MUKENGE a TUNSELE

Mukenge a Tunsele (circa 1830-1898), also known as Kalamba, dominated the Lulua people during the entire second half of the 19th century. His political importance is closely tied to the long-distance trade between Angola and Kasai and to the arrival of the whites in his region. During the first years of the European penetration, Mukenge profited by associating with them. Eventually, however, he came into direct conflict with the agents of the Congo Free State, who drove him from his lands.

PHOTO CAPTION: Mukenge a Tunsele. SOURCE: EA Library

Mukenge, son of Tunsele, belonged to the Bena Kashyye clan of the Luba people living in Kasai. Originally from Shaba, the Luba migrated to Kasai where some of them settled in the Lulua River valley near modern Kananga. In the 19th century, relying on guns and commercial contacts with Angola, the Luba along the Lulua gained hegemony over other groups located elsewhere in Kasai. Thus, by the end of the 1800s, the Lulua population came to be recognised as a distinct ethnic group. Mukenge a Tunsele played a crucial role in this development. In the mid-19th century, the Lulua lands experienced considerable social upheaval as hemp smokers established a new community, “Lubuku” —a veritable cult promoting hospitality, happiness, and peaceful relations among all the Lulua people. About the same time, Cokwe (Chokwe) merchants from Angola introduced guns into the area. This created new commercial possibilities and led to a realignment of traditional political powers.

Quick to take advantage of the new lines of association provided by the Lubuku and of the new military power made possible by firearms, Mukenge had become a leading figure among the Lulua by 1875. Besides attempting to integrate the Lulua into the Luso-African trading network, he also tried to subdue formerly independent groups by force of arms. Mukenge’s commercial and military reputation, together with his renowned personal characteristics of energy, generosity, wisdom, tall stature, and handsomeness, earned him the nickname “Kalamba” (unmatched, without peers).

While he had many more rifles, Mukenge had not yet succeeded in dominating the other Lulua chiefs when the German explorers Paul Pogge and Hermann von Wissmann reached his lands in 1881. Kalamba, who claimed the whites were his departed ancestors, welcomed Pogge and von Wissmann into his village. In actuality, he hoped to use them as commercial partners and as allies against neighbouring chiefs. In order to gain favour with the whites, Mukenge accompanied von Wissmann to the Swahili headquarters Nyangwe, about 450 km (270 mi) to the northeast of the Lualaba River.

Although von Wissmann journeyed on to eastern Africa, Pogge remained to live with Kalamba from July 21, 1882, to November 9, 1883. Kalamba’s close ties to the whites increased his prestige in the land. It also seems that he hoped to model his village of approximately 2,000 inhabitants into a city like the Swahili Nyangwe.

In 1884, several months after Pogge’s departure, von Wissmann returned to the Lulua as a representative of the Association Internationale du Congo (A.I.C.). With Kalamba’s help, he founded the post of Luluabourg-Malandji (now Kananga), near Kalamba’s village. Hermann von Wissmann, who depended on Kalamba as much for the construction and the provisions for his men as for the security of the new station, was eager to gain the African chief’s favour. Thus, he helped make war on Kalamba’s neighbour, Mputu. Later, von Wissmann called together all the Lulu chiefs and ordered them to swear obedience and pay tribute to Kalamba, who soon became the most powerful African ruler in the area.

In 1885, Kalamba and 150 of his men traveled to the Stanley (now Malebo) Pool with von Wissmann who was carrying out King Leopold Il’s request to explore the Kasai River. When the party returned home aboard a state steamer instead of in dug-out canoes, Kalamba’s prestige reached its peak. When Paul Le Marinel and Oscar de Macar replaced von Wissmann at Luluabourg, they continued von Wissmann’s policies for some time. Thus, Kalamba used them as his auxiliaries against Mwamba Mputu, chief of the Bakwa Mushilu. Kalamba appeared as a very powerful man in the eyes of the Bena Lulua because he commanded both Africans and Europeans. He imposed his rule over all the Lulua people, who paid him an annual tribute, which he used for trade with Angolan merchants and with the Congo Free State station.

In about 1890, however, the Belgians changed their strategy in an attempt to control Kalamba and expel his Angolan allies. Under orders from Lienart, Congo Free State troops began attacking Cokwe merchants in an attempt to halt Angolan commercial competition in their territory. Then, the government station appropriated all the tribute destined for Kalamba. Also, Kalamba’s men were forced to seek work at the state post and to pay taxes to the Europeans. At the beginning of 1891, Kalamba, angered by these actions, resolved to drive the whites and their African allies from his lands. A series of small incidents between the Bena Lulua and the Luluabourg station were preludes to a much more profound break. For their part, the state agents decided to remove Chief Kalamba from his lands, as he had become an obstacle to their programme of domination and exploitation. Therefore, the Kasai area was occupied by two opposing camps: first, the State troops established at Luluabourg and Lusambo, 160 km (100 mi) northeast, and, second, the many Lulua clans and their Cokwe allies. Kalamba fought the Europeans from 1891 to 1895. The long Lulua resistance can be explained by the fact that the state troops were not numerous enough or sufficiently disciplined to defeat Kalamba’s warriors. Supplied with arms and munitions by the Cokwe, the Lulua often took the initiative in battle. In the end, however, the inferiority of their arms forced them to retreat.

In 1891, Kalamba left his lands and his goods to settle 80 km (50 mi) southwest of Luluabourg, across the Miao River. For three years, while Free State agents watched, he prepared his revenge. In June 1895, Kalamba and his Cokwe allies attacked the post at Mukabua. Although the troops of Commander Michaux pushed Kalamba’s forces back, Michaux suffered heavy losses and was obliged to return to Luluabourg. When the Tetela soldiers of the Luluabourg garrison rebelled on July 4, 1895, Kalamba hoped to profit from the resulting Free State weakness to regain his lands. He was unsuccessful, however, for in July 1896, as the Lulua chief, his 800 men armed with rifles, and some Cokwe allies were crossing the Miao River in the direction of Luluabourg, Commander Michaux and his 400 men blocked the road. Avoiding a confrontation, the Africans inflicted heavy losses on the Free State soldiers by taking potshots from the bush. Perhaps, had Michaux not used a Nordenfeld cannon, a previously unknown weapon that caused great panic among the Africans, Kalamba might have been victorious.

Following the battle with Michaux, Kalamba retreated across the Kasai River, where he died in 1898. Kalamba’s son and successor, Tshisungu Kalamba, remained a threat to the Free State. In 1906 he attacked and destroyed a trading depot of the Compagnie du Kasai at Mai-Munene, southwest of Luluabourg on the Kasai River. Repulsed by government troops, Tshisung Kalamba sought refuge among the Cokwe. In 1907, the whites asked for peace and invited Tshisungu Kalamba to return to his lands. It was not as a vanquished chief that he came home in 1909. The Lulua, and also the whites, gave him a triumphant welcome. Mukenge Kalamba’s son, Tshisungu Kalamba, died in 1916.

The life of Kalamba exemplifies a generation of chiefs who dominated central Africa in the middle of the 19th century. Owing to their power to control commercial activities, they accepted the whites peacefully, thinking they could use them to increase their trade and political domination. At first, the Europeans encouraged these aspirations. But when the newcomers had gained a foothold, they changed their strategy, and the Africans understood that they had been mistaken. Attempts to drive the Europeans from the lands failed nearly everywhere.

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