The Congo Series was first broadcast on AfroBeatRadio on WBAI between April and May, 2009. In that series of broadcasts on the Democratic Republic of Congo, we examined various aspects of the conflict in the DR Congo by talking to activists, scholars, and Congolese citizens. During the several interviews that were conducted, our participants discussed pre-colonial Congo, King Leopold’s Congo and the Belgian Congo, and the ongoing conflicts over the Congo’s mineral wealth.

Guest

Professor Nzongola-Ntalaja, a Congolese scholar and Professor of African Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, is a leading authority on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In this episode, he offers a sweeping historical overview of the Congo, covering topics such as the 19th-century Indian Ocean slave trade and the legacy of Arab rule in eastern Congo, the Atlantic slave trade from the 16th to 19th centuries, and the roles of key figures like Patrice Lumumba and Mobutu Sese Seko. He also discusses U.S. strategic interests in the region and the Congo’s ongoing struggle to establish a functioning democracy.

Nzongola-Ntalaja has been deeply involved in Congo’s pro-democracy movements, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s. He organized two pivotal conferences at Howard University—the first in 1984, focusing on the crisis in then-Zaire (published as The Crisis in Zaire: Myths and Realities), and the second in 1990, titled Perspectives for Democracy in Zaire, which brought together major political stakeholders. He also played a prominent role in the 1991–1992 Sovereign National Conference in the DRC, serving as Chair of the Political File, and later as a member of the Electoral Commission in 1996, from which he resigned in protest.

A prolific author, Nzongola-Ntalaja has written several influential books, including The Congo: From Leopold to Kabila: A People’s History and Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Africa: Essays in Contemporary Politics. Columbia University Professor Mahmood Mamdani has described him as one of the few intellectuals with the depth of knowledge, lived experience, and critical perspective necessary to assess the historical trajectory and future of the Congo.

Host

Wuyi Jacobs

Articles by Prof Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja:

  • Congo in context
  • DRC’s potential: Lighting the continent from Cape to Cairo
  • The African Report: Moved by nature, not by man

CREDITS

AfrobeatRadio Team

This interview was made possible with the assistance of the Friends of the Congo