IMPERIALISM The western powers have tried to control who runs African countries. The best documented case of western involvement in the murder of elected heads of state is that of Patrice Lumumba of the Congo, murdered with the complicity of Belgium and the USA in 1961. Lumumba was a pan-Africanist and believed in the necessity of freeing Africa from European economic domination. The USA got involved in his removal from power for two reasons. Firstly, they were interested in the Congos copper, diamonds, cobalt, oil, uranium, and other minerals. Secondly, the 1960s were the time of the Cold War between the United Soviet States of Russia (the USSR) and the USA. In this paranoid era the USA needed someone it could trust and encourage to derail any moves by the USSR to influence Africa or procure materials. It paid Mobutu Sese Seko to help in the murder of Lumumba and then helped him organise a coup d état in 1965 (he was given an aeroplane, for example). The corrupt Mobutu then ruled until 1997, acting as the USAs watchdog. He suppressed all attempts in his own country to stop exploitation by the neo-colonial powers and helped to crush any such movements in neighbouring countries. For this the USA gave him well over a billion dollars in civilian and military aid, much of which ended up in his own pocket: his private wealth was estimated at $4 billion (Adam Hochschild, King Leopolds Ghosts, London 2000, p.303). Congo became impoverished despite its vast mineral wealth, partly because of corruption and partly because of the huge profits permitted to the non taxpaying foreign investors.
Posted on: Sat, 09 Nov 2013 05:43:17 +0000
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