Of Congo’s Deplorable State 2

........Now that that point has been established, let me tell you a little about Congo’s political history. Congo was a Belgian colony from 1870-1908. King Leopold of Belgium, professing humanitarian objectives, acquired it as his private property in 1885 and named it Congo Free State. During Leopold’s regime, around 15 million Congolese died due his exploitation. This exploitation is to cater Leopold’s desire for rubber. Rubber was a growing market due to the development of rubber tires. The Force Publique (FP, an equivalent of our Guardia Civil during Rizal’s times) enforced rubber quotas by cutting off the natives’ limbs. (E.D Morel, Roger Casement, Mark Twain, and Joseph Conrad expressed their sentiment. Well, I’m only familiar with Mark Twain and Joseph Conrad, both of whom are writers.)

From 1908 to 1960, condition of Congo improved a little when the Belgian government took over. “The colonial administration implemented a variety of economic reforms that focused on the improvement of infrastructure: railways, ports, roads, mines, plantations and industrial areas” (Wikipedia). But this doesn’t mean Congolese’ human rights improved. Congolese’s lacked political power and faced legal discrimination caused by lack of education. I have to say that their situation was no different with the Filipinos during Rizal’s times. Democracy was out of the question. In 1955, the so-called "évolués" ( the Congolese upper class who were mostly educated in Europe…hmm the Ilustrados in Rizal’s times?) initiated the campaign to end the inequality.

Congo achieved its independence in 1960. It had its own parliamentary president and its own prime minister. Unfortunately, both the president and the prime minister developed a crisis. Such crisis gave Mobutu, army chief of staff, a chance to acquire sentiments and inspired mutinous acts. With the Belgian and US financial aid, Mobutu succeeded in toppling the frail government. Mobutu later became the head of state and would hold election wherein he was the only candidate.

“Relative peace and stability was achieved; however, Mobutu's government was accused of human rights violations, repression, a cult of personality (every Congolese bank note displayed his image, his portrait was displayed in all public buildings, most businesses, and on billboards, and it was common for ordinary people to wear his likeness on their clothing), and excessive corruption. In 1984 he was said to have $4 billion (USD), an amount close to the country's national debt, deposited in a personal Swiss bank account.”(Wikipedia)

Although Mobutu was forced to flee Congo in 1997 but fighting is still continues until today. The illegal extraction of minerals in Congo such as coltan, cassiterite, and diamonds only financed its self destruction.