Editing Democratic Republic of Congo (section)

== History ==
The history of the Congo exemplifies the senseless barbarism of the west’s profit-driven foreign policy, a history of war and genocide. Beginning with the reign of King Leopold in 1885-1905, the Congolese working class and their children were forced to collect rubber for export; refusal to participate or insufficient rubber production was met with anything from dismemberment of one’s hands to the wholesale massacre of their village (a period known as the “Rubber Terror”).<ref>https://hpsfaa.org/Amputation_as_a_Strategy_of_Terror_in_Sierra_Leone-Kate_Fogelberg_Alexandra_Thalmann</ref><ref>https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/10/15/voim-o15.html</ref>

=== Independence ===
Congo won its independence in 1960 with the leadership of Patrice Lumumba, who supported Congolese control of its rich mineral resources.<ref name=":0">https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/10/15/voim-o15.html</ref> The US and Belgium intervened to violently overthrow the democratically-elected Lumumba<ref name=":0" /> in favor of the dictatorship of Mobuto Sese Seko.

=== First and Second Congo Wars ===
In 1996, Rwanda and Uganda invaded the country—armed and trained by the US and UK, in what is now known as the First and Second Congo Wars (a.k.a. Africa’s World War), ravaging the Congo and its neighboring countries until 2003.<ref>https://blackagendareport.com/content/second-wave-genocide-looms-congo-susan-rice-point</ref> The ensuing violence is believed to have resulted in over 5 million Congolese deaths.<ref>https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2011/01/lumu-j22.html</ref>