At the ongoing African Bar Association (AfBA) Conference in Accra, human rights activist and genocide survivor Claude Gatebuke, Executive Director of the African Great Lakes Action Network (AGLAN), delivered a powerful address on the topic “Foreign Interests in Africa: Investment or Exploitation?”
Gatebuke declared that Africa’s resource exploitation is not driven by faceless rebels but by state-backed aggression disguised as regional conflict. Citing the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as the epicenter of modern plunder, he accused neighboring Rwanda and Uganda of maintaining a decades-long invasion masked by proxy militias such as the M23 rebel group.
“These are not isolated rebel movements,” he said. “They are foreign armies operating under cover, violating international law and the sovereignty of Congo.”
He reminded delegates that Article 2(4) of the UN Charter prohibits the use of force against any state’s territorial integrity, stressing that the ongoing occupation of eastern Congo amounts to a grave breach of international law.
Gatebuke further condemned powerful nations for enabling the crisis through military, diplomatic, and financial support. “How do two of the poorest countries in the world wage a 30-year war against a larger nation? Because they are backed by powerful interests from the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union,” he said.
He revealed that in 2022, even as the EU condemned Rwanda’s role in Congo, it still granted Kigali a €17.21 million military package, underscoring what he called the hypocrisy of Western diplomacy.
Gatebuke described the situation as a global criminal enterprise involving multinational corporations and financial institutions that profit from Congo’s suffering. “These are not African conflicts; they are global operations managed through African soil,” he said.
He explained how Congo’s coltan, cobalt, gold, and tungsten — essential for smartphones, laptops, and electric vehicles — are smuggled into Rwanda and Uganda, rebranded as their exports, and sold on the global market. “These two countries do not have the mineral reserves they claim to export. The math doesn’t add up,” he stated.
According to him, Western and Gulf-based companies complete the chain by laundering these “blood minerals” through opaque financial systems. “Swiss traders, Canadian miners, Australian companies, and Qatari financiers are all part of this web,” he alleged. “Even countries lauded for human rights are complicit.”
Gatebuke outlined three pillars sustaining this neo-colonial exploitation — military aggression that enables theft, Western geopolitical cover that shields perpetrators, and global corporate greed that fuels the cycle.
He called for immediate respect for Congo’s sovereignty and the withdrawal of Rwandan and Ugandan forces, stressing that peace in Congo is key to Africa’s progress. “If Congo is stable, it can power and feed the continent. The Congo River alone can light up Africa,” he declared.
On justice, Gatebuke criticized repeated peace deals that offer amnesty to war criminals, calling them an incentive for further atrocities. “We cannot have peace without justice,” he warned. “Impunity breeds repetition.”
He urged African lawyers, governments, and civil society to demand the implementation of the 2010 UN Mapping Report, which documented mass atrocities in Congo, including acts that could constitute genocide if tried in a competent court.
“The report must not gather dust. Justice for Congo is justice for Africa,” Gatebuke concluded, drawing an ovation from delegates.
