Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-10-23-Speech-4-207"
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"en.20081023.26.4-207"2
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".
Mr President, it is becoming increasingly important for the residents in Congo to find a way to survive, even if it remains impossible to create a central government. We should, as a matter of urgency, try to prevent all circumstances that expose them to violence and exploitation, forced displacement or famines.
Why is Congo the sum total of everything that can go wrong in Africa? Congo started out as a colonial mining project in the poorly accessible interior of Africa. There was no Congolese people with shared interests and prospects, only a multitude of peoples in isolated areas.
When Congo gained its independence nearly 50 years ago, the then warring politicians became household names the world over. Tshombe and Kalonji, closely connected with mining interests, sought to split their south-eastern region, with considerable natural resources, from the rest of the country. The only visionary who took pride in giving the country as a whole a serious future, Patrice Lumumba, was promptly silenced.
After this, the military dictator Mobutu ran the country like a private company, one that was completely subject to his whims, for a long time. The hope that the death of Mobutu would finally herald the beginning of progress in Congo has been dashed.
The second President since Mobutu, Mr Kabila, has failed to inspire or control large parts of the country. Congo’s present options are determined by failed elections, whose outcomes have been controversial from the word go and have certainly not been universally accepted, by mass migration from the eastern neighbouring countries, regional rulers with mining interests and rebel armies. It remains to be seen whether a unified solution for an undivided Congo is still on the cards."@en1
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