(Jody Gray) I came across this information while working on “The History of Belgium” in conjunction to my research for “The House of Flanders” -ancestors of our Piper Family in Europe… Years ago, I watched a movie “Hotel Rwanda” which explores genocide, political corruption, and the repercussions of violence -I wondered “how in the world” nothing was done to stop the genocide (April 7-July 15, 1994) -The UN Peacekeeping forces are forbidden to intervene -foreign nationals are evacuated, but the Rwandans are left behind. -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Rwanda I remember Belgium being mentioned as supplying the Hutus with machetes (current Google Search results show various sources for the machetes and mention that machetes were common tools owned by the people living in Rwanda -quote from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3572887.stm After combing through bank archives and government documents she reveals, for instance, that in 1993 the government of Rwanda imported, from China, three quarters of a million dollars worth of machetes… The details of pre-genocide arms imports from Egypt and France are also given, as is the extent of French military cooperation with the parts of the Rwandan army most responsible for the genocide. “Conspiracy to Murder - The Rwandan Genocide, by Linda Melvern. At any rate, I’ve always been curious to know more about Belgium…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Belgium History of Belgium. Congo Free State and Belgian Congo.
King Leopold II of Belgium had been the principal shareholder in the Belgian trading company which established trading stations on the lower Congo between 1879 and 1884. At the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885 the future Congo was personally assigned to Leopold, who named the territory the Congo Free State. It was originally intended to be an international Free Trade zone, open to all European traders. The area included in this territory was just under 1 million square miles, more than 80 times the size of Belgium. The first infrastructure projects took place during the Free State period, such as a railway that ran from the Léopoldville to the coast which took several years to complete.
The era of the Congo Free State is most infamous for the large number of atrocities committed under it. Since it was, in effect, a business venture, run by a private company headed by Leopold himself, it aimed to gain as much money as possible from primary exports from the territory. Leopold's personal fortune was greatly increased through the proceeds of selling Congolese rubber, which had never previously been mass-produced in such surplus quantities, to the growing market for tyres. During the period between 1885 and 1908, as many as eight million Congolese died of exploitation and disease while the birth rate dropped. However, these are only rough estimates, as no figures are available for the period.
To enforce the rubber quotas, the Force Publique (FP) was created. While the Force Publique was nominally a military force - it would later fight during both the First and Second World Wars) -during the Congo Free State period its primary duties involved enforcing rubber quotas in rural areas. Imprisonment and summary executions were common. Severing of limbs was sometimes used by the Force Publique as a method of enforcing the quotas.
Following reports from missionaries, there was growing moral outrage, particularly in Britain and the United States. The Congo Reform Association, led by Edmund Dene Morel, was particularly important in this campaign, and published numerous best-selling tracts and pamphlets (including Red Rubber) which reached a vast public. King Leopold appointed and financed his own commission to put these accusations to rest, but it too confirmed the atrocities.
The Belgian parliament long refused to take over the colony, which was considered a financial burden. In 1908, the Belgian parliament responded to the international pressure, annexing the Free State, as the campaigners had argued for. After World War II, Belgium was criticized by the United Nations for making no progress on the political front, in contrast with other contemporary colonial states. Despite propaganda campaigns within Belgium, few Belgians showed much interest in the colony; very few went there, and imperial enthusiasm was never widespread. Also, the government limited the possibility of Congolese settling inside Belgium.
Political rights were not granted to the Africans until 1956 when the growing middle class (the so-called Évolué) received the franchise, and the economy remained relatively undeveloped despite the mineral wealth of Katanga. At the Round Table Talks on independence, Belgium requested a process of gradual independence over 4 years, but following a series of riots in 1959, the decision was made to bring forward independence in matter of months. The chaos in which Belgium departed the Congo caused the secession of rich Western-backed province Katanga and the prolonged civil war known as the Congo Crisis.
Ruanda-Urundi 1917-61. After the defeat of Germany in World War I, Belgium inherited League of Nations mandates over Ruanda-Urundi.
The colony was administered in a similar way as by the former German administrators, continuing policies such as ethnic identity cards. In 1959, moves towards independence could be seen in the territory and agitation by PARMEHUTU, a Hutu political party, was evident. In 1960, the Rwandan Revolution occurred and Belgium changed the appointments of chiefs and vice-chiefs to promote Hutus into the posts.
Belgian rule in the Congo was based on the “colonial trinity” of state, missionary and private company interests. The privileging of Belgian commercial interests meant that large amounts of capital flowed into the Congo and that individual regions became specialized. On many occasions, the interests of the government and private enterprise became closely tied, and the state helped companies break strikes and removed other barriers raised by the indigenous population. The country was split into nesting, hierarchically organized administrative subdivisions, and run uniformly according to a set “native policy”. This was in contrast to the British and the French, who generally favored a system of indirect rule whereby traditional leaders were retained in positions of authority under colonial oversight. The Congo had a high degree of racial segregation. The large numbers of white immigrants who moved to the Congo after the end of World War II came across the social spectrum, but were always treated as superior to black people.
Background -Congo Free State. Leopold II, King of the Belgians and de facto owner of the Congo Free State from 1885 to 1908. *Leopold II was known for the founding and exploitation of the Congo Free State as a private venture… At the Berlin Conference of 1844-85, the colonial nations of Europe authorized his claim by committing the Congo Free State to improving the lives of the native inhabitants… Leopold essentially ignored these conditions. He ran the Congo using mercenary Force Publique for his personal enrichment… He extracted a fortune from the Congo, initially by the collection of ivory, and after a rise in the price of rubber in the 1890s, by forced labor from the natives to harvest and process rubber. Under his regime millions of the Congolese people died; modern estimates range from 1 to 15 million, with a consensus growing to around 10 million… ultimately Leopold was forced by the Belgian government to relinquish control of the colong to the civil administration in 1908.
*Illustration, Monument in Arlon, Belgium. “I have undertaken the work in the Congo in the interest of civilization and for the good of Belgium.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force_Publique Force Publique (“Public Force”) -was a gendarmerie and military force in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1885 (when the territory was known as the Congo Free State), through the period of direct Belgian colonial rule (1908-1960).
Related Blog Posts
Blog Post: Flanders, present-day Belgium.
http://historicalandmisc.blogspot.com/2017/04/flanders-present-day-belgium.html *
Blog Post: Noble Family, House of Flanders. Counts of Flanders and Counts of Boulogne.
http://gray-adamsfamily.blogspot.com/2016/04/noble-family-house-of-flanders-counts.html *xxx
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