After Patrice Lumumba, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s first elected leader, was assassinated in 1961, the country was essentially run by the CIA – a situation that prevailed for much of the next 50 years, said Maurice Carney, a co-founder of Friends of Congo. As a consequence, the African continent’s most resource-rich and geographically strategic nation has been plagued by a “physically scarred and corrupt political culture,” said Carney. He was interviewed by Tierney Sheree of Afrikan Esquire TV.