DR Congo: The West’s Fingerprints on the Kasanga Massacre

10-03-2025: In February the shocking news broke that 70 Christians had been executed after they were found in a church in the North Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It was reported that the victims had been kidnapped by suspected Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) terrorists, who are linked to local affiliates of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The attack took place at 4am, where the armed group abducted 20 Christian men and women. Locals gathered to plan a rescue, but the ADF surrounded the village and abducted 50 more. They were taken to a Protestant church in Kasanga, where all 70 were later found beheaded.[1] On February 20, Tristan Azbej, Hungary’s State Secretary for the Aid of Persecuted Christians, posted his outrage on the X social media platform, asking why this atrocity was being ignored.[2] The DRC has an overwhelming Christian majority to the tune of 95%,[3] but the ISIS linked ADF is using terrorism such as the Kasanga Massacre as part of a campaign to establish an Islamic Caliphate in the central African nation.

M23

However, as in Syria, terrorists attempting to establish an Islamic State is a cover for nefarious imperialist aims. Behind ISIS and Al Qaeda in Syria were the Western deep states of the United States of America (US), the United Kingdom (UK), France and others. In Africa, it is a similar story. In addition to the so-called ADF, M23 terrorists are also on the rampage in the DRC. M23 is more or less backed by Rwanda, and President Paul Kagame’s Rwanda itself in turn is backed by the West. M23, falsely labelled as “rebels”, captured Goma in January, which is the largest city in Eastern DRC. Back in 2012, M23 militants took over Goma, but withdrew after 10 days following pressure from the West.[4] The West, principally the US government, could apply the same pressure today on M23, but this now appears unlikely. While it is the case that the DRC contains more than 70%[5] of the world’s coltan reserves – an element crucial for electric vehicle batteries, mobile phones and other electronic devices – geopolitical aims are a stronger motivation for imperialism fostering deadly chaos throughout Africa.

M23 refers to a March 23, 2009, accord that ended a previous Tutsi-led revolt in Eastern Congo. M23 claim that the Congolese government has not lived up to the peace deal by not fully integrating Tutsis into the army and administration.[6] They launched the current rebellion in 2022. Recently the Rwandan government called on the DRC to negotiate directly with M23. However, DRC Prime Minister Judith Suminwa Tuluka responded by saying that her government will not negotiate with M23 terrorists but will talk to Rwanda who is backing M23. Ms Tuluka claims that there are between 3 and 4 thousand Rwandan troops that have crossed into Congolese territory and are fighting alongside M23.[7] Troops from Burundi have been assisting the DRC in field operations against M23.

Proxy conflict

Whether it is M23, the ADF or ISIS doing the most damage, it is an open secret that their benefactors ultimately reside in Washington and London. As is somewhat customary in such a situation, the UK government feigned concern by announcing a freeze of aid and defence ties to Rwanda over the bedlam in the DRC.[8] Similarly, in November last year, the US government called on Rwandan troops to withdraw all Rwanda Defence Force personnel and equipment, including surface-to-air missiles, from the DRC.[9] Yet such measures are more like ritualistic rhetoric, a saving face measure, which obscures the fact that the Anglo-American powers are themselves fuelling the conflagration. Through various state and non-state actors, Washington and London are effectively waging a proxy conflict on Moscow and Beijing. Given the history of anti-colonial and anti-imperialist struggle in the Congo, it is only natural that the DRC today would turn to a rejuvenated Russian Federation and a rising People’s Republic of China (PRC) for assistance in once again defending their sovereign rights.

Belgium colonised the Congo from 1876 to 1960, subjecting its people to unspeakable labour exploitation, torture and executions. The first Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba was overthrown and assassinated by imperialism in 1961. Former President Laurent Kabila, whose forces were at one time instructed by the legendary revolutionary Che Guevara,[10] was assassinated in 2001. His son Joseph Kabila then ruled the DRC for another 18 years.[11] Then in 2019, Felix Tshisekedi was elected President, amid rumours that he had struck a power sharing agreement with the outgoing leader.[12] Nevertheless, Tshisekedi, like other African leaders, has since turned to Moscow for military assistance to deal with the scourge of Western backed terrorism. At the same time, he has continued to develop trade and investment ties with the vast economic power of the PRC. These moves are unacceptable to Washington, which has in turn led to the unleashing of life-threatening mayhem across the DRC.

In October 2022, the DRC purchased Russian combat and transport helicopters to contend with the M23 terror groups who were taking large swathes of territory. At that time the fighting between M23 and the DRC prompted the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission (MONUSCO) to increase its support for the DRC army.[13] Yet the DRC’s co-operation with Russia met stiff resistance from US and European authorities. Undeterred, the DRC continued relations with Moscow, and this led to the March 2024 draft agreement on Russia-DRC military co-operation. This provides for the organisation of joint drills and exercises, military training and visits by warships and warplanes at an invitation or request.[14] Russian military assistance to the DRC, which includes contractors from the PMC Wagner Group, are vital parts of the DRC’s battles against M23, ADF and ISIS linked terrorists. As such, Russians in the DRC are very popular. Even the Western backed Moscow Times reported on a makeshift nightclub in a ferry from Goma to Bukavu, which played the Internationale – the anthem of the Soviet Union until 1944 – alongside Afrobeats and Congolese rumba – to the delight of the patrons.[15]

DRC-PRC bonds

The PRC has long been an ally of the DRC, stemming from a common history of bitter struggle against Western colonialism. In 2015, the DRC and the PRC established a strategic partnership which has led to the PRC being the DRC’s largest trading partner and source of foreign investment for years. In 2022, the bilateral trade volume reached $21.8 billion, a year-on-year increase of 51.7%. PRC based firms have built impressive infrastructure in the DRC, including the People’s Palace (home to the National Assembly and Senate), the Martyrs Stadium, the Central African Cultural and Arts Center and the China-DRC Friendship Hospital.[16] In May 2023, the PRC-DRC strategic partnership was upgraded to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, as President Tshisekedi was feted in Beijing by President Xi Jinping.[17] In September 2024, President Tshisekedi again visited Beijing for the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). Previously, in January 2021, the DRC had signed a MOU (memorandum of understanding) with the PRC to jointly build Beijing’s flagship Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Projects already undertaken as part of the BRI include the Busanga Hydropower plant, the Kinsuka Substation and the capital Kinshasa’s new ring roads.[18]

In March 2024, a clause called Amendment No.5 between the government of the DRC and the Chinese Enterprise Group (GEC) regarding mining operations by Sino-Congolese Mines (Sicomines) raised eyebrows in the West. The amendment trades mining rights for infrastructure development, but this has often been the case with PRC based firms operating in many African countries. US imperialism gave the game away when former Secretary of State Antony Blinken pushed for the revision of mining contracts favouring Chinese companies operating in the DRC. In a familiar display of monumental hypocrisy, the US government raised concerns over transparency (!), labour rights (!) and environmental, social and governance standards (!).[19] Rather, the concern of the West is the fact that they are being excluded from commercial deals which Western corporations are unable to tend for in any case, due to capitalism’s precipitous industrial decline.

Capitalism today cannot remotely compete with the socialistic PRC, which is fortified by a workers’ state. To be sure, the PRC remains politically ruled by a conservative Stalinist caste, which does not seek to extend the gains of its 1949 revolution internationally. Despite this, it is in the interests of workers internationally to defend the right of African nations to form whatever economic ties with the PRC, and whatever military ties with the Russian Federation they see fit. The latter is a form of defence against Western imperialism unleashing appalling violence (either in the form of ISIS, M23, ADF, Al Qaeda, or proxy states such as Rwanda) across the African continent. African nations also have no option but to engage in trade and investment cooperation with Red China, as it is now the world’s only industrial, scientific, technological and manufacturing superpower. Workers internationally need to tactically defend the PRC, the Russian Federation and their African allies against imperialism while simultaneously preparing to raise their own class to positions of political power. A crucial first step is the consolidation of a league of Leninist vanguard parties. Socialism seeks to vanquish imperialism, the principal source of wanton violence across the planet.

Workers League

www.redfireonline.com

E: workersleague@protonmail.com

[1] www.christianitydaily.com/news/tragic-massacre-70-christians-beheaded-in-drc-church-attack.html (05-03-2025)

[2] www.x.com/tristan_azbej/status/1895343133451526356 (05-03-2025)

[3] www.face2faceafrica.com/article/outrage-as-isis-linked-militants-behead-70-christians-in-the-democratic-republic-of-congo (05-03-2025)

[4] www.globalresearch.ca/rwanda-annex-goma-democratic-republic-congo/5878637 (05-03-2025)

[5] www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-68090482 (05-03-2025)

[6] www.reuters.com/world/africa/what-is-happening-congo-why-are-m23-rebels-fighting-2025-01-29/ (05-03-2025)

[7] www.bbc.com/news/articles/cnvz5g420mdo (05-03-2025)

[8] www.africa.businessinsider.com/local/lifestyle/uk-cracks-down-on-rwandas-role-in-drc-conflict-freezes-aid-and-defence-ties/2tmjwjq?op=1 (05-03-2025)

[9] www.military.africa/2024/11/us-calls-on-rwandan-troops-to-leave-dr-congo/ (05-03-2025)

[10] www.realclearhistory.com/articles/2024/10/08/che_guevara_and_victor_dreke_in_the_african_congo_1063589.html (05-03-2025)