Since November of last year, Ottawa, Washington, and Paris have been bickering over who would lead an imperialist intervention force into Zaire under the flag of the United Nations. At first they floated the pretext of "humanitarian aid" for more than 1 million Rwandan refugees, but that collapsed when most of the refugees left Zaire. Government officials from the White House are now floating new rumors of a possible intervention, in the name of keeping the peace. For three decades, Washington, Paris, and other imperialist powers have relied on Mobutu Sese Seko's dictatorial rule to maintain the superexploitation of the semicolonial country, but that regime is facing a deeper crisis every day as rebel forces in the eastern part of the country gain ground.

The U.S. rulers are concerned not with the lives of the toilers in Zaire but with maintaining stability in the region to allow them to advance their business interests, such as extracting raw material including crude oil, gemstones, metals, and cocoa. Zaire is one of the richest African countries in mineral wealth.

Furthermore, a U.S.-led military action would be a blow against Washington's rivals in France. Paris, which still considers Western and Central Africa its "sphere of influence," maintains a military presence in eight African countries, which it has not hesitated to use. Tensions between the two imperialist powers are sharpening, as French government officials expressed their rulers' displeasure with Washington's moves to expand its influence on the African continent.

Class-conscious workers need to oppose each and every move toward imperialist intervention in Africa. The books advertised on page 8 of this Militant help explain the history of imperialist plunder of the African continent and the role of U.S., French, and British imperialism in the region. Malcolm X, in his speeches to young people in 1964, explained the objective of a U.S.-organized slaughter at that time in the Congo - today Zaire - was "not a humanitarian project" but "a source of mineral wealth." And Ernesto Che Guevara told the world at the United Nations General Assembly in 1964, " `Western civilization' disguises behind its showy facade a picture of hyenas and jackals. That is the only name that can be applied to those who have gone to fulfill such `humanitarian' tasks in the Congo."

Imperialist intervention in Zaire - whether headed by Washington, Paris, or Ottawa - will only increase the carnage and deepen the impoverishment of the African toilers in the region. Working people around the world should demand: U.S. and French troops get out of Africa!  
 
 
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