Count Muata Ansika, delegate to the League of Nations from the Kingdom of the Kongo, takes the floor, speaking in good French.
"In 1884 an International body was held in Berlin, which settled the questions regarding colonization of Central Afrika. That international conference drew up a code of behavior, and granted control of the Kongo basin to Leopold II of Belgium.
Leopold II proceeded to ignore that code, and established his Force Publique to enslave, torture and maim us to obtain our labor in order to extract the wealth of our land.
<At this point the Count raises his left arm, displaying the stump of his wrist>
"This was the result of my village not meeting it's quota of Ivory. Four of our elders, including my father the chief, were shot and left for the animals. It has been forty years, but I remember that day clearly.
If I have it correct, that was the year Conrad's Heart of Darkness finally drew substantive international attention. But it was three years later, after the Casement report, that the Queen's Marines arrived to liberate us from the Force Publique.
The Force Publique did not leave without a fight, and none of you shall ever know the joy with which we received the rifles the Marines gave us, and how eagerly we hunted them down. I will admit that judicial proceedings were, shall we say, lacking.
No armed soldier should believe himself beyond retribution for his actions, whether in his own country, or a foreign one, at the behest of his monarch, or the International community.
The Armed forces of the Kongo have participated in League actions in Bolivia, and understand the potential for false, overblown or propaganda allegations. We recognize the Bulgarian concerns.
We believe there should be judicial safeguards so that soldiers are not treated as criminals for doing the hard tasks society demands of them, or for making decisions in the midst of combat. Only for crimes which were clearly such, and outside the maelstrom of combat, should there be review and potential punishment. However, we contend that judicial oversight should be that of the International body, in the clear public eye, not in the home country.
ooc: the interaction of OTL treaties with WW has always been a problem. We didn't discuss the 3rd Geneva, etc. Further many Nations here were colonies OTL, and so had no reason to sign. Makes it difficult.
This post has been edited 1 times, last edit by "Kaiser Kirk" (Feb 21st 2012, 10:31pm)