Its immeasurable mineral resources have made the Congo the victim of a long history of Western greed, plunder, and genocidal violence. AFRICOM’s recent arrival in the Congo — ostensibly to fight ISIS — will only extend this history; we can be sure these military forces will do more to support the US looting of the Congo’s wealth than stopping terrorism.
On the night of August 13, 2021, a US Special Forces team arrived in Kinshasa, the “Democratic” Republic of the Congo. In a press release, the US embassy in Kinshasa notes that the US soldiers are in Congo at the invitation of the Congolese government. The ostensible goal is to fight the invisible and fabricated ISIS-DAESH, which the US State Department and Pentagon insist are in the Congo, even as multiple reports, including the UN Group of Experts, have categorically rejected that any ties exist in Congo between rebels called Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) and ISIS.