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Economic and Financial Committee
Financial Development in Post-Colonial Areas
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Delegates - Ben Mishkin and Craig Gilbert
Africa has been exploited by the world for its valuable resources for centuries; it
was slaves and wheat during the Romans, and ivory and gold during the first wave of
colonization. However, the most recent effort by the European nations to utilize Africa,
during the 18th and 19th centuries, for their own benefit has proven to be the most
damaging. In comparison to simply trading with the coastal tribal chieftains for goods,
the nations took complete, political, economic and military control of the entire continent,
from the Nile to the Cape. That influence and that exploitation virtually destroyed
Africa, leaving it unstable for decades, and it is still going on, today. In the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, such effects of colonization are being felt through a civil war that
has been raging decades, and only recently have signs of a stable democracy begun to
show with the recent presidential elections.
The DR Congo experienced one of the most harrowing sagas of colonization;
during the time of the Congo Free State, when the territory was the personal property of
Leopold II of Belgium, a genocide was committed as Belgium exploited the vast
resources of the region. When the Belgians finally left in 1960 they left no government
in place either to monitor the transition or to govern permanently; rather, they left a
power vacuum that soon sent the nation into a brutal civil war. The result of that war was
the coming to power of Joseph Mobutu, a brutal and corrupt dictator who would rule for
over thirty years.
Had the Belgians developed the economy of the Congo, this most likely would
not have happened. This is where the problem of post-colonial conflict and development
begins. When the Belgians colonized what is now the DR Congo they took no care in
development and stability of the local economy. Rather, they drew up borders that did
not take into consideration to ethnic boundaries already in place and that, when they left,
would inevitably lead to conflict – and that is exactly what happened.
Currently the DR Congo is one of the world’s poorest nations. According to the
most recent estimates, the GDP per capita is $700 dollars, ranking the DR Congo number
228 out of 233 nations. Due to the ongoing civil war foreign investment has been slow,
naturally. The need to stabilize the political situation is vital towards a more
economically successful future. It is essential that the international community supports
a long-lasting peace in the Great Lakes region and that Africa is freed from the grip of
ethnic and international violence. While much of the ethnic violence has been a result of
boundaries that do not reflect the ethnic makeup of the continent, the DR Congo firmly
believes that Africa can move beyond these rivalries and work towards a more
prosperous future. The DR Congo believes that the same strategies can be applied to any
developing, post-colonial nations.
The DR Congo believes that it is the responsibility of the former colonial powers,
in conjunction with the government of the DR Congo and such bodies as the UN, World
Bank and the International Monetary Fund, to help rebuild Africa, and all former colonial
possessions. Loans are not the only solution, and, in fact, they could lead to a form of
neo-colonialism. Rather, the world must develop, not exploit, the natural resources of the
Congo, and every other post-colonial nation and work to increase investment in those
nations. Obviously, this cannot be done without the cooperation and motivation of the
national government of each member-state.
The DR Congo is committed to developing the local economies of post-colonial
areas. Much of the interaction that the village people of the DR Congo have is the
economies within their region or village. This depends a lot on the farming around the
area. This is an area where the DR Congo can come together with the resources of the
United Nations, World Bank and International Monetary Fund to encourage and support
the development of vital infrastructure, such as irrigation, which is necessary to improve
the local agricultural economies.
It is very difficult for any country, no matter the state of their economy to be
successful, financially, with an unstable government. This is why the DR Congo hails
the recent election of Joseph Kabila to the Presidency and we call upon the rest of the
international community to support him as the nation takes this crucial step towards a
more stable and prosperous future for the DR Congo.