On June 30th, 1960, the Belgian Congo became an independent country. It was a long time coming. The area had a unique colonial history. Rather than being colonized by a country, as South Africa was colonized by the Dutch and then the British, or as Senegal was colonized by the French, the Congo was first colonized by a man. King Leopold II of Belgium was given rights to the Congo in 1885. Not the Belgian country or government, but the king himself. He ruled over the land with an iron fist. Horrific atrocities resulted. Thousands had their hands cut off as punishment. Millions died of disease and famine. Even in a world where not many cared for the plight of Africans, the international community was outraged. King Leopold II was forced to hand over control of his personal empire to the Belgian state in 1908. The worst, but not all, atrocities were abated, and the Belgian government slowly developed the country, building thousands of miles of roads, setting up infrastructure, and trying to exploit as many of the natural resources as possible. Then, in 1960, the Congo gained its independence.
This was the high-water mark of life in the Congo. Since then, the country has undergone a slow and steady decay that has left it arguably the worst place to be born on planet Earth. The book “Blood River” by Tim Butcher, which chronicles Butcher’s 2004 journey through the country, is the most shocking travel book I have ever read. Even though it’s now 20 years old, the situation on the ground today isn’t dissimilar from what Butcher experienced. It’s an instructive lesson on just how wrong things can go.
Now called the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or DRC, it isn’t a country in the normal sense of the word. The government doesn’t have control over large swathes, perhaps most, of the land. Armed militias pillage areas with impunity, killing and destroying everywhere they go. The nation has become a post-apocalyptic dystopia. This might not sound terribly unique. From Sudan to Afghanistan to Myanmar, there are certainly other lawless areas. Countries that have fallen apart through civil war and strife. What separates the DRC, however, is both how far it has fallen and how little we know about what’s occurring there.
In 1960, the Congo had a lot going for it. It had a young and independence leader in Patrice Lumumba. The Belgians had left behind decent institutions and infrastructure. The land is chock-full of natural resources, from gold to diamonds. The Congo River allows for far easier transportation than overland travel. Soon after independence, things unraveled. Belgium was not a fan of Lumumba, and assisted a coup that resulted in his overthrow and execution. Democracy was replaced by military government led by Mobutu Sese Seko, who would systematically loot the country for over a quarter century. The nation slowly fell into disrepair. In the 1990s, civil war would spill over from Rwanda. Since then, the Congo has devolved into a patchwork of rival fiefdoms and chaos. It’s “Mad Max” in the jungle.
Some of Butcher’s anecdotes from “Blood River” are stunning. According to his estimation, the Congo once had around 100,000 kilometers of road. These were often made of dirt or gravel, but they were passable during the dry season and capable of handling a standard amount of car and truck traffic. Over the last 60 years, however, the jungle has taken back its land. The roads slowly disintegrated. First they weren’t passable by truck, then by car. Gasoline couldn’t be transported without passable roads, so even motorbikes stopped traveling. Today, what used to be drivable roads are overgrown footpaths. At one point, Butcher stays in a village deep in the jungle, and he talks with the chief. As a young man, the chief was sent, by bus, to the nearest city to get an education. A road went right by the village. Now, the village children are shocked to see Butcher arrive on a motorbike. According to the chief, the last time he saw a vehicle successfully pass was around 1985. Today, people only walk.
Decay of this scale is unprecedented. Congo used to have developed cities. Movies were filmed deep in the jungle, most notably “The African Queen” starring Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart. Towns had hotels and running water and electricity. Today, empty shells are all that’s left. In cities where even the middle class once had electricity, most now live in thousands of simple huts. The “Rumble in the Jungle,” a boxing match between George Foreman and Mohamed Ali, took place in Kinshasa, and may be the most watched television event of all time. Today, even aid groups restrict themselves to areas reachable by jeep, leaving millions of people without any outside contact.
The entire economy now revolves around who gets scraps. Few are trying to create wealth, because anything created will be stolen. Even if an enterprising Congolese did, say, start a palm plantation, which used to be common, a militia would soon turn up and take it by force. If a company built a road and started a bus service, the vehicles would be stolen by the end of the month. In one city, hydroelectric generators were donated to replace the broken ones at the nearby dam, a dam that powered the city in the 1950s. The generators never made it. They were stolen by some government official and likely sold for a fraction of their value. One man makes a decent chunk of change, and an entire city stays in the dark. That’s the Congo.
Along with “Mad Max”, Butcher’s story reminded me of another post-apocalyptic film, “The Book of Eli”. In the film, the elderly villain Carnegie tells the protagonist Eli that despite being so old, they are the future of society. They are the only ones who remember what life was like before society was destroyed. The Congo was like that in the 2000s. Only the elderly remembered. Now, nobody does.
There are lessons to be learned from the Congo. One of the central questions in economics is what causes growth? How do some countries, like South Korea, grow, while others, such as the Congo, stagnate or even retrograde? There are several different theories, and much ink has been spilled over the question. One of the leading arguments, and the one I’ve long supported, is that strong institutions are a necessary ingredient for sustained growth. A government that provides security and enforces basic rules fairly and equally must be present. This is what separates the Saudi Arabias from the Venezuelas.
The DRC showed just how important institutions are. The Belgian Congo, while a place of racist brutality and exploitation, did leave behind some institutions and infrastructure in place. Under Mobutu those institutions were slowly degraded and destroyed in the service of propping up a tiny elite. The entire country was left to rot. When a civil war started in next-door Rwanda, a nation of tens of millions of people was a house of cards. One push and it all collapsed. Institutions are crucial. With them, an agrarian economy on a peninsula in East Asia with a deranged neighbor can become an economic powerhouse. Without them, a country with massive potential functionally ceases to exist.
"Mistah Kurtz – he dead."
Killed, of course, by trained Gorillas.