Middle Nation Central Africa Briefing || Congo, ADF, and M23

This is the Middle Nation briefing for Central And Southern Africa. And today, we'll be covering the Democratic Republic Of The Congo or the DRC. Today, we are talking to the wonderful sister Nisa on the Democratic Republic Of The Congo, as I mentioned, or the DRC. Now the DRC is, despite being one of the most resource rich regions of the planet on the planet, one of the poorest countries in the world. It sits atop a wealth of minerals that form the central components to much of our technology in the twenty first century, and yet none of this wealth remains in the country.

Well, almost none of it. There is, of course, some that is skimmed off the top by local elites, but the vast majority of the wealth along with the raw materials are exported from the country and end up not just lining the pockets of multinational corporations and their shareholders, but, of course, the wealth of the wealth ends up in the pockets of Western consumers in the form of iPhones, for example. So today, we are going to go into a deep dive, as they say, into the Democratic Republic Of The Congo. And in doing so, we will explore why this resource rich country is as impoverished as and as immiserated as it is today. Without further ado, I'll let sister Nisa proceed with the briefing.

Sister Nisa, when you're ready.

Sister Siama and Prabhashai, thank you so much for having me on again this week. And Congo is a very important question, and I'm so area that we need to be discussing. And I'm so glad that we're actually doing this country because not much is or has been spoken about this country or there isn't been so much media attention on it. And there's a specific reason why that is, especially since unrest basically started since the assassination of Patrice Lumumba in 1961, which was a move orchestrated by The United States and Belgium. So Congo has never truly known peace.

So fast forward to 1996 as an attempt to overthrow Moguta Sesseko, an event that spiraled into what is known as Africa's world war involving multiple nations and leaving millions dead and displaced. Now despite efforts to bring peace, including the ongoing presence of the United Nations Municipal, the violence endures fueled by armed militias, economic greed, and global powers with competing interests, and the situation is further complicated by the presence of groups like, m twenty three and ADF. So these two are distinct factions, operating within the DRC, each with their own, motives, but sharing a singular goal, which is to seize control, of the country's vast mineral resources. Now Congo's mineral riches are unparalleled, in my opinion, making it a hot spot for level, groups with governments, multinational corporations, as you mentioned, and, obviously, the local militias which are fighting for territory. So all are vying for their share in this mineral rich country.

Meanwhile, millions of Congolese are displaced. Their lives are shattered as they flee to neighboring countries or even displaced within the country while global powers, profit from the chaos, sitting comfortably as the world turns a blind eye to the human toll, of their ambitions. So, today, I want to touch specifically only on two of the groups. There's more than a 100 groups, up to about one twenty according to the United Nations militia groups that is operating within Congo. So I only wanna speak about two today because the those two have been in the airlines or in, you know, in the recent weeks, January and February.

But that doesn't mean, the conflict only started. As I said, it started 1961, but there's so much that has happened. We can't cover them all. We're just speaking about the recent, events. So like I said, it's the m twenty three and the ADF, and then we could talk about how, they, along with countless other players, they're not working on their own, are shaping the future and the current circumstances within the DRC.

And but we also have to keep in mind, like I said, this is only two, and their actions alone causes a lot of unrest within in in the con country whether people may perceive one or the other as a terrorist group or the other one as, you know, freedom fighters. Regardless of what that what their goals are, at the end of the day, the innocent companies are the ones that are suffering, and they don't have the benefit of their country or of the wealth. And fighting around them is happening, and they are the ones that are losing their lives, losing you know, and live while living in poverty, and that's what is extremely sad, in this situation. So with its wealth, Congo, attracting, in this greed, Congo remains a battleground where power and profit and human suffering all come together and it collides. It's it's it's really a big, melting pot, which is is not even a positive thing in this context.

It's just everybody has their hands in this country trying to take as much as possible. Think of it like, you know, vultures trying to just grab pieces. And some might feel that their reasoning is, you know, it's noble or that they are justified in their actions. But like I said, at the end of the day, they're fixed everyday Congolese, and that is very heartbreaking to see what is happening. Because it's not just a few thousand, it's millions that are displaced and that have been hurt and maimed in the process.

So I want to talk about the dynamics surrounding this conflict within the DRC, which is complicated. Firstly, you have neighboring countries entering, Congo. They're pillaging, and they're plundering resources while the government tries to fight them off. So for example, you have Rwanda, on the one end having an interest within Congo in the minerals. While Congo government opposes them, they also have militias within Congo opposing Rwanda.

So there's a lot of that happening. You have the same on the other side. You have Uganda also wanting a stake in the minerals with the government fighting them off. You have the militias in DRC fighting Uganda, and you have militias from Uganda fighting in DRC. So it's all neighboring countries.

This is besides your multinational corporations and and and other governments. We're just talking about the neighboring countries, coming in and just taking resources, as they see fit. So you you have this type of dynamic already at the base happening. And, like I said, the multinational corporations, mining conglomerates such as Anglo American, De Beers, Glencore, and so forth, all operating in Congo. Then you have governments across the world all wanting a piece of Congo.

Now let's discuss the actual conflicts that happened recently that's described in the last few weeks. Since we cannot go into all the comics like I mentioned, these two have been on the news, and we've talking we've been talking about it. And especially from South Africa's also involved here, we've got some African countries involved, and we want I want them to explain how it is that they are involved and what their role is in the two separate conflicts. These are two separate conflicts. So let's start with ADF, and it's brutal brutal massacre, which escalates conflicts in DRC.

Now the allied democratic forces, ironically, that's what it's called ADF, have origins in Uganda and is more than just a brutal militia. It's branded a terrorist group because it has links with ISIS, and the IDF has been carrying out horrific massacres across Eastern Congo, beheading civilians, setting villages ablaze, and displacing thousands. They're also known to recruit recruit child soldiers. They're involved in human trafficking, killing, maiming, and committing serious international law violations. Now in 02/00/2025, the group went on a rampage, and killed over 70 people in the village of Mabah alone.

That is just in February. We're not talking about what they've done in January or December. We're just speaking about what they're doing in February. Now this isn't just random violence. It's terrorism with financial backing.

And the uncomfortable truth is that The United States Of America through USAID and other foreign assistance programs has been indirectly funding groups affiliated with ISIS. Money meant for stability and counterterrorism often finds its ways into the hands of extremists fueling the very violence that it claims to fight. So the latest ravage isn't isolated. This is a common occurrence that the Congolese face almost daily. Now when America speaks of fighting terrorism, one must ask what benefits from this never ending war because it certainly isn't the people of Congo.

The next story that I wanna speak about, which I'll go with a little bit more into detail, is with regards to m twenty three. On the other hand, in a a little bit of a a different region of the Eastern Congo. So while the ADF's brutality, terrorizes civilians, m twenty three also wages a war, but not just for power, but for control of, DRC's immense mineral wealth. And sadly, Congolese have no benefit from the very wealth they walk on every single day. I mean, Congo is ranked as one of the poorest in the world with 75% of Congolese live on less than $2.15 a day.

Now imagine that. The world's most natural resource rich country is also one of the poorest one of the most poorest countries in the world where you have to live on less than about $2 a day. That is very sad. So in '23, backed by foreign interest, which is Rwanda, is carving out its own claim, overcome those mineral rich territories. Now they are paramilitary group.

They're branded as terrorists, and people are saying that they freedom fighters fighting for their own resources because they are Congolese. And the groups of themselves have displaced hundreds of thousands, turning entire communities into war zones. And like I said, m two twenty three isn't acting alone. They are bigger players at work in Congo working together with them, powerful mining conglomerates and political elites who thrive on instability. Now South Africa also enters the picture and has sent troops to Congo as part of.

They South Africa has been, in Congo for over a decade, and the UN as a UN peacekeeping force and under SADAC, South Africa, Malawi, and Tanzania are conducting peace operations or peacekeeping operations in the country fighting the m twenty three fighters. And like I said, they're Congolese. They're fighting for Manros, which belongs to Congo, and Rwanda's backing them in this. Now while Malawi and Tanzania have withdrawn from fighting m twenty three, South Africa insists it won't withdraw from the mission and insist that they are or we are on a peacekeeping mission. Understand that while we as South Africans want to believe that our peacekeeping mission in Congo is a noble mission, and I don't believe and I I believe that the soldiers on the ground believe that they are in doing a peacekeeping mission.

We also have to understand that those in power have other agendas. You know? There there's nothing it's not it's very easy for them to use state resources to their own advantage.

Is the ADF and the m twenty three, are they at loggerheads? Are they fighting one another as well, or are they just both separate entities claiming to defend, you know, their interest at the at the at the Congo?

They they're not fighting each other. Mhmm. They're fighting the ADF is fighting Congolese army, and M twenty three is fighting Manusko, the peace keeping missions. And they're in separate they're in the Eastern DLC, but they're not in the same locations. I think Yeah.

They're not fighting each other.

Okay. They're they're just like, from the from the sounds of it, they just sound like okay. So during colonial times, you had the colonial faces, you know, of the army. And and now you can't have the Western entities, like, in the form of an army imposing itself, you know, to extract the mineral wealth. So you have these people who look like the you know, look like each other bickering over the resources to as as a as a cover.

But, basically, you know, like the elites skimming off the wealth, that's the the the government of South Africa, which is apparently subordinate to these conglomerates. And and they're obviously clearly skimming off the wealth off of these mineral extraction, and they have this facade of you know, that you you can say that they're fighting each other. You know, the Africans are not capable of peace. They are Yeah. You know, they they they they're just proxies, you know, creating these conflicts in order to perpetuate the the the mayhem so that you don't watch you don't pay attention to what's actually taking place in the background, the extraction of minerals without the development of the indigenous populations.

That's one of the most horrific things about this is when earlier I mentioned there's up to 120 t sorry. 120 militias active in DRC. They they could be fighting each other. They could be fighting the neighbors. Yes.

They could be fighting a different you know? And that is what's the worst part about it is you don't know who's coming. You don't know what their plan is. So it it is that alone already is is is is a lot for for Congolese to go through. And when it comes to the minerals, so a lot of it also doesn't even go to Congo, the government itself.

That is why the government is trying to keep control of it, where you have your neighboring countries coming in then taking it, and then they're selling it. Like, Rwanda is selling it to Europe and to and to America and wherever they're selling it to. They they're making deals based on the fact that they are going to go and extract the resources from Congo. So that is also where Congo and Rwanda is at loggerheads with, and it comes to a statement or, you know, there's a there's some articles or few articles or, you know, floating around with regards to the president of Congo making a statement that he wants to hand over, you know, some mining rights and some businesses to American, to Europe in exchange for peace or make mineral deals in exchange for peace, but that is not exactly what he's trying to achieve. What he is saying is that stop buying from Rwanda and Uganda and wherever it is that you're buying from and buy from Congo because we own the stuff.

You are just encouraging them coming into our country and pillaging our resources. So stop buying from them, and that makes total sense.

But this is all why Paul Kagame is the West's favorite guy. This is this is a big part of why America and the West generally are such fans of Paul Kagame and why he can win an election at, like, 99% of the vote and no one says it's a plebiscite and it's a a sham election because they want him to keep doing what he's doing. And he's he's a he's a very reliable client for them. They don't wanna negotiate now with the Congolese government because we don't know what you're gonna do. Paul Kagame is a proven, loyal client for The US and for the and for the West.

And you I I just wanted to mention, you you were talking about how the m 23 are Congolese, and I think it's worth mentioning that that's a disputed claim because the majority of them are Tutsis originally with their roots from Rwanda. But they were given Congolese nationality by in the nineteen seventies, but they were mostly brought in to work the mines by the Belgians before before independence. So their roots are in Rwanda. They have Congolese nationality, but many in The Congo reject them as being Congolese because they're not originally from the land. And it it almost is like the the the the government of Rwanda wants to sort of impose a kind of de facto annexation of Eastern Congo so that they can have full control of the minerals.

Doesn't that seem correct?

That's 100% how it looks like. For the mere fact that because of ethnicity and that is how they are plundering the mines in that area by on that basis that it is their people, but at the same time, are Congolese that feels that they have a claim to those resources or the mines or whatever. But, ethnically, they still, you know, belong to Rwanda. So they it's more like they probably belong on both sides. Like, I want the wealth because my nationality says that I'm Congolese.

But in the meantime, my heart is actually in Rwanda. That is where my family and my people are. So they're trying to play both sides of it. And my thing about this whole thing, you know, even if they feel that they do have or if the government even decides, okay, that it's fine that you scan and give them a piece, whatever the case may whatever they decide to do, the way that they're going about it through the unrest and the fighting and that is problematic because it this place is not just ten, twenty people. It's thousands.

We've got, like, 40,000 people because of the m twenty three, 40,000 people have gone into Burundi. They're displaced in Burundi. That's just in Burundi. And the neighboring countries are also affected. So that displacement causes not just for the people that are actually displaced, but also the people that they are going to host them also are affected by this crime.

And it is crimes by causing all that havoc, you know, havoc and using violence to get your point across. And and at the end of the day, it's you know, if you look if they look back into history and they see that they've been fighting for the last how many decades, that it hasn't been working, that that hasn't been the answer, why do you still want to, do it in that way? Why not look at it differently? I think if you see that a problem hasn't been resolved in the way that you've been doing it, obviously, look for a different way to do it.

No. No. Interest your interest seems to be just to pursue the conflict and extract the minerals and and and hand it over to the corporates instead of focusing on constructive development of the indigenous populations. There's just no interest in that. The the focus seems to be just perpetual fighting, and then it just appears like they are fighting each other, that they're not capable of making peace because what's wrong with them?

Why can't they be, you know, friendly because they're all Africans. Right? But, no, you are actually serving specific interests of these corporations who have enlisted you to create this conflict so that you can just create a smokescreen from actual development to take place.

Which which which is exactly which is exactly why I was bringing up the issue of of the Rwandan roots of of m twenty three. Most of them. Sorry. It's not all of them, but most of them are Tutsis. And like sister said, you know, maybe they're Congolese by nationality, but their heart is in Rwanda.

Okay. Their heart is in Rwanda. That's also where their their funding is coming from. Their funding and their arming and their logistics and everything are being facilitated by Rwanda. And then the illicit mining that they're involved in, just like what she was talking about, they funnel all of that money into Rwanda itself.

And then the the Congolese minerals are being bought in Rwanda from Rwanda. It's not their minerals. But you're now funneling all of that over to Rwanda. So it's clear where your loyalty lies. It doesn't lie with Congo.

You're not you're not insisting that that these minerals be sold in from The Congo and for the benefit of the Congo and for for example, as you say, the development of industry in Congo so that the processing and the refining and all of that will take place in The Congo. You're just doing illicit mining and then shifting everything into Rwanda so that all of the profits are for Rwanda, for your own people, the people that you're loyal to, the the the Tutsis. So, I mean, it it's it's quite ludicrous to claim yourselves to be fighting for the sake of, I don't know, Congolese control of the minerals when you are shifting all of the minerals over to Rwanda for Rwanda's profit. And and Rwanda's profit. And then, obviously, on top of that, Western Corporation's profit.

That's that's who you're serving. You know? And and you you keep doing it because it's profitable for your people to some degree. And it it shows the extent to which you are not loyal in in any way whatsoever to The Congo, and you're not interested in any way whatsoever in the prosperity of The Congo because you're literally funneling everything out of The Congo and and and perpetuating this conflict that keeps the the prices low, that keeps the the the flow of illicit mining going into the country that you are actually loyal to. And and like I say, the The Congo can can say, stop buying from Rwanda because you're just buy buy buying from Rwanda, you are indirectly perpetuating the conflict, perpetuating the incentive for the conflict to continue by rebels like the m twenty three.

But this is this is this is, like, assuming that this isn't deliberately being done for that purpose. It's being deliberately done for that purpose. It's not indirectly. It's directly. That's the whole point.

That's the whole reason it's happening. So it's like telling them it's like you're assuming that this is an inadvertent thing that the West isn't aware of, that by buying from Rwanda, they are accidentally causing a motivation for the the the rebel groups with Rwandan roots to continue the fighting. There's nothing accidental about it. It's absolutely calculated. So this, as a negotiating tactic, is, I think, deeply misinformed.

With regards to when they do this, know, purposefully ensure that there is unrest, it's they keep a government that is meant to be protecting the ordinary citizens from actually uplifting those people in a sense. Now you don't have proper working conditions. You've got children working minds. You've got you know, you don't have a minimum wage happening. So all those type of things where people that that uplift their dignity, you kind of don't have time for that because you're trying to keep them from dying, so to say.

That is what your priority is. In that sense, it's not about ensuring that there's dignity. Dignity comes after only if you can make it, you know, and if you can keep yourself alive. And that is the problem, when it comes to, ensuring that it's, kept that way. Because when you are, enforcing human rights and dignity in terms of minimum wage and and and, you know, your your minimum age that you're supposed to be before you can work and those type of things, it also increases wages.

And right now, I mean, it is dirt cheap. They they're selling illicit minerals through Rwanda, dirt cheap. That is why United States of America wants it like that, like you said, brother Sheen, and it's it serves them. And at the end of the day, when they get those minerals at next to nothing, they make these products with it, and it's sold at a thousand percent, 2000%, whatever profit. It's far more than what they spend for.

And at the end of the day, those a lot of the times, you can see these heartbreaking videos. It's children mining in those unsafe conditions. No safety gear or whatever. And they they there's nobody most people are not even concerned. They they just want to eat.

That is it, and that's a problem.

Yeah. It's funny that the the the The United States and and all these Western hearts on the sleeves type of activists who would, you know, be very quick to pinpoint the human rights issues of Chinese companies in Africa, you know, Chinese companies in in The Congo for human rights violations when they are trying to develop industries within these, you know, these countries in Africa, particularly in The Congo, for example. They are quick to point out that that there are human rights violations or abuse of workers' rights and so on. You know? But you are also the flip side, you know, easy to overlook easily overlook these you know, child labor and cheap labor that that you are using, you're enlisting to to extract the wealth.

And when it when that happens, you don't think about it. But when when when the when when Chinese companies start to develop industries in Africa, you start to bring up these abuses, so called abuses that you actually perpetuate, but you try to, you know, blame shift on on another invest another country that invest in the in the countries that it's trying to, you know, extract its minerals from. Not only I mean, it's not just it's China is not being exploitative. It's trying to benefit from the minerals, but also provide an opportunity for The Congo, for example, to develop its own industries to stand stand you know, stand up for itself and then, you know, build their engineering capacities, build, you know, engineering schools. You know?

These are contributions. It's kind of it's it's the classic win win philosophy of the Chinese mindset.

In addition to that, it also speaks about the West's hypocrisy. And, I mean, they just, exercised their hypocrisy in this deal, or in this, what's happening in Congo just a few days ago. So, the United Security Council has called on Rwanda to end its military support for m twenty three and withdraw its troops from the Congolese territory. At the same time, the UN urged the DRC to stop supporting the Hutu led FDLR. It's another militia in DRC, but we'll we'll talk about that probably some other time.

And Rwanda accuses which Rwanda accuses of harboring those responsible for the nineteen ninety four genocide. So they're all just trying to blame each other and and and justify why they go going into Congo and, you know, just extracting minerals just because they feel like it. Now The United States has imposed sanctions on Rwandan minister James Kavarebe for his support of the m twenty three rebel group in Eastern DRC and accusing him of being central to Rwanda's backing of m twenty three and orchestrating military support through the Rwandan defense force. And, you the Skaboreb is also accused of coordinating the export of minerals extracted from DRC mines, which are eventually exported through Rwanda. And The United States also sanctioned, Lawrence, Kanuka Kingston, a member of m twenty three and the Congo River Alliance as well as his companies.

So you can see America has taken this stand at the United Nations. They sanctioning, people in Rwanda because these are the people that are a part of, you know, causing the instability. They are extracting minerals in that. But at the end of the day, The United States Of America is benefiting financially. They're buying those minerals.

So not sure why they decided that this guy is taking the fall or they

As you're talking, as you're, you know, sharing your the your insights into The Congo and Rwanda and Uganda's involvement in undermining the development of Congo, it just you know, it's very, important that people like Ibrahim Torore and head of state of Senegal, when they are asserting their sovereignty and they are actually actively taking matters of their economy and development into their own hands. You know? That's what's that's what's needed for Africa. And the moment you try to do anything remotely like that, it's immediately undermined and quelled. You know?

And it's really, really important that that the governments of, you know, Senegal and and Burkina Faso is supported and and that they endure and and, you know, see through the the the their plans, their developmental plans, and that this would spill over to other parts of Africa. Because you can see the contrast in what's happening in these African countries and what's happening in in Congo. You know? It's it's just there's no that that what's happening in Burkina Faso, what's happening in Senegal is an assertion of sovereignty. It's actually, you know, national development.

You know? That's a national movement, but that's not what's taking place in in in in The Congo. You know, what what Rwanda Rwanda's action and and Uganda's action in these countries is not for the sake of national development at all. You know? Even if your own even if Rwanda is financially benefiting from it, it's just like a mice it's it's it's again, you are just skimming off the wealth to the corporations, and you just okay.

You you get paid, you know, your pennies for serving the interest of, you know, the giants. But, yeah, but just to contrast, you know, I just wanted to add the the the current events, you know, where where where there's a contrast just to prove the point that, you know, what's happening is not for the sake of your own national development in The Congo or the or Rwandans or Ugandans for that matter.

Which is also why I am very I respect even Tanzania's stance as well as Malawi. They are in the DRC, busy, you know, with with with peacekeeping missions. They were with South Africa at the beginning fighting m twenty three, and, like, after few days, they were like, no. We're out. We're not doing this.

And when you look at it, they're not the ones that seem to have any sort of financial they they don't benefit financially by, you know, being in in DRC. So I would say that in terms of that, they probably can be trusted when it comes to deploying peacekeeping missions in the country because they do their own mining with the exchange or whatever, but they're not there doesn't seem to be or I couldn't find any sort of conflicts coming from 10 Tanzania and Malawi going in the end, you know, or to such a large scale that you can see that there's fighting, whatever. I'm not saying there isn't individuals or there aren't small factions or whatever, but I'm saying to a scale where it's causing such unrest, I haven't come across anything as yet. But I am still obviously researching into that from each country's perspective and where everyone plays in. But because of current events, we're seeing that in Uganda and Rwanda.

And Rwanda seems to be a major player in this. The fact that, you know, it's they've made themselves a middleman, you know, when it comes to, providing the waste to the rich nations with minerals. You know? And the worst part is that they don't seem to be working it out to the beneficial to the benefit of Congo. Congo doesn't seem to be working with them on this regard, so it has turned to punishing and plummeting resources, your neighbor, your brother, your sister.

You know, you're just going in there and just taking things. That's exactly what it is. And that is what The United States Of America, the West wants. They want countries and neighbors fighting each other. They want us divided.

They want us to do the dirty work of, you know, causing that harm to each other. Then they don't have to do it. All they come in is and pretend, okay. You guys need to eat. Yeah.

Let's buy this for dirt cheap. And that is exactly why this is happening is so that they can just swoop in and get things for next to nothing with you know, these minerals are obviously, obviously highly valuable.

I just wanted to say something, a couple of things. One one about the The US sanctions. It shouldn't it shouldn't be misunderstood when The US imposed the sanctions on those Rwandan government officials, and they also did some with Glencore as well. But it shouldn't be misunderstood that that implies that The United States wants the conflict in any way to end or doesn't approve of the conflict. It's an indication that America is controlling the conflict more than anything else and that they want Rwanda to be controlled in the extent to which m twenty three carries out their activities.

That's all that it indicates. It it's number one, it has to do with the optics because America has faced a great deal of criticism over their support for Rwanda and then Rwanda's support for m twenty three and the the strife in Congo. And number two, it just indicates or it actually exposes the fact that America is actually controlling this situation, is actually controlling this conflict, and they wanna manage the extent to which the conflict can get out of control. Because if it gets out of control too much, then that would that would end up impacting the supply chain overall. If if there's too much conflict, then the mining itself will decline.

So they this is just a management tactic on the part of The US. It's not a it's not a punitive measure. It's not that we're trying to stop the conflict or anything like this. It's just we're trying to manage conflict. That's all that indicates.

And then the other thing I wanted to say, just in anticipation of what some people might say in the comments, some very some some cynical Americans might say that, well, we all benefit from those cheap minerals. Because if if the minerals aren't as cheap as they are, if if if Apple and Tesla and so forth aren't able to get those minerals so cheap, then an iPhone will cost $10,000. I've heard this argument before. But here's where you have to you have to actually link it back to the economic system in in America and in the West. Because there's no reason why if the minerals were if the if the miners were paid a fair wage, if there were safe conditions, if as sister said, if there's a minimum wage, if there's safe conditions, if there isn't child labor, if the human rights are respected in the in the mining sector in Congo, if people are safe, if the people have, again, paid a fair wage and given a fair price for the mine the minerals, there's no reason why that should affect the price of an iPhone at all.

You can you could balance that out by Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, not making a billion dollars a year. You can take you can take it out from the other end. You don't have to it doesn't always have to be the poor. It doesn't always have to be the laborers. It doesn't always have to be the workers who keep the prices low so that Tim Cook or the executives of Apple or Elon Musk or the executives of Tesla and so on, all of these companies or Samsung even, all of these companies that are making money hand over fist because of these cheap minerals and then selling selling it to you at whatever fixed price they set they sell that product, the the amount of money that their executives make is absolutely obscene.

And they could just take a pay cut and and and say that this is a this is a pay cut that we're that we're taking voluntarily for the sake of human rights, for the sake of basic decency, for the sake of basic fairness, for the miners who are who are bringing out these minerals, who are making these products possible, we've decided that maybe instead of, I think Tim Cook made last year 740 sorry. Yeah. $740,000,000 was his was his pay package for the for the year. Almost a billion dollars, and that was almost double what he made the previous year even though I think Apple sales are down. But instead of you making that, maybe make 500,000,000, maybe make 300,000,000, maybe you'd be able to survive on that, maybe you could find some way to sustain yourself on $300,000,000 rather a year just so that the miners in Congo can can work safely and at a fair wage, and you have to and you and you pay a decent amount of money for those minerals rather than having blood minerals coming out of Congo through Rwanda, through this really black market system that you have that is enabling you to have these this obscene executive salary.

No. There's no reason why any product that's based on those minerals would have to change its price at all if the conditions were improved and and the the the the workers were dealt with fairly and they received a fair price for what they extracted from the ground and and if Congo received a fair price for what they extracted from the ground and if you refined it and processed it in Congo, none of that would have to affect the price. You could just take out the difference from the executive salaries.

You know? And that's the worst part about it is the fact that their profit, the the the the big guys, the capitalists, their profit in their pocket, that's not even their salaries, by the way. That's just their profit that they're making, is so large, and it's it's uncanny that they would think that it's okay to abuse people that way because that is exactly what it is by stripping people of their basic human rights, children, so that you could just have extra digits in your bank account and some digital bank account somewhere, and you can talk about, you know, how you move a few millions around, whatever it is, however they talk about themselves in in that sense. And that is what is so horrific about this whole thing. And we're not asking them to give up everything, but at least give people, you know, a fair wage and stop perpetuating the crime and and and, you know, the plundering and the purging and stop that.

We because they they obviously, it is happening. There are 120, factions, malicious in, operating in DRC that and that's because there's demand feed. Obviously, they would not be, you know, even considering that if it wasn't worth their while, in terms of money, if they were not being funded, by various, organizations and, you know, firstly, by selling these minerals to whether it's Uganda, whether it's Rwanda, whether it's straight to America or to Europe, whatever the case may be, that's where money comes from. And, also, from funding through organizations like USA through that comes through ISIS or which other organizations that it comes through that. So, clearly, United States Of America is involved in DRC.

That is only with the one group that we've just looked at. We haven't even looked at the other 118 as yet. We've only looked at two, and we've already found them. You know? Already, their footprint is just in the one militia group.

So and they got connected. America's connected with Rwanda. Rwanda's connected with m twenty three, and it's safe to say that they're all involved, like, rather she like you said, you know, this the the the the United Nations Security Council, the sanctions, it is a way to control the situation because there have been reports about, Munisco not being able to, deliver maybe aid or whatever it is that they need to do. So there has been those type of logistics. Logistically, there has been that type of holdup.

So, yes, for things like that, that is why probably they would also need to, you know, enforce some control in that sense. But, yes, so the West is deep, deep in DRC. Their businesses are in there. Their governments are in there. I think of Congo as, like, this lavish buffet with you know, it's got all these different minerals because it's it's not just rich.

It's variety as well. You know? Like, a buffet table with gold and cobalt and diamonds and colton and so on and so on. It's got all these things. And the feast is never for Congolese or the people of Congo.

You've got these foreign hands just reaching in. They piling up their plates, and they're gorging on the wealth, and that isn't theirs. And while corporations and the warlords and foreign powers, they're all devouring these riches. And, you know, I have to ask the question, how much longer will the worldwide pretend that this isn't just another African war? It isn't just one of those.

Oh, Africa is at war with each other. It's not one of those. And how much longer will Congo still be sacrificed? You know, at the altar of profit while the real criminals, they're sitting in boardrooms in the Oval Offices. They're sitting in parliament.

They're sitting in congress, and they're all wearing designer suits, expensive designer suits. And they're untouched. They're unbothered. And, obviously, they're unpunished because they're still doing what they're doing. And that is you know, when is enough enough in Congo?

I hear sisters sister Nisa for the detailed summary of what's taking place in The Congo vis a vis the Rwandan contribution as well as the Ugandan contribution to the hundreds of other, you know, intra conflict that's taking place that's undermining the development of Congo Of The Congo, serving the interest of corporations, essentially. I'm looking forward to covering maybe other details into into the conflict in The Congo and as well as other regions of Central Africa and Southern Africa, in the next region's discussion.

Thank you so much for your time, guys.