Congo’s young people demand weapons to fight against Kabila’s regime following his assassination of a traditional leader and other crimes against the African working class

LONDON––In August 2016, the illegitimate and illegal Congolese government run by Joseph Kabila, Evariste Boshab, Lambert Mende and others performed a coward assassination of Kamuina Nsapu, a traditional leader in Tshimbulu Town, West Kasai province of Congo.

The Nsapu assassination and subsequent massacres of his followers by arms of the State have outraged massive numbers of people across Congo and around the world.

Videos and photos that showed horrific massacres of defenseless children and elderly African women went viral, forcing the hypocritical UN to investigate the carnage.

One cannot comprehend the level of inhumanity displayed in these videos by the thuggish neocolonial soldiers against the people. Bodies, including those of children, were butchered.

Some of the soldiers could be heard saying that they would execute everyone. The bourgeois press has claimed 400 people have been killed since the conflict broke out.

Since February, the circulation of the massacre videos on the social media have forced Kabila’s government to defend itself in the press in face of such a blood bath.

The government’s spokesman, Lambert Mende, unsurprisingly lied about the first video. He said it was fake, that is was made up by some Congolese forces based in Belgium in opposition to Kabila’s government.

The government has since retracted, however, and was forced to make arrests of seven soldiers supposedly responsible for those murders shown in the video.

The white ruling class expose their own lies

The white press, which was silent on the current Congo genocide of 10 million people, got involved because two white UN human rights workers from U.S. and Sweden went missing in the region on March 12 of this year.

Four Africans accompanied the UN workers during their mission. One African was an interpreter, and the other three were motorcyclists for the mission, since one of the only feasible modes of transport in these neglected part of Congo is via motorcycle.

That is how the international press began to timidly talk about this crisis. In February, UN workers discovered mass graves; three in Tshimbulu and seven in Demba.

The two white UN workers’ dead bodies were also found in the mass graves, which forced the UN to reveal their existence. By April 23rd, the count of the mass graves officially reached 40, and will continue to grow if they dare to investigate for more.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, accused the world body of aiding a “corrupt” government in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” before contradicting herself by saying that “the UN peacekeeping mission is mandated to partner with the government.” (AllAfrica.com)

History and context

The traditional leader––formally known as Jean Pierre Pandi, who was a medical doctor in South Africa––was forced to return to Congo to become the new traditional leader, in replacement of his father, who died in West Kasai province.

In this part of Congo, new traditional leaders receive the name of “Kamuina Nsapu” after their enthronements. So Jean Pierre Pandi became “Kamuina Nsapu.”

The law is clear that in the case of vacancy, the local administration is qualified to proceed to the enthronization of the new ruler.

The neocolonial government of Joseph Kabila, however, as the ones before him, has been busy buying off traditional rulers or replacing traditional rulers with more malleable illegitimate representatives.

The new Kamuina Nsapu made criticisms of the neocolonial regime that was known to the neocolonial rulers themselves. This posed a problem for the neocolonialists.

“Kamuina Nsapu…has lamented the negligence of the Congolese State since its accession to independence, and recommended recognizing and operating traditional power, a natural emanation of nationality,” explained the Congolese deputy prime minister, Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary in January 2016.

In the article by Jean Bosco Kongolo, The Organization of Catholic Bishops, he explains the basis of the criticism of Kamuina Nsapu of the neocolonial regime:

“After nearly 60 years of independence, our country is going round in circles and the state is unable to provide citizens with basic services such as social security, health care, hygiene, drinking water, electricity, school and housing.

“Impunity is widespread. The security for the people and their property is uncertain, with intimidation, looting, rape, displacement of communities and massacres that we know. Republican institutions are not often at the service of the People.”

The neocolonial authority escalated its conflict when, in the absence Kamuina Nsapu, they raided his house and abused his wife and his symbols of traditional authority.

In response, Kamuina Nsapu mobilized his base, comprised mostly of young people in Tshimbulu with barricades, and called on them to defend the “Congolese land from foreign occupation and mercenaries.”

The intervention of the State grew with more massacres against our impoverished people in Congo. Thousands were murdered, including Kamuina Nsapu himself. His naked body  was exposed to the public. He was exhumed in a secret location.

Why was traditional leader Kamuina Nsapu murdered?

It is clear that Kamuina Nsapu was killed because he sided with the people; he refused to surrender to Joseph Kabila’s power, a servant of foreign imperialist powers in the Congo.

His struggle has reverberated in all corners of Congo, particularly in neighboring provinces, where similar rebellions are calling themselves Kamuina Nsapu.

The demands from young people for weapons to fight against Kabila’s regime are getting louder.

It is in this historical time that the most advanced detachment of the African working class needs to strategically intervene to move the process forward.

We want to make the people on the ground and outside Congo fully aware that the first weapon we must acquire is the Party, that is the African Peoples Socialist Party (APSP), equipped with the collective experiences of 600 years of resistance to white power and 56 years of experience of fighting neocolonialism (white power in black face) in Congo and around the world.

We are aware that the most important contradiction that needs to be solved, despite the intensity of the crisis, is the building of an operational revolutionary Party of the African working class, prepared to mobilize and fight for a Congo Front of the African Revolution.

This Party must take on urgent tasks of recruiting and developing cadres needed to stir the emerging anti-neocolonial resistance to a revolutionary struggle of the African workers and poor peasants for power, uniting the short term demands with the long term strategic demands of the revolution.

The specter of Pierre Mulele who organized poor peasants in a revolutionary overthrow of the neocolonial power is back. Because of African Internationalism, this time our movement will be a million times bigger and more powerful.

Build the African People’s Socialist Party in Congo

The Party of the African workers and poor peasants

APSPUhuru.org