Sculptor Christophe Meko Disengomoka designed the memorial to represent a historical timeline that most nations would prefer to forget. The Force Publique, which served from 1885 to 1960 under Belgian colonial rule, was an instrument of extraction and control as much as a military force. After independence in 1960, it became the Congolese National Army (Armee Nationale Congolaise), which served until Mobutu Sese Seko consolidated power and renamed both the country and its military. From 1971 to 1997, the soldiers were the Zairian Armed Forces (Forces Armees Zairoises). When Laurent-Desire Kabila's Alliance of Democratic Forces overthrew Mobutu in 1997, the army was reconstituted as the FARDC. The monument's genius is that it does not distinguish between these incarnations. A soldier in khaki shorts and puttees from the colonial era stands alongside figures in modern military dress. The message is continuity of sacrifice, regardless of who gave the orders.

Christophe Meko Disengomoka brought 25 years of experience in monumental sculpture to the project, but he considered this commission something new. The memorial was intended to be a historical and informative work, not merely decorative, and it required specific documentation to get the uniforms, equipment, and postures right. The cartridge belts and puttees on the colonial-era figure are period-accurate. The project was launched by President Joseph Kabila and managed by General Didier Etumba, the Chief of Staff. The sculptural works were unveiled in stages, with the Force Publique figure -- the smallest plinth -- revealed after the main inauguration. Disengomoka emphasized that the soldiers depicted, whether living or deceased, are honored through the monument. It is a statement about the institution of soldiering in a country where that institution has been shaped by forces far beyond any individual soldier's control.

The memorial was inaugurated on July 28, 2017, but its annual commemoration falls on May 17 -- the date in 1997 when rebel forces of the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire entered Kinshasa and overthrew Mobutu Sese Seko. That date now serves as a day of remembrance for all soldiers who have fallen in service since 1997, though the memorial itself reaches much further back. The ceremony opens with the FARDC's Chief of General Staff reminding attendees of the soldier's duty of self-forgetfulness and sacrifice. He reiterates the military motto: 'Ne jamais trahir le Congo' -- Never betray the Congo. The president places a floral wreath at the base of the monument. It is a ritual that acknowledges the weight of history while asserting that the sacrifices were not in vain.

The FORESCOM Roundabout is not a quiet, contemplative space. It sits in Gombe, Kinshasa's administrative and business district, surrounded by traffic and the daily noise of a city of 15 million. The monument does not ask for silence. It occupies the same kind of contested, complicated ground that the soldiers it depicts have always occupied -- a place where colonial exploitation, independence struggles, Cold War proxy conflicts, and ongoing regional warfare all converge. The DRC's military history is not a story of unambiguous heroism. It includes the brutality of the Force Publique, the chaos of the post-independence mutinies, the corruption of Mobutu's army, and the ongoing challenges facing the FARDC in eastern Congo. The memorial does not pretend otherwise. Three soldiers stand at a traffic circle, and the history they represent flows around them like the cars that never stop.