60 YEARS OF DICTATORSHIP AND 200 YEARS OF WARS, SLAVERY AND SMUGGLING: WELCOME TO THE CONGO

On 23 January 2021 / Dossier Congo River, Geopolitics, IBI World UK / Leave a comment

Life in the richest country in the world is not a blessing, it is hell. For more than two centuries, the exploitation of Central Africa, facing the two banks of the Congo, has been the target of indescribable violence and international treaties which see in the extermination of thousands of people acceptable collateral damage. If two hundred years ago the Belgians, the French and the Portuguese fought each other, today there are weak and corrupt provincial administrations which are manipulated by multinationals and subjected to the blackmail of warlords hidden in the jungle – but especially by an unexpected network of gold merchants, who immigrated from India and found in Dubai the place where all crime is protected, namely gold smuggling, which supports the financing of arms smuggling, and diplomatic negotiations which oppose the attempts at peace by the United Nations.

Interventions by the international community have exposed in detail the chaos associated with exploitation. The names of the criminals are known, most of them have been killed or blacklisted by international authorities, but this is not enough. The fighting does not end even under the eyes of a controversial[1] UN mission called MONUSCO: peacekeepers have received their mandate extension until December 2021[2] and apparently no longer control an area (until one quarter of the European Union, but with very few populated areas). Any peace process is doomed to failure if no action is taken to address the root causes that fuel criminal activity: conflicts are no longer religious, ethnic or political, but only economic. The end of these conflicts can only come when the government of Kinshasa succeeds in ensuring control of the whole of the national territory – which is currently a utopia.

Eden’s brutal expulsion

King Léopold II[3] and the slaves to pick up the rubber[4]

Deep in the heart of black Africa, there is the Great Lakes region, a unique scenario in the world, made up of four giant lakes (Vittoria, Tanganyika, Malawi and Turkana[5]) and many smaller lakes arranged like a necklace of stones precious: Albert, Edward, Kivu, Kyoga, Rukwa, Mweru are located in a vast area where it was previously impossible to conquer nature and where wildebeest, hippos, crocodiles and flamingos live as in fantasies[6]. The forest and fertile land have attracted neighboring peoples for thousands of years. Millions of Bantus live within 80 km of Lake Victoria, making it one of the most densely populated areas in Africa[7]. There are still several Bantu on Lake Tanganyika, a treasure chest full of fish[8].

Traditionally, man gives his worst when in paradise – pages and pages of torture, war and attempted genocide are actually written around these lakes: Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda have gone through and still experience stories of unprecedented brutality. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), former Zaire, seems doomed to remain hell in large part because of the wealth of underground. It is one of the richest countries in the world in raw materials, so the Belgian writer, historian and archaeologist David Van Reybrouck called it a “geological scandal”[9]: copper, lead, diamonds, gold, germanium, silver , manganese, coltan and other rare countries and not the least oil companies.

This wealth is the cause of violence. The country experiences an uninterrupted series of conflicts that crush the population: the United Nations ranks the Democratic Republic of the Congo at 176th out of 188 countries in order of prosperity[10]. 71% of the population lives in absolute misery, 94.3 children out of a thousand die before the age of 5, the average life expectancy is 57.7 years, a quarter of Congolese over 15 are illiterate – and once again only 28.7% of them have access to adequate sanitation facilities and only 52.4% of them to drinking water[11].

The Congo as an administrative unit was born with the Belgian invasion at the end of the 19th century, when King Leopold II discovered the Congo River, from which the kingdom of the same name originated. During the Berlin Conference (1884-85), the Congo Free State was expanded to include Katanga[12]. Violence in this vast territory obliges the King to cede this land[13], which he considers personal, to the authorities of the Belgian state[14]. The Belgian Congo was ruled by corrupt, violent and lawless bureaucrats and soldiers in the first half of the 20th century, so at the end of the war Belgium lost control of the great country due to the early nationalist movements[15].

The hero of independence, obtained in June 1960, is Patrice Lumumba[16]. His leadership of the country only lasted a few days: in July, the army mutiny and General Moise Tshombe declared the independence of the Katanga region[17], triggering the armed reaction of Belgium, which was interested in the conflict to defend its mining interests in this region and its citizens who work there[18]. The UN urges Belgium to withdraw its troops and sends the blue helmets to restore order[19]. In September of the same year, Lumumba had to resign because of General Kasavubu’s coup. He was arrested in December and killed three months later by the Belgian secret police, an accomplice of the US government[20].

The assassination of Patrice Lumumba has a worldwide echo: the interference in Congo becomes more and more obvious, provoking the military intervention of the United States and Cuba and transforming an internal struggle into an international crisis[21]. In 1964, a year after the agreement that ended Katanga’s secession, Tshombe was appointed Prime Minister but was sacked by another coup that brought General Joseph-Désiré Mobutu to power in 1965[22].

From the Mobutu regime to the Kabila dynasty

Mobutu Sese Seko meets Richard Nixon in Washington DC in 1973[23]

It’s hard to sum up 32 years of crazy dictatorship. Mobutu Sese Seko, a bloodthirsty, capricious and incompetent dictator, plunges the country into a deep economic crisis: first he hunts foreign investors, then he remembers them because he is short of money and everyone. industrial and logistics system collapsed. Mobutu reigns in fear and corruption – so much so that since then his system has been called kleptocracy around the world[24]. Thanks to his declared anti-communism and the natural wealth of his country, he can continue to massacre at will: he enjoys Western support, which winks at the dictator in the midst of the Cold War[25].

In 1997, when the country was exhausted, the rebels led by Laurent-Désiré Kabila chased Mobutu: he died of prostate cancer in Morocco three months later[26]. Even Kabila does not have it easy: he declares himself a Marxist, mixes capitalist and collectivist measures and uses the same international guarantees and internal gangs that Mobutu supported and immediately arouses violent opposition[27].

In 1998, Rwanda and Uganda, former allies of Kabila, sparked an uprising led by the Congolese Rally for Democracy (Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie)[28]. Kabila finds allies in Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola and manages to force the withdrawal of most of the foreign troops that roam the country. Even peace does not bring him luck: Kabila was assassinated on January 16, 2001 in Kinshasa by his bodyguard Rashidi Kasereka, and his place was taken by his son Joseph Kabila[29].

He ruled for two terms, which were obtained in controversial and violent elections. Joseph Kabila forges alliances with France, Belgium and the United States, which have tried to maintain their colonial power in recent decades. But above all, he meets Paul Kagame, the president of Rwanda, who had been one of the main opponents of his father[30]; Joseph Kabila sits at the negotiating table with rebel groups active in North Kivu and Katanga[31], is committed to resolving pan-African conflicts[32] and involves the governments of Rwanda, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia in the negotiations[33].

Despite his successes, Kabila cannot rest on his laurels and even survives a coup[34]. The climate has warmed since 2003 when it became clear that he would also like to run in the next election, angering opponents[35]. These second elections will be marked by even more violence and corruption than the previous ones[36]. After harsh postponements, Kabila will step down on January 24, 2019 and hand over power to Félix Tshisekedi – the first peaceful change of power in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since independence[37]. This is mainly due to the fact that Kabila and his successor are close friends[38].

Joseph Kabila leaves behind a starving country where corruption reigns, civil rights are violated every day and the economy is on its knees. There are 1.7 million displaced people, 63% of citizens (84 million people) live on less than $ 2 a day and do not have access to education or health care[39]. The incredible wealth of the metro has not changed anything so far.

A never-ending story: Westerners conquer the Congo River

The immediate effects on the division of Africa after the Berlin conference[40]

The industrial revolution and scientific progress fundamentally changed the way European countries operate in Africa. Awareness of this change became widespread in 1884 when the Berlin Conference was convened, the reason for and the central theme of which was the partition of the Congo – a veritable treasure trove of all the wealth necessary for the explosion of growth industrial[41]: eight years before the conference, King Leopold II of Belgium founded the African International Association and the International Society of Congo – both officially for humanitarian purposes, but in reality to organize and finance military, commercial, political control and religious of this zone which is now the whole continent south of the Sahara[42] and its focal point Léopoldville (today Kinshasa – from Swahili: the saltworks)[43].

This project was thwarted by the agreements between the French envoy, the naval officer Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, who had explored Senegal and Gabon for years and met King Makoko, the boss of the Bantu, in 1878[44]. Brazza , who worshiped Africa and its people, had signed a friendship treaty and a diplomatic, commercial and military alliance with King Makoko[45]. After the King’s death, Queen Ngalifourou, mother of the nation[46], and Brazza founded the city that the Bantus called Brazzaville in honor of the French officer. The two capitals face each other, on the opposite bank of the Congo[47], 300 km from the port of Matadi and the Soyo estuary in Angola[48].

Yes, because there was a third suitor: the Portuguese monarchy, which was stationed at the mouth of the Congo for over two centuries and, after the Berlin Accord of 1885, renounced its claims in the northern part of the region and received the southern part of the river, which is now called Angola[49]. After more than a year of negotiations, the Berlin conference, accepting the demands of Leopold II, legitimizes the systematic plundering of natural resources and the non-recognition of the rights of the indigenous peoples of the region: a plunder that will take place with a swarm of foreign investors from all over the western world will sink[50].

The first large company exploited the large copper and diamond deposits: the Anglo-Belgian Mining Union of Haut-Katanga (UMHK)[51] with a turnover of nearly 430 million dollars in 1965 – an important source of income in currencies[52]. UMHK was born on October 28, 1906 from the merger of CSK Special Committee of Katanga, founded by King Leopold, and Tanganyika Concessions Ltd., a British company founded by Sir Robert Williams, explorer and mining engineer who began mining exploration in 1899 and in the year 1900 received the corresponding concession rights[53]. When independence came in 1960, copper produced in Katanga accounted for 45% of the total value of exports and 8% of total world production[54]. After the 1965 coup d’état, Mobutu went on to nationalize the UMHK, which changed its name to General Company of Congolese Minerals, then General Congolese Mining Company and finally Gécamines – the current name – in 1972[55].

Mobutu begins a practice that continues to this day: Gécamines revenues are mainly used to create an oligarchy of loyal allies of the dictator who live on these revenues and to corrupt the military and administrative personnel necessary to support the dictator and to render functional condition[56]. Mobutu punishes foreign companies with taxes, threats and bribes, but still manages to keep the overall production level of the Congolese mining system between 355,000 and 480,000 tons per year. But nobody invests any more, and foreigners gradually leave, leaving ruined mines nationalized to a medieval level: in 1996, production fell to less than 30,000 tons per year[57].

In 1982, Mobutu liberalized the market: most of the sites were operated by amateurs with fortune funds and most of the families returned to agriculture and breeding. Anyone with a shovel and a lot of desperation dares to search for precious minerals, becomes hostage to rebel or mercenary groups, and creates the conditions for the current situation: a chaos of the mineral trade run by hand by people who survive hidden in areas that cannot be reached by any road, electricity, drinking water, education, health and police[58]. The vast majority of Congolese are starving, and the few who have a knife on their sleeve use the money to get rich so they can move their bank accounts and then their families to Belgium or other parts of the West[59].

The boom in the illegal gold trade

Children work in one of Congo’s artisanal gold mines[60]

In 2002, a United Nations panel of experts reported on the illegal trade in natural resources in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The group first divides the Congolese region into three areas called “elite networks”: the government-controlled area; the area controlled by Rwanda; and the area controlled by Uganda. The findings of this study reveal a complex criminal organization which is briefly summarized in the following eight points:

a) Networks are made up of a core of political, military and economic elites – or, in the case of the occupied territories, of rebel leaders and administrators. Some members of elite networks hold key positions in their respective governments or rebel groups;
b) Members of these networks work together to generate income – and in the case of Rwanda, institutional financial gains;
c) Elite networks ensure profitability by controlling the armed forces and other security forces with which they intimidate, threaten or commit acts of violence;
d) Networks monopolize production, trade and take the place of the State in the execution of fiscal tasks;
e) The elite networks in the occupied territories keep the facade of the local administrations, but the public revenues are then diverted towards the networks, impoverishing the State and preventing any policy of rehabilitation, revitalization or well-being;
f) Elite networks derive financial benefits from a variety of criminal activities, including theft, embezzlement, government fraud, commercial dumping, smuggling, false invoicing, outright tax evasion and bribery of officials;
g) Elite networks form trading companies or joint ventures, which are the facades behind which network members carry out their business activities;
h) Elite networks also profit from the provision of services (air transport, purchase of illicit weapons, retail distribution of goods and resources, wholesale export of goods) by local organized crime groups or transnational[61].

In August 2015, a dossier of over 11.5 million internal documents was handed over by Mossack & Fonseca, the largest Panamanian trust company, to the Süddeutsche Zeitung and the International Consortium of Research Journalists (ICIJ) and then published: it is created under the name of “Panama Papers“, a global scandal revealing the illegal activities of more than 214,000 offshore companies[62]. Some cases concern elite networks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the product of the mining and processing chain: according to a first ICIJ report from 2014, around 70% of gold in the Democratic Republic of the Congo leaves the country via Uganda for Dubai, where it sold under the protection of the UAE government[63].

Beni, North Kivu: a building where Mongbwalu gold is bought and sold[64]

A recently released document titled “Les intermédiaires”, prepared in September 2020 by the Canadian company IMPACT, shows how the gold trade is organized illegally, with particular attention to the chain that connects miners to buyers. A chain which indeed confirms the futility of efforts to bring order and legality to the delivery system[65]. According to IMPACT, Rwanda is the main transit center for Congolese gold after Burundi’s smuggling networks since 2015. This is due to strong internal political instability and the assassination of General Adolphe Nshimirimana (the protector of some of the biggest smugglers in the country): the Burundian market has been overwhelmed by the competitors[66].

Rwanda is today the largest gold market in the region: in 2019, the first refinery, Aldango, was inaugurated, capable of refining 22 kilos of gold per day and six tons per month[67]. But the calculation is inconsistent: according to the United Nations, Rwanda officially exported 2,163 kilos of gold in 2018; Nonetheless, 12,539 kilograms of gold imported from the United Arab Emirates were declared to be of Rwandan origin[68]. The origin of the remaining 10,000 pounds remains a mystery, but it’s not hard to imagine.

In “Le Monde Diplomatique“, after a trip to Ituri in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in December 2005, journalist Stefano Liberti recounts how he investigates impermeable roads, interviewing slaves from mines and wealthy traders, how the rebels are responsible for reducing exploitation with threats, forcing people to work for $ 1 a day – a colossal undertaking that escapes the control of institutions[69]. Karin Volkner, head of the political committee of the international mission of MONUC, declares: “The management of the Ituri region is a failure (…). The government of Kinshasa is very far away and has never taken care of the people of the region. in the east, certain ministers are directly involved in the trade of raw materials and have no interest in restoring peace in the region”[70].

All trade, writes Liberti, is well organized: artisanal gold diggers bring gold into the city; There, traders sell it to middlemen who smuggle it into Kampala. To transport it, they use trucks, jeeps, motorcycles or cross the lake by canoe and take advantage of the total absence of controls at the Congolese border. Over the years, competition in the market has created a strong selection: today only three companies buy gold in Kampala – all in the hands of Indian entrepreneurs. The largest of these companies, UCI Uganda Commercial Impex Ltd, is based in a suburb of Kampala: Kamwookya[71].

The smuggling barons

Armed militias that control the mining industry[72]

However, this is the situation after the international community finally decided to declare war on this system. In March 2007, the US Office for the Control of Foreign Wealth (OFAC) identified seven companies and three people as targets of contraband in the DRC and put them on the global blacklist with Executive Order 13413[73]. Viktor’s companies Bout[74] is on the list[75], a well-known arms dealer[76] considered the most dangerous of the 21st century[77]. He was arrested in Thailand in 2018 and sentenced to 25 years in prison[78]. A second name is that of Dieudonné Ozia Mazio, who, along with Kambale Kisoni (assassinated in July 2007[79]), appears as one of the main intermediaries between armed groups and companies that buy valuable minerals[80].

Dieudonné Ozia Mazio, alias M. Omari, president of the Federation of Congolese Enterprises (FEC)[81], has also been assassinated since September 2008[82]: he was in business with the ruthless General Jérôme Kakwavu Bukande, the founder of the Armed Forces of the Congolese People (FAPC), who was charged with numerous war crimes and sentenced to ten years in prison for rape, murder and torture[83] for selling weapons, ammunition and other support materials in exchange for gold – and with such customers, mistakes are paid dearly[84].

Kambale Kisoni was a gold trader from Butembo (North Kivu), owner of Butembo Airlines[85] and Congocom Trading House[86]. According to OFAC, Kisoni helped finance the militias through the gold trade, bought them from the FNI, the Front Nationaliste et Integriste (a Lendu rebel group operating in Ituri[87]) and sold them to Uganda Commercial Impex (UCI) Ltd. Kampala[88], and led the organization of smuggling across the border between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda using his own planes[89].

Kisoni’s support for the Illegal Armed Group (FNI) came from Floribert Ndjabu – a military leader convicted of attacking a neighboring MONUC (United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo) patrol on February 25, 2005 organized by the town of Kafé. As a result, nine Bangladeshi peacekeepers were killed[90]. The gold was then refined in Switzerland and sold on the world market, now free of traces of its illegal origin[91].

In 2013, the NGO Track Impunity Always (TRIAL)[92] lodged a complaint[93] against the management of a Swiss gold refinery, Argor-Heraeus SA Mendrisio[94], for having refined nearly three tons of gold ore from the looting of the FNI: “The gold was under mined in appalling conditions before being resold in Uganda by a Congolese gold merchant and owner of an airline company called Kisoni Kambale“[95].

Kambale will sell the gold to the UCI and the UCI will resell it to Hussar Ltd. Rugby[96]: a company owned by the Polish Karol Kakolowicz[97] – owner of three trucks which circulate every week between Istanbul, Switzerland, Algeciras and London[98]. For Argor-Heraeus this is not the only problem: in 2019, the company was also denounced by the Swiss NGO Fastenopfer[99], which accuses the company of buying between 5 and 9 tons of gold per year from the Colombian company CIJ Gutiérrez from 2009 to 2018, which is in network with the cartel of local drug traffickers: A complaint that will lead to the arrest of the leaders of Argor-Heraeus[100].

The epicenter of international research remains UCI Uganda Commercial Impex Ltd. Kampala[101]. The UCI is located in a small villa at 22 Kanjokya Street in Kamwookya, a residential area of Kampala, and is controlled by Jamnadas Vasanji Lodhia (also known as “Chuni”) and his sons Kunal and Jitendraj Lodhia[102]. In 2002, the UCI received the President’s Export Award for the best company in the gold trading sector. In second place, Machanga Ltd. Kampala of General Kakwavu Bukande[103]. Omwony Ojok, the Ugandan Minister of State for Economic Monitoring, will chair the award ceremony with five other ministers: the UCI and Machanga are recognized for “promoting export trade and assuming social responsibility within the framework of their activities”[104]. Protection by the Ugandan government will continue until the end of 2006[105].

The (apparently abandoned) house at 22 Kanjokya Street in the Kamwookya district of Kampala, home of UCI Uganda Commercial Impex Limited[106]

On March 30, 2007, OFAC banned three Ugandans and seven companies, including the UCI Uganda Commercial Impex, from doing business with illegal armed groups[107]: “The UCI bought gold through commercial relationships regular with dealers in the Democratic Republic of Congo who are closely linked to the Militias. This constitutes the provision of support to illegal armed groups which violate the arms embargo in relation to resolutions 1493 (2003) and 1596 (2005)”[108]. The United Nations takes the same decision with Directive 1275 of December 1, 2014[109]. The UCI will appeal these decisions in February 2015[110], but the appeal is rejected[111] and from 2013, the UCI was deemed inactive and then liquidated[112].

However, the structure associated with the UCI continues to function thanks to one of the Lodhia family partners: lawyer Sarosh Zaiwalla[113], whose offshore trading company has been in business since 1983[114]. Zaiwalla and the Lodhia family have created a new group of companies[115] that are putting pressure (among others) on Somali mercenaries and pirates[116], the Halliburton group[117], the Venezuelan government[118], the United Arab Emirates[119] and Bank Mellat in Tehran[120]. Sarosh Zaiwalla has had important and controversial clients for over forty years, including the names of Saddam Hussein[121], the Dalai Lama[122], the Gandhi family, Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto[123], and the Tchenguiz family[124].

As for Machanga Limited[125], this company is managed by Rajendra Vaya at 55a Upper Kololo Terrace, Kampala. Machanga has an office in Bujumbura for the South Kivu gold trade[126]. The main customer is the Emirates Gold DMCC Fze refinery. Dubai[127], which bought 10.17 tons of gold from Machanga between 2005 and 2007, 6.61 tons from the UCI, 1.39 tons from AP Bhimji Ltd. and 0.03 tons of Congomet[128].

Indian lawyer Sarosh Zaiwalla shakes hands with one of his many famous clients: the Dalai Lama[129]

OFAC also blacklisted Machanga in March 2007 – yet Rajendra Vaya continues to buy gold[130]. It makes it private: small traders in Bunia and Butembo report that Raju and his men reopened their doors on Upper Kololo Terrace in 2013[131] and are selling them in Dubai with a new company, Mineral Impex Uganda[132]. In 2010, Machanga’s assets held in the Emirates Gold account will be frozen by the Bank of Nova Scotia[133], which owns the ScotiaMocatta refinery in Toronto[134]. As regards Machanga, the company presented its last annual accounts in 2004 and is classified as “inactive” according to the authorities of the Republic of Uganda[135].

A.P. Bhimji Ltd. Kampala, founded 1991 by A.P. Bhimji & Sons Ltd. London[136], is the third largest company recognized as a gold exporter and involved in the illegal gold trade. The company is run by AP Bhimji, a naturalized English Indian: Her family arrived in Kampala in the 1960s, where they founded the first company called Jewelarama, which was dedicated to buying and exporting gold from Ituri and Haut-Uélé and year after year has become a developed trading company of international importance[137]. They are true pioneers: no one had previously opened stores in Uganda to concentrate the riches of the Congo, South Sudan and Ethiopia in Kampala. The company grew until 1972 when a coup forced the family to leave Uganda for the UK, where Bhimji invested the wealth accumulated in Africa into London’s real estate sector and continued to develop his wealth[138].

In the 1990s, the company was caught in a financial scandal. Taking advantage of Uganda’s renewed economic stability and the extremely beneficial economic liberalization initiated by Minister of Commerce Richard Kaijuka, the Bhimji family decides to return to Kampala to resume their former gold trading activities. The level of twenty years ago will be reached in a short time[139]. Between 2002 and 2006, AP Bhimji, UCI and Machanga alone controlled 95% of the gold exported from Uganda[140]. The new director of the company, Sameer Bhimji (alias Sammy), buys smuggled gold from the Democratic Republic of Congo at the level of Chuni and Raju[141] and enters the large arms market (sanctions pending)[142]. Between 2005 and 2006, Bhimji started exporting for Emirates Gold and Al Ghurair Giga Gold Refinery in Dubai[143]. On January 18, 2008, Sammy merged Midas All Minerals Limited with Lata Bhimji and has since done business with the Emirates in a personal capacity due to sanctions, while still using the usual location[144].

The incessant flight to nowhere

For sixty years, millions of people have fled Katanga, North Kivu, the north of the Great Lakes region, without ever being able to take root, as they are constantly followed by waves of war violence and oppression by mining companies, through hunger and disease[145]

These facts are impressive. But the Democratic Republic of the Congo is not without hope. The country mainly exports mining products (copper, cobalt, diamonds, gold), wood products and coffee, exchanging them for food and pharmaceutical products, cars and fuels. The main trading partners are China and South Korea, while most imports come from South Africa and Zambia[146].

It would hardly be enough for the trade balance to become positive and for the Democratic Republic of the Congo to gallop, and it must be admitted that Joseph Kabila has made significant progress, especially in the field of international relations. In fact, the country’s trade balance has been positive for over a decade. The trade surplus has grown from $ 208 million (2017) to over $ 1 billion (2019) – despite the global cobalt price crisis, which of course has had a negative impact across Africa[147]. Moreover, despite the pandemic and the fact that health facilities are poor or nonexistent, the GDP continues to grow at an impressive rate[148].

While the Europeans and Americans are in hiding (and essentially continue to exploit the riches of the DRC’s subsoil officially and through smuggling), so far only China has spoken out in road building, power plants and optical cables, homes and investing in new schools[149]. It is not about doing something good, but foresight. But we must all stop investing in civil war immediately.

Joseph Kabila’s latest diplomatic moves and alliances are worrying, indicating his desire to return to power and cancel Tshisekedi’s presidency, which has also enabled him to use his industrial, financial and commercial network from a collusion with compound of crime and corruption, continue to administer[150]. The most important supporters of Kabila’s return are (and how could it be otherwise) the United Arab Emirates, which received a lavish gift in 2017 from the then President of the Democratic Republic of Congo: the government in Kinshasa introduced the biometric passport cost $ 185 per year costs each (in the US it costs only $ 110 …) and was produced by the LRPS of Ras Al Khaimah[151].

Due to the criminal investigation into this contract, the LRPS was forcibly liquidated[152] and the passport is currently manufactured in Belgium by Semlex Europe SA Uccle, which is still under investigation[153]. This company, whose shareholders are hidden by a network of offshore companies, is run by the family of a Syrian businessman who travels from the Comoros with a diplomatic passport but works in Côte d’Ivoire[154]: Alexandre Karaziwan[155], director of an industrial company[156] called Estianergie Synergie SA Abidjan (renewable energies and logistics infrastructure)[157]. This company in turn belongs to the Belgian multinational Sea-Invest[158] and is headed by one of its directors, the Iranian Ali Handjani[159].

Karaziwan is under investigation in several countries because, as roving ambassador and owner of the company that manufactures passports, he sold Comorian citizenship to 28,000 people under criminal investigation. in different countries of the world. But it is inviolable: on behalf of the government of the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, it obtains a passport for the nomadic Bedouin populations of the countries of the Persian Gulf, which are important to the local economy, but the governments of these countries deny the possibility of granting them citizenship[160].

Until the Congolese provincial government won’t be able to counter these intrigues, punish them, defeat the corruption of their administrative apparatus and defeat the rebel militias on the ground and bring civilization to the distant provinces of the north, any effort will continue to do so like trying to empty the ocean with a tablespoon.

[1] http://www.settimananews.it/informazione-internazionale/congo-lo-scandalo-della-pace/

[2] http://www.settimananews.it/informazione-internazionale/congo-lo-scandalo-della-pace/

[3] https://www.gettyimages.it/detail/fotografie-di-cronaca/king-leopold-ii-of-belgium-fotografie-di-cronaca/3292582?adppopup=true

[4] https://www.africarivista.it/storia-le-atrocita-di-re-leopoldo-ii-in-congo/63934/

[5] https://www.britannica.com/place/Lake-Victoria ; https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Lake_Tanganyika ; https://www.africangreatlakesinform.org/article/lake-turkana ; https://www.africangreatlakesinform.org/article/lake-malawiniassanyasa

[6] https://www.unep-wcmc.org/system/comfy/cms/files/files/000/000/642/original/GLR_S_T_Report_WEB_PAGES.pdf

[7] https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/pdf/10.1142/9789813222786_0001

[8] https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Lake_Tanganyika

[9] https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/congo-the-epic-history-of-a-people-by-david-van-reybrouck/2014/04/04/4090eb20-aa1b-11e3-b61e-8051b8b52d06_story.html

[10] http://hdr.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/COD

[11] https://www.atlanteguerre.it/conflict/repubblica-democratica-del-congo/

[12] https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-worldhistory/chapter/the-belgian-congo/

[13] https://www.britannica.com/biography/Leopold-II-king-of-Belgium ; https://www.africarivista.it/storia-le-atrocita-di-re-leopoldo-ii-in-congo/63934/

[14] https://www.eisa.org/wep/drcoverview8.htm

[15] https://www.ukessays.com/essays/history/nationalist-movement-of-the-belgian-congo-history-essay.php

[16] https://www.britannica.com/biography/Patrice-Lumumba

[17] https://www.britannica.com/biography/Moise-Tshombe

[18] https://www.jstor.org/stable/1405667?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

[19] https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/mission/past/onuc.htm

[20] http://www.physocean.icm.csic.es/science%2Bsociety/lectures/illustrations/lecture35/lumumba.html ; https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/jan/17/patrice-lumumba-50th-anniversary-assassination

[21] https://www.jstor.org/stable/40759745?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents ; https://www.linkiesta.it/2019/01/resistenza-sempre-e-comunque-quando-in-congo-cercavano-di-abbattere-gl/

[22] https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mobutu-Sese-Seko

[23] https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2017/09/07/in-the-shadow-of-the-great-helmsman-mobutu-sese-sekos-life-and-legacy-in-the-dr-congo/

[24] https://adst.org/2016/09/kleptocracy-and-anti-communism-when-mobutu-ruled-zaire/

[25] https://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/10/books/heart-of-greed.html

[26] https://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/08/world/mobutu-sese-seko-zairian-ruler-is-dead-in-exile-in-morocco-at-66.html

[27] https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/central-africa/democratic-republic-congo/how-kabila-lost-his-way

[28] https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6a83c10.html

[29] https://www.hsfk.de/fileadmin/HSFK/hsfk_publikationen/DR-Congo-RCD-1998-2004.pdf

[30] https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joseph-Kabila

[31] https://reliefweb.int/report/democratic-republic-congo/dr-congo-rebels-demand-negotiations ; https://actualite.cd/2017/02/20/mende-la-designation-du-president-du-cnsa-doit-faire-lobjet-dun-consensus-avec-la-mp ; http://www.congovision.com/nouvelles/yerodia1.html

[32] https://sudantribune.com/spip.php?article25238

[33] https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/central-africa/democratic-republic-congo/inter-congolese-dialogue-political-negotiation-or-game-bluff ; https://peacemaker.un.org/sites/peacemaker.un.org/files/CD_030402_SunCityAgreement.pdf

[34] https://www.refworld.org/docid/42df616a11.html ; https://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/2013/03/22/97001-20130322FILWWW00665-rdc-assassinat-de-kabila-dejoue.php

[35] https://time.com/4604626/congo-kabila-protests-glissement-katumbi/

[36] https://fr.allafrica.com/stories/200702051483.html ; https://fr.allafrica.com/stories/200702050171.html ; https://www.lalibre.be/international/combats-bemba-kabila-rapport-d-enquete-secret-de-la-monuc-51b896e4e4b0de6db9b1081c

[37] https://theconversation.com/tshisekedis-victory-in-the-drc-is-historic-but-controversial-109673 ; https://www.jeuneafrique.com/714840/politique/rdc-felix-tshisekedi-officiellement-investi-president-du-pays/

[38] https://www.rfi.fr/fr/afrique/20190127-rdc-residence-felix-tshisekedi-palais-presidentiel-kabila

[39] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/12/25/drc-what-is-joseph-kabilas-legacy-after-18-years-in-power

[40] https://www.thoughtco.com/berlin-conference-1884-1885-divide-africa-1433556

[41] Muriel E. Chamberlain, “The scramble for Africa”, Pearson Longman, London 2014; Neal Ascherson, “The King incorporated: Leopold the Second and the Congo”, Allen & Unwin, London 1963

[42] Muriel E. Chamberlain, “The scramble for Africa”, Pearson Longman, London 2014; Neal Ascherson, “The King incorporated: Leopold the Second and the Congo”, Allen & Unwin, London 1963

[43] Francis Nzuzi, “Kinshasa: ville et environnement”, Edition L’Harmattan, Paris 2008, pages 279-285; https://taigong788.skyrock.com/3199112951-Ca-s-est-passe-un-24-decembre-Le-traite-d-amitie-entre-Henry-Morton.html ; http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/index2.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mmsh.univ-aix.fr%2Fiea%2FClio%2Fnumero%2F18%2FPartie%25201%252018.html

[44] Berny Sèbe, “Heroic Imperialists in Africa: The Promotion of British and French Colonial Heroes, 1870-1939”, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2015, pages 148-150, pages 301-305

[45] AA.VV., “Pietro Savorgnan di Brazzà”, in “Dizionario biografico degli italiani”, Istituto dell’Enciclopedia Italiana Treccani, Roma 1960

[46] Jeremy Rich, “Ngalifourou”, in “Dictionary of African biography”, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2012

[47] https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/jan/17/congo-rivalry-kinshasa-brazzaville-river-drc

[48] Sylvie Ayimpam, «Vie matérielle, échanges et capitalisme sur la rive méridionale du Pool du fleuve Congo (1815-1930)», Centre d’Étude des Mondes Africains (CEMAf), Paris 2006, pages 3-9

[49] Stig Förster, Wolfgang Justin Mommsen, Ronald Edward Robinson, „Bismarck, Europe and Africa: The Berlin Africa Conference 1884–1885 and the Onset of Partition”, Oxford University Press, Oxford 1989

[50] https://www.theafricareport.com/47442/drc-a-history-of-pillage-destination-unknown/

[51] https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/union-miniere-du-haut-katanga_%28Dizionario-di-Storia%29/

[52] https://www.britannica.com/place/Democratic-Republic-of-the-Congo/Economy#ref1272241

[53] https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-institutional-economics/article/from-coercion-to-compensation-institutional-responses-to-labour-scarcity-in-the-central-african-copperbelt/27C0FB86E8F0D009BC8CDEEF4FB0C7A4

[54] https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-institutional-economics/article/from-coercion-to-compensation-institutional-responses-to-labour-scarcity-in-the-central-african-copperbelt/27C0FB86E8F0D009BC8CDEEF4FB0C7A4

[55] http://www.reflexions.uliege.be/front/displaySimple.jsp?inModal=true&id=c_348873

[56] https://newint.org/features/1994/09/05/kick

[57] http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2225-62532013000100006

[58] https://pure.diis.dk/ws/files/466374/JRSP_Paper_30_extractive_orders.pdf

[59] Report No. 43402-ZR May 2008 Document of the World Bank “Democratic Republic of Congo Growth with Governance in the Mining Sector”, Page 2, see also https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/8072/434020Revised010Box327409B01PUBLIC1.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

[60] https://peacegeeks.org/news/child-mining-cost-technology

[61] https://reliefweb.int/report/burundi/plundering-dr-congo-natural-resources-final-report-panel-experts-s20021146

[62] https://panamapapers.sueddeutsche.de/

[63] https://panamapapers.investigativecenters.org/drc/

[64] https://www.hrw.org/reports/2005/drc0505/11.htm

[65] https://www.planetgold.org/sites/default/files/2020-10/2020.%20IMPACT.%20The%20Intermediaries.pdf

[66] https://www.sosmediasburundi.org/2019/12/20/bujumbura-les-changeurs-de-monnaie-ou-metier-au-desordre-total/ ; https://www.iwacu-burundi.org/gitega-apres-le-beau-temps-la-tempete/ ; http://www.cndd-burundi.com/actualites/nouvelles-burundi/608-desordre-police-burundi

[67] https://www.africaminingforum.com/company/aldango-gold-refinery-0

[68] IMPACT Transforming Natural Resource Management , “Les intermédiaires: Traders Who Threaten the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Efforts for Conflict-Free Gold”– Impact – page 30, see also https://www.planetgold.org/sites/default/files/2020-10/2020.%20IMPACT.%20The%20Intermediaries.pdf –

[69] https://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2005/12/LIBERTI/12996 ; https://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/181/33624.html

[70] https://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/181/33624.html

[71] https://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/181/33624.html

[72] https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/technology/conflict-minerals

[73] https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/hp334.aspx

[74] Douglas Farah, Stephen Braun, “Merchant of Death: Money, Guns, Planes, and the Man who makes War possible”, Turner Publishing Company, Nashville 2008;

[75] “The firms designated today include Bout’s flagship entity, Air Cess. This company first appeared in Belgium in 1996 although it was registered in Monrovia, Liberia with Bout as its head. Other key major firms in the network include Centrafrican Airlines, San Air General Trading, Air Bas, CET Aviation, Irbis, Transavia Travel, and Santa Cruz Imperial. San Air and Centrafrican played a key role in supplying arms to Charles Taylor’s regime in Liberia and the Sierra Leone rebel group, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). In exchange for these supplies, Bout received payment from the Liberia’s international ship registry as well as diamonds and other valuable commodities acquired illegally by Taylor’s associates and the RUF” – ref. https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/js2406.aspx

[76] http://www.internationalcrimesdatabase.org/Case/3243/Bout/

[77] In year 2005 the actor Nicholas Cage and the director Andrew Niccol produced the movie called “Lord of War”, which is openly inspired from the life of Victor Bout – see https://www.allmovie.com/movie/lord-of-war-v314426 ; https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2007/09/meet-viktor-bout-real-life-lord-war/

[78] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-17634050 ; https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2012/04/08/vendute-armi-alle-farc-anni-carcere-viktor-bout-mercante-della-morte/203164/ ; https://formiche.net/2012/04/russia-sentenza-contro-viktor-bout-il-%C2%93mercante-della-morte%C2%94/ ; https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-11036569

[79] https://www.news24.com/News24/Foreigners-held-for-DRC-murder-20070705

[80] https://www.un.org/securitycouncil/sanctions/1533/materials/summaries/individual/dieudonne-ozia-mazio

[81] https://www.fec-rdc.com/

[82] https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2017/396/annex/division/a/division/27/adopted

[83] https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/11/10/dispatches-first-congolese-general-convicted-rape

[84] https://www.un.org/securitycouncil/sanctions/1533/materials/summaries/individual/jerome-kakwavu-bukande ; https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32009R0242&from=EN ; https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/11/10/dispatches-first-congolese-general-convicted-rape ; https://www.gov.im/about-the-government/departments/treasury/news/?iomg-device=Desktop&altTemplate=ViewCategorisedNews&id=45767 ;

[85] https://airlinehistory.co.uk/airline/butembo-airlines/

[86] https://sankcijas.lursoft.lv/person/congocom-trading-house/ofac-10144

[87] https://www.trackingterrorism.org/group/nationalist-integrationist-front-fni

[88] https://opencorporates.com/companies/ug/80010000319910

[89] https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/hp334.aspx

[90] https://news.un.org/en/story/2005/03/130532-security-council-condemns-attack-un-peacekeepers-dr-congo

[91] https://trialinternational.org/latest-post/argor-heraeus-sa-and-hussar-limited/

[92] https://trialinternational.org/

[93] https://trialinternational.org/latest-post/argor-heraeus-sa-and-hussar-limited/

[94] https://www.argor.com/it

[95] https://www.cdt.ch/ticino/traffico-doro-per-largor-heraeus-BGCDT94522?_sid=RVOhCyPq ; https://trialinternational.org/latest-post/argor-heraeus-sa-and-hussar-limited/

[96] https://www.dw.com/en/ngo-files-complaint-against-swiss-company-over-pillaged-gold/a-17204020

[97] 2019.06.30 Hussar Ltd. Rugby

[98] Trans Spzoo Malbork

[99] https://sacrificioquaresimale.ch/

[100] https://www.tio.ch/ticino/cronaca/1390767/oro-di-dubbia-provenienza-raffinato-presso-la-argor-heraeus-di-mendrisio

[101] https://opencorporates.com/companies/ug/80010000319910

[102] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/948770/Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo.pdf page 9

[103] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32009R0242&from=EN

[104] https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/42c3bcfe0.pdf “The Curse of Gold – Democratic Republic of Congo” Human Rights Watch, London 2005, page 104

[105] https://escholarship.org/content/qt320469nv/qt320469nv.pdf?t=ny5vqu&v=lg “Rethinking the Resource Curse: Natural Resources and Polywar in the Ituri District, Democratic Republic of the Congo” UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations, Sacramento 2011, page 199

[106] 2015.06.11 Gazzetta Ufficiale Italiana

[107] https://www.fdic.gov/news/news/inactivefinancial/2007/fil07033.pdf

[108] https://www.admin.ch/opc/it/classified-compilation/20051409/200807150000/946.231.12.pdf ; https://www.un.org/securitycouncil/sanctions/1533/materials/summaries/entity/uganda-commercial-impex-%28uci%29-ltd

[109] https://www.esteri.it/mae/politica_estera/20140512_congo_regolamento_esecuzione_n1275_2014_consiglio_1122014.pdf

[110] http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=164506&pageIndex=0&doclang=IT&mode=req&dir=&occ=first&part=1#1

[111] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/IT/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:62015TA0107&from=MT

[112] https://www.un.org/press/en/2020/sc14280.doc.htm

[113] 2017.10.03 African Mining Intelligence on Ziawalla

[115] The most important one is a newly incorporated company under the name of Strategic Business International Ltd. London, set up on April 28, 2003, led by the lawyer Zoya Berbeza and 100% controlled by Sarosh Zaiwalla (2015.07.30 Strategic Business International Ltd. London); the company is based in the head office of the solicitors’ company Zaiwalla & Co. Ltd. London, which has been founded by the family Zaiwalla and whose ownership’s structure hasn’t been completely disclosed yet (2020.03.31 Zaiwalla & Co. Ltd. London)

[116] https://www.ibanet.org/Article/NewDetail.aspx?ArticleUid=CD7F8CE0-49D7-4506-9802-B659802387BA

[117] https://www.zaiwalla.co.uk/en/news/russell-strong-examines-the-uk-supreme-court-judgment-in-halliburton-company-v-chubb-bermuda-insurance-ltd

[118] https://en.ultimasnoticias.com.ve/news/politics/English-court-orders-Guaido-to-pay-529/ ; https://www.archyde.com/english-court-orders-guaido-to-pay-529000/ ; https://usures.com/venezuela/english-court-ordered-guida-to-pay-529000.html

[119] https://www.zaiwalla.co.uk/ru/news/zoya-burbeza-us-sanctions-nord-stream-2 ; https://www.zaiwalla.co.uk/ru/news/zaiwalla-co-featured-in-the-dubai-press ; https://www.zaiwalla.co.uk/ru/news/list

[120] http://www.businessworld.in/article/London-based-Law-Firm-Zaiwalla-Appoints-Kartik-Mittal-As-Partner/18-06-2019-171996

[121] https://www.businessinsider.com/sarosh-zaiwalla-lawyer-saddam-hussein-iraq-tony-blair-2016-7?IR=T

[122] https://superlawyer.in/sarosh-zaiwalla-senior-partner-zaiwalla-co-solicitors-international-arbitration-his-holiness-dalai-lama-diverse-experience/

[123] https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/the-eagle-has-landed/articleshow/1360432.cms ; https://www.arabnews.com/node/1333901/business-economy%26c%3D7509128641766082900%26mkt%3Den-us

[124] https://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ani/sarosh-zaiwalla-makes-it-to-gq-uk-s-100-most-connected-men-2016-list-116041300275_1.html

[125] https://opencorporates.com/companies/ug/80010000446144

[126] https://americanstocknews.com/politics/5-amendments-to-the-drc-regime-commit-the-repeated-targeting-killing-maiming-rape-and-other-sexual-violence-abduction-of-civilians-including-children-office-of-financial-sanctions-implementati/

[127] http://www.emiratesgold.ae/