The Legacy of Colonialism on the DRC

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is a country of extreme potential - favoured with an impressive concentration and diversity of natural resources (1,100 mineral substances), a vast land area (2.3 million km2), a strong population (of 80 million) and with ⅔ of the country with access to the Congo (2nd largest river in the World). Why, then, is it so troubled, at just 186th of 197 countries in the Human Development Index, and experiencing war after war? These geographical benefits are in fact, rather than an advantage, a disadvantage to the country, attracting the greedy eyes of colonialism, the shadows of which still pass over the DRC to this day.

In 1877, an explorer, Henry Morton Stanley, set out to find the source of the Nile, trekking from Zanzibar all the way down the Lualaba river for 1,500 miles, braving foreign disease, starvation, exhaustion and cannibal attacks. After 3 years, he finally broke out onto the Atlantic ocean, after proving the Nile’s true source was Lake Victoria. He wrote up his experiences and his vivid accounts of central Africa’s abundant resources: of ivory-bearing elephants, palm oil, wild rubber and precious woods, opened up central Africa to the West, catching the eye of many greedy Europeans, but they truly stuck with Leopold II, the then Belgian King.

Why was Leopold so keen to colonise? Clearly the resources were a major factor, essentially a ready spring for European goods. But behind this clear motivator, as a money-making opportunity, there were perhaps more nuanced reasons for Leopold’s decision. Belgium was a small, fledgling nation state, divided by religion and language just as much as the Congo. It lacked self-confidence and self-identity and needed a chance at national glorification, to unite its peoples and develop into a world power. As a result, self-restraint and principles went out the window in Leopold’s desperate pursuit of his European allies: England, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands. In fact, he was just following in their footsteps, building power and wealth through colonies and using foreign resources to rise above the limitations of natural assets and geography in their limited countries.

Leopold, fascinated with the idea of a Belgian colony, sent Stanley back to develop the region and establish Leopoldville, the foundations for modern-day Kinshasa, marking the beginning of a terrible campaign. The Belgians expanded from Leopoldville, quickly seizing the last scraps of the rapidly colonising continent, competing with France, Portugal, Britain and Germany. Stanley pushed treaties on hundreds of chieftains, essentially stating they would hand over all land and a Belgian monopoly on trade, the forests, all ivory, palm oil and mineral wealth, despite the fact that they naturally couldn’t read French. So the Belgians spread, under the name of the ‘International African Association’, intended to philanthropically eradicate the slave trade and spread civilisation. In fact, Leopold’s branding at the Berlin conference, where European powers inconsiderately carved up Africa like slices of a cake, so convinced the other European powers of his supposed moral conscience, permitted the Congo Free State to come under his personal control, essentially becoming a private playground. This only fed into a myriad of factors that propped up the beginnings of a colonial system of unparalleled cruelty, with repercussions still rippling outwards today.

Firstly, roads and railway were built, clearing large swathes of jungle in the process. Then, the Force Publique was set up, a 17,000-19,000 strong army to enforce the ‘law’, flooding weapons and munitions into the region. Leopold didn’t however provide food for soldiers, rather they had to ‘live off the land’ i.e. cruelly looting villages for food.

This resulted in perhaps one of the most harshest colonisation periods in history. Despite Leopold’s intention to cloak his colonisation in an aura of pure philanthropic ambition, it was truly just for his own commercial interest. Cripplingly high production quotas meant locals were overworked, but a failure to meet targets resulted in burning of huts, random killings, amputations of hands and feet, rapings and abductions of women and children, and chieftains taken as hostage, all until the village resumed a satisfactory production level. Hostages were then sold as porters or slaves in exchange for rubber and ivory, whilst orphaned children were corrupted and trained as soldiers themselves for the Force Publique, forcing mere children to impose crimes against humanity upon their own people. This was only worsened by a cynical commission system. State agents could double their miniscule salaries with increased output i.e. highest production, and scale of payment i.e. those who paid least for ivory or rubber deliveries were most highly rewarded. Given, also, the fact that ⅓ of state officials didn’t survive their posting, many dying from malaria, typhoid or sleeping sickness, they really weren’t too fastidious about the methods to ensure the meeting of output targets - the stakes were just too high.

This only prompted yet more sickening forms of repression, varying from village to village. Horrific reports slowly permeating out after the Belgians decolonisation include being eaten alive by maggots, fed to cannibal tribes, the drinking of state agent’s urine and to have hands beaten till they fell off. Colony-wide repressive measures included the use of chicottes, a stiff hippopotamus hide whip capable of killing, gallows and mass executions in response to riots. The Belgian colonisers imposed a system with all its power in forced labour, terror and repression. Naturally, this resulted in an extreme depopulation event, of 10-13 million, halving the population of Congolese. To compare (but not to diminish) consider the persecution of Jews during WWII, at 6 million, double of which were killed in the Congo Free State.

It did, however massively benefit the Belgians, so that by 1901, 289,900 kg of ivory was produced, as well as 6,000 tonnes of rubber, producing 1/10 of global production at the initial boom in the birth of the auto industry, essential in pneumatic tires. Brussels’ gleamed with the reapings of the Congo, with Congolese hardwoods, marble, ivory and onyx lining the capital and money brimming out of wealthy Belgian pockets.

By 1899, however, word was slowly leaking out of the terrible brutality of the regime, especially on the publication of Heart of Darkness, a grim novel depicting the horrific scenes of repression. A 1903 European report was commissioned as a result, forcing Leopold to hand over responsibility to the Belgian state. But the system continued, just hidden behind a veil of hypocrisy. Officials remained exactly where they were, continuing exactly as they were, just under a new ‘master’, the Belgian government. Reforms were only applied slowly, whilst the chicotte was only outlawed 10 months before Belgium’s pulling out in 1960, and the commission system continued till independence.

Eventually, however, independence was, thankfully, followed. By 1960, the voices of the country’s few elites was too great to continue to drown out, whilst riots in Kinshasa and the withdrawal of France and Britain from their colonies forced Belgium’s reluctant transition. Just like their colonisation, Belgium’s decolonisation was careless and haphazard, extremely unhelpful in paving a peaceful transition, a legacy that has continually impacted the Congo. Pulling out in just one week, there were no moves to create institutions to thrive in a post-colonial time, nor the education of Congolese, with just 17 university graduates in a country of 14 million people. There were no leaders to run the army, economy or government, Belgium effectively leaving the country flailing and in absolute chaos. Even the traditional elites were undermined by imperialism, with local rulers classed as illegitimate collaborators. There was just a complete void of power, precipitating great instability that was the ideal foundation for further chaos.

The legacy of colonialism has had far-reaching repercussions on the Congo. The superficial foundations on which the country was build fell apart upon decolonisation. Infrastructure was not designed for a nation state, but for a colony, allowing resources to get out of the country as fast as possible, clearly not sustainable for a nation state seeking to assert itself and unify after over a century of colonialism. As well as this, the Congolese were prisoners of political geography, with the european idea of geography definitely not in keeping with African demographics. The Congo’s structure was too artificial, with the European concept of a nation state forced upon it. Leopold, unfortunately, also passed down many undesirable traits to the DRC’s next leader, Mobutu. Large-scale extortion, lavish spending tastes, the squeezing of loans from gullible creditors, the luring of private investors to Africa, fraudulent bookkeeping and descent from power with heavy debts were shared by both leaders. Harsh informal taxes under corrupt officials in Mobutu’s rule imposed almost the equivalent of Leopold’s production quotas. Certainly, there is a clear link between Belgium’s exploitative regime and the excesses of Mobutu’s rule, essentially just a repeat performance of the existing kleptocratic system (government by theft).

Belgian colonialism set up the Congo for such a leader, with a distinct culture of obeying orders, keeping your head down and thinking small. After decades of repression and humiliation, the collective mindset of the Congolese had been significantly limited, the best establishment for a second dictator. Further, a vicious cycle has plagued the Congo, with poor government resulting in poor natural resource management and difficulty in asserting sovereignty over natural resources, meaning it is harder to rebuild the state, meaning the government is weak etc. The DRC is a unique country, with enormous mineral wealth, however, this isn’t necessarily a positive thing, continually ravaged by external powers, indeed almost like a resource curse. In fact, despite Mobutu’s wish to shake off the shackles of colonialism, 10 years after independence, 75% of resource management was still foreign.

Mobutu did, however, initially seem hopeful. A dynamic, idealistic young man, an army sergeant and journalist, he was determined for a successful independent state and it seemed, at first, as if he was succeeding. Building up infrastructure following a copper boom and appropriating of foreign business and investment, Kinshasa (the capital city, formerly Leopoldville) seemed to buzz with life. Building a 7 km long avenue dedicated to Independence day, and propping up building after shining building, Kinshasa came alive in a whole new light. In 1965, just 5 years after independence, Kinshasa hosted the Rumble in the Jungle. A boxing match between George Foreman and Muhammad Ali, it was a chance to showcase the progress the Congo had made, and establish itself on the world stage. It was a momentous moment in Congolese history, with tourists flooding into the shiny new city to experience the thrill of the match. A number of other exciting projects was also initiated. The Inga dam, potentially the biggest dam in the world, producing almost twice that of the Three Gorges, seemed the end to the Congo’s electricity problems, whilst the introduction of national television was incredibly popular. Mobutu also tried to ‘bring back authenticity’ the country, in an attempt to shrug off Western culture and colonialism and build on Congo’s true ancient cultural heritage. The country was renamed Zaire i.e. the ‘river that swallows all streams’, as well as multiple cities, such as Kinshasa, from Leopoldville. This, however, did not last. A superficial veneer shrouded the truth - Zaire was running on empty, racking up a huge bill. Kinshasa became a city of never-ending scaffolding, in that buildings never finished and flashy new ones quickly fell into a state of disrepair. The Rumble in the Jungle shunned the blatant issue of poverty to one side, much like with the Rio Olympics, presenting a superficial, white-washed view of the city, and indeed, the country. The Inga dam remains, to this day, unfinished, slowly rotting away. Clearly, the country was in trouble, whilst Mobutu then descended into kleptocracy.

Hailed as the inventor of modern kleptocracy, Mobutu plundered the economy to live a life of excess. His power towered up from a base of corrupt nepotism, granting favours to elites by raiding the national treasury and treating it as his personal bank account. His political power and pure charisma ensured his name as a political genius, yet his complete disregard for economics was what truly brought the country down. In 1974, the economy collapsed with the crashing of the copper price after the end of the Vietnam War. Never having diversified from its colonial exports, Zaire’s economy was tied inextricably to its natural resources. The country therefore descended into complete economic turmoil, with debt at 887 million USD and it only got worse, so much so that by 1991, inflation was at 4000%. By 1999, debt was even at 10 billion USD. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) then offered a stabilisation plan of 47 million dollars in exchange for clear proof of economic action: with a cut of public spending, devaluation of the Congolese franc and raising of taxes. This, however, of course didn’t materialise, plunging the DRC into further and further debt, practically using aid as a source of income, clearly an extremely unhealthy and unsustainable pattern.

So how can the DRC move forwards? What potential does it have for the future? The DRC is an incredible country, the most resource rich but economically untapped and mismanaged state in the world. With 25 trillion USD of untapped mineral potential (the GDP of the US and every single country in Europe combined) the DRC has the fundamental building blocks to become great. However, the DRC needs to recognise its own ability and escape from continual neocolonialism - from simply being a pawn in a global geopolitical game. One good leader, just one skilled and inspiring leader, could revolutionise the DRC. With relatively weak political institutions and few checks and balances, good management could allow the DRC to catapult to its true capacity and reverse the effects of colonialism. The DRC has incredible potential, it just needs to seize it.

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