Congo Genocide

Some preface before delving deep into the roots of the Congo Genocide is that before all of this happened there was King Leopold II who was in the throne of Belgium from 1865 until he died in 1909. The Congo Free State occupied almost all the Congo River basin however, now it exists as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was formed in the 1880’s as a private property by a group of European investors, and formed by King Leopold II. King Leopold II brought his attention to the Congo during the exploration of the Congo River by Henry Morton Stanley in 1874-1877. In November of 1877 Leopold formed the Committee for Studies of the Upper Congo and opened trade between Europe and The Congo through the Congo River. Between 1879 and 1882, with help from sponsors Stanley created posts in the upper Congo and created negotiations with local rulers. By the time that 1884 rolled around, their Association Internationale du Congo had signed treaties with 450 independent African tribes and regions, and with that they declared the right to govern all their territory as a singular state; this state of 905,000 square miles with an area seventy-six times as large as Belgium. King Leopold II was to

In 1959, Congolese nationalism evidently appeared due to the revolts against Belgian colonial rule. Weeks after Congo gained independence from Belgium in 1960, there was a prominent struggle for power regarding a constitutional and bureaucratic crisis where Congo became an instrument in the Cold War due to the intervention of the superpowers, United States and Soviet Union. Prior to the independence, president Joseph Kasavubu and prime minister, Patrice Lumumba were elected, the country had little to no governance and was in a crisis of authentic legitimacy. Laws were essentially thrust upon the people with the hopes of restoring the Congolese state.

During this period of time, 10,000 people were murdered each day and more than 6 men, women and children were murdered every minute every day. This kept going for about 3 months.

At these moments, life in the Congo is a living nightmare. The eastern provinces of the Congo see violence every day. Women are getting raped at alarming rates. Children are constantly abused and forced to become child soldiers. There are no sources of medicine or even clean water. Anyone can get murdered at any time, and no one is even safe in their own homes.

The atrocities that happened in the Congo is an unknown topic in which millions of innocent people were killed. This genocide started in 1885 with King Leopold, who was a leader from Belgium interested in owning land in Africa. When the government spoke out about not being interested in Africa, Leopold decided to buy land privately. He eventually hired explorers to trick chiefs into selling land to the Europeans. He took the people of the Congo under control and used them as slaves.

The Cambodian genocide began in 1975 when Pol Pot, a Khmer Rouge leader, attempted to for a Communist peasant farming society. About 1.5 million Cambodians died. [10]

Although genocide has been occurring for the last couple of decades, many people don’t know about it. Genocide is the deliberate killing of large amount of people or groups, especially in a particular ethnic group or nation. Many people disappeared, don’t come back, or their family don’t know what happened to them. Genocide has been occurring since 1945 probably even earlier. Genocide has occurred over than 75 different countries. Although there are 26 that are the major ones and the ones with the most people since the Holocaust. Some of the countries that it has occurred are in; Rwanda, Rouge Cambodia, and Darfur.

The history of the African continent has been marked by imperialism, oppression, violence and revolution. The history of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, originally named the Belgian Congo is no different. The Democratic Republic of the Congo lies in the heart

Imagine spending 91 days hiding in a 3- by 4-foot bathroom with six other people while outside, thousands of your tribe members are being slaughtered. That's what happened to Immaculee Illibagiza during the 1993 Rwanda genocide, and the world must make sure it never happens again. The world's nations have a "responsibility to protect" people from the worst human rights abuses. Also, inaction can lead to genocide and other atrocities. Finally, international security is threatened when helpless citizens are in crisis. This proves that the international community should send military forces to stop the massacre in Swurundi.

During the 1900s, there were two mass killings that occurred: one in Nazi Germany and the other in the Congo Free State. Although these mass killings developed due to different motives, the two lead to a significant amount of deaths and mutilations. The mass killings in Nazi Germany are now known as the Holocaust, which took place from 1933 to 1945. The perpetuators of these killings were the Nazis, who were supporters of the beliefs of the Nazi Party in Germany, while the victims were mainly Jewish people and non-Aryans, which were seen as inferior races. On the other hand, the Force Publique, an army made of Europeans and local men under King Leopold, committed the killings and other acts of violence against the indigenous tribes and natives

The Democratic Republic of Congo has a very violent history and is still filled with conflict to this day. Ever since the Democratic Republic of Congo (known as Zaire until 1996) gained independence in 1960, there were violent plays for power and two wars occurred. Since armed forces have appeared, they have committed (mainly sexual) crimes against the people in this country. In 2006, the South Kivu Province was reported to have more than 27,000 sexual assault occur. According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “Nothing in this declaration may be interpreted as implying for any state, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any rights and freedoms set forth herein (30).”

Genocides are an act of mass murdering for a certain reason, some of the genocides that have happened has been because of hatred against a certain religion, Race, appearance, gender, and many more. Genocides have happened in many occasions throughout time one of the most well genocides know around the world is the holocaust which was a genocide that wiped the majority of the Jewish race. Many other genocides have happened around the world that aren't well known because it wasn't at a scale like the holocaust, but it doesn't make the act any less horrible. Some other well-known genocide, that are only a small portion of the total cases of genocides are the Rwanda,Haiti,Darfur,Bosnia,Cambodia genocides which are genocides that happen throughout

The Burundian genocide began in 1962, shortly after Burundi became an independent country. The CIA factbook begins with Burundi’s first democratically elected president in 1993 (CIA). However, this ignores much of the territory’s long, fraught history; it is, in effect, erasure. Without fully understanding Burundi’s past, it is impossible to properly contextualize its present situation. The modern understanding of Burundi, beginning with it’s colonial founding, holds that the country has a bloody history. Yet, oral histories indicate that Burundi’s ethnic groups, the Twa; Hutu; and Tutsi, lived together in relative peace before the country’s colonization (Krueger & Krueger, 2007). In the late 1800s, the independent

Over a period from 1960-1965, the first Republic of the Congo experienced a period of serious crisis. There was a terrible war for power that displayed senseless violence and the desperation to rule. There were many internal conflicts among the people. The country eventually gained independence from Belgium. For many countries this would be a time for celebration. Unfortunately for the people of the Congo this became a time to forget. Almost immediately after independence and the general elections, the country went into civil war. Major developed cities like Katanga and Kasai wanted to be independent from the Lumumba government. Different factions started to fight the government and Katanga and Kasai tried to secede from the rest

Fighting between the government and the Tutsi, Mobutu’s state of emergency, and the swearing in of Laurent Kabila’s son as president after Laurent’s murder were major events in the Congo Wars. Dangerous fighting and rebellions in close proximity to towns made civilians and refugees move. As these rebellions started closing in on major cities, Mobutu Sese Seko declared a state of emergency giving the military (and himself) more power. During the next war, President Laurent Kabila was shot and his son was sworn in. Dangerous fighting between the corrupt Congolese army and Tutsi rebels in October 1996 forced Rwandan refugees and civilians out of their camps and homes, respectively. (Congo, the Democratic Republic of). Many groups started rebellions throughout Congo. Their driving force was a shared hatred of President Mobutu and the