------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Jan. 25, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- EDITORIAL: NOT JUST A COUP As we go to press on Jan. 17, sources in the imperialist governments of Belgium, Britain and the United States are claiming that the president of the Congo, Laurent Kabila, has been shot and killed by one of his bodyguards. The government of the Congo, however, after an emergency cabinet meeting, said that Kabila is wounded but alive and receiving medical treatment in another country. It announced that his son, Gen. Joseph Kabila, would be in charge of the government and armed forces temporarily. Many sources are calling this a coup, one backed in all likelihood by Rwanda and Uganda. These two countries invaded eastern Congo in the summer of 1998 and have been fighting a war there ever since for control of the rich mineral resources in the area. This explanation barely scratches the surface, however. The cause of the world's biggest war, involving at least seven countries, goes far beyond the battlegrounds in central Africa. The 1.7 million estimated deaths and millions of refugees are casualties not just of a regional power struggle but of a vicious subterranean war among the insatiable imperialist powers. In particular, the U.S., France and Britain are hell-bent on carving up Africa again after a period in which the African people, with the support of the socialist countries, fought to achieve some measure of independence from colonial and imperialist domination. The Congo is cursed with great wealth. That attracted Belgium's rulers, who murdered and maimed millions during the colonial period. In the 1950s an independence movement arose. The Congo's first elected president, Patrice Lumumba, was murdered in 1961 by soldiers in cahoots with the CIA. U.S. capital has played a big role in the Congo since early in the 20th century when the Rockefellers began exploiting the minerals there. The news media in the imperialist countries are generally branding Kabila a "failed dictator," as though his problem comes from the Congolese people. However, an Associated Press story from Kinshasa on Jan. 17 admitted what his real problem was: he had been "angering investors" by not agreeing to a power-sharing formula with Rwanda and Uganda. The Western media have been referring to the conflict as a civil war, even though they also admit that opposition groups in eastern Congo are little more than fronts for these two countries. Rwanda and Uganda have both received much attention and military support from Washington in recent years. They are regarded in Africa as being aligned with U.S. ambitions, especially in the Congo. Kabila, on the other hand, has been receiving support from Angola and Zimbabwe--both countries that fought hard for their independence and are trying to keep control over their own rich resources. Bush's new secretary of state, Gen. Colin Powell, has said he wants to pay more attention to Africa. There is no benign "attention" from imperialism. Plunder and domination are built into any relationship forged by this predatory economic and military power. The movement must demand now more than ever: U.S. hands off Africa! The only attention the U.S. should pay to Africa is reparations for the monstrous slave trade and extraction of resources that have enriched the U.S. ruling class. - END - (Copyleft Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
