Indépendance! Congolese Tell Their Stories of 50 Years of Independence

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In 2010, in the context of the 50 years of independence of DR Congo the museum organised the exhibition Indépendance! Congolese tell their Stories of 50 Years of Independence. (11 June 2010 - 9 January 2011).

On 30 June 1960 … Congo proclaimed its independence! Fifty years after this historic event the Museum organised an exhibition in which the events from just before, during and just after the declaration of independence are placed in a historical, political and geographic context.
It is a chance for the key figures, in other words the Congolese eye witnesses, to have their say. The addition of archive material, photographs, interviews, short films and artefacts provides the visitor with an original view of the period.
 

© Raymond Dakoua, coll. Marc Somville en KMMA

The Congolese have their say

The exhibition ‘Independence!’ Gives visitors an original take on fifty years of Independence in the Congo. Congolese eye witnesses speak out in interviews which were mainly carried out on location in the Congo. They relate the story of how they experienced independence. Newspaper cuttings, archive documents and items of folklore (pagnes, paintings and songs) complement this journey in time and paint a picture of a highly extraordinary, but generally little known period which was crucial to the common history of the Congo in Belgium. This project came into being in the context of a collaboration between Belgium and the Congo, and more specifically between the following institutions: the Royal Museum of Central Africa’s (RMCA) Colonial History section, the Institut des Musées nationaux du Congo (IMNC) and the University of Kinshasa.

A chronological overview of Congolese history in 12 milestones

The desire for independence – 1920-1959
1. ‘Colour bar’ or ‘racial segregation’: a legal system for inequality. How do the Congolese experience, see and describe the racially segregated society in which they live?
2. Resistance and oppression: Kimbanguism, strikes, rebellions, revolts, Anioto (leopard men) and crocodile men. The Congolese have always contested the colonial order, without necessarily demanding political independence.
3. War effort and war debts (1939-1945). The war effort led to a social malaise and after the end of the Second World War the realisation grew that the Congolese should be rewarded for their commitment.
4. The model colony and the ten year plan (1949-1959). The colonial administration worked on a plan for the economic and social development of the colony, but didn’t consider political emancipation.
 
Fault line: the disturbances of 4 January 1959 in Leopoldville
5. On the way to independence: the manifestation of the African Conscience, the first elections and the founding of political parties. Demands of the Congolese elite for social recognition soon led to demands for political emancipation.
 
Independence. Things start to speed up: around 1960
6. The political round table conference (20 January – 20 February 1960) – The financial, economic and social round table conference (26 April – 16 May 1960). After the riots of 4 January 1959 political independence appeared inevitable; Congolese and Belgian representatives got together in Brussels to discuss the conditions over the course of two round table conferences.
7. The granting of independence (30 June 1960). Independence Day was bathed in an atmosphere of optimism and high expectations.
 
Obstacles
8. Mutinies, divisions, rebellions, the murder of the Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba: Memories of the Congolese people are strongly marked by the difficult period which followed 30 June 1960. The the so-called Congolese crisis began just a few days after the establishment of independence. The ongoing Cold War meant that the United Nations and the Soviet Union were also implicated.

Authenticity and Zairisation: The Mobutu Years 1965-1998
9. The return to authenticity and Zairisation. Mobutu wanted to make Congo economically and culturally independent too. He established a dictatorship and threw the country into chaos, but the attention he paid to the cultural and economic capital of the country contributed to a growing feeling of national identity.
 
Transitional period
10. Turmoil and chaos (1990-1997). After the fall of the Berlin Wall Mobutu was forced to accept a multi-party system, henceforth the country began a long period of transition.
11. The Congolese Wars (1996-1997; 1998-2003). The first Congolese War prompted Mobutu to flee and brought Laurent-Désiré Kabila to power. In the Second Congolese War troops from six different countries and various groups of Congolese rebels fought each other in a conflict that developed into the bloodiest since the Second World War.
 
Democratic elections
12. The elections of 30 July and 29 October 2006. Once the various parties involved in the Second Congolese War had signed the peace treaties, the way lay wide open for democratic elections.