Belgian Colonies
In the Belgian Congo, the askaris were organised into the Force Publique. This combined military and police force was commanded by white Belgian officers and NCOs. During the genocidal and brutal exploitation of the Congo Free State, in the years 1885-1908, many of the askaris were recruited from East Africa. This was done in part so that they would have no close ties to the native Congolese population, and fewer qualms about mistreating or killing them.
Read more about this topic: Askari
Famous quotes containing the words belgian and/or colonies:
“This fat pistache of Belgian grapes exceeds
The total gala of auburn aureoles.
Cochon! Master, the grapes are here and now.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)
“All Protestantism, even the most cold and passive, is a sort of dissent. But the religion most prevalent in our northern colonies is a refinement on the principle of resistance; it is the dissidence of dissent, and the Protestantism of the Protestant religion.”
—Edmund Burke (1729–1797)