8 B
Tshomrobe Could Still Lead GCatamiga
....
By TIM KNIGHT
United Presi International
Elisabethvllle, The Congo -(DPI)
- At 3:30 p.m. on June 14,
Moise Tshombe fled Katanga
on his way to Paris and polit
ical exile.
Katanga's secession attempt
was over and its president fin
ished. Or so it seemed to the
small knot of supporters who
stood on the dusty airstrip at
Kipushi, watching the light
blue Cessna disappear over
Rhodesia.
Yet nothing is ever certain
In the Congo, and Moise
Tshombe could still return to
try to lead Katanga to inde
pendence. The United Nations
may have to leave The Congo
soon, or go bankrupt. There
would then be nothing to pre
vent Tshombe flying back to
continue the fight where he
left off.
Look For Miracle
Tshombe mounted the
Tiger of Ambition" eagerly
let it carry him ever nearer to
his goal, speeding faster and
faster to success. When,
last, he saw the dangers of the
road he had chosen, it was fa
too late to dismount. He could
only ride on fearfully, hoping
desperately for a miracle
The miracle never came
Tshombe failed, a.id had
pay the cost.
to
He paid the first installment
on the morning of Jan. 14
1963, In the rich Katangcsc
mining town of Kolwoizi
when he announced to the
world that Katanga's seces-
(ion attempt was over.
For the burly president,
dream was over too. He had
fought the United Nations and
the central Congolese govern
ment tor tnree years and now
he reluctantly admitted de
feat.
The world sighed with re
lief.
Katanga Broken Up
Within weeks, the central
government started to break
up Katanga into three prov
inces, taking more than half
of its enormous copper re
serves away from Tshombe's
control.
Tshombe was paying the
second instalment on the cost
of failure, and could only
ehrug angrily, helplessly,
while Leopoldville carved up
his beloved Katanga.
Young Moise (Moses) want
ed to be something more than
Just another African under
Belgium's harsh colonial rule.
As he grew older, his ambi
tion spread to include first his
own Lunda tribe, then
Katanga.
Starting as a council mem
bcr for Elisabethville's Af
rican township at 28, Tshombe
moved confidently into the
complex and often danger
ous world of African poli
tics under the Belgians.
Became) A war. of Views
As the years went by, the
Belgians became increasingly
aware of his moderate views
and willingness to take advice.
They regarded Mm as a
"good" African, and Tshombe
was careful to foster this
view. But inevitably, as he
mixed with them, his own per
sonality changed, and he be
came more Belgian than Af
rican In many ways. He also
never lost the habit of listen
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THURSDAY. JULY 18. 1963
ing to Belgian advice
He spoke French fluently,
good Portuguese and a little
English, as well as nine Af
rican languages. He learned
how to use a language, how to
sway a listener.
Less than a year before the
Belgians gave the Congo in
dependence, Tshombe became
a leader of the Conakat party.
Early in June, I960, he was
elected to the First African
Katangcsc Provincial Assem
bly and on June 16, during an
all-night sitting, Moise
Tshombe was elected presi
dent of Katanga. Me was 42
To Highest Position
He had risen to the highest
position in Katanga, but to be
president of a province was
not enough.
On the last day of June, the
Belgians handed over the
reins of government to the
Congolese, and the Republic
of The Congo, was born
Eleven days later, Tshombe
declared Katanga an indc
pendent sovereign state out
side The Congo.
An official Katangcsc Infor
mation ministry release dated
October, I960, declared grand
ly: "One may say that this
solemn act saved the Katanga
from anarchy and disorder.
It also split the West, cost the
U.N. $300 million and, even
tually, drove Tshombe into
exile.
Why did he secede?
Had Seen Mutiny
He had seen the Central
Congolese army mutiny and
28,000 heavily armed troops
start an orgy of killing which
tlircatcned to end law and
order in the Congo, perhaps
forever.
In his own province of
Katanga, he moved swiftly,
calling in Belgian paratroop
ers based inside the province
to disarm the army and return
all non-Katangcse to their
homes. The troubles lasted
only a few days.
Thousands died in the
Congo before the U.N., re
sponding to a government ap
peal, came in and restored
order.
Tshombe feared more
violence in his own province
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unless he effectively cut It off
from its neighbors.
He had already made one
minor attempt to secede, and
when he saw the Congo in
flames he did what he thought
to be best for Katanga, and
for himself. He could not
know that the decision would
cost thousands of lives most
of them Katangcse.
(The U.N. put its own death
toll since mid-July, 1960, at
127 officers and men killed in
action, nearly all of them
fighting to end Katanga's
secession.
When Katanga seceded
from The Congo, the long, bit
ter fight to end its breakaway
began.
Conferences were called
promises made, angry words
exchanged, but there was no
progress. Tshombe was hang
ing on to independence and
much of the western world
unofficially backed his stand,
Attend Conference
Then, In April, 1961
Tshombe attended a Congo
lese leaders' conference in
Coquilhatvllle, called to dis
cuss re-unification of The
Congo, and was arrested on
treason charges by the central
government.
Six weeks later he was re
leased, proclaiming he would
form a common front against
Communism with the Leo
poldville government. But the
arrest deepened his distrust
of the central government and
strengthened his determina
tion to continue secession.
Tshombe's mercenaries
once known as "Les Affreux
rne Frigmiul ones -pro
vided an essential backbone
for the newly formed Katan
gcse army and, frequently, an
effective mobile striking force
on their own.
Mercenaries Well Trained
When the first Katanga war
started on Sept. 13, 1961 the
mercenaries were strong and
reasonably well-trained. The
army had been whipped into
some sort of shape in the 14
months since secession and
was as ready as it would ever
be.
The U.N. believed it would
meet only token resistance,
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Karl's Shoe Storei in the weit
and badly underestimated
Katangan determination.
U.N. Chief Dr. Conor Cruise
O'Brien believed that once the
mercenaries were out of the
way, Tshombe's white advis
ers would be arrested and the
secession ended. But the at
tack was badly planned and
Tshombe and his interior min
ister, "strong man" Godefroid
Munongo, evaded arrest.
Suddenly, in an effort to
end the firing, U.N. Secretary
General Dag Hammarskjold
agreed to meet Tshombe in
Ndola, Northern Rhodesia. On
Sept. 17, 1961, Hammar
skjold's aircraft crashed into
the bush a few miles from
Ndola and he was killed.
Four days later, Tshombe
ordered a cease-fire after the
U.N. had agreed to do the
same. He had forced an hon
orable draw, th Katangcse
army had been blooded, and
the mercenaries and advisers
were still there.
After the shame of his de
t e n t i o n at Leopoldville,
Tshombe had proved himself
a worthy leader of the
Katangese. Cheering crowds
followed him wherever he
went.
The next war was just two
months away. At the begin
ning of December, Tshombe
left Elisabethvllle for a con
ference in Rio Je Janeiro. He
heard of fighting while on his
way there and returned to his
Not
v:..v-! ..k-W-&-wm '
mm-- - - - M m m i mt a wr m
capital to find the U.N. sur
rounding it and the Katangese
army fleeing into the bush.
The mercenaries were no
where to be seen.
The story of the next two
years is a dreary succession of
misunderstandings, broken
promises and mounting U.N.
desperation. As soon as the
second war was lost, Tshombe
began the long series of nego
tiations with the central gov
ernment and the U.N. which
only ended with his surrender
in January, 1963.
He left Elisabethville for
Northern Rhodesia when it
was obvious that his army
could no longer hold out
against the U.N. The chast
ened president was on his way
to Kitona at the mouth of
the Congo river to meet
the prime minister of the cen
tral government, Cyrille
Adoula.
Soon came the official an
nouncement: Tshombe had
agreed to renounce his seces
sionist policies, rejoin The
Congo republic and recognize
the authority of the central
Congolese president, Joseph
Kasavubu.
The president returned to
Elisabethville and shortly af
terwards flew to Leopoldville
for the second time since inde
pendence, after U.N. guaran
tees for his personal safety.
He was taking no chances of
being arrested again.
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Tshombe had to take part in
a bitter struggle with the cen
tral government in which the
winner would take all, and
whoever came second would
lose everything.
Tshombe knew it, and Pre
mier Adoula knew it. There
was r.u turning back lor
Tshombe now. He had gone
too far to compromise.
Close to Bankruptcy
In Leopoldville, Adoula's
government staggered closer
to bankruptcy every month.
In Elisabethville, between
trips to The Congo capital,
Tshombe smiled blandly and
talked of how much he was
looking forward to -re-joining
The Congo but not right
now.
Time was running out rap
idly. The U.N.'s Congo costs
were mounting and the mem
ber nations squirmed uncom
fortably under the tide of
anti-U.N. feeling. Some of
them refused to pay their
share of the costs.
The U.N. chief in Leopold
vile, Ghanian Robert Gard
iner, prepared a plan to seize
control of Katanga on Jan. 15,
1963.
Unexpected firing broke
out on the morning of Dec. 24
as Elisabethville was prepar
ing for a quiet Christmas. It's
believed that U.N. Ethiopian
troops fired on Katangese
soldiers at the Lubumbashi
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- r Knf a four
slag heap, just outside the
town because of a misunder
standing. U.N. Determined
This time it was for real.
The U.N. was determined to
crush Tshombe and forcibly
lead Katanga back into the
Congo. The only question was:
would the U.N. delay its at
tack until Jan. 15 as planned,
or begin the take-over imme
diately? The Katangese army solved
the problem by starting heavy
firing on the night of the 27th,
after two days of relative
quiet.
Tshombe previously had
promised to call a cease-fire,
after U.N. senior officers es
corted him around the battle
areas and forced him to stand
near the front line while his
own troops fired on the posi
tion. Dawn on the 28th brought
more fighting and more con
ferences between Tshombe
and the U.N. The British and
American consuls in Elisa
bethville tried to talk him in
to signing a cease-fire and he
apparently agreed. But the re
sult was only more shooting.
U.N. Goes To War
That afternoon, after
Tshombe had refused to sign
a surrender, the U.N. went to
war. Within 15 hours, they
had surrounded Elisabethville
and held all roads leading to
the city.
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The Katanuese army fled,
followed by thousands of ref
ugees. The road from Elisa
bethville to the Rhodesian
border was crammed with
frightened Africans. The U.N.
took Elizabethville with ease.
Tshombe escaped during
the fighting and took refuge
first in Rhodesia, then in
Kolwezi, Katanga's second
largest town.
He returned on Jan. 8 and
his reception by the Katan
gese, who still apparently be
lieved in him, was rapturous
as ever. Without much hope
he set about salvaging some
thing from the wreckage.
Then Tshombe "proclaimed
to the world" that Katanga's
secession attempt was over.
He lingered on in Elisabeth
bille and whatched while Leo
poldville sent in a former
Congolese premier, Joseph
Ileo, as its representative in
the Katanga capital. As he
had known would happen,
lleo gradually took most of
the government's power into
his own hands, and Tshombe
was president in little more
than name.
On May 24, U.N. and Cen
tral Government troops sur
rounded the presidential pal
ace and. ordered Tshombe to
surrender his last remaining
bodyguard, believed to be
about 30 men.
Tshombe made a last brave
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gesture of defiance, but a few
hours later, the 30 guards slip
ped out of the grounds dressed
as civilians.
Tshombe was finished. On
May 29, when he learned that
the central government had
seized documents implicating
him in another secession at
tempt, Tshombe fled from
Elisabethville in secret, mak
ing for Kapanga, deep in
Lunda territory. Sixteen days
later, he boarded a light air
craft at Kipushi on the Katanga-Rhodesia
border and went
into exile.
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