Congo. Een geschiedenis

This book is a wonderful but extremely tragic look into a country harbouring one of the largest quantities of rare metals in the world. A country with vast and ancient forests that are the living room to mountain gorillas, lions, rhinos and other very interesting species. But also a country that has been plundered and ravaged by a series of severely misguided governments and heralded into the new millennium with a long and seemingly unstoppable war.

David van Reybrouck gives the reader a colourful cast and background and begins telling the story around the time “explorers” from Europe set foot on the shorelines where the Congo river licks the Atlantic coast.

van Reybrouck is a Belgian and he explains the role of Belgian in how the Congo of today was shaped by the governing (and lack thereof) by King Leopold. Other European nations had a lot more experience of governing a overseas territory by the time Congo was “given” to the Belgians in the Scramble for Africa. van Reybrouck lends grace to the King (being inexperienced), but also does not cast aside the numerous sins.

The story is being told with the accounts of witnesses, which makes for a very interesting read.

The more we head into the present in the book, the more tragic it becomes. The flamboyant Mobutu and the harsh reality of the Rwandan genocide that is still shaping the country today. It is hard to read this book and not look into our own selves to find our own darkness and mourn for Congo. To see our own stake in the mess that is Eastern Congo. Our Lithium Ion batteries (for our phones and cars) need rare metals that can be found in the Congo and there is more to gain from having a war going on in Congo, than there is to gain from bringing peace. It is sad, it is horrible and I have no idea what I can do about it.