The material below is drawn from a book entitled “Blood River” by Telegraph
journalist Tim Butcher. Merging travelogue with history, he recounts a trip
undertaken in late 2004, retracing the route taken by Henry Morton Stanley when
he explored the Congo River in 1876-77. The journey covered nearly 2,500
kilometres, passing through the savannah of Katanga in the south-east, the
jungles of Maniema, equatorial Africa, Kinshasa, the rapids through the Crystal
Mountains and the port city of Boma near the Atlantic coast. Throughout the trip
he gives a detailed account of the history associated with each area.
Butcher’s trip was eventful and highly dangerous. His meticulous preparation
combined with good fortune enabled him to complete the journey, deviating from
the actual route taken by Stanley only twice in the lower reaches of the river.
He travelled overland by motorbike, by “pirogue” (dugout canoe), United Nations
patrol craft (barge/pusher boat), helicopter (for about 600 k) and jeep (the
final leg from Kinshasa to Boma). Two stretches of the river were not navigable
due to series of cataracts (rapids). Stanley had circumvented them by carrying
his collapsible boat overland. He had a huge support team, including native
porters.
Details of Butcher’s trip have not been summarised here. The following is a
summary of his historical information.
CONGO: A BRUTAL HISTORY
Originally inhabited by pygmies, the area now known as the Democratic Republic
of the Congo was later populated by invading neighbouring tribes. Life remained
tribal and varied from relative peace to periods of inter-tribal strife. A
Portuguese explorer was the first white man to discover the mouth of the Congo
River on the west coast of Africa in 1482. It was explored only a short distance
inland. Meanwhile Africa’s east coast was penetrated as far as Lake Tanganyika,
leaving the vast area of central Africa unexplored. But long before the heart of
Africa was conquered and its rich supply of minerals discovered a thriving trade
had developed on the fringes of the region: capturing and exporting slaves.
The history of slavery in the Congo can be traced back centuries. Rival tribes
were relied on to return to their village with a supply of slaves after a
successful campaign. The Portuguese began slave trading in small but steadily
increasing numbers in the early 1500s. A plea was sent to the Portuguese monarch
in 1526 by Congolese leaders to stop slave-trading, claiming “… so great is the
corruption and licentiousness that our country is being utterly depopulated …..”
Little heed was taken and the lucrative trade continued.
For four centuries up to the 1800s other European countries, notably Britain and
Holland, also plied the Atlantic coast capturing slaves. Until the 1860s slavery
had been the only European interest in the Congo but it was about then that
Britain’s Royal Geographical Society decided to enter the “final frontier beyond
the river mouth” with a view to influencing the area in more positive ways. This
led to a series of expeditions, most famously that of
Scottish explorer Dr David Livingstone. Livingstone had first visited
Africa in 1840 and in later years made a number of daring ventures to the
interior south of the Congo. He was a church missionary, teacher and medical
doctor and resolved to spread Christianity as widely as possible in the
continent, improve the health of the natives and campaign against the horrors of
slavery. He was also a prolific writer and published a book and many papers on
his travels, discoveries and on the nature of tropical diseases. As an explorer
he was attracted by stories of a “great river” through central Africa. The story
was perpetrated by the Arabs who had secured a toe-hold in the east of the
country from their slave-trading base in Zanzibar established at the beginning
of the 19th century. The island of Zanzibar became a launching pad
for a number of expeditions from Britain into the eastern and unexplored region
of Africa. In 1866 Livingstone reached Lake Tanganyika and ventured overland
from there to discover the upper reaches of the Congo River. He assumed it to be
part of the Nile river system and did not connect it with the huge river already
discovered on the west coast. His health deteriorated and a letter dated 30 May
1869 was the last received in England. Further letters had been sent but failed
to reach their destination. By 1870 he was declared lost. Search parties were
dispatched but failed to locate him.
HENRY MORTON STANLEY
Stanley was a Welsh-born naturalised American who was abandoned by
his parents and emigrated to the USA as a teenager by working his passage to New
Orleans. He was adopted by a businessman - hence the name Stanley. He fought
from time to time on both sides in the American civil war and then began a
career as a journalist covering later wars between native Americans and pioneers
heading westward. Syndicated to the New
York Herald he developed a reputation for reporting from remote trouble
spots in east Europe and Asia. In January, 1871 he landed in Zanzibar to begin
his most famous undertaking – a search for David Livingstone. Earlier searches
commissioned by the Britain’s Royal Geographical Society had been unsuccessful
and Stanley’s Herald sponsored search
was launched in secret lest the RGS, who regarded Livingstone as “their man”,
should attempt to block it. After 236 days including bouts of sickness and
encounters with hostile tribes, Stanley was directed to the town of Ujiji where
a “sick old white man” was rumoured to reside. They met in the town, on the
eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika, on 27 October, 1871 and spent several months
together. Livingstone refused to return to Europe and died in Africa in May,
1873 aged 60.
Stanley’s interest was aroused, especially with regard to the river Livingstone
had discovered. He made plans to explore and map the river, seeking support from
his employer, the New York Herald and
also put the proposal to the British
Telegraph. Playing one off against the other, he eventually attained the
joint support of both. He prepared for the journey in Zanzibar and set out from
Bagamoyo in Tanganyika (now Tanzania) on 17 November, 1874. He entered the Congo
from Rwanda on 14 September, 1876. He first sighted the river (known as the
Lualaba at that upper point) on 17 October.
His courageous journey (accompanied by a party of 352 native bearers) was
eventful with thirty-two encounters with unfriendly local tribes armed with
poison-tip arrows and wary of slave traders. They communicated with tribes
down-river by way of jungle drums. Despite the opposition, Stanley successfully
reached the town of Boma near the mouth of the river on 12 August, 1877. His
party had carried his collapsible boat (Lady Alice) through thick jungle to
circumvent two long stretches of the river made un-navigable by rapids and
waterfalls. Stanley did his share of the work required to clear paths through
the jungle, not leaving it all to the natives as other white explorers had done
and were to do.
He documented the trip in a book “Through
the Dark Continent” but was unsuccessful in gaining British support for his
plans to return to Africa. When word of his discovery of a navigable river
through the heart of Africa reached the ears of King Leopold II of Belgium he
recognised it as an opportunity. Other European powers had begun colonising the
coastal areas of Africa. Here was a chance for Belgium to stake a claim over the
huge central portion. He commissioned Stanley to journey up the river from the
Atlantic coast and negotiate land deals with the natives. It marked the start of
what became the “Scramble for Africa”. It was also the end of true democracy in
the Congo region. Until then a tribal system operated where villages elected a
chief and paramount chiefs presided over wider areas. Although the chiefs
wielded total control, unpopular chiefs could be replaced by the people. Never
again would the common people exercise this level of power, whether under white
colonial rule or under the rule of black dictators after independence. The elite
classes invariably put self-interest ahead of the interests of the general
population.
EUROPE CARVES UP AFRICA
Other European countries emulated Leopold and forged their way into central
Africa. France, Germany, Portugal, Spain and Britain attended a conference in
Berlin in 1885 to carve up and share out what remained of the continent. Arabs
were conspicuously absent from the conference, despite their presence in central
Africa since the early 19th century. Leopold’s territory was claimed
as a fait accompli and was declared the Congo Free State, owned personally by
Leopold. Totalling three million square kilometres it was the largest piece of
land ever claimed by a single person. The south-eastern province of Katanga
projected as a pan-handle into British-held northern Rhodesia (later Zambia) but
was claimed by Leopold for its rich deposits of cobalt, copper and uranium. The
“Free State” status enabled products to be traded freely in and out of the
country but it reality it was all one-way traffic. Leopold’s officials exploited
the resources throughout the rest of the region, mainly rubber, ivory, timber
and further deposits of copper. European goods also plied their way up the river
but largely for the benefit and use of the white population. The wellbeing of
the natives was neglected. The Belgians possessed modern weaponry and
slaughtered vast numbers when local tribes challenged them. Several million
local people died from warfare, disease and malnutrition.
The rich resources were not the only commodity to be traded by outside
interests. The trading of slave labour also continued. The Belgians exploited
this “income source” on a much grander scale after Stanley’s trip and exported
slaves from slave markets near the mouth of the river. By then an even bigger
slave market had been established on the east coast of Africa on the island of
Zanzibar by Arabs who had been penetrating into the Congo since the early 1800s
and were busy plundering ivory as well as slaves. Prior to the arrival of the
Belgians an “Arab Slave State” developed with whole tribes “Arabised” and
inter-marriage creating a hierarchy: Arab elite, Arab/African mulatto mercantile
middle class, African working class, African slaves. Slaves were traded,
imprisoned, or used to haul pillaged ivory overland and on to Zanzibar.
It’s estimated that about twelve million slaves were exported in the nineteenth
century.
Eventually public opinion among Belgians, both at home and among the colonists,
began turning against the institution of slavery. Strife erupted between the
Belgians and the Arab traders. A peace conference in 1887 was convened by
Stanley himself and Arab leader Tippu-Tip, who had advised Stanley on his trip
down the river in 1876 and helped clear the way for him. But trouble resumed in
1892 when the Arab massacre of two Belgians triggered a reaction so ruthless and
severe, and supported by a fierce (coerced) African tribe, that it has been
compared to the crushing of the Peasants’ Revolt in India by the British. From
that point Belgium re-asserted its dominance in the Congo and slavery diminished
although an Arab presence remained.
By the Edwardian era human rights groups were campaigning against the cruelty
and violence carried out in the Congo Free State in Leopold’s name. The
invention of the inflatable rubber bicycle tyre and the rise of the motor car
increased the demand for rubber. This resulted in even more cruelty as natives
were coerced into increasing their rubber harvest. Chopped off hands was the
standard punishment for workers who did not meet their quota. Attempts by
Leopold to keep this barbaric practice secret were unsuccessful. European
missionaries were among the whistle-blowers and by 1908 international outrage
forced Leopold to cede control of the whole region to the Belgian state whose
government and officials were supposedly more committed to the rights of the
native Congolese. The Congo Free State became Belgian Congo in 1908. A modern
civilisation and infrastructure was established but it was run by whites with
the natives remaining second-class citizens. Three or four major cities arose
but tribal and village life continued as before. The period of colonial rule
from 1908 to 1960 was relatively stable but kept that way by the iron fisted
control of the colonial masters. Deposits of gold, diamonds and cobalt were
discovered during the Belgian colonial era. Mining of these resources continued
after independence with the mining companies foreign-owned until nationalised by
Mobutu in the latter half of his dictatorship.
The colonial era included visits by well-known westerners. Joseph Conrad wrote
“Heart of Darkness” (published in 1899) while captain of Congo River steamboats.
The story immortalised the 1,734 kilometre stretch of the river between the
capital Leopoldville (now Kinshasa, the only modern city remaining in the Congo)
and Stanleyville (now Kisangani). Evelyn Waugh visited Albertville (now Kalemie)
in 1930 and wrote of his experience. Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn
starred in the movie
“African Queen” in 1951, staying at a luxury hotel in Ponthierville (now Ubundu)
and filming in the jungle down river from there.
INDEPENDENCE
As the influence of western educated African leaders increased in the 1930s, the
Atlantic Charter was signed by Roosevelt and Churchill in 1941, proposing
autonomy for the African colonies. The trickle of countries declaring
independence began in 1951 (Libya was the first) and became a torrent in 1960
when sixteen countries shrugged off their colonial shackles. Belgium reluctantly
granted the Democratic Republic of the Congo independence on 30 June, 1960.
British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan’s famous “Wind of Change” speech on 3
February, 1960 was influential. A 30 year plan had been published in Belgium in
1955 providing for self-government of the Congo.
Immediately after independence and the election of Patrice Lumumba as Prime
Minister the army mutinied and
Moise Tshombe declared the mineral-rich south-eastern province of Katanga
a separate
independent
state. Belgium supported the breakaway but insisted that their mining
interests were protected. Trouble broke out when President Joseph Kasavubu
dismissed PM Lumumba. Lumumba was assassinated in 1961 with suspected Belgian
and US complicity. Joseph Mobutu,
later to lead the country from 1965 to 1997, was a leading figure in the coup.
The United Nations intervened in what became a complex civil war involving
widespread use of mercenary white soldiers. They fought both for and against the
government, for and against the United Nations – some, like Che Guevara, fought
for socialist ideals, many others sought only profit and adventure. The
peace-keepers were also confronted by Belgium-backed rebel Congolese natives.
The UN eventually disarmed Katangese soldiers, whose fight for independence
triggered the civil war. UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold died in a plane
crash in September, 1961 while shuttling between warring factions.
In 1963 Tshombe agreed to end Katanga’s secession and the following year he was
appointed Prime Minister by Kasavubu.
In 1964 there was a violent uprising by a group called the Mulele-Mai (named
after Pierre Mulele, a north-eastern tribal leader) who attacked everything
associated with white rule – not just white people but native run institutions
set up during the colonial era. Whites and natives alike fled when his soldiers
approached. The plight of the Congolese attracted world-wide attention during
this period, reminiscent of the Edwardian outrage over Leopold’s excesses at the
beginning of the century.
In 1965 Mobutu displaced Tshombe and Kasavubu in another coup. The United States
backed his rise to power as he was seen as a safeguard against Soviet influence
taking root in central Africa. This brought the war to an end and a degree of
stability was achieved. Much of the Belgian infrastructure was retained under
Mobutu.
THE MOBUTU ERA AND CONGO'S MODERN HISTORY
Mobutu Sese Seko
By 1971 Mobutu, now known as Mobutu Sese Seko, had become corrupted with power
and engaged in a programme to stamp his personality on the country. He renamed
it Zaire and nationalised many foreign–owned firms. European investors
abandoned the country. Intertribal conflict and incursions by tribes in
neighbouring countries followed later in the 1970s and economic problems arose
in the 1980s. Mobutu’s rule began to crumble in the early 1990s. The Congo
became caught up in the aftermath of the horrific genocide in Rwanda in 1994
when the minority Tutsis (who had been favoured by the Belgians during the
colonial era, continued to dominate the Government and had been hated by the
majority Hutus ever since) were massacred in huge numbers by the Hutus. Over
800,000 died in the month of July alone. The Tutsis regained control of Rwanda,
with support from Uganda, and many Hutus, fearing revenge attacks, crossed the
border into the Congo. Incursions by Tutsis into the Congo to attack Hutus added
to the ongoing internal tribal strife. Villagers followed a standard response
when hostile tribes entered their territory. They fled into the bush, returning
to rebuild their lives from what was left of their houses, crops and livestock –
usually very little.
The Mobutu era ended when he was toppled by Laurent Kabila in 1997. Mobutu
claimed the support of the Hutus, while Kabila’s successful bid for the
leadership was backed by Rwandan Tutsis. After the regime change the country
reverted from Zaire back to
the
Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mobutu died in
exile in Morocco later in 1997. Things did not improve and in 1998 serious
inter-tribal strife escalated. Soldiers and civilians from Rwanda and Uganda who
had entered the country in support of Kabila remained to exploit the mineral
resources in the east of the Congo and eventually Kabila turned against them.
The four year war that followed drew in troops from Namibia, Angola, Chad and
Zimbabwe (in support of Kabila) and from Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi (against
him). An accord was signed in 1999 by six countries and the United Nations moved
in to monitor the “peace”. Despite this, war continued to rage with Government
and foreign rebels pitted against rebels from Uganda and Rwanda. 2.5 million
people died as a direct or indirect result of the war before three more peace
treaties were signed in 2002. River passage was almost impossible during the
1998-2002 period of the war, especially the last two years. In January, 2001
Kabila was shot by a bodyguard and succeeded by his son Joseph.
Clashes continued, notably in 2004 in the town of Bukavu (on the border with
Rwanda) when pro-Rwandan/anti-Congo Tutsis broke the peace agreement and
massacred scores of people. Congolese retaliation almost led to a resumption of
the war. Thereafter all pro-Rwandan tribes were viewed with suspicion, even
those long based in the Congo. In 2006 the first genuine election since 1960 was
held, won after a run-off by the incumbent Joseph Kabila.
2009-2011 saw a number of arrests for crimes of genocide and mass rape committed
during the 1998-2002 civil war. Strife between opposing factions continue to the
present day.
The above historical summary from Tim Butcher’s book "Blood River" was penned by John Kiley in June, 2011.