| War in the Eastern Congo | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| Belgium-backed Congo Free State, Force Publique | Zanzibari Arab traders | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Francis Dhanis | Sefu | ||||||
| Also known as the Belgo-Arab War | |||||||
The 1892–1894 war in the Eastern Congo took place in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo between the forces of Belgium's Congo Free State and various Zanzibari Arab traders led by Sefu, the son of Tippu Tip. It was a proxy war, with most of the fighting being done by native Congolese, who aligned themselves with either side and sometimes switched sides.[1] The causes of the war were mainly economic, since the Belgians and the Arabs were contending to gain control of the wealth of the Congo.[2] The war ended in January 1894 with a Belgian victory.
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In 1886, while Tippu Tip was in Zanzibar, a dispute arose between a Congo Free State fort at Stanley Falls, led by Tip, and a smaller, nearby fort led by Walter Deane and Dubois. Tip's men at the Stanley Falls fort alleged that Deane had stolen a slave woman from an Arab officer there.[3] Deane asserted that the girl had fled after being badly beaten by her master, and that he had only offered her refuge. Tip's men attacked the fort and after a four-day siege, the defenders ran out of ammunition and fled, abandoning the fort.[4] The Free State made no counterattack, and Tip began to move more men into the Congo, including several Arab slave captains and also some Congolese leaders, such as Gongo Lutete.[4]
In March and April 1892, Tip's son Sefu began to lead attacks on various Congo Free State (CFS) personnel in the eastern Congo, including the British ivory trader Arthur Hodister and Captain Guillaume Van Kerckhoven, who had been taking ivory by force from Arab traders.[5] Gongo Luteta also led actions in the east at this time, but defected to the Force Publique after suffering a defeat early on.[6]
By October 1892, Sefu was leading a force of 10,000 men,[3] some 500 Zanzibari officers and the rest Congolese.[6] The Belgian Force Publique, led by Francis Dhanis, consisted of a few dozen Belgian officers commanding several thousand African auxiliaries.[7]
Open warfare broke out in late November 1892, when Sefu set up a fort on the Lomami River, where he was attacked by the Force Publique and defeated.[7] Dhanis used this battle as a pretext for advancing against the Arabs in force.[8]
He allowed his army to travel with all of their wives, slaves, and servants, who did all of the army's cooking and cleaning and acted as a supply train.[9] In addition, he did not allow his men to harm peaceful Africans, earning him goodwill with the Congolese people.[9]
In early 1893 the Free State took the key river city of Nyangwe after a 6-week siege that decimated the city: of 1000 original buildings in the city, only one remained standing after the siege.[10] Later, the CSF took Kasongo, in the north.[11][12][13] The war's last major battle occurred on 20 October 1893, on the Luama River west of Lake Tanganyika.[14] It was a tactical stalemate, but the Arab leader Sefu was killed,[15] and the resistance soon fell apart. The war ended in January 1894, with a Congo Free State victory.[16][17]