“Hands off Africa”, says Pope Francis in criticism of mineral exploration on the continent

Pope Francis denounced the “poison of greed” for mineral resources driving conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo as he began an official visit on Tuesday, saying the rich world had to realize that people were more precious than the minerals of the earth beneath them.

Francis, 86, is the first pontiff to visit Congo since John Paul II in 1985, when the country was still known as Zaire. About half of Congo’s 90 million people are Catholic.

Tens of thousands cheered as the pontiff traveled from the airport to the capital Kinshasa in his popemobile, some breaking out of the crowd to join his convoy while others sang and waved flags in one of the most rousing welcomes of his overseas trips.

But the mood changed when the pope delivered a speech to dignitaries in the presidential palace, condemning “terrible forms of exploitation, unworthy of humanity” in Congo, where vast mineral riches have fueled war, displacement and famine.

“It is a tragedy that these lands, and more generally the entire African continent, continue to suffer various forms of exploitation,” he said. “The poison of greed has stained your diamonds with blood,” he said, referring specifically to the Congo.

“Hands off the Democratic Republic of the Congo! Hands off Africa! Stop suffocating Africa: it is not a mine to be stripped or land to be plundered,” he said.

Congo has some of the richest reserves in the world of diamonds, gold, copper, cobalt, tin, tantalum and lithium, minerals that fuel conflicts between militias, government troops and foreign invaders. Mining has also been linked to the inhumane exploitation of workers, including children, and environmental degradation.

Compounding these problems, eastern Congo has been plagued by violence linked to the long and complex aftermath of the 1994 genocide in neighboring Rwanda.

Congo accuses Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebel group, which is fighting government troops in the east. Rwanda denies it.

“In addition to armed militias, foreign powers hungry for the minerals in our soil commit, with the direct and cowardly support of our neighbor Rwanda, cruel atrocities,” said Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, speaking shortly before the pope and sharing the stage with him.

On Wednesday, Francis will celebrate Mass at Kinshasa airport and meet victims of violence in the east, further highlighting the issues he raised in his speech.

“I wanted to go to Goma but we can’t because of the war,” the pope told reporters during his flight, referring to a town in eastern Congo he originally planned to visit before the stop was canceled due to fighting in the region. region.

Francis will remain in Kinshasa until Friday morning, when he will fly to South Sudan, another country struggling with conflict and poverty.