Congo History

Downey

1 William Downey Dr. Howard World Civilizations II 3 December 2010 The Congo: The History of a Disaster The Democratic Republic of The Congo is the third largest country in Africa. A natural resource rich nation with a population of over seventy million it is still recovering from the negative impact of rapid decolonization by imperialists in the second half of the twentieth century. The Roots of human inhabitants and civilization in The Congo stretch back more than four thousand years ago at the very least when the first Bantu arrived and settled in the modern day Bas-Congo Province and the Uele River regions roughly around 2000 B.C. (Gondola, xxi). According to Gondola, These people then known as “Proto-Bantus” were the first of the Bantu people to migrate from the Buenue River area of what is now present-day southeastern Nigeria (23). In what would become a massive series of migrations, which took place over hundreds of years many different ethnic groups migrated to different areas of the Congo including early Sudanese groups and sub cultures (Gondola, 23). According to Gondola these people came from the Kordofan and Darfur regions in the north along with East African farmers and cattle herders to settle and mix with Bantus all over what is now The Congo and create the multiple ethnic groups seen in the Congo region of Africa today (24). These mixed groups were spread all over The Congo spanning from the fresh water lake region in the east to the narrow stretch of Atlantic coastline in the

west. According to Gondola, iron and copper started being used between 700 and 800 and that they played an important role in the Congo when it came to survival and advancement of civilization (xxi). In 1275, The Kingdom of The Kongo was formally established by Nimi-a-Lukenie. The Kingdom of The Kongo quickly grew into one of the most powerful empires in Africa and it encompassed a large part of central and western Africa and what is now The Republic of the Congo, Angola, and The Democratic Republic of The Congo (Clarke). In 1482 the roots of the current catastrophe in the region began to take hold the first major example of Congolese contact with Europe took place when the Portuguese explorer Diogo Cao reached the mouth of The Congo River (Clarke). This encounter began what would become a long and complicated relationship with Europe. The Kingdom of The Kongo’s relationship with Europe became closer with the arrival of missionaries to convert the masses to Christianity in 1491 which began a long processes of converting the Kongo to a Christian based kingdom with king Nzinga a Nkuwu being baptized in may 1491 (Gondola, 31). As exploration of the earth by European powers expanded so did their needs for workers, and resources. The Kingdom of The Congo was able to provide Europeans with whatever they needed including more than a million slaves from their kingdom alone. When Europe became increasingly demanding of slaves and gold the relatively peaceful relations between Africa and Europe were brought to an end and the region was thrown into chaos by the Europeans (Clarke). In the later half of the seventeenth century fighting began to take place. Furthermore, a persecution non Christian Congolese took place which resulted in the murder of indigenous priests, destruction of sacred text, and

destruction of a fair amount of pre-European indigenous culture (Clarke). In the eighteenth century The Kingdom of The Kongo was divided into regions of rival kings and various groups that all claimed to be the legitimate rulers (Gondola, 35). According to Gondola, by the end of the eighteenth century The kingdom was thrown into massive disarray and left in peril to contribute to issues continuing today(35). In 1885 in the wake of The Scramble for Africa, King Leopold II of Belgium stepped in and claimed the Congo as “The Congo Free State”. The annexation only took place after years of public outcry mainly from American and British activists due to Leopold II’s harsh treatment of the populace and exploitation of the land for personal gain. It is speculated that some 20% of the population perished during this time along with over a billion dollars in resources taken for Leopold’s personal business enterprises (Gondola, 71). The Congo Free State became known as the Belgian Congo. The Belgian Congo remained an important source of resources and income for the Belgian government through World War Two. In the years following, the war rapid decolonization was taking place all throughout Africa and Asia. After World War Two, other countries and the United Nations frowned upon the concept of empires. It is speculated that if World War Two had never taken place so called “mother countries would not have even entertained the idea of Independence for their colonies for another ten years at the very least (Gondola, 98). After months of rioting throughout the colony, with the worst riots being in Leopoldville (present day Kinshasa) the Belgian government made the decision that they did not want to suffer the for the same mistakes the French had made trying to maintain control of Algeria which lead

to a long and bloody guerrilla war. The Belgians met for a round table conference in the city of Brussels. The meeting took place with the presence of forty-four Congolese representatives to discuss the rapidly deteriorating situation of The Congo (Gondola, 112). According to Gondola The Congolese Representatives were able to (in a series of brilliant negations) get Belgium to promise Independence and a transition of power to take place in six months (113). The Independence and power transition which took place on June 30th 1960 was sudden, unexpected, and lead to turmoil that would be the common trend on a continent so rapidly decolonized in the second half of the twentieth century. Following the relatively rapid and sudden transition from being a colony under the subject of Belgian rule to being granted full Independence, the newly formed Republic of The Congo was in a state of despair. There were not any non-European doctors, lawyers, or judges before independence (Gondola, 116). When the country was handed over it was handed over to a group of people who had little to no experience in running a country and were not qualified to do so. With the withdrawal of the Europeans the countries remote tribal leaders and war lord held more power than the “legitimate government” throughout the country violence and looting were rampant. when the Belgians left they took almost all of the bureaucrats who had governing experience with them. The lack of control by the transitional government due to rapid decolonization led to what was known as the Congo Crisis. The Congo Crisis was a five-year period of chaos and destruction that effected the entire nation. The Congo Crisis could have been avoided if not for such a rapid

transition of power. According to Gondola; when Independence was so suddenly granted by the Belgians there was an acute shortage of high ranking African civil servants in the highly complex government system set up by the Belgians (117). The table shown will give a look at the amount of Europeans holding civil servant positions compared to the amount of Congolese holding the same positions (Gondola, 116). Rank Europeans Africans High-ranking 5,900 o functionaries Office managers 1,690 9 Assistant 1,976 24 managers Clerks 774 726 Low-level 0 10,791 functionaries Total 10,340 11,550

The crisis was in fact a civil war that followed independence the ensuing fighting and power struggles that took place for over five years took the lives of more than one hundred thousand people (Clarke, 2008). The Congo Crisis was a long and bloody affair and set in motion a takeover by one of the longest lasting regimes in twentieth century Africa. Mobutu Sese Seko seized power in a CIA backed bloodless coup in November 1965. The CIA backed his regime by sending millions of dollars in financial assistance along with equipment and training. The CIA saw Mobutu’s firm anti-Communist stance as a highly

valuable asset in the Cold War and due to the warm relations between Mobutu and the CIA the Congo was used as a base of operations to combat communism in central Africa (Vallely, 2006). Throughout Mobutu’s governance of the Congo the nation was bleed dry it is speculated that he embezzled at least five billion dollars, which was almost equivalent to the nations foreign debt Mobutu is said to have bled the country financially to a even more severe extent then King Leopold II (Vallely, 2006). Throughout his governance there were reports of human rights abuses all over the nation due to Mobutu always being wary of people betraying him including former prime minister Evariste Kimba and three others on the charge of conspiring to overthrow the government and assassinate Mobutu they were found guilty and hanged before fifty-thousand spectators in the capital (Gondola, 135). In 1971, Mobutu introduced a program of “re-africanization” to the Congo. The country was renamed Zaire and everyone in the country was forced to drop their “Christian names” and revert to traditional African names. Mobutu ended up Changing his from Joseph-Désiré Mobutu to Mobutu Sese Seko Nkuku Ngbendu wa Za Banga which translates to; "the allpowerful warrior who, because of his endurance and inflexible will to win, will go from conquest to conquest leaving fire in his wake” (French, 1997). Mobutu maintained close ties with The United States, Belgium, and France all throughout his regime until the conclusion of the cold war when western governments distanced themselves from him following the collapse of the Soviet Union (Vallely, 2006). Mobutu’s government lasted for over thirty one years being one of the longest lasting regimes in post colonial Africa. It was not until 1997 that Mobutu’s regime was

finally toppled. At the end of The First Congo War in 1997 Mobutu was forced into exile and died on September 7, 1997 of prostate cancer at the age of sixty-six (Gondola, 168). When Mobutu was overthrown by Laurent-Désiré Kabila Africa had been experiencing a wave of new democracies popping up everywhere with the fall of The Soviet Union. In the beginning it was thought that Kabila would purse the democratic ideals that he had promised the people of Zaire and upon taking office he renamed the country The Democratic Republic of The Congo. Like Mobutu, Kabila had never been a politition before assuming the presidency and sought to maintain his power through the same type of human rights abuses that were so common in there era of Mobutu (Gondola, 163). In the following years Kabila’s allies (including Rwanda and Uganda) began to turn on him due to his policies and actions which somewhat mirrored those of Mobutu. In 1998 The Second Congolese War began. The war officially lasted from August 1998 until July 2003 with sporadic fighting and hostilities between groups still a rampant issue. The second Congo war became what was the biggest war in African history. Eight different countries became directly involved in the fighting along twenty-five different factions, some loyal to the government and others fighting on different sides depending on what the situation of the conflict was. By the end of the war over five million people had perished due to fighting, ethnic violence, and starvation (vogt, 2009). The Second Congo war was the largest and most costly war Africa had ever seen. The war took more lives than any other conflict since the second world war. Although a peace agreement was signed in July 2003, with the installment of a transitional government with

kabila’s son Joseph at the head of the country. Fighting still continues with flare ups in the Kivu Goma regions. With major offensives taking place as recently as 2009 in the the eastern Congolese Provence of KIvu (CNN, 2009). Although there has been an official end to the war since 2003 The Congo still experiences the issues of corruption, violence, and poverty caused by rapid decolonization. financial issues are everywhere in the country with thousands of people resorting to destroying the environment through the illegal charcoal trade (Jenkins, 62). Rape as a weapon of war has been an ongoing issue since The First Congo War with thousands upon thousands of reported cases coming in every year not including the amount that are thought to go unreported. Today The Congo is beginning to show signs of improvement. The withdrawal of the majority of foreign troops has caused the economy to improve greatly. After neary two decades of decline and chaos the nation is starting to show signs of improvement. The vast natural resources of The Congo make it a potentially extremely affluent state. The Country is growing and is just now recovering from the sudden decolonization and irresponsibly governed institutions set up by imperial powers.