THe situation in the congo is not really inter tribal wars. It is rwandan and Ugandan [/b]forces killing innocent people and causing hell

Western multinational corporations’ attempts to cash in on the wealth of Congo’s resources have resulted in what many have called “Africa’s first world war,” claiming the lives of over 3 million people. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been labeled “the richest patch of earth on the planet.” The valuable abundance of minerals and resources in the DRC has made it the target of attacks from U.S.-supported neighboring African countries Uganda and Rwanda.

The DRC is minerial rich with millions of tons of diamonds, copper, cobalt, zinc, manganese, uranium, niobium, and tantalum also known as coltan. Coltan has become an increasingly valuable resource to American corporations. Coltan is used to make mobile phones, night vision goggles, fiber optics, and capacitators used to maintain the electrical charge in computer chips. In December of 2000 the shortage of coltan was the main reason that the popular sale of the Sony Play Station 2 video game came to an abrupt halt.

The DRC holds 80% of the world’s coltan reserves, more than 60% of the world’s cobalt and is the world’s largest supplier of high-grade copper. [b]With these minerals playing a major part in maintaining US military dominance and economic growth, minerals in the Congo are deemed vital US interests.

Historically, the U.S. government identified sources of materials in Third World countries, and then encouraged U.S. corporations to invest in and facilitate their production. Dating back to the mid-1960s, the U.S. government literally installed the dictatorship of Mobutu Sese Seko, which gave U.S. corporations access to the Congo’s minerals for more than 30 years. However, over the years Mobutu began to limit access by Western corporations, and to control the distribution of resources. In 1998, U.S. military-trained leaders of Rwanda and Uganda invaded the mineral-rich areas of the Congo. The invaders installed illegal colonial-style governments which continue to receive millions of dollars in arms and military training from the United States. Our government and a $5 million Citibank loan maintains the rebel presence in the Congo. Their control of mineral rich areas allows western corporations, such as American Mineral Fields, to illegally mine. Rwandan and Ugandan control over this area is beneficial for both governments and for the corporations that continue to exploit the Congo’s natural wealth.

American Mineral Fields (AMF) landed exclusive exploration rights to an estimated 1.4 million tons of copper and 270,000 tons of cobalt. San Francisco based engineering firm Bechtel Inc. established strong ties in the rebel zones as well. Bechtel drew up an inventory of the Congo’s mineral resources free of charge, and also paid for NASA satellite studies of the country for infared maps of its minerals. Bechtel estimates that the DRC’s mineral ores alone are worth $157 billion dollars. Through coltan production, the Rwandans and their allies are bringing in $20 million revenue a month. Rwanda’s diamond exports went from 166 carats in 1998 to 30,500 in 2000. Uganda’s diamond exports jumped from approximately 1,500 carats to about 11,300. The final destination for many of these minerals is the U.S.[/b]

Your last post about the mineral prospectors/ contractors etc in the DRC

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: 16th December 1990 - Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a former Catholic priest, won Haiti's first democratic Presidential election, securing 67 % of the vote. Aristide was sworn in as President on 7th February 1991, but ousted from power in a coup d'état less than eight months later, on 29th September 1991. There had been an attempted coup against Aristide on 6th January 1991, before his inauguration.

The coup was condemned by both the United Nations (US) General Assembly and the Organization of American States and throughout the coup regime's existence, the only state to recognise it was ironically the catholic led Vatican City.

On 31st July 1994 the US Security Council passed Resolution 940 authorising a United States (US) led multinational force to restore Aristide to office, under "Operation Uphold Democracy". On 15th October, Aristide returned to power to complete his first term which ended in February 1996. Under the Haitian constitution he was not permitted to contest the next election and serve consecutive terms.

Aristide ran for Presidential office again in 2000, in an election boycotted by many of the opposition, which saw him securing 92 % of the vote. Soon after assuming power Aristide called for France, the former colonial power, to pay $21 billion in reparations for its economic exploitation of Haiti during the period 1825 to 1947. It is thought that this was one of the factors which lead to Aristide being overthrown in a second coup d'état on 29th February 2004. Aristide was forced into exile, flown first to the Central African Republic, then later to South Africa where he remained until returning to Haiti on 18th March 2011.

There is substantial evidence that the US, though ostensibly supporting "democracy" in Haiti, played a clandestine role in orchestrating both coups against Aristide. Wikileaks has revealed evidence showing that "the priest had to go" and following the second coup, Noam Chomsky commented:

"When Aristide was overthrown by the 1991 military coup, the Organization of American States declared an embargo. Bush I announced that the US would violate it by exempting US firms, Clinton authorized even more extreme violations of the embargo: US trade with the junta and its wealthy supporters sharply increased. The crucial element of the embargo was, of course, oil, Clinton secretly authorized the Texaco Oil Company to ship oil to the junta illegally, in violation of presidential directives. This remarkable revelation was the lead story on the AP wires the day before Clinton sent the Marines to "restore democracy,", Also efficiently suppressed were the crucial conditions that Clinton imposed for Aristide's return: that he adopt the program of the defeated US candidate in the 1990 elections, a former World Bank official who had received 14% of the vote. We call this "restoring democracy," a prime illustration of how US foreign policy has entered a "noble phase" with a "saintly glow," the national press explained. The harsh neo-liberal program that Aristide was compelled to adopt was virtually guaranteed to demolish the remaining shreds of economic sovereignty, The Aristide government, once again, was undermined by US planners, who understood, under Clinton, that the threat of democracy can be overcome if economic sovereignty is eliminated."

The following clip is a refreshingly honest analysis of the historical circumstances behind the injustice the people of Haiti presently suffer:

Kobojunkie:



The dude never lets up! . . . . it just keeps coming up with more and more of the same . . , there is no reasoning with it.

igbo2011:

@kobojunkie
explain to me hoq Charles Tatylor escaped a maximum security jail called Plymouth in Boston and then became the President of Liberia?
Why did America freeze Libya's bank account like here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=TjrBzIv7zis

cap28:

when i watch videos like the one you posted above i just wonder whether there is a God.