Léopoldville Riots
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Léopoldville riots were an outbreak of civil disorder in
Léopoldville Kinshasa (; ; ), formerly named Léopoldville from 1881–1966 (), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Kinshasa is one of the world's fastest-growing megacities, with an estimated population of 17 million ...
(modern-day Kinshasa) in the
Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (, ; ) was a Belgian colonial empire, Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960 and became the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Repu ...
which took place in January 1959 and which were an important moment for the Congolese independence movement. The rioting occurred when members of the ''
Alliance des Bakongo The Bakongo Association for the Unification, Conservation and Development of the Kongo Language (, or ABAKO) was a Congolese political party, founded by Edmond Nzeza Nlandu, but headed by Joseph Kasa-Vubu, which emerged in the late 1950s as vocal ...
'' (ABAKO) political party were not allowed to assemble for a protest and colonial authorities reacted harshly. The exact death toll is not known, but at least 49 people were killed and total casualties may have been as high as 500. Following these riots, a round table conference was organized in
Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
to negotiate the terms of Congo's independence, The Congo received its independence on 30 June 1960, becoming the
Republic of the Congo The Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo), is a country located on the western coast of Central ...
.


Background

Colonial rule in the Congo began in the late 19th century. King Leopold II of Belgium, frustrated by Belgium's lack of international power and prestige, attempted to persuade the Belgian government to support colonial expansion around the largely unexplored
Congo Basin The Congo Basin () is the sedimentary basin of the Congo River. The Congo Basin is located in Central Africa, in a region known as west equatorial Africa. The Congo Basin region is sometimes known simply as the Congo. It contains some of the larg ...
. The Belgian government's ambivalence about the idea led Leopold to eventually create the colony on his own account. With support from a number of Western countries, who viewed Leopold as a useful
buffer Buffer may refer to: Science * Buffer gas, an inert or nonflammable gas * Buffer solution, a solution used to prevent changes in pH * Lysis buffer, in cell biology * Metal ion buffer * Mineral redox buffer, in geology Technology and engineeri ...
between rival colonial powers, Leopold achieved international recognition for a personal colony, the
Congo Free State The Congo Free State, also known as the Independent State of the Congo (), was a large Sovereign state, state and absolute monarchy in Central Africa from 1885 to 1908. It was privately owned by Leopold II of Belgium, King Leopold II, the const ...
, in 1885. By the turn of the century, however, the violence of Free State officials against indigenous Congolese and the ruthless system of economic extraction had led to intense diplomatic pressure on Belgium to take official control of the country, which it did in 1908, creating the
Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (, ; ) was a Belgian colonial empire, Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960 and became the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Repu ...
. During the latter stages of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
a new social stratum emerged in the Congo, known as the '' évolué''s. Forming an African middle class in the colony, they held skilled positions (such as clerks and nurses) made available by the economic boom. While there were no universal criteria for determining ''évolué'' status, it was generally accepted that one would have "a good knowledge of French, adhere to Christianity, and have some form of post-primary education." Up into the 1950s most ''évolué''s were concerned only with social inequalities and their treatment by the Belgians.
Nationalism Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...
grew in 1958 as more ''évolué''s began interacting with others outside of their own locales and started discussing the future structures of a post-colonial Congolese state. A slew of new political parties competed for popular support, including the ''
Alliance des Bakongo The Bakongo Association for the Unification, Conservation and Development of the Kongo Language (, or ABAKO) was a Congolese political party, founded by Edmond Nzeza Nlandu, but headed by Joseph Kasa-Vubu, which emerged in the late 1950s as vocal ...
'' (ABAKO), led by
Joseph Kasa-Vubu Joseph Kasa-Vubu, alternatively Joseph Kasavubu, ( – 24 March 1969) was a Congolese politician who served as the first President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (the Republic of the Congo until 1964) from 1960 until 1965. A member of ...
and the ''
Mouvement National Congolais The Congolese National Movement (, or MNC) is a political party in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. History Foundation The MNC was founded in 1958 as an African nationalism, African nationalist party within the Belgian Congo. The party wa ...
'' (MNC), led by
Patrice Lumumba Patrice Émery Lumumba ( ; born Isaïe Tasumbu Tawosa; 2 July 192517 January 1961) was a Congolese politician and independence leader who served as the first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (then known as the Republic o ...
. The Belgian colonial administration attempted to put in motion a plan for decolonization but wanted more time to build up a Congolese administration and prepare for their exit, so they attempted to isolate the country from Africa and Europe and suppress political organization. This became increasingly difficult as Congolese nationalism became more popular, so in July 1958 the Belgian government established a study group to consider new reforms in the colony. In response to the study group's findings, the colonial administration decided it would announce constitutional changes in the Congo on 13 January 1959. On 28 December 1958, Lumumba organized a major MNC rally in Léopoldville where he reported on his attendance of the
All-African Peoples' Conference The All-African Peoples Conference (AAPC) was partly a corollary and partly a different perspective to the modern Africa states represented by the First Conference of Independent Africa States held in 1957. In contrast to this first meeting where o ...
in
Accra Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: GÉ›; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...
, Ghana earlier that month. Noting the success of the rally, Kasa-Vubu decided to organize his own event one week later, on Sunday January 4, 1959 to discuss
African nationalism African nationalism is an umbrella term which refers to a group of political ideologies in sub-Saharan Africa, which are based on the idea of national self-determination and the creation of nation states.YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...
(Young Men's Christian Association) building, but the municipal government, having been given short notice, communicated that only a "private meeting" would be authorised. Belgian officials also warned that if the event became political, ABAKO leaders would be held responsible.


Riots

Interpreting the administration's warnings as a prohibition of the meeting, ABAKO leadership attempted on 3 January to postpone their event, but on Sunday, 4 January, a large crowd gathered at the YMCA anyway. Kasa-Vubu and other ABAKO officials arrived to send the protesters home. They were unable to calm the crowd, and the violence began following the protesters' refusal to disperse. The crowd began throwing rocks at police and attacking white motorists. The initial group of protesters were soon joined by 20,000 Congolese leaving a nearby soccer stadium. At the time press accounts estimated that 35,000 Africans were involved in the violence, which quickly spread as the rioters attempted to enter the European section of the capital. Rioters allegedly smashed and looted storefronts, burned Catholic missions and beat Catholic priests. Many demonstrators chanted "''indépendance immédiate''". Order was restored with the use of African police officers in the employ of the colonial government and with armored cars under the direction of General Émile Janssens. Colonial authorities arrested as many as 300 Congolese, including Kasa-Vubu, who would later become the newly independent Congo's first president, Simon Mzeza and ABAKO vice-president Daniel Kanza and charged them with inciting the riot.


Aftermath

Estimates of the riot's final death toll vary, but estimates of total casualties range to as high as 500. The official casualties were tallied as 49 Africans killed and 241 wounded. Many Africans did not seek treatment at hospitals and many of those that died were inconspicuously buried. The January riots marked a turning point in the Congolese liberation movement, forcing colonial and Belgian authorities to acknowledge that serious issues existed in the colony. Unlike earlier expressions of discontent, the grievances were conveyed primarily by uneducated urban residents, not ''évolué''s. Many ''évolué''s, like the Europeans, were perturbed by the destruction. In the immediate aftermath, Belgian authorities laid blame on unemployed Africans, but claimed the majority of the city's 250,000 African residents were not involved. The
Belgian Parliament The Federal Parliament (; ; ) is the bicameral parliament of Belgium. It consists of the Chamber of Representatives (lower house) and the Senate (upper house). It sits in the Palace of the Nation in the centre of the nation's capital, Brussels. ...
established a commission of inquiry to investigate the cause of the riots. The commission found the disturbances to be the culmination of discontent with racial discrimination, overcrowding, and unemployment. It also concluded that external political events, such as France's decision to grant self-governance to the neighboring
French Congo The French Congo (), also known as Middle Congo (), was a French colony which at one time comprised the present-day area of the Republic of the Congo and parts of Gabon, and the Central African Republic. In 1910, it was made part of the larger ...
, to be a contributing factor, and criticized the colonial administration's response to the riot. On 13 January the administration went forward with its scheduled announcement of reforms, including new local elections in December, the institution of a new civil service statue that made no racial distinctions, and the appointment of more Africans to advisory bodies. The Belgian King, Baudouin, also declared for the first time that independence would be granted to the Congo in the future. International media assumed that the reforms were made in response to the riots. There is no evidence to support this, though it is possible that Baudouin's declaration was made to temper Congolese opinion.


Legacy

4 January is now celebrated as a public holiday in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, known as Day of the Martyrs. The events marked the radicalization of the independence movement and are often considered to be the "death knell" for Belgian control of the Congo. This radicalization occurred on both sides, with a Congolese group signalling a willingness to use violence to achieve independence for the first time as well as many in the white community also becoming increasingly prepared for violence. Some whites planned to attempt a ''
coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...
'' if a black majority government took power. The riots also marked a period of rising tension and a break for the MNC, the main political rivals for the ABAKO. Starting with the unrest in January, both of the nationalist parties' influence expanded outside the major cities for the first time, and nationalist demonstrations and riots became a regular occurrence over the next year, bringing large numbers of black people from outside the ''évolué'' class into the independence movement. With the bulk of the ABAKO leadership was arrested, the MNC was left in an advantageous political position.


See also

* List of massacres in the Democratic Republic of the Congo


Notes and references


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * {{Kinshasa 1959 riots 1959 in the Belgian Congo 1959 Leopoldville Riots 1959 Leopoldville Riots