Travails of Kabila

Patrick Wilmot

Saturday, February 04, 2012

Since Sudan was split into two, Congo Kinshasa is now the biggest country in Africa, about the size of all of Western Europe. Yet, despite its vast size, Congo has fewer paved roads than Abuja or many other African cities. It has been the tragedy of this country that it was subjected to the rules of some of the worst leaders in history, first the Belgians — the smallest, weakest, most backward European colonial power, then Mobutu, then the Kabilas, both father and son.

At first the country was the personal possession of the Belgian king, with the most cruel and inefficient form of exploitation on the continent. When the colony was transferred to the state there was little improvement, and at Independence there were very few Congolese who had benefited from modern education. Nevertheless, the Belgians realised they had to build some infrastructure to exploit and transfer the products of labour, land and mines.

When they departed there were leaders with talent like Patrice Lumumba who were able to win by huge margins in free and fair elections. Had he lived and been allowed to govern, he would have made the limited progress that most other African countries achieved at the time, despite not having the education and experience that the people managed under Belgian rule. As in South Africa and other African countries in the region, Congo was an apartheid enclave.

This was the era of the Cold War, and racism and the most brutal form of exploitation were justified under the pretext of protecting western civilisation and religion against godless communism. Since this was the time when black people were lynched with impunity in the United States, the American leaders had no compunction in helping the Belgians and other Europeans in murdering Lumumba and his other comrades.

The man they put in charge of the country was spectacular in the level of his corruption, cruelty, and incompetence. Mobutu, who declared himself Marshal and other outlandish titles, committed the most obscene crimes under the rubrics of anti-communism and African authenticity. He thought the Belgians had erred in building roads and other infrastructure, and allowed the little they achieved to deteriorate. The only place in the country that experienced development was his village of Gbadolite, where every luxury was showered, including a runway for Concorde.

Mobutu's sole purpose was to fight "communism", and he allowed his country to be used as a base for counter-revolutionary forces against movements in Angola and other neighbouring countries. Even exploitation became problematic because the decay of the limited infrastructure made mining and other extractive industries almost impossible. Even proceeds from the limited exploitation were exported through apartheid South Africa, and placed in his personal accounts.

When the Cold War ended in 1989, Mobutu's usefulness to his masters ended and they made no effort to defend him when he was attacked and overthrown by neighbouring countries which he had irritated in the interests of Western imperialism or personal enrichment. Relatively small or sparsely populated countries like Rwanda, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Angola marched in unopposed, because Mobutu did not allow efficient armed forces to develop, fearing they would overthrow him.

When the conquerors looked for a replacement for Mobutu they chose Kabila, the father, who had a reputation as a "revolutionary". But Kabila's sole achievement was to get fat from running a brothel in an obscure Tanzanian town. When Che Guevara made his African journey after leaving Cuba, Kabila kept him waiting, while he frolicked in other countries. When Guevara finally met him, he had a woman on each arm, a bottle of whiskey, and a very broad smile.

The people of Congo saw very little difference between Mobutu and Kabila, except that the "Marshal" had some style, and the country's resources were now being exploited by Rwandans, Ugandans, Angolans, and Zimbabweans, rather than by Americans and Europeans. When Kabila fell out with some of his allies, he was saved by the Angolans whose sole priority was to prevent Congo being used as a base by its enemies.

When Kabila was assassinated, his allies chose his son to replace him, because of his name, and because he was too young and inexperienced for anyone to know who he was, or what he was capable of. Kabila, the son, has been an "elected" leader since 2001, but little has changed in the country, except that he has become more obese like his late father, richer, and more erratic.

Without being leader of Congo, Kabila would persist in deserved obscurity, commensurate with his talents. In 10 years he has made so many enemies that without the army he would go the way of his father. To have expected such a man to organise free and fair elections, which would certainly result in his destruction, only fools in America and Europe could hope. The tragedy of his country is that his major opponent is in his 70s, and his main talent appears to be noise making.

Patrick Wilmot, who is based in London, is a writer and commentator on African affairs for the BBC, Sky News, Al-Jazeera and CNN.

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Travails of Kabila