The Democratic Republic of Congo has had a harder time than any other country in Africa emerging from the shadow of one of the most brutal colonial experiences of all.
Madness, greed and the chicotte — a whip of sun-dried hippopotamus hide used to flay victims — were the hallmarks of King Leopold’s inappropriately named Congo Free State, immortalised by Joseph Conrad in his novel Heart of Darkness, which he wrote after working as a river boat captain on the Congo for six months. First ivory, then wild rubber — used to feed the thirst for recently invented pneumatic tyres — were shipped out in vast quantities. More than ten million Congolese died.
When independence came in 1960 there were fewer than 30 African graduates in a country the size of Western Europe. There were no Congolese army officers, engineers, agronomists or physicians. Of about 5,000 management positions in the Civil Service, only three were filled by Africans.
Unsurprisingly, the country fared badly. Its new Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba, right, flirted with the Soviet Union and was assassinated in a CIA-sponsored rebellion with Belgian connivance. The province of Katanga tried to secede and the United Nations had to intervene to prevent full-scale civil war.
For three decades after independence the country was bled dry by the Western-backed kleptocratic dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, who renamed it Zaire, refused to build roads for fear that they would assist rebels, and flew Scandinavian prostitutes to champagne parties in garish jungle palaces.
Advertisement
After his overthrow the country was ripped apart by an eight-year civil war. The conflict ended in 2003 but its effects are still felt, with hundreds dying each day from preventable diseases and sporadic attacks from rebel militia groups.
An election organised by the UN — the most costly poll the world body has ever undertaken — four years ago put President Kabila in power and brought a measure of stability. However, two thirds of the population live on less than 75 pence a day and the murder two weeks ago of Floribert Chebeya has reignited fears of a fresh crackdown.