AFRICANOMICS: THE PRICE TAG OF AFRICAN TYRANNIES

When the current unnamable dictators of Rwanda and Uganda invaded the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1996 to kill, rape, and loot DRC’s natural resources, nobody had a clue that the United Nations peacekeeping force sent to the DRC in 1999 would cost foreign taxpayers in the developed world 1.3 billion dollars a year and for at least the following 16 years.

Now let’s do the numbers. The United Nations have spent over 21 billion dollars in the last 16 years to run a force of 22,000  uniformed personnel and carry out a series of military operations there to stop the looting and killings sponsored by Rwanda and Uganda. If we have to put a partial price tag of these two tyrannical regimes, 1.3 billion dollars per year (roughly over 21 billion dollars inflation adjusted for the past 16 years) is the most conservative figure to start with.

Source:  http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/monusco/facts.shtml)

To this initial price tag of just two African tyrannies, which by far is only a tip of the iceberg, we must add human lives lost as a result of wars sponsored by Rwanda and Uganda inside the D.R. Congo.  Again, there is no hidden secret here: those wars have caused the death of over 5.4 million Congolese, mostly in eastern Congo. Several thousands of women were raped by Rwandan troops, Ugandan troops, the DRC government troops, and rebels armed by Rwanda and Uganda. Congo’s natural resources have been systematically looted in the meantime. Organized crime at unprecedented proportions in recent world history!

The list of atrocities by these two career criminals behind the presidential desks of Rwanda and Uganda has been well documented by the United Nations and other independent sources.  Here is just a sample of what the world knows so far:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/794496.stm

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/16/world/rwanda-and-uganda-battling-to-control-key-city-in-congo.html

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/11/28/f-vp-macinnes-rae-congo.html?cmp=rss

http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?sum=574&p1=3&p2=3&case=116&p3=5

http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/2012/843

www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/CD/DRC_MAPPING_REPORT_FINAL_EN.pdf

No doubt, the price tag of African tyrannies is too high for foreign taxpayers and for Africans themselves. We are dealing with career criminals behind presidential desks and the civilized world can no longer afford subsidizing African tyrannies directly or via the United Nations.  

AFRICA'S PROBLEM = CAREER CRIMINALS (AKA DICTATORS) + DOMESTIC ORGANIZED CRIME + TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME

I have repeated scores of time: Africa’s organized crime dwarfs Sicily’s Mafia to the point Mafiosi look like Mediterranean pygmies. That organized crime has hijacked Africa for 55 years, impeded human development and reduced hundreds of millions to misery is no secret to anyone. Independent international organizations, including the United Nations, have published reports on the scavenging behaviors of Africa’s career criminals behind presidential desks. That species, with its corrosive stomach acid, is not ready to stop feeding on Africa’s fragile economies. Ask any African and you will hear the same response: politics is the privileged venue to become rich. Translation: if you join national organized crime via politics, chances are you will not starve! That is the source of Africa’s tragedy.

It is Africans’ sole responsibility to devise creative solutions to get rid of their career criminals behind presidential desks. The task is not an easy one given the corruption web tyrants have woven for over 55 years and the career criminals’ survival instincts. Given Africa’s limited influence on world politics and transnational organized crime, Africans must focus on the parts of the equation they have control over. In other words, it is their responsibility to (1) set clear goals, i.e., dismantle and destroy domestic organized crime and its many identifiable criminals, including those career criminals behind presidential desks; (2) devise strategies and tactics to eliminate all forms of tyranny; (3) carry out those strategies and tactics to create dictatorship-free zones across the continent; (4) built institutions that strengthen the rule of law, democracy, and human rights.