This Is Congo (2017) - full transcript

This programme contains scenes which

some viewers may find upsetting

SINGING IN OWN LANGUAGE

SHEEP BLEAT

THEY CHATTER TO EACH OTHER

BABY CRIES

EXPLOSION

LOUD GUNSHOTS

GUNSHOTS BECOME MORE FREQUENT

CONTINUOUS GUNSHOTS

VOLCANO RUMBLES

SHOUTING AND SCREAMS

TRANSLATION: The name Kasongo

is not my name.

Kasongo is an alias.

What I can tell you is that I am

a high-ranking officer,

in the Congolese army.

TRANSLATION: As long as the

Congolese leaders...

..do not have a patriotic sense...

..Congo will stagnate in

misery forever.

NEWS REPORT: It's election time in

one of Africa's most chaotic

countries and no-one in Congo

is expecting a smooth ride.

GUNSHOTS

POLICE SIRENS

Our country has almost

no system of governance.

Our national army is disorganised

and poorly paid.

Because of this, sergeants will

sometimes leave the army

to join rebel groups.

The government eventually negotiates

with these rebels

and then fits them back

into the army,

often with a higher ranking position

than they had before.

The rebels who started this current

war call themselves the M23.

Makenga is the acting leader,

but he used to be a colonel

in our national army.

I have joined rebel groups three

times and our hope was always

that it would bring stabilisation

to Congo on all levels,

on a social level,

on an economic level, but no.

The fighting continues.

HE SCREAMS

EXCITED CHATTER

THEY SING IN OWN LANGUAGE

NEWSREEL: The Congo, in the heart of

Equatorial Africa,

is three times larger than Texas.

The Congo is a giant country.

It has several mountains, waterways

and a lot of minerals,

especially here in the East.

I think America remembers the

souvenir that Congo gave them.

It was with our uranium that they

bombed Nagasaki and Hiroshima,

which made them the superpower.

When it comes to our mineral wealth,

Congo is a bit of a

geological scandal.

Understand that the population does

not benefit at all

from the product of our wealth.

Where does the money go?

It gets diverted into the pockets of

corrupt leaders, big men,

big organisations and even foreign

powers that profit,

while the Congo doesn't.

The victims are the

Congolese themselves.

SINGING IN OWN LANGUAGE

DRUMMING

MUSIC: Kampeni, by Bahati Bukuku.

Goma is the centre of the North and

South Kivu provinces.

It is a strategic town in the

region.

Goma is the economic heartland.

There are more than a million people

here.

This is where all the natural

resources are brought in,

this is where

they are exported from.

Goma sits on Lake Kivu and is on the

border of Rwanda.

It is also close to the border of

Uganda.

The rebels have now steadily been

making their way

from their base near the border with

Uganda

towards Goma, the main city here.

There are more than 450 tribes here

in Congo and all of them are

represented here.

This is a hugely mineral-rich part

of the country.

It is also very, very far from

Kinshasa, the capital,

so government doesn't really reach

here properly.

The main power is the power of the

gun,

and whoever controls that

controls also potentially

very lucrative deals.

This instability has brought others,

as well.

Just outside Goma is a dense forest.

This forest makes a good hideout for

anyone

who wants to start a rebellion.

Here, you can conquer a plot of

land,

collect villagers from the area

under your control

and have them exploit minerals and

sell them for you.

Then you can buy guns, weapons and

you can buy food.

Other than the M23 rebels, there are

more than 50 armed groups out there.

If today, I decide to go into

the forest and start a rebellion,

I will have people to follow me.

All these rebel groups are confusing

to even the Congolese.

They all have different acronyms

that claim to stand for freedom,

liberation or democracy,

but they only succeed in terrorising

the population.

Everything that is happening in this

war has been done before.

The M23 are threatening to take Goma

unless the government gives them key

positions in this region.

It is no coincidence that these

rebellions occur near our borders.

A Human Rights Watch report draws

a link between Rwanda and M23.

Two neighbouring countries,

Rwanda and Uganda,

have been accused of backing M23.

Rwanda firmly denies any

involvement.

There is no evidence, there are no

facts.

Because it is not happening.

EXPLOSIONS, GUNFIRE AND SHOUTING

Just about five minutes ago,

M23 rebels walked through

the streets of Goma

without anyone stopping them.

They have definitely had

outside help.

Government troops retreated and UN

peacekeepers stood by, watching.

The Congolese national army has seen

a catastrophic collapse in morale

over the last few days in

particular.

The head of the land forces was

fired

for allegedly covertly backing

the rebels.

A series of talks have been taking

place

over the past week in an attempt to

resolve the crisis.

Their trucks packed with ammunition

and soldiers,

M23 rebels left the city

they had conquered 12 days ago.

to listen to and address the rebels'

grievances.

Everything will be OK if they agree

to the demands.

If President Kabila or anybody else

provokes us, we will be back.

People have lost trust in their

government,

and the United Nations' ability to

protect them.

In regards to the international

community...

..a stranger would never find you

a solution in your own country.

But, since our independence,

we have never been given a chance to

govern ourselves

without interference

from the outside.

June 30, 1960, independence

comes to the Belgian Congo.

King Baudouin himself flies

to the capital city of Leopoldville

to break the bonds

that have linked his country

and its African colony for 75 years.

Lumumba, the first Prime Minister of

Congo, was a nationalist.

But the Americans thought he had

Communist tendencies.

The Russians had backed Lumumba,

given military and other aid,

as East vied with West

to gain influence in the Congo.

For the Americans,

during the Cold War,

they had to find a man to get rid of

Lumumba.

And that is how they thought of

Mobutu.

In the Army, he was known as the

most brilliant.

Colonel Mobutu forced the Russians

to close their embassy,

leave the Congo.

Mobutu was used by the CIA.

He saw the capitalists to the

detriment of communism.

A new chapter begins in the dark and

tragic history of the Congo with

the return to Leopoldville of the

deposed premier Lumumba,

following his capture by crack

commandos

of strongman Colonel Mobutu.

Here you see him on his third

arrest.

One from which he went to a

mysterious death.

With the support of the Americans,

Mobutu imposed a dictatorship

for 32 years.

I grew up during that time.

When he came into power,

in the beginning, I must say he was

good.

The economy of the country was

strong, very strong.

The Congo produced

many university graduates,

and the world respected

many of these Congolese.

At least in those years, Congo

was still moving forward a bit.

Then, all of a sudden,

he re-baptised the Congo

with the name of Zaire.

Almost everything changed.

While he remained a vital ally to

the West,

he expelled all the foreign

investors that were here.

When they left,

all the factories,

all the big plantations were

acquired by Mobutu's colleagues,

but they did not know how to run

them.

There were no executives.

Businessmen were replaced

by inadequate people.

Money was embezzled and

where there's corruption,

development can't exist.

Mobutu looted his country's diamond

and copper mines.

He pocketed international aid.

Even offices were housed in this

slum.

Just a few kilometres away from

President Mobutu's

opulent lakeside villa.

That same system of corruption has

become a Congolese tradition.

And it is even worse today.

We are living the consequence.

More obstacles to peace in the

Democratic Republic of Congo.

Government police are hearing

complaints

of pillage or worse by M23.

When M23 was formed,

its core demand was to be

reintegrated

into the Congolese Army,

with better pay and ranks.

Now, it is talking about setting up

its own government,

with its own collection of taxes.

The UN mission could do little to

stop M23 rebels

when they swept into the city of

Goma.

The UN's response?

A new batch of troops with a wider

offensive mandate.

It could take months for

an intervention force to be in place

here.

During that time, M23 could make

another attempt to take Goma.

EXPLOSION

EXPLOSION AND GUNFIRE

The fact that Rwanda supports all

these rebellions

with their close ally, Uganda, no

secret.

For us, it is known.

For the past 20 years, Rwanda has

fought to control this region.

They have massacred many Congolese.

So, all the killings they have done,

really turned the Congolese against

the Rwandans.

But, especially against

the Tutsi tribe.

All this began when the colonisers

entered the region,

and created a tribal hierarchy.

In Rwanda, with the support of the

Belgians,

the Tutsi really crushed

the Hutu for almost 40 years.

This created an ethnic tension

that would eventually erupt.

In Rwanda, after the genocide,

Tutsi rebel leader, Paul Kagame,

who received military training

in America, took power.

Fearing revenge killings,

the majority of the Hutu tribe fled

across the border into Congo.

Civil War in Rwanda drove more than

a million people across the border

into Zaire.

It is the biggest exodus Africa has

ever seen.

Hutu genocidaires hid among these

refugees

and started plotting their

return to power.

This is part of the reason

Rwanda began covert involvement in

the Congo.

But it seems they have other

ambitions as well.

The Rwandan genocide marked

the beginning of the cycle of war

that has plagued Congo for two

decades.

Rwanda always says they are not

involved, but they are.

Myself, I am a witness.

I know what I'm talking about.

All three rebel groups I joined

were supported by Rwanda.

This Thursday, M23 shells hit the

outskirts of Goma,

killing a woman and a child, and a

rocket struck the nearby village,

killing two and injuring the others.

There is growing anger about the

deaths of civilians

over the last few weeks,

and criticism that peacekeepers

didn't prevent the killings.

Meanwhile, hundreds of angry

residents took to the streets

and were calling for President

Kabila to step down.

They accuse him of incompetence,

in flushing out the rebels who

continue to destabilise the region.

Throughout history,

tribalism has been used.

Just as religion is often used by

people in power,

to manipulate the population.

This creates tension that can erupt

at any moment,

because the Congolese are living

a life of frustration.

If our government does not impose

itself to end this narrative,

then we are just constructing our

state upon a fire.

Tomorrow it will burn again.

We are Congolese.

This is our country.

BANGING

SHOTS AND YELLING

Down here is the shot.

He heard the shot.

Yeah, noted.

The soldiers of the Democratic

Republic of Congo have made

a decisive gain in their battle with

fighters in the M23 rebel movement.

The M23 say they now want

the fighting to stop.

The superior firepower of the

Congolese army,

heavily supported by the UN,

has backed the rebels into a corner.

Congolese soldiers say that some of

the dissidents

who gave themselves up

are from Uganda and Rwanda.

But the rebels' recent strings of

defeats

suggests any foreign support

had stopped.

The M23 rebel group in

the Democratic Republic of Congo

has called an end

to its 20-month insurgency.

The rebels surrendered overnight and

those that remained

fled across the

border into Rwanda or Uganda.

Rebel military leader

Sultani Makenga is believed

to have escaped into Uganda.

Mamadou! Mamadou! Mamadou!

Mamadou!

Merci.

GUNSHOTS

SOBBING

GUNSHOTS

I liked him very much.

I am very saddened by his death.

He never retreated on a battlefield.

He had a strong sense of patriotism.

That's how he built this popularity

with the people.

Even though he was

a very distinguished boy,

he was also very young

and he wanted to be a star.

Frankly, this was really a weakness.

A very big weakness.

It was not the enemy who killed

Mamadou.

It was his colleagues.

There was an element of jealousy.

So they stopped him dead in his

tracks.