Omer Bodson (5 January 1856 – 20 December 1891) was the

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

officer who shot and killed Msiri, King of Garanganze ( Katanga) on 20 December 1891 at

Bunkeya Bunkeya is a community in the Lualaba Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is located on a huge plain near the Lufira River. Before the Belgian colonial conquest, Bunkeya was the center of a major trading state under the ruler Msir ...

in what is now the DR Congo. Bodson was then killed by one of Msiri's men.

Military career

Omer Bodson was born on 5 January 1856 in Liège. He enlisted in the

Belgian military The Belgian Defense Forces ( nl, Defensie; french: La Défense) is the national military of Belgium. The King of the Belgians is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. The Belgian Armed Forces was established after Belgium became indepen ...

and then joined the military service of King

Leopold II of Belgium * german: link=no, Leopold Ludwig Philipp Maria Viktor , house = Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , father = Leopold I of Belgium , mother = Louise of Orléans , birth_date = , birth_place = Brussels, Belgium , death_date = ...

's Congo Free State in 1887, and was stationed at

Mateba Mateba, a contraction of the Italian words Macchine Termo-Balistiche (Thermo-Ballistic Machines), was an Italian machine manufacturer based in Pavia, Italy. It is better known for its low-barrelled revolver pistols that it produced under the lead ...

then Stanley Falls where he assisted the

Emin Pasha Relief Expedition The Emin Pasha Relief Expedition of 1886 to 1889 was one of the last major European expeditions into the interior of Africa in the nineteenth century, ostensibly to the relief of Emin Pasha, General Charles Gordon's besieged governor of Equato ...

. He court-martialled the African soldier who shot Major Barttelot, leader of the Rear Column of that expedition.Joseph A. Moloney: ''With Captain Stairs to Katanga'', Sampson Low Marston & Co, London, 1893. ''See: Bodson pp14-15, killing of Msiri pp188-193, death of Bodson pp193-194''. Bodson returned to Belgium in 1889 as a captain of the Belgian Carbineers and took part in the suppression of riots in Liège, receiving the personal thanks of King Leopold.

Stairs Expedition and the killing of Msiri

Bodson was appointed as second-in-command of the Congo Free State's Stairs Expedition sent to take possession of Katanga, now a province in DR Congo. The leader of the expedition, Canadian mercenary Captain William Stairs, sent Bodson and the Marquis

Christian de Bonchamps The Marquis Christian de Bonchamps (15 June 1860 – 9 December 1919) was a French explorer in Africa and a Colonialism, colonial officer in the French colonial empire, French Empire during the late 19th- early 20th-century epoch known as the ...

to arrest Msiri after negotiations broke down for Msiri's acceptance of Leopold's sovereignty, but Msiri and his men stood their ground and cocked their guns. Msiri drew a sword (a gift from Stairs), so Bodson shot him dead and was in turn mortally wounded by one of Msiri's men, his "favourite slave".R S Arnot
"F S Arnot and Msidi"
''

Northern Rhodesia Journal The ''Northern Rhodesia Journal'', often referred to simply as "NRJ", was produced between 1950 and 1965, by the Northern Rhodesian Government Printer, to record some of the early history of Northern Rhodesia. It is one of the most important sour ...

'', Vol III, No. 5 pp 428-434 (1958).

Aftermath

The last words of Omer Bodson were reported to have been:

I don't mind dying now that I've killed Msiri. Thank God my death will not be in vain. I've delivered Africa from one of her most detestable tyrants.

The Stairs Expedition’s doctor, Joseph Moloney, wrote that Bodson's last words to him were the first sentence, and the second two were delivered to Captain Stairs. Bodson was buried in Bunkeya and when Moloney returned to London in 1892 (Stairs having died on the return journey), King Leopold was still engaged in a campaign to legitimise his Congo Free State's claim to Katanga under the 1884–5

Berlin Conference The Berlin Conference of 1884–1885, also known as the Congo Conference (, ) or West Africa Conference (, ), regulated European colonisation and trade in Africa during the New Imperialism period and coincided with Germany's sudden emergenc ...

's Principle of Effectivity. A justification of the killing of Msiri was required, and European written accounts of Msiri’s death, based on Stairs' official report and Moloney's writings, emphasised self-defence as the motive, claiming Msiri was a bloodthirsty tyrant. Leopold was successful in consolidating ownership of Katanga which then joined the Congo in suffering through one of the most notorious periods of colonial exploitation in African history.

Adam Hochschild Adam Hochschild (; born October 5, 1942) is an American author, journalist, historian and lecturer. His best-known works include '' King Leopold's Ghost'' (1998), '' To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914–1918'' (2011), ''Bu ...

: ''

King Leopold's Ghost ''King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa'' (1998) is a best-selling popular history book by Adam Hochschild that explores the exploitation of the Congo Free State by King Leopold II of Belgium between 1885 ...

''. Pan Macmillan, London, 1999.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bodson, Omer 1856 births 1891 deaths Military personnel from Liège Belgian soldiers History of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Congo Free State officials Deaths by firearm in the Democratic Republic of the Congo