Congo Vision: Do you have a sense that the American people are aware
of the destruction of human lives that is taking place in DRC? Why do
you think it is not drummed up in the media the way similar disasters
in other parts of the world usually are?
MAREK: I feel confident I can guarantee that the American people have
no idea what has happened in the Congo over the past several years, or
the past many decades. As a rule of thumb, you have to introduce
yourself to an American seven times before he or she remembers your
name. The Congo issues have not been set before the American public at
all. There are, however, key people in public life who are familiar
with the problems, but usually in a superficial way, and often to fit
the policy they are trying to sell. There is an enormous amount of
misinformation circulating throughout the US, and the Congolese have
suffered as a result.
My own view is that the Kinshasa government has failed to compete in
the Information Age, and has lost the battle of information transfer
to
Rwanda and Uganda. Museveni has been the darling of the Clinton
administration, seen and sold as the progressive and enlightened
saviour.
Considerable political capital has been invested in him by American
politicians and the international financial community. The Clinton
administration understood its dismal failures before and during the
Rwandan Genocide, and has been treating Rwandans as saint-like since.
The US has been trying to repent for the Rwandan Genocide just as it
has been trying with Israel to repent for the Holocaust. I have met
and talked to General Kagame. He is an impressive figure. He is smart,
resolute, forthright,
strong-willed, speaks English, and knows how to weave his views and
policies into the context of the Genocide. He is believable and
credible in front of American audiences. I must admit there is much
about the man I too admire.
Conversely, Laurent Kabila ranted and railed against the US, he came
across as anti-American, he impressed many as a communist, a centrist,
and authoritarian, a China and North Korea-lover, and seemed to go out
of his way to confront the US. He allowed himself to be trapped by the
NGOs in the allegations of mass crimes against humanity during the
ADFL rebellion, and he was viewed as a gold smuggler, kidnapper, and
thug here in the US. In sum, Laurent Kabila failed to understand the
importance of international image and refused to play the public
relations game. His people ultimately suffered for those errors.
The new president, Joseph Kabila, has done a much better job and has
won increasing international approval. But he is fighting an uphill
fight with Uganda and Rwanda firmly entrenched as the good guys and
the Congolese still mired in the role of the bad guys. Only now are
people starting to challenge that, though I have been challenging it
for years. Remember this.
It is exceedingly hard to build, quite easy to destroy. Once the
Congo�s image was destroyed in 1997, it will take many years to build
it back up.
There are those of us who are trying, but I for one feel like a lonely
ship at sea, unable to find the finances needed to operate and earn a
reasonable living. Selling the Congo is a tough sell here. Doable, but
tough. Tough means it costs money. It�s just that simple.
Congo Vision: It's thought by many that the war in DRC has been
allowed to go on by the international community for 4 years despite
the
human toll. Do you think this is because of cynicism, fear, or
economic
interests?
MAREK: This follows the answer I presented to the previous question.
The international community, I believe, has allowed itself to be
misled in this war because it has placed so much political capital in
Uganda and Rwanda, and in particular Messrs. Museveni and Kagame. The
NGOs have failed the Congolese people, because their livelihoods
depended to a great extent on programs already approved for those
countries and others. The churches have also failed the Congolese
people. And Congolese have allowed themselves
to be �too francophone� and not enough �anglophone.� That in turn has
caused the anglophone communities to turn where they are more
comfortable, in this case, Uganda and Rwanda. Congolese have to learn
�how to� appeal to the American audience. This is not easy.
First, Congolese leaders have to speak English, fluent English.
Americans do not have to know French; Congolese have to know English.
Second, Congolese leaders need to set the past aside for the moment
and
concentrate on the present and the future. Yes, the Congolese people
have been wronged, over and over and over. But there is no gain at
present to throw that in America�s face. Congolese cannot afford to
whine in public about the past. There is plenty of time in the future
to teach the past and set the record straight. When Americans learn
what really happened, they will be horrified, and Uganda and Rwanda
will pay a heavy price.
What I urge is that Congolese leaders build marketable economic
programs, and come to the US over and over and over to sell them. They
need to be young, vibrant, enthusiastic and confident about their
country and their countrymen. They need to be high on the Congo, and
they need to transmit the excitement everywhere they go. Third,
Congolese leaders need to concentrate on a few themes and repeat them
over and over here in the US.
They have to answer the question �Why invest in the Congo?�
The answer cannot be because the Congolese people have been wronged
and deserve the investment. The answer has to be because the Congolese
people will take that investment and provide a superior return to the
investor and at the same time make good things happen in the Congo.
The
Congo needs to expand its interests in the US and de-emphasize the
ties to Belgium and France. Belgium and France are status quo; the US
offers rapid change. Congolese have overemphasized their mineral
riches and failed to emphasize the quality of their human resources,
the numbers of human resources, and potential diversity their economy
can produce.
Look, they are pumping oil from Angola, the Congo Republic, Nigeria,
Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, and that means revenues are flowing. South
Africa in many respects has first world industries producing products,
and revenues are flowing. Most of the Congo�s mineral riches are still
in the ground and in the ground they are worthless. There are no
serious revenues flowing. The minerals have to be taken out, processed
and sold at a profit for big-time revenues to flow. That requires
enormous investment, and there have been too many uncertainties for
people to invest that kind of money in the Congo. Let
me repeat. Minerals in the ground are worthless. So the Congo has not
been seen for its economic potential, and Congolese have failed to
sell that potential in a marketable way. The Ugandan and Rwandan
invasions and occupations simply exacerbated the uncertainties, and
that has worked to their advantage and to the disadvantage of the
Congolese people. Kampala and Kigali are happy with an unstable Congo.
It makes them look good.
Congo Vision: What in your view is the appropriate role the UN and the
US should play to help the Congolese people implement their peace
deal?
MAREK: I have very little respect for the UN. The UN has done no good
for the Congolese people. There are agencies of the UN that the Congo
needs, like WHO, UNICEF, UNDP and a few others, but the Security
Council has failed the Congolese people and I for one, if I were
Congolese, would attach very little importance to the council and even
less respect. I would remain attached to those agencies of the UN that
have a proven record of helping the Congolese people, and otherwise
place little resources into the place until it starts showing the
Congolese people some respect.
If Congolese ambassadors and diplomats want to set the record straight
and point fingers, this is the place to do it, however. I would be
very
aggressive and very unforgiving if I were a Congolese diplomat working
at the UN. I see the Kinshasa government as having a very central role
in rehabilitating the Congo. I very well understand and appreciate the
need to re-unify the country. That work must go ahead with vigor.
But Kinshasa leaders can do more than one thing at a time. There are
nearly six million people in Kinshasa, ready to go to work. There are
many more millions of similar Congolese in the areas firmly controlled
by the government. The Kinshasa government needs to better appreciate
the value of those resources and needs to set out on a disciplined
plan to get all that up and operating as efficiently and effectively
as is humanly possible. I
hate to raise this analogy, because I fear I will be misunderstood,
but I will anyway to make the point the only way I know how.
Think about what happened following WWII with West and East Germany.
The Soviets held East Germany and let it stand in decline. The West
held West Germany and enabled it to excel. The Kinshasa government
needs to do the same with those areas it firmly holds, and set up
those areas as models of democracy and economic liberalization. Get
that started, and the rest of the country will follow; the rest of the
country will follow Kinshasa�s lead, because they will see it is a
winner. East Germany collapsed under the weight of its ineptitude;
eastern and northeastern Congo will flock to Kinshasa�s lead as soon
as they see its lead is worth following. Neither Rwanda or Uganda will
be able to stop it.
I would like to see the Kinshasa government forget about this
transitional government with the rebels in the VP and key ministerial
seats. But if that is impossible to do, then I would like to see the
loyalists and patriots of the Congo who hold government positions to
simply ignore those traitors and press ahead without them, making them
irrelevant. They can come to the cabinet meetings, but no one has to
listen to them. Under no circumstances should they be allowed to
obstruct progress. The president must set out a plan for
democratization and economic liberalization, the patriots in
government must implement it with untiring and devoted dispatch,
and together they and the people must simply make all these
counter-Congolese peace agreements �OBE,� overtaken by events. Just
pass them by with success after success after success. The elections
must be held as scheduled, and I am confident the Congolese people,
given the leadership they will see from the patriots, will throw the
traitors out on the street where they belong and at long last get on
with charting their own destiny.
This will cause Americans to take notice. Americans love a winner,
they love to be with winners, they love to see patriots pick
themselves up by their bootstraps and beat the odds. Americans love an
underdog. They want to see the underdog win. Once the Kinshasa
government and the people under its direct control start to win,
Americans will be over by the droves to help. But this time, Congolese
will be calling the shots and Americans will be responding to
Congolese defined requirements and needs.
Keep posted, ....
Amundala
