A journey into the Congolese jungle with a musician, fixer and witness to the country’s resource curse.
Congo, my precious
There’s a Congolese tale that goes like this: “When the world was born, God went around all the countries with his gifts in a basket. But by the time he arrived in Congo, he was so tired that he said, ‘Let me just give them everything that’s left in this basket’”. The Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the most resource-rich countries on the planet, with enormous deposits of diamonds, tantalum, tungsten, gold, oil, uranium and 80% of the world’s coltan, used in every single electronic device.
And yet, the DRC remains one of the poorest countries in the world.
Bernard Kalume Buleri, a musician and fixer for international news outlets, was born in 1960, the year the DRC gained its bloody independence. His father worked for a colonial Belgian mining company and Bernard himself was put through school with money from Congo’s riches. His country’s history of turmoil is very personal; he has lived through war and seen his homeland torn apart over and over again by violent looting and greed. Bernard’s story is a damning testament, illustrating how systemic global inequality makes nature’s bounty a deadly curse instead of a blessing.
