ESEKO

Eseko (187-1901) distinguished himself in a war of resistance he and other Budja chiefs waged against the militia of the Société Anversoise de Commerce au Congo (Antwerp Trading Company of the Congo) and the troops of the Congo Free State. In this struggle, Eseko led the Eloa people a branch of the larger Budja ethnic group living in the Mongala and Lulonga river basins north of the Zaire River, about 170 km (105 mi) northeast of Makanza.

One of the most widely publicised aspects of Leopold II’s rule in the Congo was the abusive exploitation of Africans by the large concessionary companies. Established in 1892, the Antwerp Trading Company was one such company, which obtained a legal contract to monopolise the rubber trade in the Budja territory.

The Antwerp Company, like other concessionary firms, was actually a state within the state, and exercised powers of police and taxation. Taxes were collected in the form of wild rubber that people were forced to harvest in the forest. Because the company’s only goal was to maximise profits, it obligated Africans to gather as much rubber as possible.

In  order to ensure a continuing supply, even when overharvesting threatened to deplete the stock of natural rubber, the Antwerp Company simply applied harsher punishments for non-payment of taxes. During such times of intense pressure, near the end of the 1890s, Africans began to revolt against the rubber companies in the Congo Free State.

In 1898, faced with increasingly heavy rubber demands, and cruel reprisals when unrealistic quotas could not be met, the principal Budja chiefs organised an armed uprising which lasted until 1905. Eseko’s Eloa people, who were the first Budja people to have been affected by the rubber trade, were also the first to take up arms against the Antwerp Company. Their attacks were aimed at the white agents of the company and against the company’s African workers, who, not being Budja themselves, were especially zealous in collecting rubber and oppressing local villagers.

From the beginning, Eseko displayed brilliant tactics, and encouraged the Budja to modernise their military equipment and to increase their strength. Armed only with spears and shields, the Budja made large-scale surprise attacks, and captured Dundusana, Mankika, and Yakombo-all small isolated Antwerp Company stations. Next, Eseko and other Budja chiefs ambushed armed company units travelling through the region.

In the course of these operations, several European agents were killed and large stocks of rifles, revolvers, and ammunition fell into African hands. From 1898 to 1900, Free State military officers Lothaire and Verdussen launched retaliatory expeditions, but succeeded only in the rare pitched battles where the numerical superiority of their troops was important. Although several Budja chiefs were arrested, judged, and condemned to death by a military council of war, Eseko, Zengo, Ekwalanga, and other leaders escaped to continue their fight.

Besides showing his skill as a tactician, Eseko demonstrated an ability to attract other Budja people to the cause. Therefore, by early 1900, the resistance had spread into the Mondjamboli area of Budja territory. Mondjamboli had remained aloof from the struggle until September 1899, when police stations were set up at their villages of Yambata and Mandika so that state agents could apprehend any Mondjambili individual who might instigate a revolt.

In reaction, and following Eseko’s example, the Yambata chief Mandjumba ordered his subjects to destroy gardens around the new stations, causing a food shortage among the state personnel. Mandjumba, who then attacked armed units sent out in search of provisions, was able to kill two European and many African state soldiers.

As the struggle continued, it became more difficult for the Budjas to maintain their resistance. Arms and ammunition became scarce. Both the Congo Free State and the Antwerp Company increased the number of soldiers at their stations. European scouts and their African collaborators discovered several carefully prepared Budja ambushes. Eseko then modified his strategy, abandoning direct confrontations in favour of hit and run guerrilla methods. In order to slow the movements of the pursuing state troops and to give the bulk of Budja forces time to escape, he constructed large fortifications in the main villages. These structures, made of earthen-covered poles measuring 3 to 4 meters high, sometimes enclosed an area 75 meters long and 25 meters wide. In this way, Eseko and his men were able to evade and outlast colonial commanders who could leave the security of their stations for only short periods of time.

In July 1901, Mardulier, who commanded the Bangala district with headquarters at the present Makanza, launched a major drive to gain control over the Eloa Budjas under Eseko. Mardulier’s 400-man army gave him a large numerical advantage over Eseko’s smaller band of warriors, while the state commander’s comparatively unlimited supply of ammunition gave him superior firepower. Even these advantages, however, might not have been enough to enable Mardulier to defeat Eseko had it not been for the complicity of some Africans who led the state troops to key Budja defensive positions.

In the course of his five month campaign, Mardulier captured Eseko and his two principal companions, Zengo and Ekwalanga. Although all three were executed, the Budja Eloas continued their resistance until 1905, four years after the death of their leaders. Within the next decade, when the Congo Free State became a Belgian colony, the state took measures to reduce the abuses linked with the rubber harvest. While, in part, the changes in policy were due to international pressure, especially from Britain, and to a realisation that rubber supplies were nearly exhausted, the changes also came in response to the actions of Eseko and other African leaders who resisted the domination and exploitation of their people.

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