Like most governments in Africa, the blighted continent, the one in DR Congo is corrupt, banal, ineffectual, incompetent, unpatriotic, unconcerned and uncaring and above all, a laughing stock in the comity of nations of the world. For this vast country, which is the size of Western Europe, and which, because of its many blessedness is supposed to be among the richest and most powerful, peaceful, serene and prosperous in the world, is today among the most violent, the most chaotic and simply unfit for human habitation. But a few days ago, the DR Congo government decided to do something that is very unusual of her. She has taken an intelligent action that is likely to significantly reduce or even bring an end to its woes of violence, insecurity and a threat to its very nationhood. It has done something that deserves to be celebrated and hailed by all who feel sorry for Africa.
Whether the government was advised by White lawyers of conscience who are simply tired of the pillaging of this country’s vast and valuable resources or the initiative came from the leadership of the country themselves is not known or is even now important to know. But the salutary or ennobling thing that happened is that the government of Congo DR has taken the tech giant Apple, which is now being touted as the most valuable company in the world, to courts in Belgium and France accusing that company of prospering on blood money or what is euphemistically called conflict minerals. DR Congo says Apple is the one that sponsors violence in her country by buying precious minerals such as gold and tin, tantalum and tungsten which are vital raw materials in the production of computers and phones from the hands of bandits and warlords who make his country hell on earth.
Some of us Africans and men and women of conscience all over the world who are ashamed of the reckless manner this continent is raped and robbed every day by companies and countries that have no conscience whatsoever, are waiting with bathed breath for the outcome of this law suit no matter how long it is delayed by the legal forces which are interested in the continued hemorrhaging of this continent.
Since its colonization and bare-faced stripping by Belgium nearly a century ago, the unfortunate people of DR Congo have known no peace and no tranquility since Independence in 1960. The story of these people has been a tale of wars, conflict, coups and comical governance in the hands of its white colonial overlords and its buffoonish successor African leaders. Please read the colonial story of the savagery visited by King Leopold 11 on the people of Congo. At one point in the horrifying life of my brothers and sisters in Belgian Congo, colonized elements who were unable to meet the daily quota of tapped rubber were killed and to prove to King Leopold 11 that the people were actually killed according to his command, he needed an evidence of a severed hand! Millions of amputated hands were trophies for this neurotic overlord.
While I salute the little effort now taken, I advise DR Congo to withdraw the suit it has filed against Apple, amend it by joining the USA and European countries as accomplices in the rape of DR Congo and representing it. Let not one solitary concern suffer for the sins so many have visited on a helpless country.
Another great tragedy of DR Congo is that many people of conscience in the world are questioning that country’s competence in taking Apple for trial when the government itself and those who compose it are known for bribery and corruption. How can a people who are themselves not blameless take another person or company to court for the very things they themselves are doing? Is there not a saying that those who go to equity must themselves have clean hands and hearts?
I also wish to add that the main accused in the DR Congo suit should not only be Apple and the heartless governments of Europe and the USA but it should also join Paul Kagame and his tiny, rocky, reptilian and ravenous country of Rwanda as accomplices. DR Congo’s tin, tantalum, tungsten and other rare minerals are robbed at gunpoint from DR Congo, refined and deodorized for export to Apple through Rwanda which is said to be a conflict-free country. Rwanda, a conflict-free country? How can that be? This year marks 30 years of Paul Kagame on the throne and he is not sitting easy on that seat.
Kagame, who is one of the main backers of the DR Congo rebel army called M23, sponsors conflict in DR Congo in order for that huge country to be raped and robbed of her resources yet he cultivates the image of a saintly leader who is an example of an incorruptible and able leader of an African country who others should emulate. Kagame is a fake statesman. He is a killer and a robber of the inheritance of his brothers next door.
Some four years ago, Kagame, with the collaboration of some countries and particularly the intelligence agency of the UAE, organized a most audacious skyjacking of a plane carrying his opponent called Paul Rusesabagina who was due to fly to the neighbouring Burundi. Rusesabagina and the plane carrying him were diverted to Rwanda where he landed against his will and was put on trial on trumped up charges of terrorism. If Paul Kagame were not the poster boy of America and other Western nations who decide the affairs of the modern, corrupt world, the skyjacking of Rusesabagina and the plane carrying him should have been an issue of great outrage to the world. But it was not because Kagame, the darling of the West, did it.
I do not know who the president of DR Congo is now and I will not bother to Google it or ask any AI Assistant to tell me who he is; for what is the use in knowing his name when that country seems to be fated to have leaders who steal, drink and party from morning till night totally oblivious of, or blissfully unaware of or unconcerned about, the plight of their people? Can someone please tell me: Upon what kind of statesmanship principles are leaders of DR Congo bred to govern their country? Each successor tends to be worse than the one he succeeded.
Finally, to our question about how and why Apple is the most valued company in the world. The answer is simply that the 4 trillion dollars valued Apple prospers on the blood of millions of Africans in DR Congo. And while Apple is prospering on the blood of the innocent, Western countries have looked on with blissful unconcern because the people who are being ravaged are Africans, savages who must be trampled upon because they are worth nothing.
