Assignment 1: The Effects of War and Peace on Foreign Aid
Dorothy Bradley-Shelton
Professor John R. Cronin
SOC 300 - Sociology of Developing Countries
February 1, 2015

In September 1996, a cultural revolution against human rights atrocities exploded in eastern Zaire. This rapidly developed into a nationwide rebellion against Zairean President Mobutu Sese Seko’s 32-year dictatorship. On May 17, 1997, a rebel alliance supported by Rwanda, Uganda, and Angola seized Kinshasa, the capital city, barely a day after Mobutu fled. It quickly reinstated the country’s pre-1971 name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and appointed a new government. Mobutu’s departure closed the chapter on Washington’s last remaining cold war client in Africa. (“Zaire/Democratic Republic of the Congo,” 2013). Mobutu was enlisted by the U.S government and the CIA in the late 1950s when Zaire was still a Belgian colony. Mobutu was recruited to overthrow then leader, Patrice Lumumba, the Congo’s first and only democratically elected prime minister. The United States was angry with Lumumba because he was friendly with Russia and had accepted aid from the Soviets. The U.S. and other Western powers encouraged Mobutu and others to arrange Lumumba’s death. Although the U.S. has denied that it played any role in Lumumba’s death, the death of Lumumba lead to a war that lasted five years and thousands of Congolese lost their lives. At the end of the war Mobutu gained power of the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo). (“Zaire/Democratic Republic of the Congo,” 2013). After Mobutu came into power he was compensated by the United States and its allies for doing their bidding. Once in power Mobutu went about pillaging the countries many resources and half the country’s capital budget. The DRC was rich in diamonds and other valuable minerals of which Mobutu and his cronies helped themselves to. Under his one-party rule the country was devastated socially, economically, and politically. Every institution was affected under his corrupt leadership. Everything from schools and hospitals not being run, roads not being repaired or built to workers not being paid their salaries.
However, by 1990 the people had enough and started to protest against his leadership. They initiated many projects to deliver the basic services that had been deficient since Mobutu took leadership of the country. And then in 1996 after many embarrassing situations and reports of travesties like genocide, the United States wanted nothing else to do with Mobutu. Up to that point the United States and its allies had considered him to be a valuable resource, especially in that part of the world. Nevertheless, the people rose up and thus began a civil war, called the Congolese Civil Wars that ended the reign of Mobutu.
The U.S. financed the rule of Zairian dictator Mobutu Sese Soko by providing hundreds of millions of dollars in weapons and military training. Mobutu used his U.S.-supplied arsenal to murder his own people and plunder his nation’s economy for more than 30 years, until his brutal regime was ousted by Laurent Kabila’s forces in 1997. The war involved nine African nations and resulted in the deaths of almost five and half million people, nearly half of those deaths were children under the age of five and more than ninety percent of those deaths were caused by sicknesses like malaria, pneumonia, diarrhea, and malnutrition. (“The Democratic Republic of Congo, 2010”).
According to the HDI (Human Development Index) as of 2013 DR Congo is number 186 out of 187 countries as far as human development. (“DR Congo Human Development, 2013”). Although DR Congo is enormously rich in natural resources, the lack of solid infrastructure, extreme corruption and ongoing wars have limited development, extraction and exploitation efforts. Which makes it hard for this country to come back from the 31 years of the devastating reign of Mobutu and the current conflicts with other surrounding nations over water rights and access and control of rich minerals. These atrocities should be enough to shock the developed nations into action, however, the developed nations are benefiting from the rich minerals and resources that come from the DR Congo for which millions have been murdered, and are still being murdered and displaced from their homes. According to reports and press releases by Amnesty International, the effects and tactics seen from the conflicts have been many, including: Belgian mining giant, Groupe Forrest International bulldozing down hundreds of homes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) ) and has denied justice to those affected, said Amnesty International today in a new report. (“Belgian mining giant lied over bulldozing homes, 2014”).
Due to the immense natural resources in this nation, there is an international battle, various foreign powers, as well as internal, have sought to gain an advantage. It is believed by many human rights organizations that all sides have ulterior motives for financing and promoting the instabilities and wars of DR Congo because of their commercial interests in the country’s vast resources. It begs the question; does the world care? That people are being murdered, raped, and that as of November 2014 there are over two and half million people in the DR Congo that have been misplaced and a half a million that have escaped their homes into neighboring countries.
The past few years have seen great strives made in making it safer for the people of the DR Congo by the UN Peacekeepers. However, there is so much more that needs to be done. The people of the world cannot afford to keep closing their eyes to these injustices and the blatant disregard by some for human life and freedom. Diamonds and an abundance of natural resources cannot, and must not mean more than our humanity for our fellow citizens of the world.

References
DRC: Belgian mining giant lied over bulldozing homes. (2014). Retrieved February 1, 2015 from http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/drc-belgian-mining-giant-lied-over-bulldozing-homes-2014-11-24-0
DR CONGO. (n.d). Retrieved January 27, 2015 from http://www.refugeesinternational.org/where-we-work/africa/dr-congo Roach, L., & Shaefer, B. (n.d). The U.S. Must Rethink its Approach to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Retrieved January 27, 2015 from http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/12/democratic-republic-of-congo-crisis-and-the-us-response The Democratic Republic of Congo Profile. (2015). Retrieved January 31, 2015 from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13283212 Anup, S. (2010). The Democratic Republic of Congo. Retrieved February 1, 2015 from http://www.globalissues.org/article/87/the-democratic-republic-of-congo Annual Report: Democratic Republic of Congo 2013. Retrieved January 27, 2015 from
http://www.amnestyusa.org/research/reports/annual-report-democratic-republic-of-congo-2013