Congolese Solidarity Campaign Press Statement

This is an imperialist invasion by proxy as the new tech economy requires the abundant minerals in the Congo, especially cobalt, coltan and copper. The tech billionaires who paraded themselves at Donald Trump’s inauguration feast on the blood of the Congolese people.

The invasion is being opposed by the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC), supported by the self-organised Wazalendo patriotic self-defence groups. Ordinary Congolese people have attacked and burnt several Western embassies in Kinshasa in protest at the backing these Western countries give to Rwanda.

The wars that have devastated the Congo since the overthrow of the US backed dictator Mobutu in 1997 have taken the lives of more than five million people. Some put the number much higher.

The eyes and ears of the world remained shut to the suffering of the Congolese people as these wars raged on. Similarly, the recent wars in Sudan, Ethiopia and Yemen have received very little international attention. This is a direct result of the racism of the international media. African lives do not matter to them.

Our country was colonised by Belgium, the most brutal and murderous of all the European powers in Africa. More than ten million lives were taken by Belgian colonialism. This holocaust is seldom given its due because its victims were Africans and its perpetrators Europeans.

Our country gained its independence on 30 June 1960. At the speech given on Independence Day Patrice Lumumba, our first elected leader, committed himself to build a free and equal country, to ensure that the wealth of the country was used for the benefit of its people and to “ensure for everyone a station in life befitting his human dignity and worthy of his labour”.

As a result of his commitment to his people Lumumba was assassinated on 17 January 1961 with the support of the US and other Western powers. Since that day our country has been plundered by the West using African proxies.

The killing has never stopped. Along with our own people we mourn the soldiers from South Africa, Malawi and Uruguay who lost their lives during the recent attack on Goma.

We call on progressive states around the world to act together to pressurise the United Nations to act against Rwanda and its backers in the West.

We call on progressive organisations around the world to isolate Rwanda and to hold its backers in the West, especially the US, the UK, and France, to account.

The killing must stop. The plunder must stop. The sovereignty of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and that of its people, must be respected.

Our movement was formed in 2014 in Durban, South Africa, with the support of Abahlali baseMjondolo. It was born from refugees who are victims of the war in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo with a desire for peace and justice for the whole Great Lakes Region. We now have members in different parts of South Africa and in the Democratic Republic of Congo, including North and South Kivu. Our movement, inspired by Lumumba, is not in support of any government involved in this war. We stand for peace and justice for the Congolese people, for an end to war and for the return of the wealth of the Congo to the Congolese people.

For further information please contact:

Raphael Bahebwa Kabambire +27 68 226 9355 Shomari Mukandjwa +27 73 365 2191