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SOPA Resolution on the War in the Democratic Republic of Congo

9 October 1998

This constitutional congress of the Socialist Party of Azania, sitting in the city of Durban on the 12th and 13th September 1998, noted with great concern the unending war which has ravaged the country and claimed a lot of innocent lives.

We note that the war is being presented by the bourgeois media as an ethnic war waged by the Tutsis who felt that Kabila betrayed them after he ursuped power. That this ethnicising of African politics serves the interests of imperialist forces whose strategy is to divide the people while they plunder the resources of the country without much hindrance.

When he came to power through military means Kabila sold all mining interests which were held by US companies during the Mobutu era to Canadian companies. The Americans did not take kind of this as they felt cheated. They started to wage propaganda against Kabila and portrayed him as a dictator.

The war in Congo is an imperialist sponsored war over who should control the resources of the country under the guise of ethnicity and a fight for democracy. This also explains the involvement of other regional powers who have entered the war on both sides. Namibia and Zimbabwe have entered the war in the interests of capital. Namibia gave Congo a credit of about US$50 million. Zimbabwe has also invested handsomely in one of the mining concerns in the Congo.

Angola has entered the war out of security reasons. The security of Angola continues to be threatened by the US sponsored Unita bandits who might have an upper hand in the Angolan war should the Congo fall into Congo rebel hands. Zimbabwe is also entering the war for security reasons. The undercurrent and imminent uprising against Mugabe makes him to start preparing himself by garnering regional support so that when the Zimbabwean people finally rise up against IMF and World Bank imposed Structural Adjustment Programmes which have caused a rise in the prices of basic food and led to unemployment he will be having some friends in the region to support him to crush the uprising.

Uganda and Rwanda are victims of imperialist indoctrination of elevating ethnicity to such proportions that it is viewed as something that people might put their lives for. The governments of the two countries are supportive of the Tutsi rebels. Uganda is also fastly becoming the darling of the IMF and World Bank.

South Africa has portrayed itself as not wanting to intervene in the whole scenario and only wanting to broker peace through diplomatic means. Central to this standpoint by South Africa is a deep concern for the mining interests of some South Africa multinationals whose interests were overtaken by Canadian multinationals.

On the other hand South Africa is the worst hypocrite. Mercenary forces from South Africa are involved in both sides of the war. The government of South Africa, while playing diplomatic on the war has been silent about its own citizens who are involved in the war of destruction in another country. thus South Africa is equally guilty for the murder of the Congolese peoples

We lastly note that Kabila is himself an instrument of imperialist, serving one imperialist group at the expense of another and turning around to portray himself as someone who would not bent to US interests. This scenario demonstrate the rate at which imperialist forces will do everything to destabilise nations and countries in the scramble for resources.

The war has caused painful suffering to the people of Congo, who find themselves being used as pawns in an imperialist war.

In order for normality to return to the Congowe we believe that the following should be done. We call on all foreign armies to withdraw from the DRC soil. This should include the rebels who are of Rwandese origin. We call on the SADC and the OAU to initiate talks which will assist the Congolese people to resolve their own problems.

Lastly we call on the peoples of the region and the democratic forces, this including the independent unions, to expose the role of imperialism and garner all forces in the fight against imperialism as it manifest itself through the IMF , the World Bank and multinationals of all origins.

ADOPTED UNANIMOUSLY BY CONGRESS