Abir's failure to suppress destructive harvesting methods and to maintain rubber plantations meant that the vines became increasingly scarce and by 1904 profits began to fall.

During the early 1900s famine and disease spread across the concession, a natural disaster judged by some to have been exacerbated by Abir's operations, further hindering rubber collection.

[3] In 1885 a force of the Manyema people, followers of Tippu Tip, the Swahili-Zanzibari slave trader, arrived at the head of the Lopori River from Stanley Falls.

The Free State also began a campaign to drive the slavers, traders and the Manyema from the region, the first stage of which was the establishment of a supply post at Basankusu in May 1890.

[5] The Free State began using its new-found control of the region to levy taxes from the local population, gathered using similar hostage tactics to the Manyema.

[5] By September 1892 the Free State was using its military forces to attack and occupy villages in the Lulonga and Maringa river valleys to expand its tax base.

With this in mind he approached British Colonel John Thomas North, who had made a fortune through speculating on Chilean nitrates, for capital with which to fund a concession company.

[5] In return Abir received exclusive rights to all forest products from the Maringa-Lopori basin for 30 years and all land within twenty miles of eight designated posts and had police powers within the limits of the concession.

Progress was slow as the Free State's activities had made the population in the west hostile to colonisation and the east remained in the control of the Manyema and the Zanzibari slavers.

[12] The company's first post on the Lopori River had to be relocated because of threats from locals and rubber collection at Befori began only after a series of bloody conflicts between the villagers and Abir's men.

[14] Each post consisted of a residence for the agent, barracks for armed sentries and sheds for rubber drying and storage, all built using labour conscripted from the villagers.

A typical post employed ten African workmen to sort and dry the rubber, seven servants for the agent and thirty canoemen for local river transport.

[14] Sentries were paid similar wages to the post workmen and despite the strict working conditions it was a popular job as it offered a position of power over the other villagers.

This change was because the company was no longer supported by British investment, partly because Colonel North had died and his heirs had sold their shares.

[7] This was quicker and easier than non-destructive harvesting and was practised by villagers who wished to fill their quotas and avoid punishment, especially once supplies of the vine began to run low.

[21][22] By 1904 rubber vines within 50 miles of Abir posts had been depleting, leading to violent clashes between rival villages over control of the remaining plants.

This in turn meant that the women had to continue to plant worn-out fields resulting in lower yields, a problem aggravated by Abir sentries stealing crops and farm animals.

[22] The Free State began an investigation into Abir's abuses during which an inquiry established at Bongandanga heard evidence from missionaries in the concession.

[22] Although evidence of unlawful killings made by Abir was uncovered the investigation had no powers of arrest and could only submit a report to the Free State authorities.

[25] At the Momponi post the Abir agent led a punitive expedition against the Seketulu tribe which resulted in 400 civilian deaths with hundreds captured and put in prison, where a further 100 died.

[27][28] Abir was the only commercial body mentioned by name in the report for brutality which said that the concession was "the black spot on the history of Central African settlement".

[28][29] Mohun held a keen interest in the eradication of the slave trade and had worked for the US and Belgian governments, with his duties including the suppression of cannibalism and slavery in the Free State.

[31] A similar event occurred at Mompono where around half of the population fled the area, those that remained being forcibly relocated closer to the Abir post.

[32] By September of that year Abir was unable to contain the increasing number of rebellions and, facing falling profits, was forced to completely withdraw from the area and hand control of the concession back to the Free State.

[24] To restore control the Free State dispatched a force of 650 men and 12 European officers under the command of Inspector Gerard to the concession.

[36] Abir's rubber gathering practices made it the most notorious of all the concession companies for human rights abuses in the Congo Free State.

[37] Abir was only involved with primary resource gathering and, despite being owned by European industrialists, operated in a style similar to warlords such as Tippu Tip.

[11] Abir was supported in its operations by the Free State which required the enormous profits generated to strengthen its control over the country during its formative years.

[38] The concession companies gave the Free State the time and revenue required to secure the Congo and to plan a long-term and more stable program of colonisation.

[38] Abir ultimately failed as its harvesting process valued high production over sustainability and it doomed to live out its own boom and bust cycle.