by Migrants’ Rights Network and Friends of the Congo
The theme of this year’s Black History Month is Reclaiming Narratives. At the Migrants’ Rights Network, we have consistently worked to debunk harmful narratives relating to migration, but also to challenge the narratives that try to sanitise or whitewash the root causes of displacement. We must understand displacement and modern migration against a backdrop of hundreds of years of European conquest, and its legacies of White supremacy and capitalist domination in Africa.
Despite a long violent history in the Congo, the perpetrators of this violent history often try to downplay it, arguing that Belgium even benefitted the Congo, or that colonialism was a “good thing” for the Congolese people. So, to mark Black History Month and Congo Week, Migrants’ Rights Network and Friends of the Congo have worked together to debunk this historical dishonesty, by outlining the colonial history of the Congo, how this continues to affect the Congo to this day and colonialism’s impact on migration.
Creation of artificial borders
In 1884/85 at the Berlin Conference, the UK, Germany, France, the U.S. and other European powers divided up Africa into colonies in order to extract their natural resources. Western powers saw colonisation as a way to maintain the power and wealth they had accumulated via the Transatlantic enslavement period from the early 1500s to the 1800s. The Berlin Conference commonly marks the period referred to as ‘The Scramble for Africa’ or the ‘Conquest of Africa’. During this colonisation, the artificial borders of colonies (and therefore future states) were decided according to the interests of the colonial powers, and were not based on existing (although fluid) tribal/ethnic boundaries: these newly imposed borders therefore split many tribal and ethnic communities apart, which has had violent legacies in terms of creating inter-tribal tensions and leading to conflict.
After being made aware of the vast natural resources in the Congo, such as ivory and rubber, King Leopold II of Belgium took the Congo for himself as his personal possession, and set up the “Congo Free State” from 1885-1908. This period was marked by a “regime of terror”, with genocide and mass atrocities committed against the Congolese people, such as enslavement, murder, kidnapping, the brutal suppression of rebellions, and hand amputations where those who were enslaved did not meet the quotas for rubber extraction. At least 10 million Congolese people died during this time, either from being murdered or from famine and disease.
Mining, exploitation and displacement
In 1908, King Leopold II was forced to hand Congo over to the Belgian state, and the “Congo Free State” was renamed Belgian Congo. Yet even after Congo gained independence in 1960, the West continued to intervene. Belgium and the USA were complicit in the overthrow and assassination of Congo’s anti-colonial independence leader and first democratically elected Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba, in 1961, after which Mobutu Sese Seko was installed and maintained as dictator for 32 years, from 1965 to 1997.
The “independence” period has been marked by the continued exploitation of Congo’s resources and people. Since 1996, at least six million Congolese have died, and millions have been displaced and are suffering, so the West can continue to benefit from Congo’s resources, and access them for cheap prices. Around one million refugees from Congo have fled to other parts of Africa. As of March 2024, at least seven million people have been internally displaced.
Western corporations profit from the mining of coltan, cobalt, gold, diamond, uranium and other minerals in the DRC, and subject the Congolese people to exploitative working conditions and forced labour. The West (the UK, US and France) has been providing military funding to both Rwandan and Ugandan militias in Congo for over 25 years: 1996 to present.
To this day, genocide in the Congo continues. From the colonial era to the present moment, the Congolese people continue to suffer because of the imperial desire to extract resources and make profit.
Congolese refugees are ignored
The Gateway Protection Programme was a refugee resettlement scheme that ran from 2004 to 2020. It was run by the UK government in collaboration with the UNHCR, and resettled almost 10,000 refugees to the UK, some of whom were Congolese refugees. In 2021, this was replaced by the UK Resettlement Scheme. It is widely known that existing schemes are extremely limited in nature, and there is no dedicated scheme that currently exists specifically for Congolese refugees.
UK Visa and Immigration Guidance from 2023 states that people returned to the DRC from the UK are deemed not to be “at risk of persecution or serious harm”. More generally, the avenues for Congolese refugees to gain protection and safety in the Global North are extremely limited, despite the long term suffering that the Congolese people have endured. This is seriously alarming given the current genocide, and signals a failure of Europe to recognise their own responsibilities towards the people they have displaced. What is also concerning is the Rwandan Government’s hostility towards Congolese refugees, despite the role of Rwandan militias in causing displacement, as well as the partnership deportation deal that the UK had with Rwanda, which has now been scrapped. In 2022, the Rwandan Government declared Congolese refugees coming to Rwanda to be a “burden”, and that this was not Rwanda’s “problem” to solve. At the same time, the UK had been going ahead with its plans to deport people to Rwanda, insisting that it was a “safe country”.
Today, the creation of refugees from Congo, and more generally the African continent, is deeply linked to the ‘Scramble for Africa’, random border creation, colonial legacies, and corporate interventions. As refugees flee to Europe from Africa, it is important to remember Europe’s hand in causing their suffering and displacing them from their homes. Migrants’, including refugees’, liberation cannot be achieved without decolonisation. Until Western intervention ceases, and reparations are given to communities affected by colonialism and imperialism, displacement will continue.
Join us this Black History Month and during Congo Week for a global teach-in and action around the Democratic Republic of the Congo by visiting www.freecongo.org. #FreeCongo