The Mad Scramble for Congo

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Democratic Republic of the CongoFebruary/March 2025
Congo

Photo illustration by Dami Mojid / THE REPUBLIC. Ref: Patrice Lumumba & Henry Morton Stanley / SMITHSONIAN LAB.

THE MINISTRY OF WORLD AFFAIRS

The Mad Scramble for Congo

At the heart of Congo’s prolonged crises is a scramble for its natural resources, similar to the precolonial scramble for Africa. All hands must be on deck this time to protect the over 100 million Congolese lives caught in this unfortunate unending war.
Congo

Photo illustration by Dami Mojid / THE REPUBLIC. Ref: Patrice Lumumba & Henry Morton Stanley / SMITHSONIAN LAB.

THE MINISTRY OF WORLD AFFAIRS

The Mad Scramble for Congo

At the heart of Congo’s prolonged crises is a scramble for its natural resources, similar to the precolonial scramble for Africa. All hands must be on deck this time to protect the over 100 million Congolese lives caught in this unfortunate unending war.

Since November 2021, M23, a reportedly Rwandan-backed militia, has once again been occupying territory in the provinces of South and North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This armed group, which was last defeated by Congolese forces in 2013, has its roots in several decades of wars and armed conflicts that continue to plunge the DRC into mourning, to the benefit of an illegal trade tainted by the blood of the people of the region. At a time when M23 is occupying the strategic town of Goma and threatening to move on to the capital Kinshasa, if we are to grasp the full scope of what is happening in Congo, it is important to understand the links between the war raging in Congo and the global economy. 

‘We had never seen anything like it. We had never seen so many states trying to agree on a bad action.’ It is in these terms that Eric Vuillard, a French writer, filmmaker and screenwriter, in his book Congo, comments on the Berlin Conference of 1885 that resulted in the partitioning of Africa. He also recalls a part of the preamble of the conference’s General Act of 26 February 1885, which was the founding charter of the colonial model the Western powers applied to Africa: ‘In the name of Almighty God, to settle, in a spirit of mutual goodwill, the conditions most favourable to the development of trade and civilization in certain regions of Africa.’ Yes, it was indeed in the name of God that the raids were conducted, it was indeed in the name of God that kingdoms were subjugated, and yes, it was indeed in the name of the Almighty God that Congo has since experienced a bloody and relentless colonial history that has been slow to end. 

It is worth noting that this General Act was the conclusion of several months of intense discussions held as part of the ‘Kongokonferenz’ or ‘Congo Conference’ convened by German chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, with the support of the French government. This came in response to rising tensions among European nations who wished to establish clear rules on the occupation and exploitation of the African continent. The Congo Conference primarily aimed to establish rules under which the Congo River Basin, a rich expanse of land and water with unparalleled economic and geostrategic advantages, would be administered. Of the 38 articles constituting the Berlin General Act, 25 directly pertain to the Congo Basin, eight to the Niger Basin, five to the general provisions for the ratification of the Act and two solely to new conditions of occupation and partitioning of the remaining African coasts. 

The decisions on the Congo Basin are summarized as follows: freedom of trade, political neutrality and free navigation for all powers. Thus, what was then called the ‘Independent State of Congo’ was born—a free-trade zone four times the size of France, placed under the protectorate of a single individual, King Leopold II of Belgium, and whose sole destiny was to serve as a buffer zone between colonial powers and a granary for all the signatories of Berlin. Consequently, Congo was created in a profoundly capitalist, mercantile spirit dedicated to plunder, without regard for the hundreds of peoples inhabiting the Congo Basin, and with the sole aim of becoming either a vast market or an open-pit mine. 

Christine Germeaux, a university professor and specialist in Germanic studies, writes the following, in his essay, ‘La Conférence de Berlin, 1885’, about the Berlin Conference: ‘The purpose of the conference was indeed to establish European control over Africa in the dynamics of a new wave of globalization.’ But as globalization and capitalism often go hand in hand with occupation, exploitation and enslavement, since this conference, the tragedy of Congo has been unparalleled. After suffering under Leopold II in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries—what historians have termed the bloodiest colonial history—today the Congolese are trapped in what the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has called the deadliest armed conflict of our time since the Second World War: the Congo Wars, followed by the Kivu conflict, which persists to this day.  

If you want to understand the intricacies of neo-colonialism, its relation to colonialism and its roots in slavery, read about the bloody fate of Congo, listen to the cries of its mutilated children, see the distress of its raped women and feel the wounds of its beaten-down men. All for the purpose of feeding the voracious appetite of a global capitalism that is always hungrier, always fervently insistent and never ever restrained. Congo bleeds and the neo-colonialism plan does not seem to spare it. It is indifferent to all the spilled blood. 

CONGO, WHEN BLOOD MEETS THE EARTH'S RESOURCES

Heart of Darkness

Heart of Darkness is how Polish-British writer, Joseph Conrad, titled a famous series of novellas in which he notably transcribes the memories of one of the first macabre undertakings that marked the genesis of post-Berlin Congo: the Kinshasa-Matadi railway. The primary goal of the Independent State of Congo was to exploit the Congo Basin. That is why, in 1886, the Congo Company for Trade and Industry was created to bring European aspirations to fruition. To achieve this, the colonialists intended to do everything in their power to tame both the vast equatorial forest and the mighty Congo River. The Congo River and its tributaries were a boon for the project of penetrating and exploiting Africa. The river offered a genuine commercial opportunity, traversing Central Africa from east to west. Unfortunately, in its final miles, the Congo River becomes a chasm that swallows those who dare to venture there. 

Henry Morton Stanley, a Welsh-American journalist and explorer, who sailed multiple times into the Congolese labyrinth, emphasized the need to tame it. Initially searching for the famous British explorer, David Livingstone (as recounted in How I Found Livingstone), Stanley is also known for being the first modern Western man to traverse the Congo Basin from east to west, reaching the Atlantic coast, a journey he describes in Through the Dark Continent. For Leopold II, Stanley was a godsend. Together, they developed the project of the Independent State of Congo. Leopold II entrusted the man who professed to hate the African continent with all his heart with the heavy responsibility of ‘conquering the Congo’, while he ensured the effective occupation of Congo in the eyes of other nations. 

And when Stanley—described in the book King Leopold’s Ghost, by American historian, Adam Hochschild, as a white supremacist who desired full colonization of Africa—justified the urgency of his railway enterprise by saying, ‘Without the railway, the Congo isn’t worth a penny’, for the King of the Belgians, it sounded like an imperative. The Kinshasa-Matadi railway had to be built, no matter the cost. Through forced labour, whipping and at the cost of numerous African lives, the railway was completed. And with it, commercial trading posts were established. 

How ironic, then, to consider the words of Charles Moynier, lawyer and former consul of the Congo in Switzerland:  

The Independent State of Congo occupies the centre of a vast quadrilateral, bordered or protected by France, Portugal, Germany and England, and it is certain to find in them good neighbours, animated by the same civilizing intentions as itself. All these powers, moreover, publicly expressed their wishes for its prosperity in Berlin. The natives, for their part, seem to docilely accept the light yoke of their new master. From which direction could a storm arise in this serene atmosphere? None, fortunately, appears on the horizon. Thus, without being overly optimistic, one can hope that nothing will contradict the emblem of prosperity—the bright star in a cloudless sky—that adorns its flag. 

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From the Second Industrial Revolution to the New Wars

When the project to build an alternative transportation route arose because the Congo River was no longer navigable, I wager that neither Leopold II nor Stanley foresaw what was on the horizon for global industry and commerce: the Second Industrial Revolution. A boon for globalization and international trade for Congo, it signalled the beginning of a massive, inhumane and unprecedented exploitation. The poaching of ivory, already notorious in Africa since the era of exploration and slavery, was now rivalled by the rubber rush in what was called the ‘Crown Domain’ and the rush for high-conductivity metals like copper in the ‘Katanga Company’, notably with the establishment of one of the most significant copper mining enterprises in history: The Union Minière du Haut-Katanga (UMHK). All these happened before Congo experienced a rush for everything. 

The rubber rush, far from being a civilizing act, plunged the Congolese natives into horror. In 1895, American Baptist missionary J. B. Murphy wrote in The Times: ‘The rubber question is at the heart of most of the horrors perpetrated in Congo. It has plunged the population into a state of total despair.’ In young Congo, the rubber enterprise was synonymous with the enterprise of cut hands. To boost the rubber harvest, the Belgian colonial administration did not hesitate to punish the slowest of the natives by cutting off a hand as an example and ‘motivation’. To exploit more rubber, the administration of the Independent State of Congo did not spare its cruelty. The issue of cut hands to produce more is perhaps the most well-known atrocity. From 1885 to 1960, between the Independent State of Congo and Belgian Congo, an estimated ten million people died from famine, disease and murder, most of which were organized or tolerated by the colonial administration. 

The copper rush, on the other hand, aligns more with the contemporary exploitation model of Congo—installed in the country is an enterprise serving a global capitalism that barely benefits the Congolese people. The company, proudly renamed Générale des Carrières et des Mines, a descendant of UMHK, is now fragmented. The copper and cobalt mines, which once partly belonged to the Congolese and made UMHK glory, even making it the world’s largest copper producer at one point, are now the preserves of a few multinational corporations. These companies have obtained the right to exploit Congolese lands through a new form of war that has arisen in recent decades in Congo, more vicious, more powerful and just as bloody. This war has transcended traditional or conventional exploitation enterprises, giving way to militias, warlords, organized pillaging, decimated villages, rape as a weapon of war, territorial and political occupation. 

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A LAND CONSTANTLY COVETED

Geopolitically, Congo is a textbook case. Its central position in Africa, its vast area, its demographic weight, its cultural diversity, its dense forest, its hydrographic power, its sunlight, its historical heritage, its arable land and its invaluable natural resources make it a serious contender to be a global power. Thus, a choice arises: either subdue Congo and prevent it from becoming a competitor or dismantle Congo and take a piece each, as one would with a cake. The latter option was notably advocated in 2012 by American Peter Pham, who was at that time the director of the Africa Centre at the Atlantic Council (and later the United States special envoy for the Great Lakes region). While the 23 March Movement or M23, a rebel militia directed by Rwanda, was gaining ground in Congo during a new occupation war, Mr Pham shared his view in The New York Times: ‘To save Congo, let it fall apart.’ This position was similarly echoed in 2009 by French president, Nicolas Sarkozy: 

This raises the question of the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country of immense area and a strange organization of border riches. At some point, there must be a dialogue that is not just a circumstantial dialogue but a structural one: how, in this region of the world, we share space, share wealth and accept that geography has its laws, that countries rarely change address and that we must learn to live side by side. 

In reality, in the new form of war imposed on Congo, the protagonists have chosen not to choose. Why not subdue Congo while also dismantling it? To do so, Congo has been subjected to a multitude of war and occupation schemes. With the advent of the transistor and the rise of the electronics industry, and more recently the boom in electric technology, the demand for so-called strategic raw materials by Western interests has increased, thrusting Congo into an unprecedented, multifaceted war, orchestrated and executed for decades. The multitude of actors involved in this conflict matches the significance of the stakes at play. The tilt of Congo towards the East or the West is too crucial to leave this conquest to just two protagonists. It’s a ‘Royal Rumble’—like the famous American wrestling show, where all the wrestlers fight each other so that the strongest survives, often featuring surprising alliances and equally spectacular betrayals, all with an incredible level of violence fuelled by the sight of blood. 

There is always a new mineral, a new element from the periodic table that justifies waging war in Congo. Yesterday it was rubber in the Crown Domain, then copper in Katanga, one day it was diamonds in Kasai, another day it was uranium from Shinkolobwe. Today, it’s the gold of Ituri and the Kivus, it’s cobalt, it’s the infamous 3T (tin, tungsten, tantalum) industry, and soon there will be a war over water, which will couple with the ongoing war over timber. 

There is always a reason to make war in Congo. Sometimes it’s a proxy war, sometimes infiltration, sometimes a frontal war, often a low-intensity conflict, but always an economic and bloody war. 

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DECARBONIZATION OF INDUSTRY

With each industrial revolution comes a new share of Congo’s burdens. And the latest one involves the entire industry surrounding the ecological transition; presented as essential for the future of ecosystems, ecology transition stands as a must, but at what cost? In Congo, green is the colour of blood. For a successful ecological transition, sobriety must be paired with the transformation of our industries, and today, this transformation heavily relies on raw materials found in abundance in Congo. These raw materials have been the driving force behind the recent Congo wars, leading to the frenetic plundering of cobalt in the Katanga on the one hand and to the ongoing Kivu conflict to access gold and 3T. 

A silent war is being waged for control of Congolese cobalt. With over 80 per cent of Congolese cobalt owned by Chinese companies, the mines of Katanga have never been such a strategic focus for global geopolitics. Chinese and Western companies are battling it out on poor land where electrification and access to water are still difficult. On the other hand, a bloody war is being waged in eastern Congo in a more coercive manner. Global Witness has warned that at least 90 per cent of the 3T exported by Rwanda actually comes illegally from the DRC. 

Beyond raw materials, the Congo Basin, which has become the planet’s primary lung with its equatorial forest, is undoubtedly a major asset for this transition. However, decisions regarding its preservation and exploitation continue to be made by the same actors, serving their interests alone. At the March 2023 One Forrest summit held in Libreville, Gabon, with a notable presence from French president, Emmanuel Macron, it was interesting to note that a so-called comprehensive plan for preserving this forest—‘Le Plan de Libreville’—was implemented with a €100-million cost. Strangely, out of the numerous companies granted the rights for protection and exploitation, a significant number, at least 12 out of 14, are French or have ties to France. 

Today, illustratively, with nearly 50 per cent of the world’s reserves, Congo produces 70 per cent of the world’s cobalt. The demand for cobalt in the electric industry continues to soar and is estimated to reach unprecedented levels in the near future. For an industry that is primarily extractive and has never truly benefited Congo and which is at the epicentre of an economic war involving all the major producers and consumers of electric batteries, there are evident risks of the Congo war intensifying further, with the increasing demand for strategic raw materials driven by the acceleration of decarbonization. As Michael Posner wrote in an October 2020 Forbes article: 

Global warming is threatening our planet, and a rapid and dramatic reduction in carbon emissions is essential. Battery-powered vehicles are the most promising alternative, but for the foreseeable future, they depend on cobalt, a mineral found primarily in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where child labour and unsafe mining conditions are common. 

Everything indicates that Congo’s history is about to enter a new era. It will either be salvific or bloody. But this depends on our collective decision. To avoid indefinitely betraying the promises borne by our shared humanity, it is urgent that the various stakeholders recognize that the lives of over 100 million people in the vast Congo must be preserved and defended⎈

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