EP 10 Patrice Lumumba’s legacy and Resource Nationalism I African News Review 🌍

In this episode of African News Weekly, hosts Adesoji Iginla and Milton Allimadi discuss significant themes surrounding Africa's historical and contemporary struggles for independence and resource control. 

They highlight the legacy of Andree Blouin, the military regimes in the Sahel, Rwanda's involvement in Congo, and the enduring impact of Patrice Lumumba's assassination. 

The conversation emphasizes the need for a critical examination of Africa's narrative in global discourse, particularly regarding resource exploitation and neocolonialism.

Takeaways

*Andrea Blouin's contributions to African independence are often overlooked.
*Military regimes in the Sahel are using aggressive tactics to control resources.
*Rwanda's military actions in Congo are often misrepresented as rebellion.
*The return of Lumumba's tooth symbolizes Belgium's acknowledgment of its colonial past.
*The narrative of Africa being rich in resources yet impoverished is a reflection of exploitation.
*Historical patterns of exploitation continue to influence current politics in Africa.
*The media often frames African struggles in a way that obscures the real issues.
*Patrice Lumumba's assassination was driven by his push for economic control of Congo's resources.
*The international community often ignores the complexities of African conflicts.
*There is a need for African voices to reshape the narrative around their history and struggles.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to African News Review
01:17 Celebrating Andrea Blouin's Legacy
14:32 The Sahel's Resource Control and Military Regimes
28:43 Rwanda's Role in Congo's Mineral Wealth
32:25 The Nature of Military Forces in Congo
33:38 Media Misrepresentation and Accountability
35:22 The Role of Multinational Corporations
37:28 Conflict Minerals and Global Supply Chains
41:16 The Legacy of Patrice Lumumba
43:17 Belgium's Historical Accountability
48:57 The Impact of Colonialism on Modern Africa
53:25 Cold War Politics and Resource Control
58:05 The Assassination of Lumumba and Its Aftermath
01:02:28 Future of U.S. Foreign Policy in Africa

Transcript

Adesoji Iginla (00:01.521)
Yes, greetings, greetings and welcome to African News Review, our weekly conversation in which we look at Africa's coverage in the Western media and deconstruct the stories together. I'm your host as usual, Adesarji Ginla and with me is a journalist, publisher, Black Star News, broadcaster, Black Star News show every Tuesday, 3pm Eastern on wbi.org.

5 FM New York radio. He's also the author of a world acclaimed book, Manufacturing Hates, which inspired this program. is Comrade Milton Alimade.

Milton Allimadi (00:43.776)
Yes, thank you as always, comrade. I actually have an update. I have a verbal commitment from the publisher to return my copyrights. knock on wood. I'm waiting for it in the mail. And if I once I get in the mail, I will announce it again. So, this time we can try to find a publisher who actually is not afraid of selling the book.

Adesoji Iginla (00:48.313)
Okay.

Adesoji Iginla (00:51.899)
Okay.

Adesoji Iginla (01:03.193)
Okay, thank you very much.

Adesoji Iginla (01:08.135)
And we might actually get an updated version of this as well, because it's still very relevant, but I think it needs more bulking up in light of what we've done here. Yeah, yeah. Yes. And of re-

Milton Allimadi (01:23.265)
Yeah, I'll definitely update. Yeah.

Milton Allimadi (01:30.325)
And before you actually start our conversation, I just want to congratulate President Joe Biden. I think it's unforgivable what he and his administration allowed to unfold in Gaza and never be forgiven for the genocide of the Palestinian people. But nonetheless, as he leaves office, I want to congratulate him on issuing a posthumous

Adesoji Iginla (01:46.567)
Mm-hmm.

Milton Allimadi (01:59.757)
presidential pardon to Marcus Gandhi.

Adesoji Iginla (02:02.821)
Yes, Long overdue.

Milton Allimadi (02:04.374)
So we have to acknowledge it. Garbi was the premier Pan-African in history.

Adesoji Iginla (02:09.123)
Hmm. Yeah. And long overdue as well. Yes. Yes. I mean, it's a good week so far. And long may that continue. And so for our first story today, we go to Congo.

Milton Allimadi (02:17.803)
Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (02:29.311)
and we take up the story from the BBC and it's titled The Remarkable Life of Andrea Bolin Africa's Overlook Independence Heroin. The story is filed in by Wadeli Chibulichu and it reads I know you can die twice first comes the physical vets to be forgotten to be forgotten is a second death

notes screenwriter Eve Boaneen, who happens to be the daughter of this lady in the picture, in an epilogue at the end of her mother's autobiography. Eve understood this sentiment more than most. In the 1950s and 1960s, her mother, the late Andrea Boein, threw herself into the light for a free Africa, mobilizing the Democratic Republic of Congo, women against colonialism and rising

become a key advisor to Patrice Lumumba, the DRC first prime minister and a revered independence hero. She traded ideas with famed revolutionaries like Ghanas, Kwame Nkrumah, Guinness, Seketure and Algeria's Ahmed Ben Bella. Yet her story is hardly known. Going some way towards remedying this injustice, Bowen's Journey featured in last year's Oscar shortlisted documentary

soundtrack to a coup d'etat. What is more, Bowling's memoir, titled My Country, Africa, Autobiography of the Black Bassoon, personnary, is being re-released, having spent decades out of print. Your initial thoughts on the story.

Milton Allimadi (04:14.641)
Well, I'm very elated that it's getting major space like this, because obviously there are African sisters who contributed to the struggle for liberation, and then in the post-independence years as well, who are not well known and don't get the recognition that they deserve, because much of the news has been dominated.

Adesoji Iginla (04:20.388)
Mm-hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (04:27.663)
Hmm

Milton Allimadi (04:43.868)
by the male figures who were prominent in the liberation struggle. I first heard about her and knew about her only as recent as, I believe, maybe three years ago, when I read Susan Williams' White Malleus, the CIA and the covert recolonization of Africa. That's the first time I heard of her. I'd never heard of her, you know? So it tells you there are many, many stories, major stories that we need to know about that we still don't know.

Adesoji Iginla (04:46.303)
Hmm

Adesoji Iginla (04:59.919)
Yes. Thank you.

Adesoji Iginla (05:06.132)
Yes, yes.

Milton Allimadi (05:14.149)
So I'm very elated that it's getting this prominent coverage.

Adesoji Iginla (05:19.655)
Okay, I'll delve a little deeper. so the book is coming back into print. I have a copy somewhere, but I can't readily get to it right now. Bullion was born in 1921 to a 40-year-old white father and a 14-year-old black mother.

Milton Allimadi (05:42.245)
Yeah, see, that's the part I completely detest. You know, shows you how many European men were going around raping these African girls all over the continent. That itself should be the subject of a dissertation. I'm sure there's a very good book there. And fortunately, in this case, in spite of the rape

Adesoji Iginla (05:50.151)
Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (06:04.998)
Hmm

Milton Allimadi (06:12.135)
The person who was born as an outcome contributed very significantly to the history of Africa. And obviously it was because of her determination and perseverance that, you know, she rose above the stigma of her origin. So it shows you how remarkable of a woman this person must have been.

Adesoji Iginla (06:16.742)
Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (06:22.149)
Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (06:34.374)
Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (06:39.451)
Yes. Okay. Continue. When she was just three, Bolin's father placed her in a convent for mixed-race girls, which was run by French nuns in the neighboring Congo-Brasilville. This was a common practice in France and Belgium African colonies. It is thought that thousands of children were born to colonialists and African women were sent to orphanages and separated from the rest of society.

Boilin wrote, the orphanage serve as a kind of waste bin for the waste products of this black and white society, the children of mixed blood who fit nowhere.

Milton Allimadi (07:22.747)
Yeah. I mean, this, of course, reminds of the recent episode we had when we discussed the Belgian case, where the Belgian state was ordered by court to compensate to ladies who are in their seventies now, whose fathers were Belgian men in what is now Democratic Republic of Congo, who similarly abandoned them.

Adesoji Iginla (07:23.163)
I think we see it gone, you are going to say.

Adesoji Iginla (07:33.957)
Yep. Yep.

Adesoji Iginla (07:44.336)
Hmm

Milton Allimadi (07:52.647)
to these church institutions. And obviously, it poses the question, what is France doing about its own responsibility and obligation? And hopefully, the same lawyers who pursued the case in Belgium will now turn their attention to potential cases in France as well.

Adesoji Iginla (08:15.297)
Yes, yes. let's continue. And there she is. Second bottom. There she is.

At the time, Guinea was in the midst of a political tempest. wrote, France had promised the country independence but also required Guinea to vote in a referendum on whether or not the country should maintain economic, diplomatic and military ties with France.

The Guinea branch of the Pan-African movement, the Résemblant démocratique africaine, RDA, wanted the country to vote no, arguing that the country needed total liberation. In 1958, Boling joined the campaign, driving towards the country to speak at rallies. A year later, Guinea secured its independence by voting no and Secretary Guinea's RDA leader became the nation's

Do you want to tell our audience what became of said vote?

Milton Allimadi (09:32.8)
Yes, of course, that was when France was still trying to be creative in finding ways to maintain colonialism after official colonialism had ended and made the proposition that it was a so-called referendum, where, of course, they had no choice. The alleged choice was to maintain economic defense relationship with France or

Adesoji Iginla (09:39.495)
You

Hmm

Adesoji Iginla (09:47.079)
Mm.

Milton Allimadi (10:02.103)
to go totally independent. And of course, Guinea, and the secu-ture was the only one to vote for total independence. And to show you that it was not really an option as a choice, the French state punished Guinea for that by essentially imposing an economic embargo against Guinea, removing all the expatriate workers who are working there, removing physical

items from building infrastructure, ripping off physical material and repatriating it back to France. In fact, the Guinean state would have collapsed very quickly had it not been for Ghana, which loaned Guinea $10 million at the time. And that amount in today's money—

Adesoji Iginla (10:33.455)
infrastructure yeah destroying the infrastructure yeah

Milton Allimadi (11:00.449)
would be probably more than $100 million, which is significant for an African state to lend to another African state.

Adesoji Iginla (11:04.039)
Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (11:13.703)
So at this point, Bolin had begun to develop considerable clout in post-colonial and pan-African circles. She wrote that after Guinea became independent, she used this influence to advise CA as new president Bartomee Buganda, persuading him to stand down in a diplomatic row with Congo Brazzaville's post-independence leader, Foubert Yolu. There's a... Okay, yeah. Bolin was pulled

in two directions. On one hand, she had three children, three young children, including Eve to raise. On the other hand, she had the restlessness of an idealist with a certain anger at the world as it was. Eve, the daughter, is telling BBC. So what do think of that tussle between home life and the ideal?

Milton Allimadi (11:46.594)
Yeah.

Milton Allimadi (12:07.755)
Well, essentially, that is what really confines and limits the contribution that women have been able to make toward the liberation struggle. Although I advise people to really go back and study the war of liberation in Zimbabwe. When they were fighting against the white racist regime of Ian Smith, when it was still called Rhodesia. There are many accounts of women who were part of the patriotic front.

Adesoji Iginla (12:27.228)
Yes.

Milton Allimadi (12:37.802)
the guerrilla movement alliance between Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo. Some of the women fighters would deliver their children and within a few days they're back on the front line. That was a very common story. But at the same time, it does tell us that raising our children should be a partnership so that both men and women can also participate in liberation struggle.

Adesoji Iginla (12:38.437)
You

Adesoji Iginla (12:54.641)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (13:06.749)
or in the development struggle in African countries today.

Adesoji Iginla (13:10.951)
Yes, one final part. There she is in the corner. That was her husband and that's the daughter. That's the great secretary right there. She addressed crowds of women encouraging them to push for gender equality as well as Congo independence. I mean, we're talking gender equality in 1960s. She also had a knack for organizing and strategy.

Milton Allimadi (13:34.676)
Yeah, she was ahead of her time.

Adesoji Iginla (13:41.093)
Soon the colonial powers and international press caught wind of Bozuin's work and the accuser of being amongst many things, Nkrumah's mistress, Sekituri's agent, and the courtesans of all African chiefs of state.

Milton Allimadi (13:55.957)
Right. And obviously, if it was not a woman, that would not have been the suggestion. In other words, a woman cannot be totally disinterested in contributing her capabilities and knowledge and skills to liberation struggle. She's advising men, so there has to be some romantic relationship. That is the presumption of media. You know? And even if there was a romantic relationship,

Adesoji Iginla (14:08.999)
Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (14:19.847)
And because

Milton Allimadi (14:24.788)
How would that diminish the tremendous contribution she made to the liberation struggle, you see?

Adesoji Iginla (14:30.215)
Yeah, but that could possibly be our only motivation. For our listeners who want to know more about the lady, she plays a key role in that movie that was the movie titled Soundtrack to a Kudita. It's actually very, very good. I'm enjoying people to actually watch it. It's two hours, 30 minutes, but it's two hours, 30 minutes of at least, I counted, at least

You would have to read eight books to get that kind of content in one place.

Milton Allimadi (15:06.693)
Excellent. I myself look forward to watching it this afternoon.

Adesoji Iginla (15:10.171)
Yeah, please do. It's titled the soundtrack to a cool detail.

And so speaking of soundtrack to Kudita, we go to...

Adesoji Iginla (15:27.355)
the Sahel region. Otherwise, in popular media, which I don't want to add voice to.

this story comes from the Financial Times and there you see in sets you see Ibrahim Mataouré. know once you see that in the background you know what we're about to talk about. So the Financial Times writes the terrifying crackdown on mining companies in Africa's Kubell. Military regimes in the Sahel have turned two tactics including arrest to assert control over

Critical mineral supplies. On the land I word, critical mineral supplies. And the story is filed in by Anwar Deoye in Lagos and Kamila Hodgson in London. International mining companies are the mercy of terrifying tactics from military regimes in Africa's Sahel, whose leaders are using legal disputes, nationalizations and unrest to assert greater control over crucial minerals.

like gold and uranium. Mali in recent months issued an arrest warrant for Barrick Gold Chief Executive Mark Bristow and detained Australia Gold Miners Chief Resolute Chief Executive Terence Holloway, for nearly two weeks. Authorities on Saturday even started seizing gold from Barrick, according to a company letter seen by the Financial Times.

I'll just read one more piece before I get your thoughts. Niger has also stripped mining rights to one of the world's largest uranium reserves from French state-owned nuclear producer, Orano, while Australia-backed gold miner Sarama Resources have launched arbitration proceedings against Burkina Faso after De Junta redrew its exploration license for your project. What do you want?

Milton Allimadi (17:34.649)
Okay. All right, so.

Adesoji Iginla (17:35.303)
I even know. I didn't even know why I'm laughing.

Milton Allimadi (17:39.775)
So first of all, the language they're using, right?

Adesoji Iginla (17:42.853)
Thank you for...

Milton Allimadi (17:44.287)
Arrest, terrifying tactics, mercy.

But the most important thing, as you notice, that our audience should keep focus on is crucial minerals, critical minerals, right? These are the most important things to keep an eye on. So first of all, the tone.

Adesoji Iginla (17:57.255)
Mm-hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (18:02.599)
Yep.

Milton Allimadi (18:22.741)
The tone is as if there could be no legitimate issue of potential criminality involved, right? The way it's being presented. They're not bringing up what is being alleged that they did and what is the defense that is being offered by the people that have either been arrested or threatened with arrest or detained, right?

Adesoji Iginla (18:30.373)
Yes, yes.

Adesoji Iginla (18:50.449)
Mm-hmm.

correct?

Milton Allimadi (18:54.324)
So it boils down to, look, you have a bunch of Africans arresting Europeans.

corporate executives. That's what the summary is. If anybody listened carefully to what you just read so far and they go back and read it, you know, to themselves, that's what it boils down to. But then there are a few issues that we question we need to raise. Number one.

Adesoji Iginla (19:06.183)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Milton Allimadi (19:25.116)
These resources are in African countries, correct? So why should African countries not be in control, total control of these resources? The US has many minds, but that's maybe the most in the world. This country's resources, not even all are disclosed to the rest of the world.

Adesoji Iginla (19:28.935)
Correct. Correct.

Adesoji Iginla (19:44.583)
Mm.

Milton Allimadi (19:53.501)
Who owns these resources? Is it a European company? Is it a Chinese company? In fact, if anybody does the research, you'll see the many times where there's been an executive order by the president of the United States barring foreign companies, particularly Chinese, from either investing or having a majority stake in some industries.

or acquiring them outright, you see? So now it's suddenly an international scandal when African countries are beginning to assert the same rights over their resources, which is what should have been happening from the 1960s, in fact. They would not be in the condition of impoverishment that they're enduring today had they started the strategy from the 1960s.

Adesoji Iginla (20:24.903)
Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (20:40.496)
Okay.

Adesoji Iginla (20:50.501)
Hmm. I mean, if you look at the last paragraph there, says Niger has also stripped mining rights to one of the world's largest uranium reserves from French state-owned. So it's OK that European countries can have state-owned companies. But when African countries do the same, it is nationalization.

Milton Allimadi (21:14.876)
Yep, absolutely. If African countries do the same, they will not have access to money from the World Bank and the IMF. So that's a very good point that you raised as well. Thank you for that.

Adesoji Iginla (21:24.679)
You

I continue.

The more interventionist stance, according to people familiar with the regime's thinking, stems from a desire to assert national sovereignty after decades under the form of Western miners and subject to contracts.

Milton Allimadi (21:42.999)
Okay. right. So time out, time out. Why is that not the lead of this article? They know what they're trying to do, and they're now telling us exactly what they're trying to do. But in their minds, the Africans don't deserve to do that. They're even bringing words such as under the thumb, right? Meaning they know the current status quo is illegitimate and uncalled for.

Adesoji Iginla (22:04.423)
Yep.

Adesoji Iginla (22:09.052)
Mm-hmm.

Milton Allimadi (22:13.573)
But where is this buried in the story? This should be the beginning. African countries are now increasingly asserting control over their critical minerals in an attempt to get a much more just and better deal. This is what the article's about. But instead they distorted, you know, by keeping scorn on the credibility of these African officials. And then finally in their own words,

Adesoji Iginla (22:13.735)
you

Adesoji Iginla (22:23.322)
Mmm.

Adesoji Iginla (22:30.575)
Mm. Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (22:36.003)
Opened with a headline.

Adesoji Iginla (22:40.785)
Yep.

Milton Allimadi (22:42.511)
They tell us what is really happening, you know? But you might miss it if you get caught up in reading, you know, the red herrings, the distractions that they throw into the story, you see?

Adesoji Iginla (22:45.497)
Okay, I'll continue.

Adesoji Iginla (22:53.943)
Yes, yes. So subject to contracts, the new rulers viewed as tilted in the favor of the companies. I wonder why that is. They have been rewriting mining laws, demanding higher tax payments and larger ownership stakes in the industry, but have also resorted to restricting operations, issuing arrest warrants and detaining employees.

Milton Allimadi (23:05.018)
Hehehe.

Milton Allimadi (23:10.747)
Thank you.

Milton Allimadi (23:14.286)
Thank you very much.

Milton Allimadi (23:22.563)
Yep. You bring some company from Burkina Faso and start mining somewhere in the Midwest and see what will happen in the United States.

Adesoji Iginla (23:30.727)
Hahaha

Adesoji Iginla (23:37.191)
I'm sure there'll be.

Milton Allimadi (23:39.278)
mean, how dare these Africans to ask for more money?

Adesoji Iginla (23:43.623)
Exactly. They are rewriting mining laws. Are the laws not for them to rewrite? Are they not national mining laws? Demanding higher tax payments?

Milton Allimadi (23:55.45)
The laws in the United States are rewritten or amended every day. Okay?

Adesoji Iginla (24:04.711)
Okay.

Milton Allimadi (24:06.723)
They just want these African countries and their leadership to remain comatose, which has been the case in most cases since 1960s. And that's what they want.

Adesoji Iginla (24:15.941)
Yeah, I'll continue. It is terrifying dealing with the regime in Mali, said one person involved in the negotiation who asked for anonymity. They are building arbitrary cases against companies to force them to negotiate and threatening arrests. The pressure tactics have turned into one of the biggest headaches facing the global mining industry.

Milton Allimadi (24:18.626)
Mm-hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (24:42.339)
at a time when companies around the world are trying to secure long-term uranium supplies and boost production of gold, whose price has risen to record high.

Milton Allimadi (24:56.168)
Okay, so it's amazing the arrogance, right? In other words, the most important thing is the well-being of outside world, right? Not the countries who own these resources. They're to secure long-term access, regardless of whether it does long-term damage.

Adesoji Iginla (24:56.23)
So.

Adesoji Iginla (25:00.974)
Yes.

Adesoji Iginla (25:10.319)
in particular companies.

Milton Allimadi (25:25.185)
to the economies of these countries. And that's why I keep saying, when we read these articles, we should always imagine the opposite of what is being said. And many times you understand what is missing from these stories.

Adesoji Iginla (25:41.887)
Mm-hmm, correct, correct. I wrote down a question with regards to this particular story, and which is, how does his, I mean, you've largely answered it, but maybe you can underscore the point. How does historical patterns of exploitation by Western interests influence the current politics in the Sahel?

Milton Allimadi (26:06.748)
Well, it's what led to the formation of the Alliance of the Sahel States. They're finally tired of this exploitation. And as I said many times, whether the leadership in Mali, in Bukina Faso, in Niger, if they were initially inspired by their own selfish aggrandizement to seize state power, that is now in the past. That's now history.

Adesoji Iginla (26:13.286)
Mm.

Milton Allimadi (26:35.538)
The momentum has changed the direction if that was not the intended direction. The people are supporting them because they see them confronting neocolonialism. They see them asserting control over their resources with these practical measures that they're taking. They would pretty much, I'm sure, prefer the current leadership that they have to men dressed in nice suits, calling themselves civilians, but not doing anything.

Adesoji Iginla (26:40.646)
and

Milton Allimadi (27:04.673)
for the welfare and development of their countries, you know?

Adesoji Iginla (27:08.786)
Mm-hmm

Milton Allimadi (27:10.171)
Yeah, so let the West keep referring to them as the cool belt. If the Africans are supporting the cool belt countries, that's the most important thing to be supported by the people in this country. If the people of Burkina Faso and Mali and Niger say they no longer want these regimes, then of course we support them. We support the people all the time we side with the people.

Adesoji Iginla (27:33.411)
OK. And speaking of a military arm, we go to our next story.

Milton Allimadi (27:41.961)
no, there's another part in this article that I would like you to read. It refers to something about poverty. I forget what part about it, about these countries being poor.

Adesoji Iginla (27:45.479)
5 second

Adesoji Iginla (27:49.543)
Oh, one second. One second. think I did. Wait a second. Share. Where is it?

Milton Allimadi (27:54.674)
I don't actually highlighted it.

Milton Allimadi (28:08.218)
It was the most arrogant statement.

Adesoji Iginla (28:12.687)
Okay, these countries are part of the semi-arid strip south of the Sahara known as the Sahel, are amongst the world's poorest but are rich in mineral resources.

Milton Allimadi (28:22.61)
Hahaha!

So listeners, I want you to listen carefully and then laugh because now you see how incompetent they are even in their own journalism. They don't even see it. They're so contemptuous of Africans that they don't realize what they're saying. Read that one more time, please.

Adesoji Iginla (28:44.625)
This country is part of the semi-arid strip south of the Sahara, known as the Sahel, are amongst the world's poorest, but are rich in mineral resources.

Milton Allimadi (28:59.675)
So if you are rich in mineral resources and yet you're the most impoverished, what does that mean then? What does it mean is happening?

Adesoji Iginla (29:03.121)
Mm-hmm.

Milton Allimadi (29:10.012)
They're confessing to their theft, right? They're confessing that they're stealing from us, they're exploiting us openly. Otherwise, how could you be rich and impoverished at the same time?

Adesoji Iginla (29:25.091)
Mmm. Mmm.

Milton Allimadi (29:26.991)
You know, that is the lead of another article. The reason why these African countries are impoverished, even though they're rich in natural resources, is because they're being exploited and plundered by Western multinational corporation. So there are two stories that they were trying to hide in this article, even though they tell us. But if you just read it like that, probably 90,

Adesoji Iginla (29:34.587)
Published,

Adesoji Iginla (29:44.647)
Yes.

Milton Allimadi (29:55.6)
9 % of people wouldn't even get it and ask, wait, you're calling them quote unquote poor. At the same time, you're saying rich in resources, something missing. What is the missing element? Your exploitation of these countries. That's what you're not talking about.

Adesoji Iginla (29:58.373)
Hmm. Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (30:04.913)
They are rich.

Adesoji Iginla (30:15.163)
Hmm. See? A placed phrase in the right sentence changes the entire framing of the story. Amongst the world's poorest, both are reached in mineral resources. Okay, interesting. Okay, so speaking of...

Milton Allimadi (30:16.206)
Yes, sir.

Milton Allimadi (30:24.673)
Thank

These folks are amazing. These folks are amazing.

Milton Allimadi (30:37.571)
Yes, sir.

Adesoji Iginla (30:42.351)
imposition of impoverishment. We'll go for our next story, which is the eastern side of the continent. And it comes from Radio France International. And it is one that we've run before, but the story continues, the conversation continues. Rebels title grip, tightening grip on Congo's mineral wealth as UN wants of long-term control.

The M23 rebels are establishing

Milton Allimadi (31:12.641)
So before we even read that, I would like to actually tackle the headline, because the headline would have different international impact and consequences if they had the correct headline. The correct headline should be Rwanda's military tightened grip on Congo mineral wealth as UN wants a long-term control. So if you have a headline like that, that obviously is going to be a matter that the Security Council has to deal with.

Adesoji Iginla (31:17.37)
okay.

Adesoji Iginla (31:23.249)
Mm-hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (31:38.204)
Mm-hmm.

Milton Allimadi (31:43.267)
You see? So they start the whitewashing and propaganda from the very beginning. There are no rebels in Rwanda, in Congo, mean. This is Rwanda's national army, posing as, quote unquote, rebels. And the fact that major publications accepted, put it in the headline, that is part of the war of aggression against the people of Congo. The war that is conducted

Adesoji Iginla (31:43.515)
Hmm, yes.

Milton Allimadi (32:12.227)
by the media, international media is even much more damaging than the war by Rwanda's military. Because that war by Rwanda's military could not survive if it's totally and properly exposed instead of being disguised with willing and aiding abettas in international media as a so-called rebellion, you see? So everything else is secondary. Once you've established the propaganda

Adesoji Iginla (32:16.583)
Mmm.

Adesoji Iginla (32:35.985)
Mm. Mm.

Milton Allimadi (32:41.856)
in the headline, you see?

Adesoji Iginla (32:43.803)
Yes, yes, and then you can then drive the point home, you know. Okay, so it says M23 rebels are establishing control over key mineral rich territories in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, United Nations experts have warned. So why is it that the United Nations? Yes.

Milton Allimadi (32:47.276)
Absolutely.

Milton Allimadi (33:04.821)
Right. So think about it. Think about it. If you had Mexico, or Canada manufacturing so-called rebels, you know, in vehicles that are brand new, totally fueled, with all the electronic equipment on them, with satellite phones, clean uniforms, well-fed people, not any debt on these so-called rebels,

Adesoji Iginla (33:11.271)
Mm-hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (33:28.295)
Mm-hmm.

Milton Allimadi (33:33.589)
sponsored by Mexico, right? And occupying U.S. territory. What would happen?

Adesoji Iginla (33:42.343)
then NATO will come to its rescue.

Milton Allimadi (33:45.847)
Boom, the US alone would annihilate Mexico. Right? So why is a war of aggression against the people of the Congo being tolerated? And of course you and I know the answer, because these Western corporations are stealing, plundering resources from the Congo. That's why they're not talking about coup belt, blah, blah, blah, in that part of Africa, because they're profiting. They're profiting. The coup belt,

Adesoji Iginla (33:50.896)
Yes.

Adesoji Iginla (34:10.887)
you

Milton Allimadi (34:15.454)
And the negative projection are only in the Sahel, because the Sahel countries are saying, no, we want to control what belongs to us. You see?

Adesoji Iginla (34:22.554)
in the

Adesoji Iginla (34:26.469)
Yeah, yeah. I'll continue.

Milton Allimadi (34:29.643)
Yes, sir.

Adesoji Iginla (34:32.103)
They look well drilled.

Milton Allimadi (34:35.324)
Look at that. Look, tell me that is not a national army. Look at the stuff on his back. You know, and then go back and Google research the images of Castro and his rebels. You could tell those who are through insurgents. You see, they didn't have military fatigue, military fatigue, of hats like that. This is the equipment and uniform of a national army. You know.

Adesoji Iginla (34:53.319)
I mean look at this. Look at this fatigue.

Adesoji Iginla (35:02.982)
You

Milton Allimadi (35:05.291)
And these stupid media, think, they think we're so incompetent. They know this is a national army, and they pretend in their writing as if they don't know this is national army invading Congo. We have to call them out in the most strongest language, you know? Yes, sir.

Adesoji Iginla (35:16.871)
Mm. Mm. Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (35:23.629)
Okay, we proceed. The Tutsi-led rebels active in North and South Kivu provinces have seized Keytown since April 2024, allegedly with support from Rwanda forces, though Kigali denies involvement and says it is committed to a ceasefire and peace talks. A report

Milton Allimadi (35:46.78)
Okay, so now when you wrote that sentence right that you just read, allegedly, Kigali denies, are you saying this person is incapable of adding that you have pictures so presumably you were there, right? According to this correspondent, it's quite evident that these are actual, you know, members of the Rwanda military. You could not add something like that.

Adesoji Iginla (35:51.707)
Yes.

Adesoji Iginla (36:04.775)
Yes.

Milton Allimadi (36:16.359)
You allow that to carry this lie because Gagali denies it.

Adesoji Iginla (36:21.756)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (36:22.468)
We have to really call them out, They're doing this because the people who are dying are Africans, are Congolese. We won't let them get away with aiding and abetting Rwanda in the war of aggression.

Adesoji Iginla (36:31.867)
Mm. Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (36:39.643)
And it continues, a report by the UN Security Council's group of experts accuses M23 of setting up shadow administrations to exploit strategic mines and trade routes. Yes, I would have to agree. For you to set up something like that, you have to have back support. There is no way you're setting up a shadow administration to exploit

Milton Allimadi (36:57.769)
you

Milton Allimadi (37:05.341)
No, it's a progressive. No, these media outlets, really, you know, they bring shame upon themselves. But you know what? They do it because there are not enough critical shows like the one that we have, you know, breaking it down line by line on a regular basis. I encourage and urge our African sisters and brothers, please,

Start your own media platforms where you have the kind of discussion that I'm having today with a comrade brother at the SOG. The more of us that do it, the more difficult it becomes for them to continue being the agents of propaganda and the handmaidens of aggression. It's not really so much Rwanda or Uganda. It is the multinational companies.

Adesoji Iginla (37:47.131)
Yes.

Adesoji Iginla (37:57.67)
Mm.

Milton Allimadi (38:02.14)
that support Rwanda and Uganda, who are causing the bloodshed of our sisters and brothers in the Congo. Uganda and Rwanda, as we pointed out before, they don't have any factories. All these minerals that are stolen are exported overseas to the West. So it means they're really blood masters, right? With bloody hands are these corporations that are just using the leadership in Rwanda and Uganda.

Adesoji Iginla (38:09.573)
Yes, yes.

Adesoji Iginla (38:16.399)
What did you do?

Adesoji Iginla (38:23.335)
Hmm

Milton Allimadi (38:31.621)
you know, respectively Kagame and Museveni to butcher fellow Africans while they steal our resources. And then they have these media outlets coming here to confuse you, rebel, know, occupy, blah, blah, blah, all nonsense. Let's call them out.

Adesoji Iginla (38:50.723)
Yes. Okay, I continue. This constitutes the most important contamination of supply chains with ineligible minerals recorded in the Great Lake regions over the last decade, they said in their report. Over the last decade. So which means the case they have in France and Belgium has

Milton Allimadi (39:03.098)
Yes. Yes. Yes.

Milton Allimadi (39:13.378)
Absolutely. It has great potential. I love that. That is the most important part of the story, in fact. A better written article should have been with the increasing legal challenges by the Congo to make their Western companies such as Apple. It's going to be difficult for neighboring Rwandan Uganda to continue their war of aggression.

Adesoji Iginla (39:29.435)
Yeah.

Milton Allimadi (39:42.669)
against Congo. This is what the article, you know, if I were to rewrite the article using the same information, that's how I would write this article, you know. You see, they give us all the elements, but they piece it in their own way to confuse us. But you can use the same information in this entire article and write the correct story, which is this is a war of invasion.

Adesoji Iginla (39:49.713)
Mm-hmm.

Yep.

Milton Allimadi (40:09.517)
war of aggression, and a war of aggression is always discussed in the Security Council, right? But if it's disguised as rebellion, then it's not going to be discussed in the Security Council. You see? It's being financed by the Western Baltic National Corporation, who benefit from these resources, which are not used in Rwanda and Uganda, because neither country have factories.

Adesoji Iginla (40:14.439)
correct.

Adesoji Iginla (40:34.215)
Hmm, okay. The UN says M23 was financing its operation by exporting minerals from areas under its control, including cotton, a resource used in electronics like smartphones and computer. It's added that M23 has created a mining ministry to over...

to oversee coal-torn exports from Rubiah, home to one of the largest deposits of the mineral. In this way, the militant collected at least $800,000 per month in taxes. Yes. Yes.

Milton Allimadi (40:59.812)
What a joke.

Milton Allimadi (41:14.116)
Okay, so cross there for a little bit. $800,000, we're talking about a million dollars a month, right? Okay, so have they dug a huge pit in the sand and lined it with cement? And is that where the money is being stored? Where do you keep a million dollars that you're generating per month? Think about that. If not in banks, in Rwanda, next door.

Adesoji Iginla (41:21.081)
Yeah. Yes.

Adesoji Iginla (41:42.575)
Okay. Yep.

Milton Allimadi (41:43.938)
Where would you put all that money? You're talking about Uganda, right? You you're talking $8 million, right, in eight months.

Adesoji Iginla (41:45.775)
or Uganda.

Adesoji Iginla (41:53.191)
Yep.

Milton Allimadi (41:55.541)
that's being buried in some mattress somewhere. It's such a joke. You see?

Adesoji Iginla (42:02.597)
Hmm. And these are supposed to be journalists.

Milton Allimadi (42:06.049)
These are supposed to be journalists and these are supposed to be credible, serious media company. And then, you know, it's so ironic that you have the wrong person that should be complaining about fake news, right? And that is Donald Trump, right? Given his own conduct and his own serial lying, right? He's a habitual liar, right? Pathological liar. But nonetheless,

Adesoji Iginla (42:32.421)
Yes.

Milton Allimadi (42:35.063)
He actually does have a point when he talks about fake news. Absolutely, because this is what this amounts to. It has all the information, but the way it's shaped and molded is to just as diversion and to confuse people. Meanwhile, the victims are the Congolese who are being displaced from their homes, right? So that the mining can occur.

Adesoji Iginla (42:39.067)
Fake news, yeah. Because you see...

Adesoji Iginla (42:53.019)
Mm-hmm

Milton Allimadi (43:04.394)
and who are being massacred and who are being raped, you know?

Adesoji Iginla (43:07.591)
Hmm. Let's continue. So the last part. A global issue. The UN reports highlights concern about how M23's actions could affect global electronic manufacturers, which face pressure to ensure their conflict-free supply chains. Congo has filed criminal complaints against Apple subsidiaries in France and Belgium.

Milton Allimadi (43:34.346)
Right.

Adesoji Iginla (43:36.473)
accusing the tech firm of using conflict minerals in its supply chain.

Milton Allimadi (43:41.259)
Yeah, think that's very correct. I think it would be very good if they go after every one of those companies that involved and then nobody will be able to buy any of these minerals coming from Rwanda and Uganda and that would be the end of it. You know, either that or a total embargo of any one of these types of products that are being shipped out of Rwanda and Uganda, you see, so that they have no choice.

Adesoji Iginla (43:49.351)
Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (44:00.005)
Hmm. But.

Adesoji Iginla (44:09.443)
or even a pause because

Milton Allimadi (44:12.258)
Sorry.

even opposed while they evaluate this case. I agree, totally. That's a very good suggestion, actually. The Congolese should actually file an emergency injunction calling for that. You're very correct. That's a brilliant suggestion. If they haven't thought about it, they need to do that. I agree.

Adesoji Iginla (44:17.809)
Thank you. Yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (44:22.309)
You

Adesoji Iginla (44:34.732)
yes.

Adesoji Iginla (44:38.764)
And for our next, go on.

Milton Allimadi (44:40.041)
And of course, based on the evidence, the ruling will be in their favor, you see? So the pause, turning from a pause, it will be effective order, you see?

Adesoji Iginla (44:46.191)
Very much so. Very much so.

Adesoji Iginla (44:53.573)
Because if the story already alludes to the fact that they even have a ministry within the territory of Congo, exploiting Congo's mineral resources. Talk about being comfortable.

Milton Allimadi (44:58.986)
Think about that.

Milton Allimadi (45:04.085)
Thank you.

Milton Allimadi (45:11.664)
And the victims, of course, as I said, are these poor, innocent, Kimberly civilians.

Adesoji Iginla (45:16.131)
Yes, yes, yes, yes. Yes, I'm still in Congo. We go for our final story, which resides with the origin of where we are today. And it's when one man says no, and the powers that be say, who are you to question our authority?

And it's a story that was filed two years ago, but it resonates because on the 17th of January marks 64 years since the murder of Patrice Lumumba. And I picked this story specifically for certain elements of how the story was framed. And you could see the idea of trying to tell a story from a

Milton Allimadi (45:56.286)
That's right.

Adesoji Iginla (46:11.279)
distant point of view that almost as if you're reporting on something that you don't quite know the answer to. So I begin. Belgium returns Patrice Lumumba's tooth to family 61 years, you could say 64 years after his murder. Congolese independence heroes go cap-toothed handed over as ex-colonial power faces its bloody past. That's his son there. Roland.

Milton Allimadi (46:39.176)
going.

Adesoji Iginla (46:40.845)
And he reads, Belgian authorities have returned a go etude of the mother's Congolese independence hero, Patrice Lumumba, to his children in a new move towards recognition of atrocities that accompanied the country's brutal exploitation of the follow colony.

Adesoji Iginla (47:03.367)
So Lumumba here, who was murdered by separatists and Belgian mercenaries in 1961. His killers dissolved his remains in acid, though some kept his tooth as a macabre movement. Could you just speak to the passive language here? Who was murdered by separatists and Belgian mercenaries? Before we continue.

Milton Allimadi (47:29.871)
Right. Well, I guess there's more elaboration that comes in the article, but yeah, but you know.

Adesoji Iginla (47:35.875)
Okay, let me continue.

Adesoji Iginla (47:41.157)
His killers dissolved. so I've read that part Lumumba's son Roland said last week that the return of the tooth meant his family would be able to finish their morning. By returning the tooth, Belgium is hoping to draw a line under one of the most brutal and shameful episodes in the country's bloody exploitation of central Africa. At that time, Alexander de Kru, the Belgian prime minister, recognized

its moral responsibility for Lumumba's killing. This is a painful and disagreeable truth but must be spoken, Degroux said. A man was murdered for his political convictions, his words and his ideals. Do you want to say something about our continent?

Milton Allimadi (48:28.565)
Okay, in addition to his words and his ideals, his attempt to gain economic control of the country's resources, which is precisely the reason why Belgium killed him, not so much because of his ideals, because they asked for more control of the copper industry. That was the primary material at that time in Congo's history, in addition to uranium, of course. So now,

Adesoji Iginla (48:31.963)
Yes.

Adesoji Iginla (48:39.163)
Those are ideas we can't live with.

Adesoji Iginla (48:45.904)
Yes.

Adesoji Iginla (48:52.657)
Mm-hmm.

Milton Allimadi (48:59.703)
I hope that our viewers, listeners are having the same reaction as they're listening to you read what you've read so far. Right? We have a European nation, Europeans who supposedly came to civilize the African heathens, right?

Adesoji Iginla (49:14.694)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (49:25.298)
And they told you the kind, because obviously, forget about the separatists. These were all people being instructed by the neocolonial powers, which was Belgium, which was Britain primarily, and the United States, right? And you learn that these civilized, civilizing Europeans took the teeth

Adesoji Iginla (49:44.571)
Yeah. Yes.

Milton Allimadi (49:55.435)
of the person whom they murdered and dissolved his body in acid, as memento, took part of his human remains. Just think about that. And yet the Africans are the ones who have been referred to historically as the savages, you know. It's really, you know, turning reality upside down. So that's what I wanted to say based on what you've read so far.

Adesoji Iginla (50:06.085)
and kept it.

Adesoji Iginla (50:21.319)
Okay, I'll continue.

A charismatic

Milton Allimadi (50:25.92)
It is grotesque to find a better word. It's grotesque. Okay.

Adesoji Iginla (50:34.435)
Earlier this month. Yes.

Milton Allimadi (50:34.688)
No, just try to think about it. African killing a European and keeping his teeth.

for decades.

Adesoji Iginla (50:47.623)
for more than half a century.

Milton Allimadi (50:49.09)
Think about that and having it as an ornament on display in the home of this African, in some African country.

What do people think about these Africans? I just want to pose that question. want listeners to sometimes project and think about what if I put myself in the shoes? I think it gives you a better understanding of the context of these articles that we critique on a normal, on a regular basis, you know?

Adesoji Iginla (51:19.569)
Hmm. Yes. Yes. Because for long, the stories have been written without filter and they will continue to be written without filter until someone pushes back. So I continue. Earlier this month, the King of Belgium made his first visit to the DRC, though he stopped short of offering a formal apology. King Philip

Milton Allimadi (51:30.55)
Thank you.

Absolutely.

Adesoji Iginla (51:45.421)
expressed deepest regrets for the wounds of the past describing a regime of unequal relations, unjustifiable in itself, marked by paternalism, discrimination and racism that led to violent acts and humiliation.

Milton Allimadi (52:04.434)
Okay, so what's missing from the King's comments, of course, is the economic plunder, right? The economic plunder that started with Leopold the second. And that needs to be included in these comments, because then we can now start talking about issues of reparations, correct?

Adesoji Iginla (52:12.89)
Yes.

Adesoji Iginla (52:17.467)
King Leopold.

Adesoji Iginla (52:24.471)
Not that-

Adesoji Iginla (52:29.991)
I mean, again, the article has not even brought up King Leopold anywhere yet. So I'll continue. A charismatic but volatile Pan-Africanist.

Volatile how?

Milton Allimadi (52:49.765)
Okay, I wanted you to bring that up, you know. Volatile, because you said the copper belongs to us, so why are we not getting the resources from the copper? So that is supposed to be volatile. Volatile with no elaboration or no evidence, but you let that just remain there without qualifying why you are demonizing him as having been volatile.

Adesoji Iginla (53:02.599)
Milton Allimadi (53:19.525)
And this is that cut and paste approach. They cut and paste a sentence from a previous article, which cut and paste from a previous article, previous article, probably, it probably began with a Belgian official in the 1960s saying, this guy is volatile. And since then they go back and they read, because you know, many reporters, they read things that have been published before and they just

Adesoji Iginla (53:45.159)
Yeah.

Milton Allimadi (53:48.048)
know, they just copy that and paste it in the articles. Why else would you do something like that and not provide any elaboration as to why you're referring to him as Volatiles? It means you just copy and paste. And the next person who writes about it will also copy and paste from this article that exact sentence. Boom. And I know this is what they do for a fact, because, I don't remember when it was, a couple years ago.

the Ugandan correspondent for Reuters, you know, he writes a lot about Museveni. And then there was a reference, I forget the exact reference, but I think it has something to do with...

that he's sometimes criticized for strong arm tactics, whatever, but he reintroduced ability and is widely popular, which of course is complete lie. But there was something else which had a factual error, which can be easily checked.

Adesoji Iginla (54:47.345)
Mm.

Milton Allimadi (55:05.74)
and shown to be a factually incorrect information in one of the sentences. And then I looked at about five or six different articles written by this same reporter, right? Going back to the past, and every one of those articles had that factual error, meaning it was being copied and pasted from one article to the next, you see?

Adesoji Iginla (55:09.925)
OK.

Adesoji Iginla (55:32.859)
He said you must be right.

Milton Allimadi (55:33.589)
And I tweeted about it, and I made sure I tagged his editor, who is based in South Africa, the editor of Reuters. And then thereafter, his articles no longer included that factual error with that phrase, with a factual error. Yeah. So I know that they copy and paste many of these reporters, you know.

Adesoji Iginla (55:46.043)
Had that phrase.

Adesoji Iginla (55:53.255)
Hmm

Okay, so we'll continue. A charismatic and volatile Pan-Africanist who played a key part in the fight for independence, Lumumba became the first democratically elected leader of his country in 1960. Within a year, he had become a victim of Cold War politics, an internal power struggle, as order collapsed in the new state and rebel groups in the mineral-rich Katanga province.

That's the area of Kivu again. Sort to break away. Could you explain that part, please?

Milton Allimadi (56:33.869)
There's no need for lot of explanation here, actually, because history has been consistent, right?

Adesoji Iginla (56:39.151)
Hmm. Yes, it does.

Milton Allimadi (56:43.413)
A few minutes ago, I was telling you there was no rebels in Congo. These are Rwanda's army. And what else is common at that time, which is common to what we are discussing today in Eastern Congo? Resources. Well, you see? So in that case, the Belgians were the ones who are concocting these so-called rebels, who are actually under the instruction

Adesoji Iginla (56:48.881)
Correct.

Adesoji Iginla (56:59.477)
Mineral reach. Yes.

Adesoji Iginla (57:10.299)
Yes.

Milton Allimadi (57:13.268)
of Belgium and imperialism, causing havoc, bringing down Lumumba's government while they steal resources. Now you have two African countries, Rwanda and Uganda, using the same template that was used by the Belgians in the 1960s to continue stealing Congo's resources. So it's remarkable how 1960 equals 2025.

Adesoji Iginla (57:26.449)
Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (57:42.503)
That is amazing. Now there is this part. I started in green for a reason. Western officials worried that Lumumba would favor the Soviet Union as a protector and allow Moscow access to strategic critical resources such as uranium. I know that to be a fallacy. And the reason is, let's hear the man speak for himself. And I take from

Milton Allimadi (57:42.631)
Yeah.

Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (58:12.219)
his speeches, interviews and speeches. This interview he did with Tom Brady of the New York Times. And he says, as a matter of fact, some centuries ago, America fought for its independence against foreigners. It will seem that the Americans should never forget it, but looks to me as if they're beginning to forget. Why do you think so? Brady asked.

Look at what is happening in the United Nations. Lumumba replied, we gazed at the world, at the world world we trust. I am not a communist, although you maintain that I am. But America, no matter how things go, is on the side of the colonialists. Perhaps she's not on the side of Belgium, but it is obvious that in using the UN, she has an eye on our riches. It is like the business

over the aircraft for which I was attacked by newspaper men. I flew to America in a Russian plane. That is true. I asked the Americans for a plane but they refused to let me have one after procrastinating with their reply for two whole days. What was I to do? I asked the Russians for a plane and they put one at my disposal in two hours. Now it is said I am a communist.

But judge for yourself what is more important to be regarded as a communist or to turn down an opportunity to go to the UN to defend our interests there. Judge for yourselves.

Milton Allimadi (59:51.794)
Well, first of all, I'm saddened that he even had to talk like that to a Western European American reporter, right? Number one, so what if he was a communist? That's number one. Number two, why should an independent sovereign state not have the right to decide which country it wants to partner with? You see, it just tells you the nature of our weakness in the global system that an African

Adesoji Iginla (59:59.237)
Mmm. Mmm.

Milton Allimadi (01:00:21.275)
head of state should be speaking like that to a reporter, a journalist, literally begging not to be killed. Think about it. That's essentially what he was doing. You know, the U.S. is a member of NATO. It decides which country it wants to be its partners. Together with NATO, went and obliterated Libya in 2011. Think about that. So this guy is killed because he's given a plane to fly to.

Adesoji Iginla (01:00:22.619)
Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (01:00:29.937)
Hmm. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Milton Allimadi (01:00:51.653)
the U.S. It's just amazing. It's a very sad, sad statement that you just read, that he had to be in that position. But that was the reality of the time. He was hoping they wouldn't kill him, and they still killed him anyway.

Adesoji Iginla (01:00:51.815)
to do the UN, Yeah.

Milton Allimadi (01:01:10.598)
Yes.

Adesoji Iginla (01:01:12.819)
Okay, let's continue. Following a military coup, Lumumba was jailed, tortured and shot to death by a hastily assembled firing squad. After 40 years, Belgium acknowledged that it bore moral responsibility for his death. The CIA has also begun to draw plans to kill the 35-year-old politician.

However, it took decades for the truth about the circumstances of Lumumba's mother to emerge. the year 2000, the Belgian police, Gerard Sote, confessed that he had dismembered Lumumba's body and dissolved the remaining acid. In a documentary screened on German TV, Sote showed two teeth that he said belonged to Lumumba. In 2016, a Belgian academic, Luder De Wit,

filed a complaint against Sote's daughter after she showed a gold tooth which is said belonged to Lumumba during an interview with a newspaper. The tooth was also then seized by the Belgian authorities.

Milton Allimadi (01:02:18.656)
macabre, just grotesque is all I can say. Very grotesque. You know, that you have a father and the daughter continuing with the same bizarre pathology. You know, this very sickness, very, very obviously very sick people. You see?

Adesoji Iginla (01:02:21.127)
Yes.

Adesoji Iginla (01:02:36.647)
I mean, there's no other words for it.

Milton Allimadi (01:02:39.48)
grotesque. And yet the Africans are the ones who are referred to as grotesque. But as a European, you just think you can keep getting away with it, you see?

Adesoji Iginla (01:02:50.085)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's important that we underscore this point by getting people to actually go and do some more reading because it's important to have a broad view of what transpired then. They mentioned the CIA was party to the Afiyas in the Congo. So for that, there's no rest for the wicked.

Milton Allimadi (01:03:17.508)
Yes.

Adesoji Iginla (01:03:19.195)
I give you this hefty book.

Milton Allimadi (01:03:20.899)
It's beautiful book. If I ever visit the UK, hopefully maybe this year at some point, obviously I would like to break bread with you, but I would also like to meet the author of that book.

Adesoji Iginla (01:03:26.299)
Yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (01:03:29.871)
meet up with

Adesoji Iginla (01:03:33.766)
Yep.

Susan Williams. Yes, yes. So it's White Malleus, the CIA and the neocolonization of Africa. And you can see where the crosshair is. That's where Congo is. And the gentleman who acts for the arrest of the daughter, Ludo de Wit, that's his book, The Assassination of Lumumba. So another brilliant, brilliant, brilliant book.

Milton Allimadi (01:04:00.909)
right.

Adesoji Iginla (01:04:06.743)
I actually read this in 24 hours. It was painful to read, it needs to be done. yeah, again, this is how we reframe the narrative about Africa by breaking down the stories that Dave put before us and also give it a historical context. Brother Milton is always here to highlight the

key parts that one might have overlooked in the course of reading. Because when you said, how can one be impoverished, yet rich?

Milton Allimadi (01:04:43.533)
Think about that. Preposterous, you know?

Adesoji Iginla (01:04:49.509)
But you had rich in mineral resources and no light bulb movement for the journalists writing that down. You know, it's like, okay. You know.

Milton Allimadi (01:04:55.999)
No, no, because Africans are always meant to be quote unquote poor. So doesn't cross his mind what he's saying. You know, it's so bizarre, you know.

Adesoji Iginla (01:05:05.39)
mmm mmm mmm mmm mmm you know i mean it's it's a remarkable world of narrative narrative narrative framing but that's why we're here and

Milton Allimadi (01:05:23.402)
Yeah, but we'll change it. We'll keep changing it. In the 60s, they would openly still refer to African savages, African tribesmen. So we've come a long way, but we're not there yet. So we continue the challenge. And that is what we do.

Adesoji Iginla (01:05:26.551)
one story at a time, one story at a time. Yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (01:05:49.425)
So I'm in light of the incoming administration. And where do you think its focus might be on the international scene?

Milton Allimadi (01:06:04.564)
Well, obviously, it's, you know, particularly my main interest, of course, is in Africa. It's going to be the resource, the resource areas. So whether the guy, you know, still thinks there's a country called Nambia, you know, at some point, the people that are close to him are going to convince him that we need to have a serious interest in the countries that have the resources, right?

Adesoji Iginla (01:06:12.378)
Okay.

Adesoji Iginla (01:06:23.303)
You

Adesoji Iginla (01:06:32.389)
Mm-hmm.

Milton Allimadi (01:06:33.534)
I want to watch carefully and see how they approach Rwanda. The person who is being mentioned as a possible undersecretary in charge of Africa, I think his last name is Pham, P-H-A-M. I debated him many years ago on Straight Talk Africa with Shaka Saleh. And, you know, at that time, he had this

Adesoji Iginla (01:06:47.195)
is

Adesoji Iginla (01:06:57.027)
Milton Allimadi (01:07:04.009)
He was an endorser of Rwanda's neocolonial approach toward Congo. And when I came on the show, I think maybe I spoke first, and then he got a sense of my politics, and he adjusted his position a little. And I said, wow, that's very interesting that if it's PHAM, then I said, Mr. Pham should say that.

because in an op-ed he wrote in the New York Times two days ago, he was saying the opposite, and I quoted from it,

Adesoji Iginla (01:07:40.071)
You

Milton Allimadi (01:07:41.983)
The guy turned red on the show, So, but I'm just saying I hope he still does not have that notion, because that would just means that the problem in Eastern Congo might escalate. Obviously, Congo needs to find enough allies to help it drive these two countries out of Congo, which is Rwanda and Uganda. Yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (01:07:49.457)
Mindset.

Adesoji Iginla (01:08:06.604)
You can do. Okay, okay. And for the Sahel, you don't think it will be business as usual, or you think there might be some

Milton Allimadi (01:08:15.424)
no, there is nothing that's going to reverse until unless internal contradictions leads to internal power struggle. But there's nothing that's going to reverse Mali and Burkina Faso and Niger from the course that they're undertaking right now. know? No, the US, the US is not in a position to do that, you know? And ironically,

Adesoji Iginla (01:08:33.351)
So he's a safe bet that France is gone for good.

Adesoji Iginla (01:08:39.3)
Okay.

Milton Allimadi (01:08:43.402)
This guy seems to be much more of us into wars of imperialism overseas, when compared to the democratic administrations, ironically, you know? So, let's wait and see what unfolds.

Adesoji Iginla (01:08:58.919)
OK. OK. Well, I must say thank you again. We've come to the end of another very powerful episode.

Milton Allimadi (01:09:08.576)
Thank you.

Adesoji Iginla (01:09:11.451)
Thank you. Thank you very much. And to our listeners, yes, you can do like, share, and subscribe. You can download the audio version of our discussion Monday morning, wherever you download your podcast from. And Brother Milton, thank you very much for coming through. And last words.

Milton Allimadi (01:09:33.937)
Luta continua!

Adesoji Iginla (01:09:35.579)
with Dr. Aseta and for me, Odig Bakono. And thank you all for watching and till next week, see you and God bless.