Welcome to the Empire Files podcast. This is Abby Martin. This is the audio version of each episode of the Empire Files hosted on Telesaur English. You can watch every episode at the Empirefiles.tv.

Ten years ago, the U.S. Empire honed its sights more intently on a profitable region of the world.

The continent at once ravaged as a captain of the slave trade.

A new massive military command, Africom, was born.

Africom covers 53 African countries, including surrounding islands and all oceans.

It consists of four main components, all with interesting names.

U.S. Army Africa, U.S. Naval Forces Africa, U.S. Air Forces Africa, and U.S. Marine Corps Africa.

Although most U.S. military presence on the continent has been under the auspices of humanitarianism,

Afriqom officer Rick Cook admitted that the U.S. has been at war in Africa for years.

Its footprint includes an array of drone bases, camps and compounds,

carrying out the American tradition of training and arming proxy militaries

responsible for flagrant human rights abuses and a variety of black ops.

Far from a low-intensity war on the continent,

Africom averages several missions every single day.

Every empire has longed for ownership of Africa for the same reason,

its unimaginable treasure of minerals and raw materials.

Much of that buried wealth is concentrated in Africa's south,

in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The DRC is home to 80 million people

with 250 different ethnic groups and over 700 distinct languages and dialects.

Taking into account its untapped minerals,

it's considered the richest country in the world,

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