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CongoBoston: This
interview was given
by a US citizen who
participated in the last
Washington DC's June
30th- Congolese
Challenge March. I will
have you discover his
thoughts about what is
going on in Congo. Mr
Brad David got involved
with logistic support
in organizing along with
Dignity Inc this civil
action.
CB: My first
question to you is to
know your name; and
meeting you in the midst
of this Congolese March, who are
you exactly?
David Brad: My
name is Brad David. I’m
an American, originally,
from Illinois, and I’m
also student here at the
American University in
Washington DC; I'm
master’s degree student
in comparative political
economy as related to
Africa. The Congo has
been one of my main
focuses.
CB: What do you
know about the Congo,
briefly?
David Brad: I
have studied the history
and I initially read an
easy-to-read book called
“King Leopold II ghost”,
and I was shocked
(amazed) at the level of
atrocity and horrors
that occurred in the
Congo, and I was really
surprised as of the role
that the US had played in
those atrocities.
Obviously the Belgian
government committed
these atrocities, but
the US was the first
bilateral country to
sanction King Leopold on
what supposedly was an
humanitarian venture in
the Congo, and which ended up in the raping
of the Congo.
CB: How would you
describe what happened
back then with King
Leopold II exploitation to what is
going on right now;
while knowing that the
Congo has an unstable
political Regime, with
the
country’s territory now invaded?
David Brad: One
of the comparisons that
I could make is that
The "Force Publique”
officers at that time,
you had perverted
Burundi's and Nigerian
soldiers coming into the
Congo, a foreign soil
under the Belgian
government. They were
committing these
atrocities: killing,
cutting of hands,
raping and forcing
people to labor for the
benefit of the
colony. Today, you have
Rwandan and Ugandan
soldiers, and in the
last seven years
Zimbabwe, Angola, and
several countries coming into the
Congo; where they were
involved directly in
war, backing either side
of several rebels groups.
We see a picture of
several military
factions
fighting in the
same vast Congolese territory. I definitely
see some similarities. I
would also like to say
that the first Kabila's
regime has got a lot of
responsibilities because
it has carry on the reason why
these Rwandan troops
came in the country in
the first place. You can
definitely go back to
Rwandan genocide and see
that the actual US
government feels really
bad about
what happened in the
Rwanda. On the other
hand, knowing that the
genocide was taking
place the US government
did not do any thing
about it. The US
government is very
careful not to say
anything bad about
Rwanda; -which I feel is
a mistake in the case of
the Eastern Congo. We
should be holding governments of Rwanda and
Uganda responsible for
many of these atrocities
that are going on in the
Congo.And also, the
current Congolese
government as well has
not been totally
innocent in this
internal civil war.
CB: I have some
facts here about Iraqis
who invaded Kuwait; the US government sent
troops, and with the
international coalition
they kicked invaders out of
Kuwait, freeing that
land by force. Why is that
the US is not doing
anything in the Congo?
David Brad:
There
is no question to me
here that there is a
double standard. It’s
plain and simple. And
the reason why there’s
a double standard is
because the US
government is going
after his interests of
national security.
Obviously, in the wake
of the debacle in Iraq I
would argue that there
are far more reasons to
get involved in the Congo,
than it is to fight in
Kuwait, likewise now in
the Iraqi soil once again.
CB: Talking about
the Congo, in terms of
its minerals,
oil, and all kind of
riches that the country
have. The US had benefit
from it during the cold
war. We were kids when
back in the 60’s the
Uranium from the Congo
was transported to the
US to have the atomic
Bomb launched.Why is it that all US
administrations at the
white house don't do
anything to protect its
African ally, like it
was done in Sierra- Leone
or other countries?
David Brad: I
would say that the US
was not really involved
in the Sierra-Leone. The
British government did
the bulk of the work.
And we still have that one problem
with the United States;
they like to say; "This
is not our problem. Its
Belgians' problem or... France
should take the lead".
But you know the US has
an economy almost doubled
in size as the second
largest economy as
Japan. We are the
biggest kid in the
block. I definitely
think we should take
some responsibilities.
CB: What would
you do as a student to
let people out there in
the campus, in the
streets or families know
your concerns about
the Congo?
David Brad: Well,
what I do is that I’m
part of the student
organization group on
campus, called “students
organization for African
studies”. Three times,
we brought on the campus
Dignity, Inc, which is
the organizer of this
march. They came to
either hold
a meeting or a
rally with various
themes. But this is just
a small aspect of what
we can do. And to be
honest, it’s not
reaching a wide
audience as it should, but only the
people who are
interested to come to
those meetings
CB: What needs to
be done to reach the
widest audience, the
influent one; I mean
Senators and House
Representatives?
David Brad: To
reach Senators or
Representatives,
certainly letters and
calls and those sort of
things would have an
effect. But, I would say
that many Senators and
House representatives
kwon what's going on in
the Congo. And many of
them do care. In fact, I was
an intern at the House's
sub-committee on Africa.
I worked here on the Capital
Hill; I know that
many representatives do
care about what’s going
on. But the real power,
in terms of foreign
policies, is within the
Administration... the state
department, and the defense
department. These are
the huge budget overseas
and also the US AID.
They are all controlled by
the Congress but the
Administration has the
bulk of power.
CB: The US AID
agency in
the Congo was suspended
for several years after
Mobutu regime crumbled.
Should we understand by
these facts that the US government
did not care any more?
Especially, while we
know the US AID to be of
good logistic support,
education, healthcare
and human resource
training in a developing
country like the Congo
David Brad: You
make an interesting
point that the US AID was
suspended.
CB: My father
worked for the US AID as
a Senior Human Resource
Development Specialist for
more than 25 years
until when the new
regime came in, and
shortly before the civil war.
David Brad: Well, policy-makers
here in the US tell us
we are very involved; we've
spent there many
millions dollars in
humanitarian relief. The
US AID may have financed
a lot of programs
overseas, but it’s a
drop in the bucket.
Compare to what it has sent to Iraq, it’s
ridiculous. What I would
like the Administration
and the US AID, if they
want to be more present
in the Congo is to
realize that yes we
should do the
humanitarian relief, but
those are “Band-Aid”
temporary solutions.
There are huge problems that
need to be addressed in
the Congo: problems of
security; lack of
democracy, and I probably
don’t have time to
go into my theories on
development, but the
bottom line is that our
leaders need to
understand that there is
a systemic problem that
needs to be addressed and
until they will address
it, we will keep doing “Band-Aid” solutions.
CB: This
interview would be online; and our website
is viewed by the majority
of Congolese communities
around the continental
US, in Europe and in Africa;
Just so you know
there will be many
people who will be
reading your interview
in a bilingual form
(French and English). Do
you have a particular
message to
all these Congolese
people around the world
right now?
David Brad: Oh,
that’s pretty heavy!
CB:
You bet it is!
David Brad: I
wish things were
different; As an
American citizen, I wish
things were different
from what they are right
now. I believe that they
will change someday. I have to
believe that this will
change -the tide will
turn. I would like also
to apologize for the
actions of my own
government. I may not
personally taking
responsibility for what
is going, but I’m
ashamed of the US
foreign policies.
Congoboston:
Thank you, Sir ...That
was really deep. Well,
we will keep in touch,
and will
contact you anytime with
subjects of discussion
pertaining to the Congo.
On the behalf of our
editorial's staff and
all the Congolese people
and many other surfers
of Congoboston,
we would like to thank
you and to appreciate
you very much for giving
us your time and this
interview.
Recorded in the
Eastern-side garden at
the US Capitol
Washington DC, on June 30th
2004
Interview by
Franklin katunda
Congoboston’s Chief-Editor
(c)
Congoboston, July 2004 |
