When rebel leader Laurent Nkunda launched his offensive against the people of the Congo in the Fall of 2008, one of his demands was that the Congolese government renegotiates its $9 billion deal with the Chinese. We reasoned on these pages that the root of Nkunda’s demand had two possible sources: 1. He was trying to curry favor with the West because he knew the West was against the deal or 2. He was in fact being backed by the West via Rwanda to send a message to President Kabila that he needs to get back on the plantation for he had strayed too far in signing such a far-reaching deal with the Chinese.

Now that President Kabila has been apparently chastened (he has allowed Rwandan troops on Congolese soil due to Western pressure, mainly the US), we learn via the Financial Times that the West has ratcheted up its pressure for Congo to renegotiate its deal with the Chinese. Led by the Paris Club, International Monetary Fund and World Bank, the West is unleashing its multi-lateral institutions on the people of the Congo.

One would have to have his/her head in the sand not to see the geo-strategic game being played out on the backs of the Congolese people. Nearly six-million dead, hundreds of thousands of women systematically raped as a weapon of war, and crushing poverty are not sufficient for the vampires sucking the blood of the people of Congo. People of conscience and good will throughout the globe must come to the side of the Congolese people as they weather the onslaught from an international cabal crushing them like grapes. We can no longer be silent in the face of such depredation. Break the Silence and take action now>>>