• Listen to this segment with Maurice Carney

A Congolese warlord from the group M23, is facing numerous charges at the International Criminal Court. It is the longest list of charges anyone has faced at the ICC, and includes among other things, murder, rape, sexual slavery, pillaging and conscripting child soldiers. The warlord, nicknamed “The Terminator.” The ICC has long been criticized for targeting African leaders disproportionately. Still, crimes in the Congo are linked to a larger system of Western influence and interference.

The DRC has been the site of killings on a massive scale of genocidal proportions. It is estimated that at least 6 million people have been killed since 1996. While the world commemorated the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide, little was noted in the mainstream media about the role that the post-genocide government of Rwanda, backed by the US, has played in the Congolese killings. In fact, analysts contend that Rwanda and Uganda, both of which neighbor Congo, act as proxy armies for the West in the mineral-rich nation.

The unimaginable death toll in Congo, along with the mass rapes of women, are rarely discussed in Congress or the US media. Congo’s mineral riches power industries all over the globe.

GUEST: Maurice Carney is a US-based activist and the co-founder and Executive Director of the Friends of the Congo. He has done solidarity work with Congolese for more than 15 years.