The conflict in the East Congo is one of the greatest humanitarian crises today, deemed by the United Nations as the bloodiest war since the Second World War. Since the conflict started in 1996, men, women, and children have been raped and mutilated. They have experienced psychological trauma, forced incest, and the loss of loved ones. Efforts to silence and to misinform the public about the oppression of the Congolese people are obvious in Western media—especially in the Canadian media.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is located in the heart of Africa. It’s the third-largest African country by area, and contains about 60 million people. Besides its rich biodiversity, the Congo was once dubbed a geological wonder because of its abundance of mineral resources. It’s the storehouse of key minerals such as diamonds, cobalt, gold, and silver, which means it’s highly coveted by mining corporations.
The Congo’s prized possession is coltan, of which it has 64 per cent of the world’s resources. Found in all electronic devices, coltan is a key component of the functioning of modern Western society. As reported by a UN Security report in 2003, such minerals are easily, illegally, and cheaply accessed by Canadian, U.S., British, and Australian mining companies.
The Canadian mining industry is in part responsible for the horrors visited on the Congolese people. There is a demonstrable link between the presence of these industrial extraction companies and the militarization of the Congo. The UN report states that revenues from tantalum mining activities in the DRC are used to fund militias involved in the ongoing civil war in the northeast of the country, with little financial benefit flowing to the local people. This war, which began in 1996, is described by Nobel Peace Prize recipient Wangari Mathai as a “resource war,” as Canadian mining companies are profiting from and contributing to the political instability and violence. These Canadian companies are inextricably linked to the deaths of an estimated six million people, and the rapes of an estimated 250,000 women.
Roughly half the mining companies operating in the Congo have their headquarters in Canada, and take advantage of Canada’s lax position towards the human rights violations and environmental destruction on the part of Canadian companies operating abroad. Liberal MP John McKay has drafted a private member’s bill, C300, that if passed would reign in such companies by withdrawing public subsidies of their operations abroad.
If there’s any hope of peace in the DRC, Canadian mining companies must be stopped.
In an effort to educate the public, the student organization Friends of the Congo at U of T (in collaboration with student groups at York University and Ryerson) has initiated Break the Silence Congo Week from October 18 to 24 on St. George campus. In association with Congo Global Action and Friends of the Congo, the week is part of a global initiative led by students and community organizers around the world to raise awareness about this humanitarian crisis. Through films, lectures, and demonstrations, the organizers hope to promote peace and human rights.
Bodia Macharia is a graduate student and President of Friends of the Congo University of Toronto.
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