Slavery and Conflict: The Democratic Republic of Congo

The Curious Case of Congo: A System Based on Slavery

INTRODUCTION

Embroiled in “Africa’s World War” for decades now; the Congolese are no strangers to instability and violence. Located in the heart of Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo (commonly known as ‘Congo’) has for decades also been the centre of conflict in the formerly known ‘dark continent’.

This paper attempts to evaluate the extent to which renowned scholar, Peter P. Ekeh’s claim applies true to the contemporary politics of the Democratic Republic of Congo by tracing its historical struggle with slave trade and colonisation; and its resultant internecine warfare and exploitation of resources.

THE BEGINNINGS OF THE SLAVE TRADE

Slavery is one of the most emotive

It saw the rise of the powerful kingdom of Kongo, with half almost half a million subjects (Storey, 2015). Even though it was an area of extraordinary cultural diversity and dozens of languages, all of them were Bantu in origin, which served as a common binding factor for people in that area (Rediker, 2007). In the case of a dynamic kingdom like Kongo, it is more or less assumed that state formation went hand in hand with the interest of its people at the centre of its concerns. But as the tentacles of the slave trade grew, many communities stratified internally, and kumu, “big men”, emerged to facilitate the commerce; which lead to West-Central Africa providing 38 percent of the century’s slaves (Rediker, 2007). This caused insecurity within those communities, as individuals began to turn on others close to them, including neighbours, friends, and even family (Nunn & Wantchekon, 2011). Stemming from this insecurity comes the question of whether or not the slave trade led to the establishment of a “culture of mistrust” (Nunn & Wantchekon, 2011). Fage’s earlier argument can be used to explain Wilson’s (1856) claim, where he states