The news is splashed with reviews after the watershed Election. I wonder... Many thoughts ran through my mind when I was doing this research into the UN mission in Congo. I was very disturbed on the current plight of the nation. Said to be the richest country in terms of Natural Resources, in excess of US$24 Trillion, yet they are the 2nd poorest in terms of GDP per Capita. How can this be?
Greed, Corrupted Government
After the colonial masters left Congo, they were left to fend for themselves. A country boasting the size of Western Europe is definitely no small feat to manage. After the African War in the late 90s, neighbouring countries and rebels took the opportunity to control the mineral rich eastern Congo. The government has no control, or do they? They are earning huge royalties from mineral trading. Transparency International’s 2007 Corruption Perceptions Index identifies the DRC as one of the 10 most corrupt countries in the world and The World Bank rated the DRC’s enforcement of contracts as among the weakest in the world. http://www.economywatch.com/economic-statistics/Congo/Corruption_Perceptions_Index/. The judiciary’s ineffective enforcement of commercial contracts in the DRC has likely discouraged private sector investment and hence economic growth.
After their first election in 2006, efforts were made to strengthen this area. However, just look at their uniformed personnel who are paid a mere US$20 a month, and after a few months, many of them joined the militas instead. Why? Because they were set to "earn" more from looting.
Unstable Security Environment
Rape. The number 1 crime against human rights. An average of 48 women and girls are raped every hour in Congo. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13367277. They are raped not just by the militas and rebels, but the government's Army is also amongst the offenders. You can imagine. Walking down the streets and even at home, it is not safe.
Crime. The DRC army, DRC police and other security forces have killed and tortured civilians with total impunity, summary executions and more. Militias forcefully conscript children from the villages they raid, training them to kill, rob and rape. This video shows an interview of a Congolese boy emphasising the need to kill for his own survival. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpd3ykS4QOQ. Self-survival at the expense of others is a natural call for them.
Lack of Basic Infrastructure
Lets not even talk about basic telecommunications. There are no roads linking 9 of the DRC’s 10 provincial capitals to the national capital and no roads linking the DRC’s northern and southern regions or its eastern and western regions.
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08562t.pdf. This makes lines of communications impossible. While they have the richest natural resources, how would the nation move forward in the economical sense? Investors anyone?
Loyalty to Country and Values
Rape, rob, raid, killing. Fear of violence forces hundreds of thousands to flee from their homes. This makes them one of the largest groups of Internal Displaced Personnel in the world. To me, senseless rape and robbing arising from poverty have absolute no ethical values in our context, but is this a norm to them? Militias and rebels forcefully conscripted children from the village they raid. These children are inculcated with these values from young, they are being taught to rape and kill for survival and for witch magic. So do they have a sense of attachment to the country while trying to find new homes every now and then, do they value another person's rights to live?
My Views
So what do these lessons mean to us?
Greed sets the foundation for failure in a nation, the current state in Congo is a testimonial to it. Being paid well is not just about getting the correct profile into the national front, but also to prevent a catastrophe of structural breakdown in a country with no natural resources to turn to.
Inculcating values starts from young. Congo has proven that a child's mind is pure, and inculcating the wrong values may potentially tear down a harmonious relationship we commonly share in our society made up various ethnic races.
Communication and infrastructure remains an important component in our important economic growth. Our growth continues to depend very much on our value system and the infrastructural development in our country.
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