Uele District

By 1896 King Leopold II of Belgium was becoming concerned that instability in the Bahr al-Ghazal would affect his Congo Free State, and that Sudanese slavers would penetrate further south and join up with the Arab and Swahili traders at Stanley Falls. In January 1888 Alphonse van Gèle explored the Bomu River and part of the Uele river.[10] Leopold's decree of 1 August 1888 divided the Congo Free State into eleven districts, including Aruwimi-Uele with its headquarters in Basoko.[11] Vangèle was instructed to explore the Ubangi River in 1889 and claim land for Leopold II.[12] He was also told to "exploit the ivory of the state domain", and his journal includes many details of tusks he bought or was given by chiefs along the Ubangi, M'bomu and Uele rivers. He had obtained twelve tons of ivory by September 1890.[13]

Jérôme Becker met Sultan Djabir at Basoko in December 1889, and in January 1890 reached Jabir's sultanate.[14] In 1890 the Belgian officers Léon Roget and Jules Alexandre Milz travelled up the Itimbiri River from Bumba, then up the Likati River, reached the Uele River in the region of Djabir and descended it almost to its junction with the Mbomou River.[15] Roget, Milz and Duvivier founded the first Belgian post in the Uele at Djabir in April 1890.[14] This route opened access to the Uele region, although it crossed the territory of the Budja people, who had yet to be pacified. In 1891 Guillaume Van Kerkhoven, Pierre Ponthier and Jules Milz followed the same route to the Uele, then explored the Kibali and the Zoro. They reached the Nile, but had to retreat to the Dungu region when they were attacked by Mahdists.[15] In 1891 Georges Le Marinel ascended the Bomu River.[15]

Ernest De Baert was appointed State Inspector of the Haut-Uele expedition in 1892. He was instructed to ensure that all the ivory and rubber of the sultanates of the M’bomu region was paid as tribute to the Free State.[13] By 1892 the Belgians were taking drastic action to prevent ivory and rubber from being smuggled across the M'Bomu to French Territory. They stationed soldiers in each marketplace who shot anyone who tried to cross the river. However, these efforts were ineffective and much ivory from Uele reached the European companies in Abiras.[16]

The Uele was clearly a natural defensive line for the north of the Congo Free State, and the forests along it would provide a source of food. The authorities decided to build a line of fortified positions along the river. Posts included Yakoma in the Ubangi District, Djabir, Libokwa, Bambili, Surango, Niangara, Dungu and Faradje. Later these posts were connected by the first road in the Congo Free State that could be used by motor vehicles, which was extended from Faradje to the Nile by way of Yei and Loka in the savannah zone.[15] The two posts of Yei and Loka were established to the northeast of Faradje in the arid Lado Enclave on the Nile, leased from the British. The Belgians carried a boat to the Nile in sections, the Van de Kerckhoven, which they assembled and launched on the Nile.[17]

In 1894 Léon Hanolet ascended the Bari River, a right tributary of the Bomu while Théodore Nilis and Charles de la Kethulle ascended the Chinko River, another tributary of the Bomu.[15] The Belgian expeditions caused a dispute with the French that led to an agreement that the Bomu would be the northern border of the Congo Free State in this region.[18] Another route to the Uele went from Basoko up the Aruwimi River to Bomili, then up the Nepoko River, across to the Duru post on the Bomokandi River, and on to the Dungu post. Much of this route was by foot, since the rivers were impassible.[17] In 1895 Aruwimi-Uele District was divided into Aruwimi District and Uele District.[11]

The road between Dungu and Faradje c.1900

At first, some of the sultans were friendly. Later, as the Belgians strengthened their grip, some such as Engwetra in 1896 rose in rebellion. Others found that by treaty their land was now French or British, or chose to move to French territory.[14] In 1895 Jules Joseph La Haye was charged with building the Bomokandi post on the rocky right bank of the Uele River. On 10 January 1896 he met Louis-Napoléon Chaltin, who was undertaking an expedition against Bili. Chaltin and La Haye decided to move the Bomokandi post to the left bank of the river, 20' upstream.[19] The expedition of Chaltin in 1896, assisted by 700 lancers provided by Sultan Renzi, fought the battles of Bedden and Redjaf. The Mahdists were defeated and the city of Redjaf was captured.[17]

After taking leave in Europe La Haye returned to Uele, where he was appointed district commissioner on 16 May 1897. Between 4 July 1900 and 16 January 1901 Verstraeten replaced him as district commissioner while he took leave in Europe. On his return La Haye led an expedition of 600 men against the Ababua, who had rebelled. The rebels were destroyed at the end of June 1901. On 3 July 1902 La Haye was shot and killed while sleeping in Kodia village.[19]

On 29 September 1903 the district of Uele was divided into five administrative zones:[20]

Rubber was harvested in the Uele District, and taken to the port of Bumba for storage and transport by river to Bas-Congo.[21] A single Catholic mission was established at Gombari on the Bomokandi River.[22] The administration responded to an epidemic of sleeping sickness that began in 1904 in the Congo Free State with measures that had been proven against cholera and plague in Europe. Between 1904 and 1914 they placed those who were infected or suspected of being infected in isolation camps or lazarets, and mapped out the zones of infection. Many of the local people in Uele District saw the health campaign as another aspect of the program of conquest and exploitation.[23] The director of Ibembo lazaret made several proposals between 1907 and 1912 for a program to contain sleeping sickness in the "great uninfected triangle" of the Uele. The military campaign against Sasa,[lower-alpha 1] the powerful leader of the Azande, exposed the true extent of the disease. It was found that sleeping sickness was widespread in the north of Uele District.[25] The district was to have been opened to free trade in July 1912, and flooded by mineral prospectors, traders and their porters.[26]