Trump’s Congo-Rwanda deal is hailed as diplomatic triumph. But behind the photo ops lies a familiar exchange: African resources for Western power.
Congolese civil society rejects U.S.-brokered peace with Rwanda: ‘any agreement that strips the nation of its natural wealth would constitute the crime of pillage.’
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Those who dig up the valuable mineral often work in horrific and dangerous conditions, says Siddharth Kara, an international expert on modern-day slavery and author of Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives.
I’ve been working for several years on a large linoleum blockprint that traces the history of the use of Congolese uranium in the Manhattan project.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo has been pillaged by foreign governments and corporations for more than 500 years, and this sordid pattern continues to this day. Given this history, is it any wonder that the country suffers from massive corruption, perpetual conflict, and state capture?
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