The Commission tasked to look into Belgian colonial history seems more like a probe into the current ethnic dynamics of the great lakes region.

Add to that Dr. Mukewge’s unbending resolve to address the situation of impunity in the mineral-rich east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo…It looks like something is cooking in our colonial master’s kitchen. There is a tangible momentum building up in the great lakes region foretelling a shift in western foreign policy.

Observe: as it has been so in the past,  Belgium, the go-to consultant of the western multinationals takes on the role of the stickman and rolls the dices with this pretend commission.

It is a pretend commission: we all know that resolutions from its parleys will be superficial. There will be no reparations. Returning colonial trophies such as Patrice Lumumba‘s remains is NOT a reparation.

This commission is a cosmetic escapade with a hidden agenda. 

Belgium’s objective is obviously to arrive at an “official” understanding of the region’s dynamics in order to help western foreign policy’s rearrangement of its economic interests.

We are witnessing something similar to a post-colonial “Berlin Conference”. Just that this time, the aim is to assess the political situation of the African Great Lakes, to get a present-day picture of who is who in that mineral-rich region, and decide which belligerents are viable to the endorsement of the state of the art economic agenda of Western superpowers.

Africans being consulted as to how best to let the wolf in the sheepfold is not really a novelty because as usual, they are not consulted for what they think they are being consulted for. It is just how things are done today. It is a matter of neocolonial political correctness.

The west does not care for the lives lost in the God-forsaken African Great lakes region, it is only frustrated with the border tensions. They are bad for business and losing it money to the Middle East and China since African dictators are no longer what they used to be; western puppets can no longer be trusted, they have learned to take advantage of geopolitical stalemates to make money behind their patrons’ backs…

Belgium has subtly put its foot down with this commission but it is not because it is remorseful of its colonial abuses.

Certainly, once all belligerents are in check and everyone’s cards are on the table there will be a sacrificial lamb; but the situation of the great lakes may be a precedent in the economic war between the west and her rivals.

Regime change is in the air for at least one of the establishments involved in governing this restless region.

However, this time, it may not just come down to who will be zeroed in on for elimination because they represent a threat to western interests in the Great Lakes region; or whose departure would change the dynamic of the region for the better; or who can restore a fluid movement of goods and ensure the security of prospective western investments.

This time, China’s influence will heavily weigh in. Just as it did in DRC’s decisive presidential election in 2018.

Seeing as we are about to witness the confirmation of China’s arrival and impact on the global political stage, where does China stand on the Rwandan “situation”?

Noble Marara