Resultados descriptivos

The focus in this sub-section is on the creation of the Congo Free State, including its recognition by the international community at the Berlin Conference (November 15, 1884 - February 26, 1885) and an indication of the nature of its artificial boundaries.

King Leopold II (1835-1909) of Belgium wanted overseas territories for Belgium. Unfortunately, his countrymen did not share his colonial desires and regarded such a project as a waste of resources. In 1870, he attempted to take control of the central African region drained by the Congo River. He formed in 1876 the Committee for the Study of Upper Congo (part of the International African Association), which aimed to establish commercial and scientific stations in central Africa. The heir to this committee was the Association Internationale du Congo (AIC – also known as the International Association of the Congo and the International Congo Society), which was founded by King Leopold II in November 1879, of which, according to David W. Del Testa (2014), the stated goal was to promote exploration of the Congo River basin and to work

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toward the elimination of slavery there. Its implicit goal, however, was the annexation of the entire Congo region, which the empire-hungry Leopold described as a ’magnificent African cake’ (Testa 2014:108).

According to Matt Rosenberg (2014), in 1884, at the request of Portugal, German chancellor Otto Von Bismarck called together the major Western powers of the world to negotiate questions and to end confusion over the control of Africa. Later, in the winter of 1884-1885, leaders from a number of European states and America attended the Berlin Conference. Since France, Germany, Great Britain and Portugal controlled most of colonial Africa at the time they were the most important players in the Conference (Rosenberg 2014: no page).

Acting behind the scenes, King Leopold II spent considerable efforts trying to convince the European powers that he was the best man to control the Congo – promising to end the slave trade in the area, and to keep the Congo River open to legitimate trade by all the colonial powers. On February 26, 1885, the General Act of Berlin, attributed to the AIC the Congo basin – a vast territory of nearly 2 589 988.11 Km² (1 million square miles). It acknowledged the International Congo Society as having sovereignty over the territory. According to Nicola Frick, Spencer Janari, Gael Weldon, Andre Proctor and Dylan Wray (2006), decisions were passed about issues such as free trade and access to the interior via major rivers. Perhaps the most important decision was the adoption of the doctrine of ‘effective occupation’. This stated that in order for a state to lay claim to an area of Africa, it had to formally occupy the land and impose a system of rule. In practice this meant conquest and colonization (Frick et al. 2006:25).

However, the Congo case illustrates both the lack of effective occupation at the time of the partitioning of Africa and the arbitrariness of territorial boundaries as determined at the Berlin Conference. Thus, Nzongola-Ntalaja (2002) argues that by the stroke of a pen King Leopold II modified the map, giving up some territory in the southwest, for which he compensated by adding other territories in the southeast. He for example annexed the Katanga region. Although the adjustments ultimately resulted in the loss of areas whose rich oil reserves were not yet known, such as Pointe Noire and the Cabinda enclave, they represented a masterful stroke with respect to Katanga, which was to prove extremely rich in minerals, particularly in its ‘pedicle’

(Nzongola-Ntalaja 2002: 18-20).

King Leopold wished for more direct control over the territory allocated at the Berlin Conference to the AIC. Thus, Engulu (1987) states that on August 1^st, 1885, Leopold II notified the signatory powers of the General Act of the transformation of the AIC into the ‘Congo Free State’ and proclaimed himself the sovereign. The foundation of the new state had already been brought to the attention of heads of missions and business houses in Vivi, in Central Congo. Vivi as a post was founded in 1879 by the English explorer, Henry Morton Stanley, (who was at the time in the service of King Leopold II) to serve as a basis for political and military expeditions of

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the AIC. It was the first capital of the Congo Free State until the port town of Boma became the capital of the Congo Free State in early 1886 till 1926.

The date of birth of the new ‘state’ is controversial. For some authors, it is placed between February 1^st, 1880, date of the establishment of the post at Vivi and April 22, 1884, the recognition of the AIC by the United States. The declaration of neutrality of the CFS was notified to colonial powers on December 18, 1894. Since then, the boundaries remained stable with a few minor changes due to the exchange of territories and corrections of the boundaries (Engulu 1987: no page).

Western colonial powers and King Leopold II therefore haggled over internal geometric boundaries of the continent. Negotiations on colonial boundaries were conducted to the exclusive benefit of Western nations. The wishes and interests of the original inhabitants of the region were not considered and boundaries were arbitrarily determined to serve the interests of the colonial powers. This explains why on both sides of boundaries there are brothers, who became subjects of different states.

According to Muhammad B. Ahmad (2013), arguments abound that tend to qualify or even to denounce the artificiality and arbitrariness of African boundaries, but realities on the ground and testimonies from the key actors at the time when the boundaries were being designed and constructed, conclusively confirm that the boundaries are indeed arbitrary and artificial. The boundaries were thus arrived at largely without reference at all to the social, political, or cultural characteristics of the people they partitioned. According to Daniel N. Posner (2006), a clear indication of the arbitrariness of the boundaries is the fact that 44 per cent of African boundaries either follow meridians or parallels, and another 30 per cent follow other rectilinear or curved lines (Posner 2006:3, quoted by Ahmad 2013:13). Further indication of their disrespect to the people they partitioned comes from Anthony I. Asiwaju’s (1984) estimate that the 104 international boundaries existing in Africa in 1984 and 1985 have dissected 177 cultural areas or groups (Asiwaju 1984:3, quoted by Ahmad 2013:13-15).

The AIC – which converted into the Congo Free State - masqueraded as a scientific and philanthropic organization, but was in reality, a private holding company for the King. The shareholders and overseers focused essentially on the extraction of ivory, palm, rubber and minerals, and no indigenous person was exempt from participation. During Leopold’s ownership, between 5 and 10 million Congolese died due to a system of forced labour and several violations of human rights. Their cruelty continued until England mounted a campaign to coerce King Leopold II’s regime to modify the system. Finally, he surrendered to the foreign pressures.

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Roger Anstey (1966) reveals that Leopold II‘s intention that the Congo Free State should eventually fall to Belgium was made explicit in the publication of his will and testament as early as 1890, whereby cession of the Congo to Belgium was to take place on Leopold‘s death (Anstey 1966:20). Yet the Congo Free State was ceded to Belgium by the AIC in November 1907, the Cession Treaty being adopted by the Belgian Chamber on August 20, 1908. The decisions of most Belgian politicians were dictated by the economic profit their country could obtain from dominance over the Congo. Thus, the Belgian Congo was born as a colony in the strict sense of the term.

To conclude, the restive regions were affected by the demarcation at the Berlin Conference.

Boundary artificiality fuelled conflict, because heterogeneous ethnic groups were forced to be part of the same country. Continuing civil wars have taken place in the largest African countries, especially in the DRC where a significant part of the population resides in more than one country. For instance, Katanga Province includes Lunda and Chokwe people that are shared with Angola and Zambia. Although located in the centre of the DRC, Kasai Province encountered similar problems in its internal boundaries. It includes Luba people that also populate Katanga Province. Moreover, the Tetela ethnic group is located in Kasai area and southern Kivu. Two Batetela revolts¹⁰ against colonial authority have inspired other population of the Belgian Congo in particular one of their sons - Patrice-Ėmery Lumumba - for the courage when he struggled against Western neo-colonialism.

The next sub-section deals with the colonial territorial administrative legacy to the newly independent Congolese state.

3.2.4 The Belgian Congo and its administrative legacy The present sub-section pays attention on how the Belgian Congo was territorially organised

and how this legacy affected the restive regions. In addition, it discusses the emergence of the political parties and the quest for independence.

3.2.4.1 General background

The administration of the territory was the true backbone of the colonial administration. The aimof the administration of the territory was, accordingly, to represent the colonial state

10 With regards to the importance of the Tetela ethnic group in the pre-colonial and contemporary history of the DRC for their revolts, Roberto Benedetto (1996) wrote that, in 1893, Ngongo Lutete, the great Batetela chief who had helped the CFS subdue the Arabs, was murdered by the government. His bodyguard, consisting of 350 soldiers, was moved from Eastern Kasai region to Luluabourg; the Batetela soldiers, who were made part of the regular Army, subsequently mutinied (Benedetto 1996:110). Moreover, Emizet Kisangani and Scott F. Bobb (2009) states that one of the first mutinies in the Congo Free State was the revolt of Batetela that broke out on July 4, 1895 in Luluabourg as the result of late food supply and pay arrears (Kisangani and Bobb 2009:379).

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throughout the colony. But the total size of the territory was an area eighty times that of Belgium. Thus, it was not easy for the state to keep an effective presence and control. This led to the regular redrawing of the administrative map of the colony in order to have more manageable provinces.

Thus, as Lukamba-Muhiya Tshombe (2013) states one of the first colonial priorities was the implementation of a proper administrative demarcation of the country. At the time, the colony was divided into 22 districts with the capital based in Boma. These 22 districts and their capital towns respectively are as follows: Aruwimi (Basoko), Bangala (Lisala), Congo (Boma), Bas-Uele (Buta), Equateur (Coquilhatville), Haut-Luapula (Kambove), Haut-Uele (Bambili), Ituri (no capital), Kasai (Luebo), Kivu (no capital), Kwango (Bandundu), Lac Leopold II (Inongo), Lomami (Kabinda), Lowa (no capital), Lulonga (Basankusu), Lulua (Kafukumbu), Maniema (no capital), Moyen-Congo (Leopoldville), Sankuru (Lusambo), Stanleyville (Stanleyville), Tanganyika-Moero (Kongolo), and Oubangui (Libenge) (Tshombe 2013:32).

It is crucial to note that the territorial administration of the Belgian Congo was built on the one Leopold II established during his reign. At its founding in 1885, the Congo Free State was divided into four administrative districts, each headed by a Chef de Division. Several reorganizations followed and by 1912 the number of districts had increased to 22 (including the four into which Katanga had been divided after its integration into the Congo Free State in 1910). From 1913 onwards the districts outside of Katanga were regrouped into four provinces, each headed by a Vice-Governor-General. These provinces enjoyed a certain degree of self-government, by 1924. These four provinces were: Congo Kasai¹¹, Equateur, Katanga, and Orientale. Reorganization followed in 1933 when these vice-government-Generals were broken up into six provinces directely dependent on the central government. The provinces were:

Equateur, Kasai, Katanga, Kivu, Leopoldville, and Orientale (Cahoon no date: no page).

These six provinces articulated both administrative convenience and the great diversity of this huge country. Each province was divided into a number of districts, and each district into territories. The provinces, the districts, and territories were all headed by Belgians. The territory was of particular importance as it was the point at which the European administration exercised its control over African intermediaries. Ebay (1995) states that a territory was managed by a territorial administrator, assisted by one or more assistants. The territories were further subdivided into numerous chiefdoms (chefferies). At the head of each was a traditional chief (chefs coutumiers) acting as clerk andappointed by the Belgian administration. ‘The territories administered by one territorial administrator and a handful of assistants were often larger than a few Belgian provinces taken together’ (Ebay 1995: no page). Nevertheless, the

11 In 1933 Congo Kasai Province was divided into three provinces, namely South Kasai, Kivu and Leopoldville.

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territorial administrator was expected to inspect his territory and to file detailed annual reports with the provincial administration (Ebay 1995: no page).

According to Kevin Shillington (2005) the Belgium government did also implement, like the French in the neighbouring French Congo (Congo-Brazzaville), an open concessionary system by allowing large companies to exploit portions of the colony in return for companies to create infrastructures. Unfortunately, the Belgian colonial government paid very little attention to developing social infrastructure and well-being of the Congolese population. Instead it granted the religious missions and the large companies that were concession holders, permission to provide health and education to the population (Shillington 2005:308). At the time, most of the important concessionary companies such as Forminière (diamond), Kilo-Moto (gold) and Union Minière du Haut Katanga (UMHK) (copper) were located in the future main restive regions, respectively in South Kasai, Oriental and Katanga provinces. The link between concessionary companies within an area and subsequent revolt is clearest in the region of Katanga.

With regards to the situation of the colony itself, the administrative penetration of the territory was problematic because of the issues such as immensity of the country to be administrated and natural obstacles namely thick forests, rivers and hostility of the indigenous population within the Congo Basin.

3.2.4.2 Particular case of Katanga Province

It is Katanga Province that appears in the analysis of secessionism in the DRC to be at the head of the queue of the restive provinces especially of its neighbour Kasai Province. Thus, much of the explanations for this phenomenon refer to this significant political entity. Compared to other provinces, Katanga is the only one that presents particularities in the way it was administered that could lead to secession.

First, there is the issue of the particular status of Katanga Province during the colonial era that affects the unity of the DRC even today. The two highest levels of the administration of the territory were managed as follow: there was a Governor-General (Gouverneur général) at the head of the colony (Belgian Congo) and a Vice-Governor-General (Vice-Gouverneur général) at the level of each province. Encyclopedia Britannica (1995-2011) mentions that Katanga’s Vice-Governor-General exercised all the executive functions of the Vice-Governor-General of the Belgian Congo and communicated directly with Brussels (Encyclopedia Britannica 1995-2011: no page).

Thus, the Vice-Governor-General of Katanga Province, acted as if he was Governor-General of the colony.

Second, according to International Business Publications (IBP) (2007), Katanga had always been a special case, administered until 1910 by the privately owned Special Committee of Katanga

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(Comité Spécial du Katanga). With regard to the Special Committee of Katanga, Devon Douglas-Bowers (2014) writes that the interests of the settlers were in line with those of the economic elite as the settlers formed the Special Committee of Katanga, ‘whose principal function was to promote, in every possible way, the development of an agricultural colony. To serve this purpose, a [Frontier Syndicate of Katanga] had been set up in 1920, thanks to the financial backing of the UMHK, [the Congo Company for Trade and Industry] and several other large-scale capitalist enterprises.’ In 1910 the administration of Katanga was placed in the hands of a Vice-Governor-General, still functioning as an entity separate from the rest of the Belgian Congo. Furthermore, besides the corporate interests, the settlers themselves had personal political and economic interests as they preferred the special administrative status of Katanga with a Vice-Governor-General, as a representative of the Belgian monarchy (Douglas-Bowers 2014: no page).

Administratively Katanga was brought in line with the rest of the provinces under the central colonial authorities in Leopoldville during the 1933 administrative reorganization of the Belgian Congo. This was strongly resented by Katangan residents both local and foreign. The suppression of the status of the Vice-Government-General provoked violent campaigns in Katanga where Europeans particularly protested against the centralization that favoured Leopoldville (now Kinshasa). The predominant role Katanga played in the country's economy reinforced regional pride and a sense of separateness. In the months preceding independence, pressure to restore Katangan autonomy grew (IBP 2007:68). The new leaders of Katanga would as a result inherit an old situation created by the colonizers.

3.2.4.3 Establishment of political parties

Political activities were forbidden under Belgium rule, but various factors gave rise to the establishment of a variety of political organizations among the indigenous population. Uprisings were brewing in the Belgian Congo with the rise of ethno-nationalism in the mid 1950s. The Congolese elites had formed ethnic channels of expression which gradually evolved into the main parties striving for independence. Those organizations were created either on the basis of ethnic affinity, or relations formed in schools and urban centres.

René Lemarchand (1964) argues that in few other parts of Africa are the links between modern political developments and pre-colonial societies more apparent than in the former Belgian Congo. Although there are wide variations in the degree to which traditional factors have influenced the growth of Congolese parties, nearly all of them evidently had some sort of relationship with the traditional environment in which they were established. Indeed, even when this type of relationship would seem hardly compatible with the programme and ideology of specific parties, the evidence shows that their leaders were fully aware of the potential

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advantages that might accrue from the exploitation of pre-colonial circumstances (Lemarchand 1964:7).

First, ethnicity played an important role in the establishment of political parties. The most prominent of these political parties was the Association des Bakongo (ABAKO), led by Joseph Kasa-Vubu. It was founded in 1950, as an ethnic association which promoted the interests and language of the Bakongo (or Kongo) people, as well as Bakongo-related ethnic groups. Other lesser ethnic associations included the Liboke lya Bangala, who championed the needs of the Bangala ethno-linguistic group. There was also the Fédération des Kasaiens de Léopoldville (Fédékaléo), which consisted of people from the Kasai region. Fédékaléo later split into several groups. Although these associations represented ethnic groups from all over the Congo, they habitually based themselves in Leopoldville, since one reason for their existence was the need to maintain ethnic ties after the mass migration to urban areas.

Second, the various Alumni Associations was another source of political groups. Their membership came from ex-students of colonial Christian schools in the Congo. Most of the main politicians of that epoch were Alumni members, and these associations were used to form networks of advisors and supporters.

Third, the Cercles, or urban associations that sprang up in the cities of the Belgian Congo, which were designed to encourage unity amongst the évolués, (the educated and/or westernised middle class), gave rise to the formation of political organizations. In 1958, together with Cyrille Adoula and Joseph Ileo, Patrice-Ėmery Lumumba founded the Mouvement National Congolais (MNC), a national independence party intended to be non-tribal.

Most political parties were micro in nature with little countrywide support. Thus, Lori Lyn Bogle

Most political parties were micro in nature with little countrywide support. Thus, Lori Lyn Bogle