Conflict Minerals: The Truth Underlying the Systemic Looting of Congo

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Kambale Musavuli of Friends of the Congo stopped by the GRITtv studio to remind us of the situation in Congo and our responsibilities there.

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Conflict Minerals is quickly becoming a euphemism that purports to explain the nature of the conflict and the challenges facing the Congo. However well-meaning, this reductionist approach to the Congo will ultimately do more to prolong the conflict, perpetuate dependency and entrench the impoverishment of the Congo for generations to come.

Over a series of blogs we will demystify the Conflict Mineral approach and provide concrete alternatives for an approach that is in all intents and purposes an expression of United States government soft power in an attempt to continue its control and domination of Congo, which began in its role in the assassination of Congo’s first democratically elected Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba (assassinated on January 17, 1961) and the subsequent installation and maintenance of the dictator Joseph Mobutu for over three decades.

Conflict Minerals: Ask the Africans