Ngulu

The ngulu is an execution sword used by Bantu peoples of the Congo Basin, including the Ngombe, Doko and Ngala, resembling the Egyptian khopesh but with a much more massive iron blade carrying a non-cutting back and a semi-circular concavity, sometimes made with one or two blades and a handle wrapped in metal wire ending in a wooden button. It was used for capital execution by beheading, with the condemned tied to the ground and the neck bound by leather straps to a bent tree branch to keep it extended for the blow. Belgian colonial authorities banned ngulu beheadings during the Congo Free State period from 1885 to 1908, after which the weapon took on a stronger ceremonial and symbolic role, worn by the twentieth century in the Likbeti ritual dance, at the close of which it was used to decapitate a goat eaten by the tribe.