TWO CROOKS
President Mobutu Sese Seko of Congo, a charismatic former army sergeant who would become a corrupt, luxury-loving dictator, saw the Americans as an ideal partner in his bid to grow the country’s mining wealth. The book, “Confessions of an Economic Hitman” outlines neocolonialist strategies to wield overwhelming power in the world. If Africa continues to lose control of its vast resources through those who sell it out, all will be lost. it’s ascension as a preeminent world power will be lost. The formation of the United States of Africa is an essential step which must be taken lest the ploy of “divide and conquer” continues to be easily undertaken by powerful interests wanting to unfairly capture African resources.
Hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. aid had already been sent to Mobutu. Now Nixon agreed to give him several giant C-130 transport planes, including one that would later be loaded with $60,000 worth of Coca-Cola, at Mobutu’s insistence. The Congolese leader would convert one of the planes into his presidential aircraft, lining the pilot seats in leopard skin. “Whatever Mobutu wants, give it to him,” Herman J. Cohen, an American diplomat in Congo at the time, recalled Nixon signaling to his administration.
To access Congo’s rich mineral resources, Presidents starting with Dwight D. Eisenhower had sent hundreds of millions of dollars in aid, including transport planes and other military equipment, to the mineral-rich nation. Securing U.S. interests there was a topic of presidential-level concern and involved extensive interventions by the Central Intelligence Agency. By the mid-1960s, the C.I.A. had set up one of its most extensive operations in the country, secretly bankrolling a small army of mercenaries and Congolese troops. The agency ran missions with the help of U.S. warplanes to suppress Soviet-backed rebels. Corporate America saw the U.S. intervention as an opportunity to make money while promoting American-brand capitalism. Citibank, General Motors, Goodyear and others set up manufacturing outposts or offices in Congo.
Freeport-McMoRan had developed one of the most modern and productive cobalt and copper mines in the world, and before long, the Congolese government began pressuring the company for a bigger share of the profits.
The company turned to the U.S. government to help push back, and the State Department, under Mrs. Clinton, dispatched the American ambassador to the mine.
The ambassador, William J. Garvelink, told Congolese officials that “Freeport-McMoRan (unlike other companies which he described as ‘cowboys’ coming to the DRC only to try to make money quickly) has a long-term vision of its operations in the country,” according to a cable that described a May 2009 meeting.
Congo largely backed down, agreeing to a relatively modest increase in its ownership stake, to 20 percent from 17. During the Obama administration thE focus at the time for American diplomats in Congo centered on trying to urge President Joseph Kabila out of office. He had taken over after his father was assassinated in 2001 and spent much of the next 15 years looting millions of dollars from the public treasury.
Flush with cash, the Chinese have acquired the largest by far cobalt mine in the world. Cobalt is essential and Babylon will not get its hands on this rich supply. Learn more about cobalt HERE.
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