Congo Pedicle Road
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The Congo Pedicle road (at one time referred to as the 'Zaire Pedicle road') crosses the Congolese territory of the Congo Pedicle and was constructed by and is maintained by
Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...
to connect its
Copperbelt The Copperbelt () is a natural region in Central Africa which sits on the border region between northern Zambia and the south eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. It is known for copper mining and is the second largest global reserve of copper, ...
and Luapula Provinces. Both the road and the territory may be referred to as ‘the Pedicle’. It is designated as the N36 Route on the Congolese Road Network. It connects the M3 road at Chembe, Luapula Province with the M5 road at Mufulira, Copperbelt Province via Mokambo. For thirty years, the Congo Pedicle road has been a major development issue in northern Zambia.


The need for a crossing of the Pedicle

From its inception, the Pedicle, then in the
Congo Free State The Congo Free State, also known as the Independent State of the Congo (), was a large Sovereign state, state and absolute monarchy in Central Africa from 1885 to 1908. It was privately owned by Leopold II of Belgium, King Leopold II, the const ...
, was crossed by those travelling between the Luapula, Mweru and Bangweulu areas and the south, especially after Rhodesia Railways constructed the railway to Ndola in 1906. But there were other routes. In the 19th century the more travelled trade route from those areas had been to the south end of
Lake Tanganyika Lake Tanganyika ( ; ) is an African Great Lakes, African Great Lake. It is the world's List of lakes by volume, second-largest freshwater lake by volume and the List of lakes by depth, second deepest, in both cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. ...
, by boat up the lake to Ujiji, overland to
Dar es Salaam Dar es Salaam (, ; from ) is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of the Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over 7 million people, Dar es Salaam is the largest city in East Africa by population and the ...
, and by boat to
Zanzibar Zanzibar is a Tanzanian archipelago off the coast of East Africa. It is located in the Indian Ocean, and consists of many small Island, islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, referred to informally as Zanzibar) and Pemba Island. ...
. Completion of the Dar es Salaam railway to Kigoma, near Ujiji, in German East Africa in 1914, coupled with a lake steamer service to Mpulungu near Abercorn, made it even more viable.


The Copperbelt

Development of the
Copperbelt The Copperbelt () is a natural region in Central Africa which sits on the border region between northern Zambia and the south eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. It is known for copper mining and is the second largest global reserve of copper, ...
from the late 1920s had a big impact on overland routes. Copperbelt towns including Élisabethville (now 'Lubumbashi') in the province of Katanga in the
Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (, ; ) was a Belgian colonial empire, Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960 and became the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Repu ...
became the markets and chief source of supplies and employment for the Luapula-Mweru-Bangweulu region, and in turn their large fisheries (the largest in
Northern Rhodesia Northern Rhodesia was a British protectorate in Southern Africa, now the independent country of Zambia. It was formed in 1911 by Amalgamation (politics), amalgamating the two earlier protectorates of Barotziland-North-Western Rhodesia and North ...
) supplied the growing Copperbelt labour force.David Gordon: “Decentralized Despots or Contingent Chiefs: Comparing Colonial Chiefs in Northern Rhodesia and the Belgian Congo.” KwaZulu-Natal History and African Studies Seminar, University of Natal, Durban, 2000.


The Katanga route

However, it was Élisabethville and Katanga which benefited initially, via a road to the Congolese port of Kasenga on the Luapula, and another to a ferry at Shiniama across the Luapula near Matanda and on to Fort Rosebery (now known as Mansa). There was migration from Luapula Province to Katanga, and some of Mwata Kazembe's people looked to Élisabethville for employment and advancement rather than Mufulira, Kitwe and Ndola. The Northern Rhodesian authorities and mines were slower to catch on, and when dried fish was bought for their workforce from Katanga, it may well have been caught in the Northern Rhodesian waters of Lake Mweru, Lake Mweru Wantipa, south-west
Lake Tanganyika Lake Tanganyika ( ; ) is an African Great Lakes, African Great Lake. It is the world's List of lakes by volume, second-largest freshwater lake by volume and the List of lakes by depth, second deepest, in both cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. ...
or even Lake Bangweulu. There was a road from Ndola across the border to Sakania in the
Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (, ; ) was a Belgian colonial empire, Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960 and became the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Repu ...
, and a dirt road to a small ferry over the Luapula at Kapalala, but it was not a direct route, took at least a day to travel, and was not suitable for the heavier vehicles. Eventually, in the late 1940s, the Government of Northern Rhodesia realised the need for a larger, direct road from the Copperbelt to Fort Rosebery with a higher-capacity ferry over the Luapula.


Construction of the Congo Pedicle

Negotiations with the Belgian colonial authorities in the
Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (, ; ) was a Belgian colonial empire, Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960 and became the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Repu ...
produced an agreement for
Northern Rhodesia Northern Rhodesia was a British protectorate in Southern Africa, now the independent country of Zambia. It was formed in 1911 by Amalgamation (politics), amalgamating the two earlier protectorates of Barotziland-North-Western Rhodesia and North ...
to build and maintain a graded
laterite Laterite is a soil type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by intensive and prolo ...
road from Mokambo, which is from the Copperbelt town of Mufulira, to Chembe. Although only used by Northern Rhodesia and with no Congolese settlements except Mokambo on its route, it had border control posts at both ends and traffic drove on the right. By the 1950s the Chembe Ferry had two motorised pontoons able to take the largest trucks, the border posts worked smoothly and the drive from Mufulira to Mansa could be completed in four or five hours. By comparison the same journey keeping to roads within the country was and took at least two days, going via Kapiri Mposhi, Mpika, Kasama and Luwingu. In the past four decades the superiority of the Katangan roads has reversed, with the Lubumbashi-Kasenga road deteriorating to the extent that it may take several days to reach Kasenga. Congolese travellers and goods frequently cross into the Zambian Copperbelt from Lubumbashi and take the Pedicle or the Samfya-Serenje road to Kasenga.


Problems emerge


The Congo crisis

Apart from the Luapula occasionally bursting its banks at Chembe in the rainy season and halting the Chembe Ferry for a few days, this happy state of affairs continued until the Congo Crisis of 1961 when travel on the pedicle stopped for security reasons and had to be routed by air or via Kasama. Although the interruption did not last long, it highlighted the vulnerability of the route.


Independence

The
Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (, ; ) was a Belgian colonial empire, Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960 and became the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Repu ...
became independent in June 1960 as the
Republic of the Congo The Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo), is a country located on the western coast of Central ...
and changed its name to
Zaire Zaire, officially the Republic of Zaire, was the name of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1971 to 18 May 1997. Located in Central Africa, it was, by area, the third-largest country in Africa after Sudan and Algeria, and the 11th-la ...
in 1971, and
Northern Rhodesia Northern Rhodesia was a British protectorate in Southern Africa, now the independent country of Zambia. It was formed in 1911 by Amalgamation (politics), amalgamating the two earlier protectorates of Barotziland-North-Western Rhodesia and North ...
became independent in October 1964, as
Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...
. Any thought that two African neighbours with shared tribal, cultural and historical origins could cooperate even better than neighbouring colonial powers was dispelled not long after. The colonial experience had broken down those connections which might have smoothed travel by Zambians through Zaire and replaced them with a bureaucracy and leadership whose allegiances had greatly changed and who saw how to exploit regulations and authority for their own gains.


Harassment of travelers

Under Mobutu,
governance Governance is the overall complex system or framework of Process, processes, functions, structures, Social norm, rules, Law, laws and Norms (sociology), norms born out of the Interpersonal relationship, relationships, Social interaction, intera ...
deteriorated and
corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...
flourished in Zaire, and he saw Katanga only as a cash cow and punished it for its
separatist Separatism is the advocacy of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, regional, governmental, or gender separation from the larger group. As with secession, separatism conventionally refers to full political separation. Groups simply seekin ...
tendencies by neglecting its development. Zairean border officials and police went for months without being paid and turned to petty corruption to survive. Times of Zambia: “Honouring Pledges”: Accessed 6 February 2007. See comments on ''“Congo DR workers going without pay for months, sometimes years”'' and ''“security forces who went on the rampage harassing Zambians at will notably along the famous Pedicle road”''. At first small bribes were taken from Zambians whose identity cards were not in order, but this escalated to arbitrary fines, Austin Kaluba: “Tales from the treacherous” Times of Zambia. Accessed 6 February 2007 for example, a driver might be fined for wearing a hat while his passenger was fined for not wearing a hat. The Pedicle became the major gripe for the people of Luapula Province and they assailed their leaders and officials when they toured the province, such as in a meeting of
civil servants The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...
in Mansa in 1975 with President
Kenneth Kaunda Kenneth Kaunda (28 April 1924 – 17 June 2021), also known as KK, was a Zambian politician who served as the first president of Zambia from 1964 to 1991. He was at the forefront of the struggle for independence from Northern Rhodesia, British ...
, when most of the questions were about harassment at the Pedicle. The situation became more severe when any of Mobutu's security forces were in the Pedicle, with robberies, violence and occasionally the complete disappearance of travellers and their vehicles.


Developing alternative routes

The route by-passing the Pedicle is made longer by Lake Bangweulu and its swamps which extend from its north-east tip for to the north, and the only route had to go east then north of this system. A route south of the lake was hampered by the fact that the Luapula and its swamps there are at least wide, and the floodplain is wide. However the complaints about the Pedicle were so many that the tarred Samfya- Serenje road and Luapula Bridge, which is long with nearly of causeway, one of the biggest
infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and pri ...
projects in the country, were constructed and opened in 1983. The Mufulira-Mansa distance by this route is , still much longer than the Pedicle route but saving on the Kasama route.


The future of the Pedicle Road

In the meantime, the laterite Pedicle road has deteriorated but security in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...
has improved. As the cost of fuel has soared and with the Pedicle saving more than on the Copperbelt-Serenje-Samfya-Mansa distance there is still the need to pave the Pedicle. Construction of the Chembe Bridge (also known as the Mwanawasa Bridge) started in 2007 and was completed in October 2008, commissioned by President Levy Mwanawasa. As of February 2016, the Pedicle Road is halfway tarred. Work is continuing in the area.Transforming the Pedicle road
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References

Roads in Zambia Roads in the Democratic Republic of the Congo