Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives

by Siddharth Kara

Hearing of Rhodes’s efforts in Katanga, King Leopold, who had just secured his Congo Free State in 1885, immediately dispatched three teams to secure a treaty with Msiri. A campaign led by the Belgian explorer Alexandre Delcommune arrived first on October 6, 1891, and met with Msiri. Like Rhodes, Delcommune was rebuffed. A second campaign of Zanzibari mercenaries led by the British turncoat William Grant Stairs arrived on December 20, 1891. Stairs met with Msiri, but the next day, Msiri left for a neighboring village. Stairs sent his two most trusted men to reason with Msiri, but after three days of failed negotiations, the Europeans shot Msiri, decapitated him, and stuck his head on a pole for all to see the consequences of standing against Leopold and his Congo Free State.3 Blood had been spilled for control of Katanga’s riches. There was no turning back.