Hands off DRC,Africa – Pope Francis
By Fanny Kalonda
STOP choking Africa, it is not a mine to be stripped or a terrain to be plundered, says Pope Francis.
Shortly after landing in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Tuesday, Pope Francis delivered a speech full of stinging condemnation of the exploitation over centuries – not just of this country, but also the continent.
“Dear friends, diamonds are usually rare, yet here they are abundant. If that is true of the material wealth hidden in the soil, it is even more true of the spiritual wealth present within your hearts. For it is from hearts that peace and development are born, because, with God’s help, men and women are capable of justice and of forgiveness, of concord and reconciliation, of commitment and perseverance in putting to good use the many talents they have received.
Here, at the beginning of my journey, I want to appeal to you: may every Congolese feel called to do his or her part! May violence and hatred no longer find room in the heart or on the lips of anyone, since these are inhuman and unchristian sentiments that arrest development and bring us back to a gloomy past,” he said. “In the light of arrested development and regression to the past, it is a tragedy that these lands, and more generally the whole African continent, continue to endure various forms of exploitation.
There is a slogan that emerges from the subconscious of many cultures and peoples: ‘Africa must be exploited’. This is terrible! Political exploitation gave way to an ‘economic colonialism’ that was equally enslaving. As a result, this country, massively plundered, has not benefited adequately from its immense resources: paradoxically, the riches of its land have made it ‘foreign’ to its very inhabitants. The poison of greed has smeared its diamonds with blood.
This is a tragedy to which the economically more advanced world often closes its eyes, ears and mouth. Yet this country and this continent deserve to be respected and listened to; they deserve to find space and receive attention. Hands off the Democratic Republic of the Congo! Hands off Africa! Stop choking Africa: it is not a mine to be stripped or a terrain to be plundered. May Africa be the protagonist of its own destiny! May the world acknowledge the catastrophic things that were done over the centuries to the detriment of the local peoples, and not forget this country and this continent. May Africa, the smile and hope of the world, count for more.
May it be spoken of more frequently, and have greater weight and prestige among the nations!”
Pope Francis said room needs to be made for diplomacy that is authentically human, “for a diplomacy where peoples are concerned for other peoples, for a diplomacy centred not on control over land and resources, expansionism and increased profits, but rather on providing opportunities for people to grow and develop”.
“In the case of this people, one has the impression that the international community has practically resigned itself to the violence devouring it. We cannot grow accustomed to the bloodshed that has marked this country for decades, causing millions of deaths that remain mostly unknown elsewhere. What is happening here needs to be known. The current peace processes, which I greatly encourage, need to be sustained by concrete deeds, and commitments should be maintained,” said Pope Francis. “Thank God, there are those who are contributing to the good of the local population and to a genuine development through successful projects: not merely through handouts but through projects aimed at an integral development.
I express immense gratitude to the countries and the organisations that are providing substantial aid in this regard, helping to combat poverty and disease, supporting the rule of law and promoting respect for human rights. It is my hope that they can continue to carry out these efforts courageously and to the full. Let us think again of the diamond. Once polished, its beauty also derives from its shape, from the harmonious arrangement of its many facets. In the same way, this country, with its precious legacy of pluralism, has a ‘polyhedral’ character. That richness must be preserved, avoiding any form of regression to tribalism and hostility.
A partisan spirit that stubbornly promotes one’s own ethnic group or particular interests, thus nurturing spirals of hatred and violence, is detrimental to everyone, since it blocks the necessary ‘chemistry of the whole’. Indeed, from a chemical standpoint, it is interesting that diamonds are made up of simple atoms of carbon which, if differently bonded, form graphite: in effect, the difference between the brilliance of the diamond and the darkness of graphite comes from the way the individual atoms are arranged within the crystalline network. Leaving aside the metaphor, the problem is not human nature or the nature of ethnic and social groups, but the way in which they choose to live together: their willingness or not to encounter one another, to be reconciled and to start anew makes the difference between the grimness of conflict and a radiant future of peace and prosperity.”