Mission Congo

During the Rwandan massacres of 1994, an estimated one million people flowed across the border into Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) to try to escape the bloodshed. A variety of medical relief organizations raced to the area to help as best they could.

Besides organizations like Médécins sans frontières and thé Red Cross, several faith-based groups also came. One of the most heavily publicized was Operation Blessing, a spinoff of the Christian Broadcasting Network led by Pat Robertson, a notable evangelical conservative.

What becomes clear in "Mission Congo" is that the operation had less to do with humanitarianism and more to do with securing diamond mining concessions and tax advantages for Robertson. Over the course of its approx 80 minutes, the directors start with the transmissions of CBN's "700 Club" and inexorably tear down the facade to reveal the reality of the mission. Interviews with journalists, MSF workers on the ground and members of Robertson's own team paint a damning portrait of a massive con job.

Here's one example to illustrate the deception. The "700 Club" announced that they had purchased three Caribou short-takeoff-and-landing aircraft to ferry medical supplies to Goma. Caribous can land on about 1300 feet of runway.

A landing strip was constructed at Kamonia for the planes. Kamonia was very close to the area where the diamond concessions were located and is nearly 900 miles from Goma, the location of the refugee camps. The planes were primarily used to ferry dredging equipment used in the mining operation.

If there's an absence in the film, it's a lack of a response from the Robertson camp on the allegations. The film has just been completed and is receiving its premiere at TIFF this week (I was at the second screening yesterday evening). It will be interesting to see if there is any follow-up in the weeks to come.

Recommended. I can see this as a good doc for Newsworld or TVO.