In the Belly of the Congo

Contents Cover Title Page Dedication Epigraph Part One Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Part Two Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Author’s Acknowledgments Translator’s Acknowledgments Reading Group Guide About the Author About the Translator Copyright Guide Cover Start of Content Title Page Dedication Epigraph Acknowledgments About the Author Copyright I II III V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII XIII XIV XV XVI 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 
 
 Blaise Ndala
 “Masterfully crafted… Ndala’s work is exciting and heartbreaking.”
 Téa Mutonji, award-winning author of Shut Up You’re Pretty
 In the Belly of the Congo
 
 
 
 
 
 TO
 ANASH AND SUZANNE
 MOTHERS BEYOND COMPARE
 SPOUSES OF TIME
 
 
 
 Forward, People! Claim the land as yours.
 Take it. From whom? No one.
 Take this land from God. God gives the land to men.
 God offers Africa to Europe. Take it.
 Where kings would bring war, bring concord.
 —Victor Hugo
 Speech on the occasion of the 31st anniversary of the abolition of slavery, May 18, 1879
 We carry our history with us.
 We are our history.
 —James Baldwin
 “Black English: A Dishonest Argument,” 1980
 Me and you, we got more yesterday than anybody.
 We need some kind of tomorrow.
 —Toni Morrison
 Beloved, 1987
 
 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL OVERVIEW OF THE FORMER BELGIAN CONGO (1885–2005)
 1885: At the end of the Berlin Conference, organized by the German chancellor Otto von Bismarck and attended by fourteen countries, Africa is divided among the European colonial powers. In Belgium, the legislative chambers authorize the king to become the leader of a separate state.
 Drawing on the information received over the years about Central Africa from the British explorer and journalist Henry Morton Stanley, King Léopold II creates the Congo Free State (CFS). The territory will be recognized as his private property, even if he never once visits it.
 1895–1897: During this period there were several armed conflicts between Congolese resistance fighters and elements of the Public Force, the armed forces of the CFS. The bloodiest took place in the region of Kasaï, in the center of the country. They will come to be known as the Batetela rebellions, named after one of the main ethnic groups that led the resistance to colonial conquest.
 1895–1900: An unprecedented international campaign is waged against the CFS in Europe and the United States. Its spokesmen denounce crimes of mass violence against the “natives” of the Congo. Particular attention is drawn to the severed hands of laborers who failed to collect their quotas of rubber (sap from the hevea or Pará rubber tree), a natural product whose value had rapidly increased since the invention of the rubber tire and the subsequent boom in the North American and European automobile industries.
 1903: The British diplomat Roger Casement submits a report to the Foreign Office documenting the systematic atrocities committed against the Congolese people. In response to the report, a note is sent to the administration of the CFS and to the signatories of the General Act of the 1885 Berlin Conference.
 1908: Because the conclusions of the investigating commission created in response to the Casement report proved especially damning for King Léopold II, the Belgian parliament votes to transfer the administration of the CFS to the Belgian kingdom. The colony is officially renamed the Belgian Congo.
 Under Belgian control, Article 2 of the Colonial Charter of October 18, 1908, asserts that: “No