page_title: Stairs Expedition to Katanga
section_title: The killing of Msiri
hierarchical_section_title: Stairs Expedition to Katanga / The killing of Msiri
caption_attribution_description: English: Africans of the 1891-2 Stairs Expedition. The men with rifles are most likely to be askaris, the others are porters, the man in the jacket is probably a nyampara (supervisor or chief). In the background at left are sections of two small boats which they carried for crossing rivers. Next to them, middle background are bales of cloth used for bartering for food and permission to cross chiefs' territories. Note the stack of rifles at right. The askaris were armed with 'Fusils Gras'. Other firearms may be officers' weapons being carried by porters. Français&#160;: Les hommes avec fusils de chasse et de guerre sont des askaris, les autres sont des porteurs, l'homme en veste est probablement un nyampara (surveillant ou chef). De petits bateaux (Au fond à gauche) ont été apportés pour traverser les fleuves. Des balles de tissu servent aux échanges contre de la nourriture et pour obtenir la permission de traverser les territoires des chefs.
context_page_description: The Stairs Expedition to Katanga, led by Captain William Stairs, was the winner in a race between two imperial powers to claim Katanga, a vast mineral-rich territory in Central Africa for colonization. The mission became notable when a local chief, was killed, and also for the fact that Stairs, the leader of one side, actually held a commission in the army of the other.
  This "scramble for Katanga" was a prime example of the colonial Scramble for Africa, and one of the most dramatic incidents of that period.
context_section_description: At Munema Bodson and Bonchamps found a large guarded stockade surrounding a hundred huts and a maze of narrow alleys, with Msiri somewhere inside. Despite Bonchamps' protests about the danger, Bodson decided to go inside with just ten askari including a Dahomeyan and Hamadi-bin-Malum to find Msiri, while Bonchamps and the remaining askari waited outside. Bodson would fire his revolver if he needed assistance.
  Bodson found Msiri sitting in front of a large hut with 300 men in the background, many armed with muskets. Bodson told Msiri he had come to take him to Stairs, and Msiri did not reply but became angry, rose and put his hand on his sword (a gift brought by Stairs). Bodson drew his revolver and shot Msiri three times, and one of Msiri's men — his son Masuka — fired his musket hitting Bodson in the abdomen and spinal column. The Dahomeyan askari shot and killed Masuka, and in the general firing Hamadi was hit in the ankle.
  Bonchamps and the remaining askari ran to the sound, and chaos took over. Most of Msiri's men fled, the askaris shot at anything, and then started looting. It took nearly an hour for Moloney to arrive with reinforcements. He and Bonchamps restored order among the askaris and, under sporadic fire from Msiri's men under the command of his adopted son Mukanda-Bantu and brothers, Chukako and Lukuku, retreated with Bodson and the other wounded, and Msiri's body, to prevent his men pretending to the populace that he was still alive. They took up a defensive position on a hill near their camp where Stairs had been waiting.
  This account of the killing was attributed by Moloney to a verbal report by Hamadi, while Bonchamps wrote that the injured Bodson gave him the same account before he died in the night. Stairs wrote a letter to Arnot with the same details of the attempted arrest at Munema, but also said that Msiri's men had 'cocked their guns' when Bodson confronted Msiri.
  On the hill to which they retreated, according to Bonchamps but not mentioned by Moloney, the expedition cut off Msiri's head and hoisted it on a palisade in plain view, to show the people their king was dead. Bonchamps, who had written about the disgust of seeing how Msiri had put heads of his enemies on poles outside his boma, admitted this was barbaric, but claimed it was a necessary lesson aimed at those who had attacked the expedition 'without provocation'.
  Munema was littered with bodies and the expedition's askaris carried out a general massacre. Dan Crawford wrote: "The population completely dispersed. No one dared walk openly abroad. The paths became lined with corpses, some of whom had died of starvation and some of the universal mistrust which keeps spears on the quiver".
caption: African members of the Stairs Expedition. The men with rifles are most likely to be askaris, the others are porters, the man in the jacket is probably a nyampara (supervisor or chief). In the background at left are sections of two small boats which they carried for crossing rivers. Next to them, middle background are bales of cloth used for bartering for food and permission to cross chiefs' territories.
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