The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.61/No.23           June 9, 1997 
 
 
Imperialists Scramble For Congo Investments  

BY MEGAN ARNEY
Since early March capitalists ranging from mining companies to timber, hydroelectric, and agricultural barons have been courting the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (AFDL), which assumed power May 17 following the ouster of the dictatorship of Mobutu Sese Seko. As the businessmen meet with the new Congolese government, Washington and other imperialist governments are striving to ensure a stable, pliant administration in Kinshasa.

Mwana Mawampanga, now the new finance minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo, met with 25 investment bankers and fund managers from Canada, the United States, Europe, and South Africa May 10-11. "What we want to do is make sure investors make a profit," he announced.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Mawampanga was well received by the businessmen. But the paper complained that the rebel leaders "talk about free markets and responsible economic management in a land full of mineral riches... But beyond the broad-brush concept, there has been nothing. No details. No plans."

John Loewen, a mining analyst who was part of the delegation in Lubumbashi organized by America Mineral Fields, a Hope, Arkansas, mining company, said, "They [AFDL] are saying all the right things up front.. but until we have such concrete things such as delivery of policy, we have got nothing." So far, the new government has not released any concrete economic plans.

America Mineral Fields signed a $1 billion contract in April with the rebel forces who had taken the mineral rich area of Katanga province, but before the AFDL took power. Other companies moving to get in on the act include Tenke Mining Corp., a Canadian firm that began negotiations with the AFDL March 26. In the beginning of May, Tenke Mining transferred $50 million to the state owned mines, known as Gécamines. It is a down payment for the right to exploit what may be the world's largest copper and cobalt deposits between the Congo villages of Tenke and Fungurume in Katanga province.

In 1996 mining engineer and capitalist Adolf Lundin received a 55 percent stake in the Tenke Fungurume project under a contract that he would pay Gécamines $250 million over the next four years.

While the new regime in Congo -called Zaire under Mobutu's rule - is clearly glad to do business, Washington isn't taking any chances. In a May 26 Newsweek article, William Richardson, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, wrote that he told AFDL leader Laurent Kabila of Washington's desire for "an inclusive transition, leading to a new government based on elections and the rule of law." The Clinton administration would support "giving them greater access to the U.S. market," he said. Richardson approvingly added, "Though he [Kabila] still spoke of large public works projects, I believe that he is pragmatic and that he may learn about the needs of a modern, open, economy."

Many of the mineral concessions in Congo are extensive and quite lucrative. The South African De Beers company, for example, had held an exclusive contract with Société Minie're de Bakwanga, the country's largest diamond producer. Recently the AFDL cut off De Beers monopoly. Mawampanga said in early May that "these diamonds make up only 20 percent of the country's production. There will be no more monopoly and De Beers will have to compete with everyone else."

In response, a spokesman for De Beers complained, "Our entire philosophy is that single channel marketing has sustained our industry for more than 60 years."

The main export markets for Congo wealth, as of 1991, were Belgium - the former colonial master - at 44.7 percent, and the United States at 18.3 percent.

Paris has been largely out of the picture lately in relation to Congo. Former defense minister Francois Leotard called the French government's decision to back Mobutu longer than Washington a "tactical, moral, and geopolitical setback" that "highlights the ambiguities and shortcomings of our African policy." The U.S. and French rulers are in competition over influence in central Africa, where Paris has long been the dominant imperialist power.

Instability in Kinshasa
Hundreds of people demonstrated in the capital city of Kinshasa May 23 - 24, protesting the exclusion of bourgeois opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi from the recently formed cabinet of AFDL leader Kabila. The new government's military fired warning shots into the air to disperse the crowd.

Tshisekedi, who claims to be the legitimate prime minister, said May 23 that he would not recognize the new government. "It's not only that I do not recognize the government, but I ask the people to ignore the government," he added.

Kabila announced an initial cabinet of 13, which could be expanded to as many as 20 members. Appointments include seven from the AFDL, two from Tshisekedi's party, and six representatives from other groups. Kabila retains the sole leadership position and control over the military, having abolished the posts of prime minister and vice president.

The cabinet includes as finance minister Mawampanga, who was a professor of agriculture economy at the University of Kentucky in exile; Bizima Karaha, 29, a physician who was trained and worked in South Africa, as foreign minister; Kongolo Mwenze, who in exile worked as a criminologist for the U.S. Justice Department, as interior minister; and Raphael Ghenda, a lawyer formerly exiled in Belgium and France, as information minister. Justine Kasavubu, a member of Tshisekedi's Union for Democracy and Social Progress, is the new public service minister. Based in Brussels for the last period, she is the daughter of the first post- independence president Joseph Kasavubu.

Tshisekedi was not appointed as part of the cabinet. The three-time former prime minister was formerly part of Mobutu's party, but in 1980 split and established the Union of Democracy and Social Progress. In 1961, while working closely with Mobutu, Tshisekedi signed the arrest papers for independence leader and prime minister Patrice Lumumba, who was then murdered by CIA-backed government officials.

For weeks, Washington, London, Bonn, and others have pushed Kabila to include Tshisekedi in a transitional government and hold rapid elections. The new government says elections will take place 12 months from now.

After establishing power, the Kabila regime threw out the transitional constitution established in 1990 as part of Mobutu's so-called political reforms. That document allowed opposition parties to nominate the country's prime minister - though Mobutu always exercised dictatorial veto power.

As part of pressing for a government that Washington can rely on, U.S. secretary of state Madeleine Albright professed concern over alleged human rights abuses and warned Kabila to include in the government ministers from other parties. Speaking on May 23, Albright also demanded that the regime stop supposed massacres of Rwandan refugees in the eastern part of Congo. Since last year, Washington and other imperialist powers several times raised the possibility of a United Nations intervention in eastern Congo in the name of aiding the refugees.

On May 21 South African president Nelson Mandela blasted Washington and others for "lecturing" Kabila on human rights. "What is most strange is that some Western countries that have supported the most vicious dictators for decades now.. [are] taking it upon themselves to lecture him [Kabila] upon democracy."  
 
 
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