The Lobito Corridor: US imperialism's latest plot against the Democratic Republic of Congo

Imperialist aggression against the DRC is rapidly expanding and hundreds of thousands of people continue to flee their homelands, while towns fall one by one into the hands of imperialist forces. The people are living in a situation of chaos and despair, deprived of security and essential resources such as housing, food and medicine. The Congolese people, who have long suffered the horrors of war, bloody conflict and the atrocities of colonization, are plunging into an even darker period.

To fully understand the current situation in the Congo, we need to take a closer look at history. The Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 was organized for the partition of the Congo and the Congo was declared a free territory for all the imperialist powers to plunder. In 1939, during the uranium crisis for the manufacture of nuclear bombs, Albert Einstein sent a letter to the U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt informing him that an important source of uranium was located in the Congo and that the United States government should do whatever is necessary to maintain a hold on the incredibly mineral-rich Congo. It is the uranium stolen from the Congo that was used to manufacture the first atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima. The imperialists have long agreed that to maintain control over Congolese resources—which are indispensable to their technological development and their military might—, the country had to be kept in a permanent state of crisis which would facilitate the looting of its resources.

The latest imperialist scheme against the DRC is the Lobito Corridor also known as the Lobito Atlantic Railway. This railway was originally built between 1902 and 1929 by the colonial governments of Belgium and Portugal to transport copper and cobalt stolen from the DRC and Zambia towards Europe. In September 2023, at the G20 summit in New Delhi, India, the U.S. government and the European Union signed an agreement to revive this old colonial railway linking the DRC to Zambia and the port of Lobito in Angola, to export critical minerals to Europe via the Atlantic Ocean.

The United States and Europe, realizing that they have lost their influence over the DRC's critical minerals, have taken the initiative to invest a colossal sum in this imperialist project, which is primarily aimed at the DRC's cobalt and copper mines which are found in the Lualaba province in the southern region of the country. It is estimated that this province accounts for 70 percent of the world's cobalt reserves and one of the largest copper deposits. These two minerals are absolutely critical for the functioning of modern society. Cobalt is particularly important for the military industry and without copper, the transition to clean energy sources like electric vehicles and renewable energy systems would be impossible. The modern world as we know it could not function effectively without these two minerals which are found in abundance in the DRC.

Through this project, we once again find the imperialist powers convening around the Congo to further its exploitation. The United States, head imperialist power of today, is the leading investor in the Lobito corridor. The European Union will play its usual role of safeguarding Euro-American interests by monitoring the development of this project and ensuring all the logistical details such as operating the railways which will be handled by the Portuguese government.

Of course, such a scheme could not be successful without the active participation of the African comprador class. Neo-colonial institutions such as the African Development Bank and the Africa Finance Corporation have also invested in the exploitation of the Congo. Kwame Nkrumah taught us that the primary enemies of Africa are the imperialist powers but he also reminded us in his seminal text, Class Struggle in Africa, that in order to achieve our total independence, we would have to defeat our indigenous bourgeoisie.

The DRC, Zambia and Angola are currently under the leadership of neo-colonial governments who are fully under the control of imperialist powers and therefore are active participants in this scheme. Angola, an emergent ally of the United States, agreed to set up a joint defense cooperation committee in a June 2024 meeting. Angola received $18 million in U.S. military aid between 2020 and 2023 and is also a member of the US-led Partnership for Atlantic Cooperation which claims to be designed to strengthen maritime security and stimulate the blue economy, but in reality is a means for the United States to secure the route from which their loot will be expedited to Europe.

Zambia, like the DRC, is also rich in copper. Although both these countries are under economic attack from the imperialist countries and their multinationals, it is with the support of their national bourgeoisie who for several decades have guaranteed the interests of the imperialists at the expense of their people. The Lobito Corridor will reinforce the imperialist powers' control over the mineral wealth of these two countries. Both the Congolese and the Zambian masses are held hostage by a corrupt political elite who is at the service of their enemies.

The only solution to put an end to this nefarious project and all future imperialist plots against the DRC is to organize the Congolese masses to overthrow neo-colonialism. Although we maintain that the primary enemy of the Congolese people are the imperialists, we recognize that neo-colonialism is how imperialism manifests itself at the national level. The corrupt political elites in the DRC must be replaced with patriotic sons and daughters, grounded in a revolutionary organization to complete the struggle that Patrice Lumumba and his comrades of the Congolese National Movement had started. The only way to bring about such an outcome is to launch a mass political education campaign to raise the revolutionary consciousness of the people and spark their organization.

The struggle to liberate the Democratic Republic of the Congo cannot only concern Congolese people. Africans throughout the continent and in the diaspora have a great responsibility. They must stand ready to provide material and ideological support to the revolutionary forces in the DRC. Like Frantz Fanon told us, ‘the fate of all of us is at stake in the Congo’.

Our coalition has recently launched the Kwame Nkrumah Fellowship for African Organzers. Our first recipient is a Congolese Pan-Africanist based in the DRC. Contributions to this fellowship is a meaningful way to support the struggle for Congo’s liberation. Donations are also accepted through Venmo: @defendafrica