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HISTORY T1 W6 Gr. 12: INDEPENDENT AFRICA: THE CONGO

INDEPENDENT AFRICA: THE CONGO

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Grade 12 - Topic 2 - Independent Africa

In 1884, at the Berlin Conference, the European powers carved up Africa amongst themselves. By 1914 all of Africa, except Liberia and Ethiopia, was under colonial rule. Today, African countries are politically independent of their former European masters.

Background and focus

Recommended reading:  Martin Meredith

This topic compares two forms of states that emerged from nationalist movements in the 1960s.

The Congo was used as a tool in the Cold War. This left a legacy that continues today.

Tanzania developed as a socialist state, implementing ideas of African socialism.

The focus is on the political, economic, social and cultural successes and challenges that countries

faced in Africa after independence, illustrated by the Congo and Tanzania.

The Scramble for Africa (or the Race for Africa)  was the proliferation of conflicting European claims to African territory during the New Imperialism period, between the 1880s and the start of World War 1.

Figure 1 : Africa before Independence                                Figure 2: Africa Today ( 28/01/2015)

http://www.saflirista.com/Colonial-Africa.png (colonised Africa ) http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/africapolitmap.jpg ( Independent Africa )

At the Berlin Conference (1883/4 – 1885), the major European countries carved up  Africa amongst seven major European states. (See above). Africa had been transformed from being an extension of seven European powers towards  full political independence . The first country to gain independence was Liberia  ( 26 / 07 / 1847 ) from Britain. The last country to gain independence was Eritrea  ( 24/05/1993) from Ethiopia.

Online Source:

http://africanhistory.about.com/library/timelines/blIndependenceTime.htm   [Accessed 16 February 2015]

The following is to be covered in this topic:

What were the ideas that influenced the  independent states?

This section includes different forms of government  (political ideologies and economies), such as :

1.African socialism,

It is worth mentioning that most African liberation movements were influenced, in varying degrees, by Marxist doctrine. So the amalgamation of what it meant to be African and a newly liberated citizenry; was, again, influenced by Marxist/ Communist doctrine. Post-independent Africa followed this ‘doctrinal’ trajectory by

Friedland and Rosberg's (1992)  attempt to summarize the three (3) main characteristics of African socialism, as follows:

a)·no private ownership of land

b)·no social classes

c)·no shirking of responsibility to cooperate (work)

i)   http://www.drtomoconnor.com/3160/3160lect03.htm   [Accessed 16 February 2015]

ii)  http://www.drtomoconnor.com/3160/3160lect03.htm   [Accessed 16 February 2015]

iii) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXjL-HHn_a8      [Accessed 16 February 2015]

2.  capitalism, democracy and,

3.  one-party states

The galvanising of the opposition to colonisation meant that there was a large degree of unanimity within

liberation movements across Africa. ‘One-party states’ quickly emerged. These states were characterised by an

extremely strong political party, perhaps with smaller, peripheral parties; that largely controlled the domestic

conditions in the country. This emergence, in itself, would create problems for these newly-independent

countries, in the future.

http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/African_Socialism.aspx   [Accessed 16 February 2015]

Comparative case studies (1960 to 1980) as examples to illustrate the political, economic, social and cultural successes and challenges in independent Africa (1960 to 1980).

The case studies are NOT meant to be seperately examined.

(the Congo (became a tool of the Cold War)

Source : http://s3.amazonaws.com/churchplantmedia- [Accessed 16 February 2015] cms/mavuno_grassroots_development_for_congo/democratic-republic-congo-map.jpg   [Accessed 16 February 2015]

For a brief history of the Congo region in general; and the DRC, in particular, please visit...

http://www.mavunocongo.org/history   [Accessed 16 February 2015]

It should be noted however that the CONGO REGION consists of :

1.The Republic of Congo and

2.The Democratic Republic of the Congo

The discussion that follows centres on the Democratic Republic of Congo.

King Leopold II...of Belgium

Patrice Lumumba...of the DRC

Source: http://www.standnow.org/system/files/leopold.jpg   [Accessed 16 February 2015]

Source: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/10/25/1382706596437/Mobutu-Sese-Seko-pictured-010.jpg   [Accessed 16 February 2015]

Laurent Kabila

Source: https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQJAqFDU_kkYBG8-GVzbBP9SZARifFSKYPNCCBRfhzFwGFXX7-rqw   [Accessed 16 February 2015]

Joseph Kabila

Source:   https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRCTvSpvDBFnZJ6-L91RUREjEl_18DF6vx2ug6N-QXnxloKIOUb   [Accessed 16 February 2015]

King Leopold II formally acquires Congo territory as his own private property, naming it Congo Free State

Leopold and his army terrorize inhabitants in pursuit of resources. An estimated 10 million Congolese, half the population, die

Major nationalist riots in the capital threaten Belgium's control over Belgian Congo territory

Mouvemont National Congolais (MNC) party wins parliamentary elections. Patrice Lumumba becomes prime minister. Joseph Kasavubu is elected President.

June 30, 1960

Belgian Congo gains independence, becoming Republic of Congo

January 17, 1961

Patrice Lumumba is executed by forces from Katanga province backed by Belgium

Kanyarwanda War: Coalitions of different ethnic groups battle for land rights in North Kivu

Joseph-Desire Mobutu overthrows Kasavubu in a Western-backed coup and establishes a one-party system

Mobutu changes the country's official name to "Democratic Republic of Congo" to distinguish it from the former French colony "Republic of Congo"

Mobutu changes the name of the capital from Leopoldville to Kinshasa, and renames several other cities as well

Mobutu renames the country "Zaire" and changes his own name to Mobutu Sese Seko

Massive inflow of Hutu refugees fleeing massacres in Burundi after a failed Hutu rebellion against the Burundian government

All Banyarwanda (ethnic Rwandan and Burundian) residing in Congo from 1959-1963 are granted citizenship

Amid growing resentment of the increase in Banyarwandan Tutsi power, local Hutu and Congolese increase political mobilization and gain additional influence in the national assembly

Citizenship for Banyarwanda groups, mostly Tutsis, is restricted to those who could trace ancestry in Congo back to 1885. This reflected a desire to counter growing Tutsi economic power in the Kivu region

Mobutu declares the Third Republic, introducing a new constitution that includes democratic reforms and lifts the ban on multiparty politics

February 1990

Fall of the Soviet Union. Relations between Mobutu and the West deteriorate, as incentives to back Mobutu in the name of anti-Communism disappear

Governor Jean-Pierre Kalumbo Mbogho orders all Tutsis removed from the region and calls for their extermination. Violence breaks out, claiming 14,000 lives over the next two months

Mobutu dismisses Governor Kalumbo and increases Tutsi representation in the provincial government of the Kivus

Rwanda's Hutu extremist government orchestrates genocide of approx. 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. After Tutsi rebels take control of Rwanda, over a million refugees flood into Congo, including Rwandan army soldiers and Hutu extremist Interhamwe militiamen complicit in the genocide

First Congo War

Rwandan forces invade Congo to protect Tutsis and destroy Hutu militia camps. Mobutu's government opposes the incursion, prompting reform elements to unite against him.

Anti-Mobutu rebels, backed by Rwanda, seize Kinshasa and install Laurent Kabila as president. The country is renamed again to "Democratic Republic of Congo"

President Kabila calls for withdrawal of all Rwandan and Ugandan forces from the country

Second Congo War

August 1998

Rebels back by Rwanda and Uganda rise up against Kabila and take control of much of eastern DRC. Zimbabwe, Namibia, and Angola send troops to repel the rebels.

Rwanda, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Angola, and DRC sign peace accord in Lusaka, Zambia

August 1999: MLC and RDC rebels sign Lusaka accord

November 30, 1999

UN Security Council sets up 5,500-strong force to monitor the ceasefire, known as MONUC. Fighting continues between rebel and government forces, and between Rwanda- and Uganda-backed forces

January 2001

Laurent Kabila is assassinated by a bodyguard and is succeeded by his son, Joseph Kabila.

Tanzania . ..as an example of African socialism

Gained independence from Britain on 09/12/1961.

Source:   http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/images/map-tanzania.png   [Accessed 16 February 2015]

· www.sahistory.org.za ”º timelines ”º This day in History  [Accessed 16 February 2015]

Leaders of Tanzania Since Independence

A list of Tanzanian leaders since gaining independence on 9 December 1961

Zanzibar Zanzibar gained its independence as a Sultanate on 10 December 1963, and was proclaimed the People's Republic of Zanzibar on 12 January 1964 following a coup. On 26 April 1964 it merged with the Republic of Tanganyika to become the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar.

Although Zanzibar and Tanzania are united, Zanzibar continues to have its own president.

Source: http://africanhistory.about.com/od/tanzania/l/bl-Tanzania-Leaders.htm l  [Accessed 16 February 2015]

This speech, by Julius Nyerere outlines the visions and central points of African Socialism.

http://www.juliusnyerere.info/images/uploads/ujamaa_1962.pdf   [Accessed 16 February 2015]

Other Resources:

1. http:// www.fsmitha.com/p/ch34-tan.htm   [Accessed 16 February 2015]

2. http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2005/05/exch-m19.html

[Accessed 16 February 2015]

3. http:// African Socialism - Encyclopedia.com  [Accessed 16 February 2015]

The successes and challenges faced by independent Africa?

1) the kind of states that emerged - their aims and visions (political ideologies);

2) political including:

Types of leaders:

http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/patrice-lumumba   [Accessed 16 February 2015]

“We are not communist, Catholics or socialist. We are African Nationalist. We retain the right to be friends with whoever we like in accordance with the principal of political neutrality.”

Patrice Lumumba

http://www.biography.com/people/patrice-lumumba-38745   [Accessed 16 February 2015]

Mobuto Sese Seko

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0782891/bio   [Accessed 16 February 2015]

“After me, a flood of chaos. Apres moi, le deluge.” – MSS

http://spartacus-educational.com/COLDmobutu.htm   [Accessed 16 February 2015]

Nyerere (What are the qualities of a good leader?)

http://www.nyererefoundation.org/biography   [Accessed 16 February 2015]

"Violence is unnecessary and costly. Peace is the only way." - JN

https://www.marxists.org/subject/africa/nyerere/biography.htm   [Accessed 16 February 2015]

- legacies of colonialism;

http://exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu/students/curriculum/m7b/activity3.php   [Accessed 16 February 2015]

- types of government; and

- political stability and instability;

Economic including:

- types of economies (as third world countries)

social and cultural including:

- benefits of independence;

- education; and

 - Africanisation.

What was the impact of the internal and external factors on Africa during the time?

Africa in the Cold War: USSR, USA, Cuba, China and South Africa

Case study: Angola ( 11/11/1975...Portugal )

History of Angola ( briefly)...

Source: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/maps/africa/angola/map_of_angola.jpg   [Accessed 16 February 2015]

Angola and slaves: 15th-19th century

Colonial period: 1885-1975

Independence: from1975

http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ad33   [Accessed 16 February 2015]

http://www.sahistory.org.za/topic/case-study-angola   [Accessed 16 February 2015]

http://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/angola-becomes-independent-portuguese-colonial-rule   [Accessed 16 February 2015]

The case study will include:

introduction: how Africawas drawn into the Cold War (broadly);

competing spheres of influence - trade, conflict and aid;

Angola: colonialism and independence (broad overview);

Source: http://africanhistory.about.com/od/angola/l/Bl-Angola-Timeline.htm   [Accessed 16 February 2015]

outbreak of civil war in 1974

- MPLA and UNITA

www.sahistory.org.za/.../angolan-civil-war-1975-2002-brief-history   [Accessed 16 February 2015]

reasons for and nature of involvement in Angola (USSR, USA, Cuba, China and South Africa);

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1owf55/why_did_so_many_countries_get_involved_in_the/   [Accessed 16 February 2015]

www.jstor.org/stable/2637389   [Accessed 16 February 2015]

impact on regional stability;

significance of the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale 1987 and 1988;

http://www.sahistory.org.za politics and society ”º 20th Century South Africa  [Accessed 16 February 2015]

http://scientiamilitaria.journals.ac.za/pub/article/download/71/99   [Accessed 16 February 2015]

the changing nature of international relationships after 1989

Recommended reading:

1.   http://jim.com/African_capitalism.htm   [Accessed 16 February 2015]

2. http://science.jrank.org/pages/7540/Capitalism-Africa.html   [Accessed 16 February 2015]

3.isbn: 0857203894 – Google Search. 2015. _Google Search [ ONLINE] Available at: https://booksgoogle.co.za/books?isbn=0857203894 . [ Accessed 09 February 2015].

4. http://www.raceandhistory.com/cgi-bin/forum/webbbs_config.pl?md=read;id=534 [Accessed 16 February 2015]

Collections in the Archives

Know something about this topic.

Towards a people's history

Body of Essay: Independent Africa: Case Study - Congo

This is a summary of the content you have learnt. This summary does not respond to a particular question, therefore, the line of argument is not present. When you write your history essay in your final examination, your line of argument needs to be stated in your introduction and supported throughout the body of your essay.

A line of argument is your perspective on what has happened in the past. However, your perspective needs to be supported by the evidence you have learnt.

To avoid missing key dates and events in your essay, it is recommended that you draw a timeline like the one above on your exam paper or answer sheet. While this will not be awarded any marks, it can help ensure you cover all the important aspects.

Since Congo’s chaotic debut of independence in 1960, the USA was determined above all to ensure the country remained a pro-Western bulwark against Soviet ambitions in Africa.  Armed conflict and civil war continued, with Joseph Mobutu seizing power of the country in 1965 through a coup de’tat.

The first few paragraphs of the body of the essay make brief reference to the chaotic independence of Congo in 1960 which was exacerbated (made worse) by both the legacy of colonialism and the meddling of the superpowers in the Cold War ( what ) and Joseph Mobutu who seized power in 1965 ( who ) of the topic.

Determined to restore the power and control of the central government in Leopoldville (as the capital was then known), he set out to create a ’new Congo’, acting ruthlessly to suppress disorder and dissent . Within five years (by 1970), Mobutu had managed to impose law and order of some kind on most parts of the country. His economic strategy was initially effective; inflation was halted, the currency was stabilised, output increased and the governments' debts were kept low. The giant copper industry was successfully nationalised. In August 1970, US President Nixon described Mobutu as a leader of stability and vision. The country became a magnet which attracted an increasing number of Western foreign investors . 

Your essay should now refer to the period of 1965 to 1970, referring to both Mobutu’s initial political and economic policies in the historical context of the Congo.

It is at this stage, that Mobutu launched a series of grandiose development projects; a steel mill near Leopoldville, a giant dam on the lower reaches of the Congo River at Inga, a long-distance power line from Inga to Katanga, an ambitious new copper mining project, new manufacturing plants, and an array of infrastructure projects.

Continue to unfold the story chronologically, with Western foreign investors attracted to a ‘politically stable’ Congo which is both West-aligned and supported by the US President, the emphasis on inappropriate expenditure under Mobutu is now referred to. In addition, begin to show his increased political ambition.

Mobutu’s political ambitions grew at the same time and, stage by stage, he accumulated vast personal power , ruling by decree, controlling all appointments and promotions and deciding on the allocation of government revenues. He created a single national party , the MPR, setting himself up as its sole guide and mentor and laid down an ideology to which everyone was instructed to adhere to. The ideology was known at first as authenticité, but its official name was subsequently changed simply to ‘ Mobutuism ’.

To create an ‘authentic’ national spirit (to Africanise the country ), he ordered a wide variety of names to be changed. The Congo was called Zaire, Leopoldville was changed to Kinshasa, Zairians with Christian names were ordered to drop them for African ones, and Joseph Mobutu himself took the name Mobutu Sese Seko. Furthermore, Mobutu banned Congolese men from wearing European suits.

How  he implemented authenticité or Mobutuism, is now explained, providing examples. This is Mobutu’s cultural policy.

The personality cult surrounding Mobutu became all-pervasive. He assumed grand titles, his deeds were endlessly praised in songs and dances, officials took to wearing lapel badges with his miniature portrait, and the television news was preceded by the image of Mobutu, with his leopard-skin hat perched on his head, descending, as if it were, through the clouds from heaven. Places where he had worked and lived were designated as national pilgrimage points.

Next, Mobutu turned to self-enrichment on a scale unsurpassed anywhere else in Africa. He invested in luxury property in Europe and Zaire (with his palace complex at Gbadolite being the most notorious), and used the central bank as his own ‘piggy bank’. 

The cult of personality, self-enrichment, and predatory capitalism is now unpacked – being both economic and political policies.

During the 1970s, in what has been described as predatory capitalism , Mobutu’s personal fortune grew in leaps and bounds, and by the end of the 1970s, Mobutu had become one of the world’s richest men.

In 1975, the government fell into arrears on repayments of its foreign debts , Western bankers came to the rescue by agreeing to stretch out their loans to reduce the immediate burden. However, the Western banks had reached the point where they could not afford to let Zaire founder .

In November 1978, a retired Bundesbank official, Erwin Blumenthal , was given effective control of the central bank. In 1979, Blumenthal left in disgust.

Your essay should now focus on the period of 1975, as the economic crisis deepened, and Blumenthal's attempted intervention failed by 1979. 

However repressive and corrupt Mobutu’s regime had become, he still enjoyed the support of Western governments . During the 1980s, he was supported by both US President Ronald Reagan, and then by his successor, George Bush (Snr).

Hoping to regain some of the international standings he had lost and being accustomed to acting as a regional power-broker, Mobutu got Zaire involved in the Rwandan civil war in 1990 , by supporting the Hutu-dominated Rwandan government against the Tutus-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF).  

Your essay should now explain that by 1990, in an attempt to reestablish his international and regional political standing, as a Francophone leader in Africa, Mobutu got involved in Rwanda, ultimately leading to his overthrow by 1997. 

France stood by Zaire and Mobutu in a failed attempt to ensure francophone countries dominated central Africa , in opposition to the position of Uganda and Museveni as Anglophone power brokers.

In May 1997, Mobutu flew into exile in Morocco, while in Kigali (Rwanda), Paul Kagame, the mastermind of the campaign to oust Mobutu, finally admitted his involvement, “Everywhere it was our forces, our troops”, he said. “They’ve been walking for the last eight months.”

On 17 May 1997, Joseph Kabila was sworn in as president, renaming the country the Democratic Republic of Congo.

A short history of instability in the Congo...

The region that is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo was first settled about 80,000 years ago. Bantu migration arrived in the region from Nigeria in the 7th century AD. The Kingdom of Kongo developed between the 14th and the early 19th centuries. Belgian colonization began when King Leopold II founded the Congo Free State, a corporate state run solely by him. Reports of widespread murder and torture in the rubber plantations led the Belgian government to seize the Congo from Leopold II and establish the Belgian Congo. Under Belgian rule, the colony was run with the presence of numerous Christian organizations that wanted to Westernize the Congolese people.

After an uprising by the Congolese people, Belgium surrendered to the independence of the Congo in 1960. However, the Congo was left unstable because tribal leaders had more power than the central government. Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba tried to restore order with the aid of the Soviet Union as part of the Cold War, causing the United States to support a coup led by Colonel Joseph Mobutu in 1965. Mobutu quickly seized complete power of the Congo and renamed the country Zaire. He sought to Africanize the country, changing his own name to Mobutu Sese Seko, and demanded that African citizens change their Western names to traditional African names. Mobutu sought to repress any opposition to his rule, and retained his position for 32 years through several sham elections, as well as through brutal force. However, with his regime weakened in the early 1990s, Mobutu was forced to agree to a power-sharing government with the opposition party. Mobutu remained the head of state and promised elections for the next two years that never happened.

In the First Congo War, Rwanda invaded Zaire, which overthrew Mobutu during the process. Laurent-Desire Kabila later took power and renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo. After a disappointing rule under Kabila, the Second Congo War broke out, resulting in a regional war with many different African nations taking part. Kabila was assassinated by his bodyguard in 2001, and his son, Joseph, succeeded him and was later elected president by the Congolese government in 2006. In October 2002, the new president was successful in negotiating the withdrawal of Rwandan forces occupying the eastern DRC; two months later, the Pretoria Accord was signed by all remaining warring parties to end the fighting and establish a government of national unity.

A transitional government was set up in July 2003; it held a successful constitutional referendum in December 2005 and elections for the presidency, National Assembly, and provincial legislatures took place in 2006. In 2009, following a resurgence of conflict in the eastern DRC, the government signed a peace agreement with the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP), a primarily Tutsi rebel group. An attempt to integrate CNDP members into the Congolese military failed, prompting their defection in 2012 and the formation of the M23 armed group - named after the 23 March 2009 peace agreements.

Renewed conflict led to large population displacements and significant human rights abuses before the M23 was pushed out of DRC to Uganda and Rwanda in late 2013 by a joint DRC and UN offensive. In addition, the DRC continues to experience violence committed by other armed groups including the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, the Allied Democratic Forces, and assorted Mai Mai militias. In the most recent national elections, held in November 2011, disputed results allowed Joseph Kabila to be reelected to the presidency. The DRC Constitution bars President Kabila from running for a third term, but the DRC Government has delayed national elections originally slated for November 2016. The failure to hold elections as scheduled has fueled sporadic street protests by Kabila’s opponents. In late December 2016, government officials and opposition leaders struck a last-minute deal that will require Kabila to step down after elections to be held by the end of 2017. Today, the Congo remains dangerously unstable.