Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Wild Rumor Reported as Fact

Digital Congo features a story alleging that Western powers are conspiring to replace President Kabila with Léon Kengo Wa Dondo. Why would the West want to do that? Because of Kabila's efforts to diversify his contacts with other nations, particularly China--which, says Digital Congo, threatens the West's ability to exploit the DRC as it has since the Berlin Conference of 1885.

OK--it's true that the West did help bring down the Congo's first democratically elected leader. And it's true that Kengo was a darling of the late Bush/early Clinton Africa administration, and that said administration played a fairly nefarious role in preventing Tshisekedi from becoming prime minister during the SNC in 1990-91. Still, the West just doesn't care enough about Congo to attempt a coup d'etat, for any reason. The sooner Congolese realize how little the Congo matters to the West--and to the US, in particular--the more they will realize that their destiny lies largely in their own hands. And the better off they will be.

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