Let’s take a look into these conflicts to see how much these wars have cost to mankind. Regarding Congo`s war for freedom in 1886-1908 there are many authors who gave different opinions over the number of deaths over the years[1]. Bertrand Russell in his book “Freedom and organization” states that out of 22 million people, after the war, only eight and half (8.5) million people survived. Another writer, Adam Hochschild, in his book “King Leopold's Ghost” [2] describes the terror of Congo`s people. In general it is thought that averages of 8 million people have been murdered, and this was only a number of those who died due to crimes such as raping, torture, and discrimination. Congo`s major problems appeared when King Leopold came on reign of Belgium from 1865 until his death in 1909. When he came to throne in Belgium he gave himself the freedom and immunity necessary to be the owner of the Congo Free State. He proclaimed to be own er of Congo even though he had never been there. Whereby, Leopold presumed to be the owner of the population in addition to being the owner of the state. Leopold had absolute power over Congo, a private project undertaken on his own behalf. During his reign as king of Belgium, his purpose was to make territorial expansions even though these expansions were supported by neither the state of Belgium, nor its population. Some of his first own attempts were unsuccessful but he soon developed a Project. He used explorer Henry Morton Stanley to help him lay claim over Congo by cheating through agreements with local chiefs who felt like it was a bound of friendship agreements, but in reality by signing those documents they were selling their land. His efforts of making Congo his own property were validated during the Berlin Conference of 1884-85, where it was recognized his right to rule the Congo, as a man who would win power over land and people and will lead the 30 million people without a constitution, written internal domestic laws, or international supervision since now Congo was considered as private property of the King. At the end of the 19th century the popularity of cars, bicycles, and rubber tubes made the international market demand for natural rubber to increase even more, which in Congo could be found at large extent. Leopold laws were harsh and discriminatory, whereby, if the population failed to meet the daily quota, set out by Leopold, of rubber collection they would be subject to different penalties, mainly death penalty.[3] King Leopold engaged Force Publique to observe rubber collection quotas, in relation to this they were forced to cut hand of the killed person who failed to meet quota. More hands were considered higher performance at work. This punishment derogated when villagers attacked neighbouring villages to gather more hands. It is worth mentioning that there was no exceptions whether they were grown man, women, even children or elderly, but the quotas must be achieved. Horror and crimes were increasing, sometimes, the private army, made the population torture their own family members by forcing the youngsters to violate their own mothers and sisters. When someone failed to meet the rubber quota, the Force Publique would take those persons to the police stations and cut their hands, the cutting of the right hand meant that they had killed the person. Some of the officers started to “cheat”, instead of killing the person and then cutting their hands, sometimes they would just cut the right hand leaving the victim alive or to die of bleeding. There were cases when people would pretend as dead even during the time when their body was being mutilated. This was all being done by members of the Force Publique since the person who collected the most hands would be rewarded with various bonuses.[4] At that time, during the ruling of Leopold, the international law was not codified as it should have been, in order to enable the prosecution of the King. King`s immunity was almighty, and that was made possible due to the lack of information in other countries of the world in regard to what was happening in Congo. The first time when this matter started to receive international attention was when an officer of the main office of freight in Liverpool, Mr. Edmund Dene Morel[5], noticed that the truck coming with rubber from Congo, were returning filled with weapons, which were used by the Force Publique. Suspicions drove him to quit his job in England and become an investigative journalist, whose work, in the latter years helped the cause of the people of Congo. His efforts were a milestone in regard to informing the world on what was being done in Conge, and soon he was helped by other people of goodwill in informing the world as regards to the deeds against the population of Congo by the King and his army. In 1903, Congressman Sir Roger Casement, driven by the work of Edmund Dene Morel, wrote a detailed report on the crimes that had been committed against the people of Congo, and asked the British Parliament to revise the agreement reached at the Conference of Berlin, which allowed Leopold ruling over the Congo. The United States also joined the goal of prosecuting the authors of crimes, whereas the British Parliament strongly demanded the revision of the Treaty of Berlin. With the help of the Belgian Parliament, finally was enabled the publication of the Casement Report which showed Leopold`s power, committed crimes and all other actions which were beyond any understanding. Following the release of the report, other states leaders declared to not having been aware of the crimes which were being committed. On the other hand, while the world was addressing the report and all what it contained, Leopold used his power to gain a bit more profit out of Congo at the time that he had remained. After the publication of the report, some the major question and dilemma of the international community in regard to what should the next steeps be were as follows: Should Belgium retain its power over Congo, is it possible for the people of Congo to establish a new Republic and will they be able to do it, and other questions that were raised by the contents of the Report. Those questions were debated for over two years, before the Belgium parliament adopted the annexes which finally give up the territory of Congo, although King Leopold presented a platform in which he offered to improve his regime and improve the life in Congo. Finally, five years after the publication of the report, on 15 November 1908, there was hope for Congo. This is the time when the Congo Free State was borne, and the Congolese started believing that the dark ages for their people had come to an end, and that they will not be subject to violence anymore. There are different thesis as regards to the damage caused to Congo over the years, where different scholars present their studies on this topic, and some of them all similar to each other. The famous Report of the British diplomat Roger Casement which made the world change their opinions show that over 3 million people were killed only during twelve years from the twenty years of Leopold`s ruling over Congo. There are different figures on the number of victims, researcher Peter Forbath stated that about 5 million people were killed, Adam Hochschild in his famous book “King Leopold’s Ghost” states that approximately 10 million were killed, while Britannica Encyclopaedia gives a total of 8 to 10 million casualties. These figures are terrible and often compared to the deeds of Adolf Hitler, and when we add the fact that this Country was ruled without a Constitution, we can freely conclude that the 14 states which ratified the Berlin agreement legitimized the crimes that happened in Congo. After Casement report, people created a different opinion about the King of Belgium, however it must be noted that, until then, international justice had never functioned. The world lacked codified laws which would determine Leopold`s deeds, the people responsible for the lives lost, and who is responsible for the millions of chopped hands of people whose biggest crime was not achieving the quota. Regardless of what happened, King Leopold rejected all charges, and it is interesting to note that in an interview the he had with NY Times Gazette in 1906, he rejected the allegations and stated that he does not feel guilty of what happened in Congo. In addition, he declared that the stories about Congo are not a true description of his ruling. In one of the interviews he stated the following: "It is curious what satisfaction certain people get spending their lives libelling others. I suppose there is nobody in Europe painted as a monster of such blackness as I am. The words used in picturing my perfidy cannot be repeated in polite society. Nero, it is said, was a saint compared to me. I am an ogre, who delights to torture helpless African Negros."[6] However, he admits that some of the things that have been said are true stating that many of the crimes have been committed and also declared that there are a number of convictions made by the Congo tribunal. In the interview, Leopold also states that he did not do this for the money as he was not obsessed of being rich since he already was. When he was asked if he had done it for his own benefits, King Leopold Replied : "Why should I do such a thing? Of what use is money to me? I am not in the prime of life. I have passed threescore years and ten on my earthly journey. I cannot take money out of this world, why should I pile up gold for the sake of wealth? I have sufficient for my wants and do not wish for more. I am not a business man. I am a ruler, anxious only for the welfare of my subjects. It is more to me than money to a miser for me to know my work in the Congo has not been vainly spent. From a wild African forest, inhabited by cannibals, the Congo is developed wonderfully, its revenues increasing from nothing to $10,000,000 annually”.[7] What happened in Congo makes us understand that Leopold was indoctrinated with the idea of Ruling Congo, and we enjoyed immunity since he declared that this is an internal issue of the Belgian Kingdom and he was protected by the State Sovereignty concept emphasising that no state can tell another on how to handle its own internal affairs. His immunity derived of this concept, which defines that a state has complete competences over its own territory. What has happened during the time of Leopold helped the world understand the need of establishing general concepts on ruling since the next century will take an example of what happened in Congo. That`s why it was necessary to regulate this matters.

Footnotes :
[1]Freedom and organization first published, George Allen & 1934) p.453 in the 2001 Rutledge ed., citing Sir H. H. Johnston, The Colonization of Africa (Cambridge Historical Series) p. 352, [2] Hochschild, Adam (1998). King Leopold's Ghost : a story of greed, terror, and heroism in colonial Africa. [3] http://www.yale.edu/gsp/colonial/belgian_congo/ [4] http://www.religioustolerance.org/genocong.htm [5] E._D._Morel was a British journalist, author and pacifist and radical politician. In collaboration with Roger Casement, the Congo Reform Association and others, Morel, in newspapers such as his West African Mail, led a campaign against slavery in theCongo Free State. [6] http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/09/20/specials/congo-denies.html Interview of King Leopold 1906 [7] http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/09/20/specials/congo-denies.html Interview of King Leopold 1906