Rare access inside one of the world’s longest-running conflicts
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is home to Africa’s longest continuing conflict. In this film, we followed a whistleblower and a patriotic military commander who provided a visceral, yet intimate, insight into a nation caught between foreign-backed rebels and the government of then-president Joseph Kabila, who ruled until 2019. As the conflict resonates with both men’s lives, the film reveals the insidious legacy of colonialism, resource exploitation and wars that have created a continuing cycle of violence.
A leak of 3.5 million documents revealed how a Chinese-run company moved millions of dollars to former Congo President Joseph Kabila’s family and allies.
Kabila’s Eastern Allis (2001): A look at Mai-Mai guerrillas in DRC.
Laurent Kabila spent 30 years with anti-Mobutu guerrillas in Eastern Congo. These guerrillas became the Mai-Mai – not a tribe but a popular defence movement. Under the command of Kabila’s former companions, they have been fighting occupying troops from Rwanda since 1998. Commander Zofi has liberated a dozen villages. Before the Mai- Mai took control the occupying forces committed terrible atrocities here, as refugees testify. Now a dozen armed men protect each village.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo President Laurent Kabila speaks during a news conference in Brussels on November 25, 1998. Kabila died on January 16, 2001, after being shot by one of his bodyguards, the Belgian Foreign Ministry spokesman Koen Vervaeke told Reuters Kabila died after being hit by two bullets. “The circumstances are too confusing to know more”
They say Kabila “taught us about politics and the art of war ” after Independence in the sixties. But like all stories in this region, this one is complex. Known as Negative Forces because they are said to work closely with Hutu extremists from Rwanda, the Mai-Mai deftly changed sides more than once during Kabila’s rise to power. Now they consider themselves part of Congo’s army, although they never received many supplies from Kinshasa. As long as their ancestors’ soil is occupied, the Mai-Mai resistance will go on. The new regime may do well to court their continued loyalty.
In Lake Kivu, on the borders of Rwanda and Congo, there is enough methane gas to supply central Africa’s energy needs for generations. But if it explodes – which is a very real danger – it will kill up to two and a half million people living on its shores. This documentary gives us the viewpoints of politicians, fishermen, investors, volcanologists and physicists.
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