What is Congo by David van Reybrouck all about?

Answer 1

In the broad sense of the word, David Van Reybrouck describes the struggle, which the population of Congo in Central Africa have been going through ever since King Leopold II decided to claim the country his own.

The root of the problem is that the state system in Congo de facto has no real power. By looking at Helle Malmvig's failed state model, or looking at the international failed state index, you'll see that the state's lack of penetration capacity and the lack of trust in the established government are just some of the major issues which Congo is currently facing.

On top of this, Congo is a HUGE country, and more than six times as big as Iraq, and the Congolese people are known to have several hundred languages. Roads and other infrastructure is largely non-existent. Moreover, travelling from one part of the country (from West to East-Congo) may take several months. It is often done by plane, though, but if you are out of luck and money, you will have to do it by foot or boat. In a canoe, it will take roughly 3 months to go all the way down river, provided you are not ambushed by some militia who want your money.

In his book, David Van Reybrouck describes all this and more. The essence of the book's message is that all the different "players" with their various agendas all want the same thing: Power and control over the vast Congo resources. These resources include uranium, diamonds, gold, coal, and oil.

Another problem in Congo is that the state's territorial sovereignty is impossible to uphold. Anyone can walk into Congo from any of the neighbouring countries. And more interestingly, as a big part of Congo consists of fertile jungle, many rebel groups just hike into the jungle and live off the land. This makes dealing with the para-military groups and their various agendas is difficult. How do you destroy or contain a militant group with an unlimited flow of Natural Resources?

Often these groups plunder local towns and seek to control local mining in order to enrich themselves and to promote their agenda.

The UN forces currently deployed in Congo (often referred to as MONUSCO - or Mission de l'Organisation des Nations Unies en République démocratique du Congo) are roughly from these countries (not including the Brits): India, Bangladesh, Egypt, Pakistan, Tanzania and South Africa. Moreover, the fact is that to most of the soldiers, their deployment is just a job, a way of earning a living, and they honestly will not risk their lives for the average Congolese. Basically, the idea of a white soldier doing anything positive for the common Congolese population will probably make the locals laugh at you and shake their heads.

According to Mubutu (see pp. 368 in the hardback edition); "(...) killing a few whites is the only way you'll get the western armies to fight your cause - all you have to do is blame the killings on your adversaries."

150,000 American troops (not including all the other contributors) could not control Iraq (note that as of 2011, there are only 40.000 US troops left).

Now realize that the UN contribution to MONUSCO as of 30 June 2013, the total number of personnel in the mission is 20,438... And that is the total number including the Brits, trying to manage a jungle nation six times larger than Iraq.

Side note and another "fun fact". In his introduction to the book, and in the first few pages, David talks about an old, almost ancient looking Congolese man, who is wearing a set of very worn and scratched glasses which he can hardly see through, and is only held in place with a rubber band. That man was Etienne Nkasi, the man portrayed on the cover of the book. A man who supposedly lived from 1882 to 2010, and experienced the fate of Congo, first hand. May he rest in peace.