issue
Congo, Democratic Republic of the (DRC)
background
Mobutu overthrown
L. Kabila’s weak regime
J. Kabila succeeds father as president
unification (2002)
See also under specific towns and battles
Congo Free State
Congo wars
about
first war (1996–1997)
second war (1998–2003)
third war (2003–present)
Congolese army (second war)
disintegrates as Rwandans advance
Kabarebe leads rebellion against
loses Pweto
supported by Zimbabwe, Angola, Namibia
J. Kabila’s officer corps
Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD)
funds military with Congo’s resources
leadership, political strategy
massacres in Kasika and Eastern Congo
rebellion backed, controlled, by Rwanda
refuses UN peacekeepers
Uganda/Bemba form MLC
Wamba as president, ousted
fuels insurgency against J. Kabila
Congolese Tutsi. See Banyamulenge
Coups d’état
of Mobutu, Zaire (1960, 1965)
of Habyarimana, Rwanda (1973)
on L.
Kabila, Congo (2001)
(attempt) on Patassé, CAR (2002)
(attempt) on J. Kabila, Congo (2004)
David (commander)
De Beers company
De Charette, Hervé
Des Forges, Alison
Destexhe, Alain
Diamonds
under L. Kabila’s regime
Mbuji-Mayi falls to Rwandans
mined in AFDL-controlled areas
schemes finance Congo, Zimbabwe, militaries
trafficked by Angolan rebels
Uganda–Rwanda standoff in Kisangani
Discrimination
against Banyamulenge
in Uganda against refugees
See also Anti-Tutsi ideology
Doctors Without Borders
Donors (foreign)
refugee crisis seen as equal to genocide
relied on by Mobutu
reluctant to give to L. Kabila’s regime
repercussions of financing public services
supply half of government budgets
See also Humanitarian organizations
Dos Santos, José Eduardo
and L. Kabila
sends Katangan Tigers to Kagame
supports rebellion against Mobutu
Double genocide revisionist concept
DRC. See Congo, Democratic Republic of the
Eastern Congo
brutal rule of AFDL, RCD
as mineral exporting region
mortality rate
ongoing insurgency
plundered by Rwanda, Uganda
Rwanda invades, takes control
Eichmann, Adolph
Endundo, José
Enveloppe method of influence
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Ethnicity
as deciding factor for Mobutu’s army, staff
fails to explain Tutsi–Hutu violence
limits rebellions
mobilization vs. institutional resistance
Evil, nature of
Ex-FAR (ex-Rwandan Armed Forces)
armed by France
as feared militia
massacred by RPF
with Mobutu’s troops
recruited by L. Kabila for second war
return to massacre Rwandan Tutsi, Hutu
FAR. See Ex-FAR (ex-Rwandan Armed Forces)
FDLR
Forces Armées Zairoises (FAZ)
The 48 Rules of Power (Greene)