Omer Bodson was the Belgian officer who shot and killed Msiri, King of Garanganze (Katanga

Katanga Province

Katanga Province is one of the provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Between 1971 and 1997, its official name was Shaba Province. Under the new constitution, the province was to be replaced by four smaller provinces by February 2009; this did not actually take place.Katanga's regional...

) on 20 December 1891 at Bunkeya in what is now DR Congo. Bodson was then killed by one of Msiri's men.

Military career

Omer Bodson was born in Antwerp. He served in the Belgian military and then joined the military service of King Leopold II of Belgium

Leopold II of Belgium

Leopold II was the second king of the Belgians. Born in Brussels the second son of Leopold I and Louise-Marie of Orléans, he succeeded his father to the throne on 17 December 1865 and remained king until his death.Leopold is chiefly remembered as the founder and sole owner of the Congo Free...

's Congo Free State

Congo Free State

The Congo Free State was a large area in Central Africa which was privately controlled by Leopold II, King of the Belgians. Its origins lay in Leopold's attracting scientific, and humanitarian backing for a non-governmental organization, the Association internationale africaine...

 in 1887, and was stationed at Mateba then Stanley Falls where he assisted the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition

Emin Pasha Relief Expedition

The Emin Pasha Relief Expedition of 1886 to 1889 was one of the last major European expeditions into the interior of Africa in the nineteenth century, ostensibly to the relief of Emin Pasha, General Charles Gordon's besieged governor of Equatoria, threatened by Mahdist forces...

. He court-martialled the African soldier who shot Major Barttelot

Edmund Musgrave Barttelot

Edmund Musgrave Barttelot was a British Army officer, born in Sussex, England.He joined the army in 1879 and served in India. He volunteered for Henry Morton Stanley's Emin Pasha Relief Expedition...

, leader of the Rear Column of that expedition.

Bodson returned to Belgium in 1889 as a captain of the Belgian Carbineers and took part in the suppression of riots in Liège

Liège

Liège is a major city and municipality of Belgium located in the province of Liège, of which it is the economic capital, in Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium....

, receiving the personal thanks of King Leopold.

Stairs Expedition and the killing of Msiri

Bodson was appointed as second-in-command of the Congo Free State's Stairs

William Grant Stairs

William Grant Stairs was a Canadian-British explorer, soldier, and adventurer who had a leading role in two of the most controversial expeditions in the history of the colonisation of Africa.-Education:...

 Expedition

Exploration

Exploration is the act of searching or traveling around a terrain for the purpose of discovery of resources or information. Exploration occurs in all non-sessile animal species, including humans...

 sent by to take possession of Katanga, now a province in DR Congo. The leader of the expedition, Canadian mercenary Captain William Stairs

William Grant Stairs

William Grant Stairs was a Canadian-British explorer, soldier, and adventurer who had a leading role in two of the most controversial expeditions in the history of the colonisation of Africa.-Education:...

, sent Bodson to arrest Msiri after negotiations broke down for Msiri's acceptance of Leopold's sovereignty, but Msiri and his men stood their ground and cocked their guns. Msiri drew a sword (a gift from Stairs), so Bodson shot him dead and was in turn mortally wounded by one of Msiri's men, his "favourite slave".

Aftermath

The last words of Omer Bodson have been reported to be:

I don't mind dying now that I've killed Msiri. Thank God my death will not be in vain. I've delivered Africa from one of her most detestable tyrants.

The Stairs Expedition’s doctor, Joseph Moloney

Joseph Moloney

Joseph Moloney was the Irish-born British medical officer on the 1891-92 Stairs Expedition which seized Katanga in Central Africa for the Belgian King Leopold II, killing its ruler, Msiri, in the process...

, wrote that Bodson's last words to him were the first sentence, and the second two were delivered to Captain Stairs.

Bodson was buried in Bunkeya and when Moloney returned to London in 1892 (Stairs having died on the return journey), King Leopold was still engaged in a campaign to legitimise his Congo Free State

Congo Free State

The Congo Free State was a large area in Central Africa which was privately controlled by Leopold II, King of the Belgians. Its origins lay in Leopold's attracting scientific, and humanitarian backing for a non-governmental organization, the Association internationale africaine...

's claim to Katanga under the 1884–5 Berlin Conference

Berlin Conference

The Berlin Conference of 1884–85 regulated European colonization and trade in Africa during the New Imperialism period, and coincided with Germany's sudden emergence as an imperial power...

's Principle of Effectivity. A justification of the killing of Msiri was required, and European written accounts of Msiri’s death, based on Stairs' official report and Moloney's writings, emphasised self-defence as the motive, claiming Msiri was a bloodthirsty tyrant. Leopold was successful in consolidating ownership of Katanga which then joined the Congo in suffering through one of most notorious periods of colonial exploitation in African history.