The elements of power, p.46
The Elements of Power, page 46
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“I think those who”: A State Affair: Privatizing Congo’s Copper Sector (Carter Center, November 2017), 18, cartercenter.org/resources/pdfs/news/peace_publications/democracy/congo-report-carter-center-nov-2017.pdf.
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buffet felt like a battlefield: Or at least it did to Andrew Maykuth, a Philadelphia Inquirer journalist who had flown in with twenty-five businessmen claiming to be the first outside investors in rebel-held territory. See Andrew Maykuth, “Outside Mining Firms Find Zaire an Untapped Vein,” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 11, 1997.
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“You need strong nerves”: Maykuth, “Outside Mining Firms Find Zaire an Untapped Vein.”
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Jewels had come: The concession on which Tilwezembe found itself would be acquired in 2004 by Nikanor. The main stakeholders in the firm were Dan Gertler and Beny Steinmetz, two Israeli investors. Gertler was later sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department. Steinmetz was convicted in Geneva, Switzerland, on corruption charges related to businesses in Guinea. (Steinmetz appealed, but the conviction was upheld in 2023.) Starting in 2007, Tilwezembe became part of Glencore’s Katanga mining operation after the company’s takeover of Nikanor. The concession, however, was overrun by artisanal miners and has been criticized for particularly lax labor practices. The artisanal mining collectives, however, were connected to the Katangese power structure (former Governor Richard Muyej’s son Yves managed the offtake through a company called Empire Mining SARL), and Glencore distanced itself from the site while retaining the mineral rights. Glencore has always denied it bought hand-mined cobalt from Tilwezembe.
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“Think of your country”: Augustin Katumba Mwanke, Ma vérité (EPI, 2013), 62–63.
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The banker did feel: Katumba, Ma vérité, 62–63.
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To the banker’s reckoning: Katumba, 61.
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“We’ve made a conscious decision”: At Kisangani, the rebels had asked for international firms to reopen their diamond-trading businesses there. De Beers, Anglo American’s sister company, still had mines in the western province of Kasai, in Mobutu-controlled territory, so it demurred. The Boulles jumped at the opportunity, throwing a $1 million payment—“advance taxes,” it was called—to the rebels. When the rebel forces took Kasai, they had to bid against the Boulles for diamonds that they considered theirs, and then they were informed that they would be kicked off the mine. “They just took those diamonds away and didn’t put anything back in the community,” one of Kabila’s rebel ministers said of De Beers. “It was exploitation. That’s why we prefer bids.” The rebels were cleaning up shop, and even if the deals they were doing were opaque, the sheer scale of Mobutu’s theft provided a justification for almost anything in those early days. See Maykuth, “Outside Mining Firms Find Zaire an Untapped Vein.”
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looking a little stupid: Maykuth, “Outside Mining Firms Find Zaire an Untapped Vein.”
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the Boulles had just signed: “Kolwezi Tailings,” Economist, January 15, 1998.
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The Belgian social scientist: Erik Kennes, “Le secteur minier au Congo: ‘Déconnexion’ et descente aux enfers,” in L’Afrique des Grands Lacs: Annuaire 1999–2000, ed. Filip Reyntjens and Stefaan Marysse (L’Harmattan, 2000), 305–48, 312.
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the Boulles brought: “Kolwezi Tailings.”
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“a must-have operator”: Benjamin Rubbers, “La dislocation du secteur minier au Katanga (RDC),” Politique Africaine 1, no. 93 (2004): 24.
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Forrest’s family had been: George Arthur Forrest in Katanga Business, directed by Thierry Michel (Les Films de la Passerelle, 2009).
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“He didn’t compensate us”: Hubert Leclercq, “RDCongo: George Forrest, une histoire congolaise de Kasa Vubu à Tshisekedi,” Le Libre Afrique, April 16, 2023, afrique.lalibre.be/76887/rdcongo-george-forrest-une-histoire-congolaise-de-kasa-vubu-a-tshisekedi/. Forrest has inveighed against foreign NGOs writing about Congolese businesses and is generally unresponsive to media queries. He did not respond to my repeated requests for an interview, and when I visited the Lubumbashi headquarters of the Entreprise Générale Malta Forrest in 2022, I was met with blank stares. The slip of paper I filled out for the attention of Forrest never received a response.
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“For reasons that have”: H. W. French, “U.S. Apathy Paved the Way for China in Africa,” Foreign Policy, May 22, 2023, foreignpolicy.com/2023/05/22/congo-mining-batteries-china-biden-climate-change-us-africa-policy/.
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Chapter 18: Plans on the Back of a Comet
Gertler was twenty-four: Mathieu Olivier and Romain Gras, “Exclusif—Dan Gertler: ‘Tous étaient effrayés par le Congo, mais pas moi,’ ” Jeune Afrique, August 1, 2022.
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The precious stones were: Nicole Gaouette, “Inside Israel’s Diamond Trade: A Family Affair,” Christian Science Monitor, February 21, 2002.
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his tenure, exports: “Diamond News: MOSHE SCHNITZER 1921–2007,” Israel Diamond Exchange, archived June 14, 2012, at web.archive.org/web/20120614132205/http://www.israelidiamond.co.il/english/news.aspx?boneid=918&objid=2492.
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“There was no real separation”: Gaouette, “Inside Israel’s Diamond Trade: A Family Affair.”
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Gertler remembered getting up: Franz Wild et al., “Dan Gertler Earns Billions as Mine Deals Fail to Enrich Congo,” Washington Post, December 29, 2012.
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Moshe’s Irgun comrades: Leah Granof, “Are Diamonds Forever?,” Jerusalem Post, February 1, 1997.
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The charm wasn’t universal: Mining executive, interview with the author on background, February 2022.
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“he looks at a wooden chair”: Olivier and Gras, “Exclusif—Dan Gertler.”
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streets were patrolled by child: Michela Wrong, In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in Mobutu’s Congo (Fourth Estate, 2000), 30. As Wrong reported, these soldiers, who had swelled Kabila’s ranks, would boast that they had walked to Kinshasa from Kampala, “artlessly spilling the beans on Uganda’s involvement in the rebel uprising.”
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“he was dreaming up plans”: Augustin Katumba Mwanke, Ma vérité (EPI, 2013), 64.
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the rabbi arranged a meeting: Wild et al., “Dan Gertler Earns Billions as Mine Deals Fail to Enrich Congo.”
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“That’s what kept us going”: James C. McKinley Jr., “A Fallen City, Seeking Peace, Greets Rebels,” New York Times, March 17, 1997.
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The president would soon call: “He was seconded and kept his benefits until Kabila called me to request that we approve his transfer to Governor of Katanga at which time Katumba had to terminate his relationship with the bank,” Jewels explained. Bruce Jewels, fact-checking email, March 2025.
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Chapter 19: The Nightmare
“We talked about life”: Mathieu Olivier and Romain Gras, “Exclusif—Dan Gertler: ‘Tous étaient effrayés par le Congo, mais pas moi,’ ” Jeune Afrique, August 1, 2022.
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was meeting with ministers: Christian Dietrich, “Have African-Based Diamond Monopolies Been Effective?,” Central Africa Minerals and Arms Research Bulletin, International Peace Information Service (IPIS), June 18, 2001, 6.
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The ensuing conflict would kill: This figure is hotly debated; a 2008 report by the International Rescue Committee suggested that 5.4 million people had been killed, but a review published by the Human Security Report Project in 2010 challenged the IRC’s methodology. All agree, however, that the death toll from conflict in Congo since 1998 has been staggering. For more on this debate, see “How Many Have Died Due to Congo’s Fighting? Scientists Battle Over How to Estimate War-Related Deaths,” Science, January 21, 2010, science.org/content/article/how-many-have-died-due-congos-fighting-scientists-battle-over-how-estimate-war-related.
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“It was a way to thank”: George Arthur Forrest, Un siècle de rêves: Ensemble, bâtissons l’avenir (Le Cherche Midi, 2022), 104.
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De Beers had left: “Addendum to the Report of the Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” letter from the Secretary-General to the President of the Security Council, 10 November 2001, United Nations Document No. S/2001/1072, 15, securitycouncilreport.org/un-documents/document/drc-s-2001-1072.php.
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The diamond trade was pushed: Dietrich, “Have African-Based Diamond Monopolies Been Effective?,” 5.
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“He didn’t have much knowledge”: Forrest, Un siècle de rêves, 113.
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To avoid conflicts of interest: Forrest, 105.
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asked for $20 million: Franz Wild et al., “Dan Gertler Earns Billions as Mine Deals Fail to Enrich Congo,” Washington Post, December 29, 2012.
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A UN report would later: “Addendum to the Report of the Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” 15.
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The money went to: Franz Wild et al., “Dan Gertler Earns Billions as Mine Deals Fail to Enrich Congo,” Washington Post, December 29, 2012.
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“This is the optimum way”: Sharon Berger, “Congo Signs $700M Agreement with IDI Diamonds,” Jerusalem Post, August 2, 2000.
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Gertler maintained that he paid: Dietrich, “Have African-Based Diamond Monopolies Been Effective?,” 4.
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“deal turned out”: Report of the Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, United Nations Document No. S/2001/357 (United Nations Security Council, April 2001), 33, securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/DRC%20S%202001%20357.pdf.
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North Korean military trainers: Anna Kuchment, “Kabila and the North Koreans, Nuclear Dread in South Africa,” Newsweek, October 17, 1999.
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Kabila Sr. had also arranged: Mamadou Faye, “Laurent-Désiré Kabila: retour sur une mort mystérieuse et tragique,” BBC News Afrique, January 16, 2021, https://www.bbc.com/afrique/monde-55675241.
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“IDI agreed to arrange”: “Addendum to the Report of the Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” 15. Reports also surfaced that Gertler was involved in deals in Liberia and Sierra Leone, countries that were both in the middle of bloody civil wars. These deals had reportedly included an arms dealer named Yair Klein, who was wanted in the U.S. for training Medellín drug-cartel paramilitaries, and had involved the trading of Israeli weapons and military training in exchange for diamonds. See Dietrich, “Have African-Based Diamond Monopolies Been Effective?,” 7. In the Congo, Gertler had “done that deal, diamonds for weapons, or weapons for diamonds,” a mining company official who worked with Gertler once told me. Interview with mining company official, March 2025.
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The report alleged that diamonds: “Addendum to the Report of the Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” 15.
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“the Russian Military Brotherhood”: Nicole Gaouette, “Inside Israel’s Diamond Trade: A Family Affair,” Christian Science Monitor, February 21, 2002.
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“philosophy” was never to hide: Gaouette, “Inside Israel’s Diamond Trade.”
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Cohen and Gertler had met: Gur Megiddo, “Mossad Chief Cohen Kicked Out of DRC, on a Mission That Could Jeopardize Israel,” Haaretz, May 19, 2022; and E. Bronner, “Israel Pushed Trump Officials to Lift Sanctions on Dan Gertler,” Bloomberg, March 19, 2021.
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“I will keep you informed”: Augustin Katumba Mwanke, Ma vérité (EPI, 2013), 160.
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his father had agreed to: Olivier and Gras, “Exclusif—Dan Gertler.”
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“Remember that you are guests”: Melissa Sanderson, interview with the author, August 2023.
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a compensation deal: Olivier and Gras, “Exclusif—Dan Gertler.”
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“Our termination of his contract”: Katumba, Ma vérité, 200–201.
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He set up meetings: Katumba, 195.
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“Chinese official had a bitter”: Katumba, 195.
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“rather than succumb”: Joseph Kabila, letter to George W. Bush, April 6, 2002, int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/2002-04-gertler-bush-drc-kabila/1139881eff0eab6a/full.pdf.
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“a disruptive force”: Dan Gertler, “Summary of Meetings and Correspondence on Behalf of the DRC in the White House, Washington, DC, April–May 2002,” int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/2002-04-gertler-bush-drc-kabila/1139881eff0eab6a/full.pdf.
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Gertler turned to Katumba: Katumba, Ma vérité, 201.
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Katumba wrote Gertler: Mathieu Olivier and Romain Gras, “RDC: Dan Gertler, l’irrésistible ascension du businessman de Kabila,” Jeune Afrique, August 2, 2002.
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“between two men”: Katumba, Ma vérité, 201.
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The Rwandan president assured: Katumba, 189.
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the “final act”: United Nations, Inter-Congolese Political Negotiations: The Final Act (Sun City, South Africa, April 2, 2003), peacemaker.un.org/sites/default/files/document/files/2024/05/cd030402suncityagreement.pdf.
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“a war in which DRC”: “Biography,” Dan Gertler: Philanthropist & Businessman (personal website), dan-gertler.com/biography.html.
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clearly of the opinion: Wild et al., “Dan Gertler Earns Billions as Mine Deals Fail to Enrich Congo.”
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“increased seven-fold from 1996”: Andrew L. Gulley, “One Hundred Years of Cobalt Production in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” Resources Policy 79 (2022): 1, doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2022.103007.
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money borrowed from banks: Forrest, Un siècle de rêves, 116. The recipe for success? “Will, economic vision, business sense, but also a sense of patriotism,” Forrest later wrote.
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