I wish I was not born an African: Disappointment following the recent conference on the environment in Copenhagen

By Edward Mulindwa
Rwanda-All Group
December 25, 2009

As many take this day to celebrate the birth of Christ, I am going to take a moment and question myself a very important reason, why I was put into a situation of being born an African, a decision I had no option about. And this disappointment raises from the behavior we all as Africans have held during the very last environmental conference that has taken place in Copenhagen, Denmark. We all sat down and failed to utilize it at all. And here is where my anger comes from. There is no question that we as society must take care and respect the environment, there is no question that we as a society must use earth respectfully for we know that our actions affect the climate so if we are to save it for our coming generations, it must be repaired but used sensibly. But there is no question as well that climate has the ability to repair its self so its health is directly affected by the trees we have as the forests. And all this information is readily available to all of us out here, and in Africa as well.

But when we as Africans reached in Copenhagen we jumped on the band wagon of the Western countries that have decided to jump on the emissions as the only destroyers of the environment, when we know down in our lovely hearts that the best emitters are Western countries and not Africans. We as Africans are affecting the environment through cutting down trees in a disorganized manner, and I submit to you that the main destroyer of forests in Africa and environment are Western countries. Western countries forget to understand that the storms that hit North America for example, start in Africa all way through the oceans to North America. When you destroy the environment in Africa you directly affect the environment in North America. So the story of Africans in Copenhagen would have been to demand a respect of Africa resources as a part of solution to the environment.

The Denmark conference should have been directly addressing the tragedy we have today in The Democratic Republic of Congo, for the West decided to mine from this country until it dries up. The mining of DRC was planned way back when Americans and British wanted to remove the French and Belgians from its control, thus the creation of the Rwandese genocide. The Americans and British knew well that if they control Rwanda and Uganda they can have an access into DRC and thus can mine without being destructed by the French. Using Paul Kagame and Yoweri Museveni, the French and Belgians were removed from Great Lakes, and the Rwandese genocide was created. Rwanda moved very fast to even change its national language from French to English, Tony Blair got an immediate job in Rwanda to be Paul Kagame’s advisor, Linda Chalker got a job in both Kenya and Uganda, Brian Mulroney became a member of board on one of the mining companies in DRC, and many other prominent names that are watching the destruction of DRC as you read this writing. Massive mining started as reliable sources today tell us that Emirates is flying the minerals of DRC through Uganda to London via Dubai. United Kingdom tripled the small arms supply to the region in 2009 and small territories became created in DRC to protect the miners and at the end of the day, we have today lost a whooping 5 million Congolese. Almost all women especially in Eastern DRC have been raped, even girls as young as 9.

And my argument here is very basic. As these Western countries are mining DRC to death, who does the environmental studies for DRC? As Western Countries are destroying the forests of DRC, forests we all know controls the repairing of the environment, who does the environmental studies in DRC as the forests of this country are getting cut down day in day out? For this is a very good argument, when you destroy the environment in Africa you directly destroy the environment in North America. Why didn’t African leaders make The Democratic Republic of Congo the main topic of this conference? About 3000 Americans died in New York, and these deaths have changed all of our lives, our life styles has been changed from the way we fly to what we take on board, to two wars raging on today 8 or so years down the road, how can all African leaders keep quite when we have 5 million dead Congolese, murdered as we create a single massive environmental disaster on the planet in Congo? What would have happened in Copenhagen if we had 5 million Westerners dead of a man- made disaster? Would we have held a conference to discuss emissions? We as Africans had a very good chance to use this conference in defense of the environment but in stopping the carnage that is happening in DRC under a direct watch of the United Nations.

But we did not. Instead, we stood up with our usual little cup in hand begging Western countries for a donation, and we allowed those very nations to murder our fellow Africans in DRC, get the minerals out and hand us a percentage in a God damn fucking cup. And we flew back to our capitals claiming victory to the environment disaster as we stamp visas to Western expatriates flying into Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda to access DRC, as we burry 5 million human beings.

You tell me why I should not be very disappointed to identify myself as an African today.

Edward Mulindwa

Kayunga, Uganda

The Mulindwas Communication Group

"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy"
Groupe de communication Mulindwas
"Avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans l'anarchie"