RUDY MANDIO AND THE NEW STRUGGLE OF CONGOLESE DIASPORA FOR DEMOCRATIC CHANGE IN DRC

Since its birth as the Congo Free State in 1885, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been an international stake not only because of its geostrategic position in the heart of Africa but also of its exceptional plenty of natural resources, including the ones that are more vital to the security of great powers: uranium and coltan. Franz Fanon rightly observed: “Africa is a revolver whose trigger is the Congo”. This is why, according to the world’s superpowers, taking control of the Congo amounts to taking control of the whole Africa.

This observation leads us to the Congo real politick: the country’s political destiny is determined by the convergence of actions by both domestic and international actors, though the latter are preponderant. Hence, for this country and its people to arise and enter the club of major powers where it should belong, it badly needs leaders with the following profile: nationalists (having the interest of the DRC at heart and driven by the agenda of its development as a sovereign country) and fine diplomats (able to marry the Congo’s national interest with the really huge interests of foreign powers in the country, including the USA, the European Union, China, the United Nations, and the transnational corporations, to the point of finding a niche for the nation amongst the deciders in the world arena. Rudy Mandio, a DRC young activist, effectively fits into that profile.

Rudy Mandio is the Youth League President of the Congolese Democracy and Justice Campaign (CDJC), a civil society movement that advocates and promotes democracy for the DR Congo and justice for mass atrocities committed in the eastern Congo. His advocacy campaign, facilitated by his stay amongst the Congolese diaspora in democratic countries, precisely in South Africa, led him to meeting with the world’s greats, such as African Union Chairperson NkosazanaDlamini-Zuma, the International Monetary Fund Director General Christine Lagarde, and the UN Secretary General Envoy to the Great Lakes Region Mary Robinson. And his diplomatic efforts are being crowned with his being the special guest of the US State Department for a Washington DC meeting to be held in a few days over the DRC’s future. He departs to the USA next Tuesday 10 March 2015.

Besides, Mr Mandio’s star is irrevocably ascending on the Congolese political scene because he has been well prepared for this big opportunity: the USA’s resolution for the first democratic, civilized change of power in the DRC. The fact that, alongside many Congolese opposition leaders who are invitees of the Obama administration, he is the special guest of State Department means that, for Washington, he is to play a big role in the Congolese democratic change insofar as he can safeguard the security of the United States and simultaneously work for the interest of the DRC.

Lastly, Mr. Mandio is the torchbearer of paramount role of the diaspora as actor of change in the DRC. It would be unfortunate for the Congolese diaspora to turn from pivotal actor into passive spectator at this important stage of the struggle for change in the DRC, and to see politicians from Kinshasa—most of whom have not grasped the Congolese diplomatic realities at the world stage—being entrusted by world powers with operating the change, just to fall from grace thereafter, at the expense of the Congolese people and its partners.

Go on, Rudy Mandio, the people of the Congo and of Africa are backing you and banking on you.