Many of you might know this but the Democratic Republic of Congo is once again known to the West as a shit country. You might think Somalia is bad. Well, it is. But the DRC is like a zoo... you get killed at. As simple as that.
What's causing this shit?
Rwanda, that's who.
Rwanda, the homeland of the Tutsis and the Hutus and probably the most important genocide of the 90s. Forget Bosnia. This was the real deal. When the two biggest tribes of Central Africa clash, everybody is shaken. After the Tutsis won back the DRC after the genocide. Two million Hutus ran screaming for their lives into the Congo. Can't blame them, they were gonna be killed too. Hutus and Tutsis killing each other in large numbers ain't anything new. Its a Post-World War phenomena. In 1959, intense rioting against a Tutsi king led to the murder of 40,000 Tutsis in Rwanda.
The Hutus in the Congo (or as it was known back in the 90s ; Zaire) started attacking the Tutsis again. Paul Kagame, the Tutsi President of Rwanda after the genocide helped form a pro-Tutsi militia, the ADFL and lended 2000 veteran Tutis soldiers to crush Zaire's army in the Eastern Congo and they did. But they couldn't just take over the Congo. Take a globe and compare the size of Rwanda and the Congo. The Congo is huge while Rwanda is tiny. Real small. Doesn't matter though, the borders between countries don't count. Tribal boundaries do. That's how Africa works.
It's also hard to blame the Zairean soldiers. They were serving the most corrupt human being in history, Mobutu. His massive theft of Congolese wealth helped create the term Kleptocrat. He built massive mansions in the middle of the rainforest while Congolese had to flee from Hutu Interhamwe militia and his own goons. You Westerners might not get how the whole tribe thing works. Well, Europe was like that not too long ago. Where do you think the Hungarians came from? They were a small-time Eurasian steppe find who found a nice plain in Eastern Europe and settled down. Their king was called the King of Magyars, not the king of Hungary or of a set place. Then the whole idea of Nation-States set in.
Paul Kagame and the President of Uganda Yoweri Musevni got Kabila, a washed up warlord to lead this 'rebellion' against Zaire's Mobutu. Somehow, Kabila marched an army to Kinshasa. As usual, Kabila stuck to his old habits when he took power such as smuggling, embezzling, stealing. A bodyguard shot him in the head in 2001. In this huge power vaccuum African nations likes Angola, Zimbabwe, South Africa,Namibia and others got involved besides Rwanda and Burundi. All for the resources of the Congo of course. More than 4 million people died in that time period in the Congo.
Where does that put us today and how does it relate to the Tutsis? The Tutsis are a people who've been pushed over the edge. Sometimes, an ethnic group gets a syndrome where they have nothing to lose. Like Jews during and after the Holocaust, Inca rebellions after the Spanish Conquest and now Tutsis in Central Africa. The new hot rebel leader, Laurent Nkunda claims he's fighting to protect ethnic Tutsis all over Africa. He's just making it worse, the Hutus already hate the Tutsis and Nkunda wants to add the Luba (another tribe) to the list. Hundreds of thousands are fleeing from mountainous region of Eastern Congo and as usual, the UN doesn't know what the fuck to do because if they do shit properly (like killing every Tutsi soldier in the Eastern Congo, Rwanda will get pissed and use genocide points to rack up international support.)
The UN can't do anything. They pass out cookies and water to starving Congolese villagers instead. Many of them have been raped which is a usual tactic. Showing the enemy that they cannot even protect their own women from harm can severely weaken morale.
Nothing is going to be done though. This story line in the media will go on for a few months than disappear like Iraq most recently did because the 'Surge' quieted down the insurgents and Al-Qaeda in Iraq. A solution to this Central Africa problem:
a) Create a permanent Tutsi and Hutu homeland ; Tutsiland and Hutuland. After all. Whats better than actually giving these tribes nation-states and seeing them fight set battles like Europeans. Isn't that proper war? Wasn't Verdun, which killed more Frenchman than the amount of Rwandans dead in the genocide a greater battle? I think not.
b) Give the Hutus and Tutsis MOAB's and give the last tribe standing Rwanda and Burundi. Yes, Burundi. Both tribes live there too. Right now, Hutus control Burundi while Rwanda has Tutsi controlled. I'm surprised they're not killing each other....
c) Wait 500 years and WAIT for nation-states to set up. Its easy to see there would be an Yoruba, Hausa and Akan country. Maybe even an Somali one if they decided to get united, but they're like the Kurds. So disorganized they have no shot at unification.
d) Letting this shit continue to such a level that the problem is resolved.... (laughs) impossible.
There you have it. Sometimes, you can't put a good tribe down.
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