Congo’s Tense Situation Borne of Neo-colonialism

 News:

Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi has won reelection with more than 70% of the vote, the country’s election commission said on Sunday 31st December, as opposition candidates and their supporters questioned the validity of the results. The preliminary results of the Dec. 20 election were announced in the capital, Kinshasa, amid demands from the opposition and some civil society groups for the vote to be rerun due to massive logistical problems that they said had undermined the balloting.

Comment:

Congo has a history of disputed elections that can turn violent, and there’s little confidence among many Congolese in the country’s institutions. Before the results were announced, opposition candidates, including Katumbi, said they rejected the results and called on the population to mobilize. According to the Electoral laws in Congo candidates challenging the results have two days to submit their claims and the constitutional court has seven for determination. The final results are expected on January 10, and the president is scheduled to be sworn in at the end of that month.

Vast and resource-rich but poor and chronically unstable, DRC Congo has been facing numerous serious problems since her “independence” from Belgium in 1960. From endemic corruption to instability, inflation and poverty are becoming recurrent phenomena. However the country is rich in vast natural resources. It is the world’s leading producer of cobalt and the third largest producer of copper – minerals used in manufacturing electronic gadgets and electric vehicles. The country is also rich in arable land and replete with biodiversity – the Congo Rainforest being the world’s second-largest.

Felix Tchisekedi will never save the country from the greedy western countries. His administration has no any significant difference from his predecessor Joseph Kabila in selling out the riches of the country into major capitalist billionaires leaving many of the Congolese grappling with abject poverty. His five year rule has been marred with sky-high levels of corruption, from petty bribes extorted daily from the Congolese people to huge embezzlement scandals rocking the DRC’s state mining firms.

DRC Congo’s situation has much to do with the neo-colonialism as International players particularly the US and Europe both who have fuelled the countries’ conflicts which are basically over the vast minerals. The US has been using countries such as Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda to back opposition forces to put Congo under her influence. In the recent meeting a week prior to election, the US Secretary State Antony Blinken thanked Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame for their leadership and contributions in this effort. Europe (UK, Belgium and French) is pushing countries such as Kenya, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and South Africa to check on America’s ambitions.

The United States’ call for a peaceful resolution of electoral related disputes shows her favor on Tshisekedi over a fear of violence backed by European countries who have been working through their political agents from the opposition. It is worth mentioning that French and Britain are have been backing some rebels against the US desires. Therefore a struggle of economic interests between the foreign powers has seen Congo to ever war dominated country.

DRC Congo’s Renaissance is through the embracement of Islamic Ideology implemented by the Khilafah (Caliphate) as a substitute to the Western Colonialism the prime cause of World’s Miseries. The Khilafah established on the Prophet (saw) methodology shall guarantee political, economic and social prosperity due to its implementation of the Islamic ideology and its rulings. Furthermore, it will comprehensively utilizing its resources on alleviating poverty.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Shabani Mwalimu
Media Representative of Hizb ut Tahrir in Kenya