
By Marc Botenga
The agreement signed on Friday between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo in Washington under the supervision of Trump—could it mark the end of 27 years of deadly war that has caused millions of deaths and refugees (a conflict in which both the United States and the European Union have shown a particularly vested interest by negotiating and supporting the Kagame regime)? That is far from certain.
This Friday, President Trump did not hide the true objective of this operation: “We’re getting, for the United States, a lot of the mineral rights from the Congo as pay back”. For its part, the European Union boasted of supporting this agreement “both politically and economically,” (Kaja Kallas, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the Commission)
As in Ukraine, this grip on strategic minerals “in exchange for peace” risks leaving the Congolese people with nothing. The Congolese people will see neither justice nor improvement in their situation through recolonisation—neither yesterday nor tomorrow, not by the United States nor the European Union.
The Congolese people want peace, social progress, development, and dignity. Let the weapons be silenced and a true dialogue be initiated, without foreign interference, so that the people can finally begin to build their own future.
We demand full respect for the sovereignty of the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo), an end to interference from the United States and European Union countries, and an end to the plundering of the country’s wealth.
Before dying, Patrice Lumumba wrote: “History will one day have its say, but it will not be the history taught in Brussels, Washington, Paris, or at the United Nations, but the one taught in countries freed from colonialism and its puppets. Africa will write its own history, and it will be a story of glory and dignity, both north and south of the Sahara.”
Marc Botenga is MEP for the Workers’ Party of Belgium (PVDA-PTB), sits on the parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs and Subcommittee on Security and Defence, parliamentary delegations for relations with Palestine, the Africa-EU Parliamentary Assembly, and to the OACPS-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, which strengthens cooperation between the EU and the Organization of African, Caribbean, and Pacific States.
Source: https://x.com/BotengaM/
Image: Connormah – File:African Union (orthographic projection).svg, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8986316
Translation from French by Liberation.
The views expressed in the articles published on this website do not necessarily represent those of Liberation.
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