The Berlin Conference of 1884–1885, which rubberstamped the plunder and pillage of Africa, continues to haunt the continent today, but nowhere more so than the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
For the past 30 years, the DRC has been forced into a cycle of never-ending violence, with the country's natural resources the main culprit of instability. Six million killed. Millions more displaced. Rwandan-backed militias roam free. Meanwhile, the people of Congo continue to suffer.
The West has a talent for blaming Africa's problems on itself, and Congo is no exception. But the story of the DRC, and the bad actors at play, extend far beyond its borders. It's a story of so-called Western aid, the international demand for minerals, and corporate interests.
Congo in 2024 is not free. Whilst the physical shackles may be gone, economic chains remain through the workings of neocolonialism.
Resources: The curse of Congo
Defined by the political theorist, revolutionary, and first Prime Minister of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, as "imperialism in its final and most dangerous phase", neocolonialism maintains the facade of independent states while exerting covert control over their economies and, consequently, their politics.
In the Congo, neocolonialism chiefly plays out through the foreign exploitation of cobalt, essential for the manufacturing of the electronics we use daily. The DRC produces 70% of all the world's cobalt.
Cobalt mining is an extremely lucrative business, attracting multinational corporations eager to capitalise on the high demand. Predictably this comes at the cost of Congolese lives. Workers, including children, labour in hazardous conditions — read: modern slavery — and mining operations lead to environmental issues such as deforestation and pollution. Local communities, equally predictably, receive little to no benefit from the billions of mining profits from their land.
Another major Congolese resource is coltan. According to ISS, the DRC produces approximately 40% of the world's coltan resources, acquired through slave labour and sold off to multinational corporations. Tantalum, derived from coltan, is essential to the functioning of the smartphone that you're reading this article on. And as recently as May, Congolese lawyers claimed to have evidence of Apple obtaining minerals from conflict zones in the Congo.
The uncomfortable truth is that the spoils and trappings we enjoy in the West are predicated on Congo's subjugation and perpetual instability. We need to face this fact and act on it.
If ruthless multinationals profit from a lack of regulation and state instability, then global economic policies help perpetuate the cycle.
As Nkrumah predicted, Western governments use economic aid to profit from developing nations. In the DRC, this exploitation is visible for all to see.
The World Bank and the IMF, with all the hallmarks of white saviourism, have helped fund huge dam buildings, thereby creating a wealthy minority and ensuring foreign investment, while vast swathes of the population lack access to water and electricity.
This isn't a new revelation, the IMF has long been attacked for binding developing nations into restructurement loans they won't be able to pay back, forcing them into a cycle of perpetual debt.
Aid, channelled through institutions like the IMF and the World Bank, often comes with conditions that enforce austerity and limit government spending on vital services such as health and education. It keeps the Congolese masses in the grip of desperation.
While ostensibly claiming to push development and stabilisation, aid, in a nutshell, exacerbates the very issues it seeks to address.
In the Congo, the presence, and overeliance of NGOs and international organisations has sucked talent into the international aid industry, weakening local institutions. And their focus is always on short-term humanitarian assistance and 'relief' more than long-term development, aggravating an already present crisis management cycle.
For the winners, it's a covert colonial formula that works. For the losers, it's flash-in-the-pan assistance that forces the population to live hand to mouth.
The role of Tony Blair, Rwanda and M23 in Congo
Yes, we can talk about the failings of the DRC's internal leadership, they're there for all to see. But it's deeper than that. The complexity of the crisis in the Congo is worsened considerably by external political interests and actors, notably former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Rwanda, and the M23 rebel militia.
Over the last 30 years, Tony Blair has remained a shadowy figure in Africa, serving as an advisor to the Rwandan government and has helped the DRC's neighbour shape policy and shift international opinion of Rwanda.
Under President Paul Kagame, Rwanda has been repeatedly accused of supporting rebel groups in the DRC, including the M23 rebel group, named after the peace agreement of March 23, 2009, which the DRC government violated the group claims.
M23 has been accused of war crimes, including massacres, rapes and the recruitment of child soldiers. Reports and investigations, including those by the United Nations, have suggested that Rwanda provides support to M23, including training and supplies.
Blair's involvement, through his consultancy for the Rwandan government, has been criticised as lending tacit support to Rwanda's actions in the DRC, indirectly influencing the dynamics of the conflict. This relationship highlights how international political and corporate interests can entangle with local issues, making the resolution of such conflicts impossible.
The West's silent indifference to the DRC's ongoing crisis can be attributed to several factors. Firstly, the media's preference for sensational, short-term narratives often eclipses protracted crises like the DRC's.
Furthermore, corporate interests play a significant role in maintaining this silence, as there is little incentive to expose the harsh realities of resource extraction that underpin many Western industries and companies.
Edward Said's concept of Orientalism offers us a lens through which to understand Western perceptions of Africa as a distant, chaotic place, disconnected from Western realities. This portrayal facilitates a continued disregard for the continent.
Additionally, the lack of transparency in supply chains obscures the connection between Western consumerism and the DRC's suffering. The minerals powering our electronic devices and electric vehicles often originate in the DRC, extracted under conditions of severe human rights abuses and environmental devastation.
The tragic situation in the DRC is marked by a lethal mix of power struggles, resource exploitation, and neo-colonial economic practices, which demand increased awareness and action.
Western countries, through their corporations and aid policies, are not just passive bystanders but active participants in a system that exploits the DRC's resources while perpetuating a cycle of violence and poverty.
Addressing this issue requires confronting these uncomfortable truths, transparency, and continually demanding accountability from both local and international actors.
Only then can we hope to break the cycles of dependency and exploitation that have long plagued the DRC and other resource-rich but impoverished regions of the world. This is a responsibility which we all bear the brunt.
Richard Sudan is a journalist and writer specialising in anti-racism and has reported on various human rights issues from around the world. His writing has been published by The Guardian, Independent, The Voice and many others.
Follow him on Twitter: @richardsudan
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Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The New Arab, its editorial board or staff.