I disagree with her comments on balkanizing Congo. The Congo was created by Belgium and represents lines drawn on the map in Europe. It does not represent the sovereign self-determination of the peoples in that region.

There are some ten million Bantu who are identified as “Kongo” by themselves, far more than the population of the country of Congo. Many different ethnic populations, including hundreds of thousands of pygmies, are within the borders of the country of Congo.

The Katanga independence movement and the earlier Congo Free State genocide don’t seem to figure prominently in Cynthia’s discussion. I think she has been taken in by propaganda from one or more sides in the long running conflicts in the region. Whether those are CIA, French, British, Belgian, Katangan, Congolese, or other interests, I don’t know. But there are a great many sides to the conflict in that part of the world.