Omar Ryan | Belgium’s debt to the people of Congo

On June 8, 2022, BBC reporters Emery Makumeno and Cecilia Macauly detailed the official visit of King Philippe of the Belgians to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) in a piece titled “Belgian Royals in DR Congo: King Philippe Laments Racism of Colonial Past”. Makumeno and Macauly highlight the tangible debt Belgium has to the peoples of DR Congo and the Caribbean, and in doing so, create a space to discuss reparatory justice.

STATEMENT OF REGRET

King Phillipe, in his week-long trip to DR Congo, joined the ranks of European monarchs giving voice to the crimes committed in their former colonial territories. In a statement on the grounds of DR Congo’s parliament, King Philippe stated,

“On the occasion of my first trip to the Congo, here, in front of the Congolese people and those who still suffer from it today, I wish to reaffirm my deepest regrets for these wounds of the past,” following a statement in which he described his own Belgium as “one of unequal relations, unjustifiable in itself, marked by paternalism, discrimination, and racism”.

This statement does not acknowledge the full scope of cruelty by Belgians on the African Continent and in the Caribbean. Outside of the very real connection to slavery, where ships sailing under the Belgian flag ferried captured Africans to a life of enslavement in the Caribbean, there is Belgium’s continued assault on DR Congo’s natural resources during the 19th century to acknowledge. Following the lead of King Leopold II of the Belgians and the Berlin Conference of 1884, Europeans carved the continent of Africa into pieces for their economic and political gain.

BELGIUM IN THE CARIBBEAN

Belgium’s policy of non-involvement in the colonial wars of the Caribbean with Britain, France, Spain, and the new republic of the United States of America allowed their ports in Ostend to flourish during the latter part of the 18th century. An account from Stan Pannier details that in the year 1770, only 400 ships passed through the Ostend port, but by 1780, that number increased to 1,000 ships, and in just a year, this number doubled.

Belgian ships sailed to several Caribbean islands, including, Suriname, St Thomas, Martinique, and Grenada. They travelled from Congo to the Caribbean, offloaded their valuable human cargo, and returned to Europe with an equally lucrative cargo of goods produced by enslaved labour such as sugar and coffee.

One of the most significant names of the time was Frederik Romberg, the principal Belgian merchant spearheading expeditions to Africa. Over a four-year period, he was responsible for 15 ships traversing the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade route. One of these ships was named the Marie Antoinette, honouring the then Queen of France and sister to Joseph II, Emperor of Belgium (South Netherlands). Auguste-Pierre Damiens de Gomicourt, a significant biographer of the period, recorded that this ship carried 290 Africans in one of its voyages. Most daring was the name King of Congo, which was perhaps prophetic of King Leopold II.

It is believed that over 5,000 shackled Africans were transported on Romberg’s ships alone.

‘CONGO FREE STATE’

King Leopold II of the Belgians colonised Congo under the moniker ‘Congo Free State’- a land 77 times larger than Belgium - from 1885 until 1908, claiming it as his personal property. The Belgian government took over in 1908 and continued as colonial overlords until Congolese Independence in 1960. King Leopold II’s 23-year reign of Congo saw the most brutal and inhumane colonial regime during the European ‘Scramble for Africa’. It is widely believed that more than 10 million Congolese lost their lives to enslavement, brutality, diseases, and the deliberate murder of Congolese people during the Belgian rule.

During this time, King Leopold II created his own private army, Force Publique. The soldiers of Force Publique came from certain ethnic groups in the Congo, Zanzibar, and the then British West Africa and were led by white officers. This army notably severed the hands, particularly the lower part of the hand - palm and fingers - of Congolese people as punishment for not meeting the quota for rubber. This barbaric act is believed to be the cause of several million Congolese deaths. The Belgian collection of hands was synonymous with the rubber trade. The punishment was effective. By 1900, Belgium had exported more than 6,000 tonnes of rubber as well as quantities of ivory from Congo. This was driven by the increasing demand for rubber in the developing automobile industry.

Although slavery was officially outlawed in most parts of the world by the late 1800s, the ‘Congo Free State’ saw many more years of slavery. Many Congolese women were forced into servitude, for seven years or longer, oftentimes including sexual enslavement and exploitation by soldiers and officers of the Force Publique. These soldiers were oftentimes Congolese men, kidnapped as children and raised by Catholic missionaries. The offspring of such circumstances were deemed the property of the state.

REPARATION DEBT

Today, many Congolese have a legacy of generations of ancestors mutilated and murdered under Belgian rule. Belgium owes direct reparation to these families.

The reality of direct ancestry to those who were mutilated, murdered, and suffered at the hands of Leopold II and his agents makes a strong case for reparatory justice for the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo. There is legal precedence seen in the case of the Mau Mau in Kenya who received reparatory justice from Britain in 2013 for the atrocities carried out against their ancestors who resisted British colonists in the 1950s.

The current leadership in Belgium has begun the process of returning artefacts stolen during their colonial reign as ‘indefinite loans’ due to legal complications. It is believed that up to 70 per cent of the holdings in the Belgian Royal Museum for Central Africa were taken during the colonial period.

Princess Esmerelda, King Philippe’s aunt, told the BBC that returning such artefacts or ‘looted items’ was the right thing to do and that “former European colonial powers should own up to the past”. She expressed her view that Belgium needs to commit itself to more than a simple statement of regret.: “I feel that probably the apologies should be coming soon, formal apologies for the past and for the colonial atrocities that were committed.”

This line of thought is certainly more progressive than other statements articulated by a member of a ruling royal family or government in Europe regarding their responsibility to provide reparatory justice for their brutal past. However, Princess Esmerelda used the term “probably” to show that there are still doubts concerning a formal apology from Belgium for their unparalleled atrocities in colonial Africa. I hope that this is the start of more progressive thought from Europe, particularly as the debate on reparatory justice intensifies across the globe for the Caribbean, African, and other peoples who experienced wrongs at the hands of brutal colonial rulers.

Reparation Conversations is a collaborative initiative between The Gleaner and the Centre for Reparation Research (CRR), The University of the West Indies. Omar Ryan is administrative assistant at the CRR. Send feedback to reparation.research@uwimona.edu.jm.