Take the DRC ;
The "discovery" of the New World — what we now call the Americas — triggered one of the darkest chapters in human history: the transatlantic slave trade. From the 1600s to the mid-1800s, over roughly 300 years, European colonial powers trafficked an estimated 12 to 15 million Africans across the Atlantic. These people were torn from their homes and communities to be sold as forced labor. The trade fueled the rise of plantation economies in the Americas, especially in sugar, cotton, and tobacco, while devastating African societies through violence, depopulation, and political destabilization. Entire regions were left fragmented, and internal conflicts were often worsened by European demand for captives. Although slavery was formally abolished in the 19th century, its economic and social legacy continues to haunt the continent. Centuries of human loss and societal disruption left many African regions weakened, setting the stage for the wave of European colonization that followed.
This colonial land grab, known as the Scramble for Africa, was formalized at the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885, where 14 European powers met to divide the African continent without a single African present. Among the most brutal outcomes was the creation of the Congo Free State, which was not even governed by a country, but by an individual — King Leopold II of Belgium. From 1885 to 1908, Leopold ran the Congo as a personal slave colony. During this period, millions of Congolese were subjected to forced labor, mutilation, and mass killings in the pursuit of rubber and ivory profits. Following international outrage, the Belgian government officially took over in 1908, but colonial exploitation continued in a different guise for another 52 years, until the Congo’s formal independence in 1960.
However, independence did not bring freedom. The Congo’s first democratically elected leader, Patrice Lumumba, who championed national sovereignty and pan-African unity, was assassinated in 1961 — with now-declassified evidence confirming the involvement of both the CIA and Belgian authorities. In Lumumba’s place, the West supported the rise of Mobutu Sese Seko, who ruled for over three decades (1965–1997). Backed by the U.S. and its allies, Mobutu amassed enormous personal wealth while dismantling institutions, jailing opponents, and driving the country deeper into poverty.
Mobutu’s fall in 1997 ushered in not peace, but a new era of violence. The country plunged into two brutal conflicts: the First Congo War (1996–1997) and the even deadlier Second Congo War (1998–2003), often called “Africa’s World War” due to the involvement of more than a dozen African nations. These wars were largely driven by the scramble for Congo’s vast mineral wealth, especially in the east. Foreign-backed militias, rebel groups, and neighboring armies fought for control of territories rich in resources. An estimated 5 million people died, mostly from disease, hunger, and displacement — making it the deadliest conflict since World War II. And even after peace agreements, violence continues today, driven by illegal mining, corruption, and weak governance.
In the aftermath, the Congo entered yet another form of foreign control — not by armies, but by global financial institutions. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank imposed structural adjustment programs as a condition for loans. These policies forced Congo to privatize state-owned enterprises, slash public services, and sell national assets to foreign investors at cut-rate prices. While advertised as economic reform, these measures often hollowed out public institutions and opened the door for corporate exploitation.
Taking full advantage were multinational corporations like Glencore, which now dominate Congo’s cobalt and copper industries — essential to smartphones, electric vehicles, and other technologies. These companies extract billions in profit, yet pay little to no taxes, funneling wealth offshore while local communities remain impoverished and underdeveloped. The infrastructure remains broken. The healthcare system is weak. Schools are underfunded.
It’s a question that ignores the deliberate, ongoing sabotage of Congo’s sovereignty — and it’s time we told the full truth.
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