Katanga TWILIGHT OF MR TSHOMBE’S STATE

Press, Volume C, Issue 29623, 20 September 1961, Page 14

Katanga TWILIGHT OF MR TSHOMBE’S STATE

(Bp JAN COLVIN, in the London "Deity Telegraph"]

(Reprinted bp Arrangement)

Elisabethville. September 8 —Great changes have taken place in Katanga since I bobbed about its skies in a single-engined aircraft about a vear ago. spotting the Baluba rebellion. This rising was directed from Leopoldville by Mr Lumumba’s followers and by Jason Sendwe. the fugitive Baluba deputy, from Katanga. From Kongolo in the north to Manono in the centre and Bukama in the west, it wrought bloodshed and destruction, not as widespread as that in South Kasai but almost as dangerous. Instructions from General van Horn pinned down the Katanga Air Force and prevented Mr Tshombe from transporting troops rapidly. At that time Mr Tshombe seemed sure only of the mineral plateau of Mitumba. Beyond it Mr Lumumba and the bush were creeping into their own. Yet somehow Mr Tshombe survived. The incapacity of the Central Government, the fall and murder of Mr Lumumba, the Communist-backed plan for a separate Eastern Province at Stanleyville, the effective work of white cadres here—both military and administrative —all helped to restore Katanga. Stability and Security

By August, 1961, Mr Tshombe could tour the whole state undiminished in size. He was not merely the leader of the Conakat and idol of the Lunda tribe. He was acclaimed alike by Lunda, Basanga, Bahemba, Tchokwe, and even Baluba. At Kamina 50,000 Baluba gathered to welcome him. The copper mines in the past year have increased their production by 20 per cent. Consumer goods have flowed In again. Currency re. form has added to political stability. And Mr Munongo, the Minister of the Interior, has bolstered up security by interning several hundred Baluba separatist and Central Government adherents. As a result of all these factors, one could motor last month from one end of Katanga to the other by daylight. One could, and still can, wall: by night through Elisabethville and its native township unmolested. I see European children and African toddlers playing in the twilight side by side on the pavements of Elisabethville, while their parents sit over beer in the cafes. Unlike Rhodesia and South Africa there are no night watchmen with knobkerrics sitting overnight outside the shop windows of Elisabethville’s luxury shops. Belgians chat affably with the greyuniformed Katanga police, who stand with slung rifles outside the Post Office. Here and there the blue berets of the United Nations can be seen as troops stroll out. Katanga, even today, is quiet and peaceful, but assuredly it has .entered its twilight. Gradual Decline Adam Smith wrote that there is a lot of ruin in a nation, and that the United Nations here is finding out. The downfall of Katanga can be accomplished only gradually. At the time of writing, 200 European Officers and advisers have left, some

of whom have title to regard Katanga as their own

homeland. Three hundred more must leave before the United Nations is satisfied that its resolution against foreign personnel and mercenaries has been enforced. A few hardy Europea i s have gone to ground, hoping for a change in the wind They will doubtless be smelled out by the 350 political prisoners that Mr Munongo has been obliged to release under pressure from the United Nations. Released from internment they will form a useful intelligence column and political leaven for the United Nations and the Central Government.

It should not take very long to deprive Katanga of the appearance of an African State where multi-racial partnership works. A not very subtle change has already taken place in the relationship between the United Nations and the Katang a Government. Mr Conor O’Brien, the United Nation’s chief representative here, has intimated, in a peremptory letter to President Tshombe, that the United Nations regards his as no more than a provincial Government within the Congo. The United Nations has already begun to carry out certain requests of the Central Government without reference to Mr Tshombe, such as banning of the U.A.T. airline from Elisabethville Airport. [On September 13. after fighting between United Nations and Katanga forces. Mr O’Brien announced that "the secession of Katanga has ended.”.) Double Loss

On the apron of Elisabethville Airport United Nations men are painting on grounded transport planes. Most pilots have already been deported. Others, even non-Belgians, have been put on parole to leave. Not only is the Gen. darmerie robbed of its officers, but its air communications are useless. There are no Africans to fly these planes. So Mr Tshombe. who could boast last month of unifying Katanga, must admit that he doubly lost his grip on the debatable river basins beyond the plateau. He can take no precautions against dissidents at this moment, since United Nations patrols are active in the native township and it has been declared that the Baluba are assured of United Nations protection. But this will include activists and the suspects released from internment. If more such political prisoners are discovered in Katanga Mr Munongo will be ordered to release them too. It is now open to the Balubakat youth to reorganise itself even if. it does not resume the Mau Mau type operations described in Katanga’s horrifying White Book on outlaw activities.

Now Mr Tshombe sits in his palace study, a bowed man, still smiling, courteous and responsive to questions, but plainly wearied by the long struggle with an or. ganisation pledged to overthrow him. Did he miss the bus somewhere along the way? At the Madagascar conference he overtopped the others. But at Coquilhatville he overplayed his hand. Behind the scenes no doubt the United Nations was ready to connive at his incarceration Fear lost him, too, his best ally in the Central Government, that foxy middleman of Congo politics Chief Albert Kalonji of the South Kasai. Kalonji thought a year ago that he could found a separate autonomous State on the diamond mines of Bakwanga. But the tragic massacre and the proximity of Lumumbist influence in Luluabourg convinced him that he could not hold against the Central Government. Since then his following of Kasai refugees in Katanga has been deviously used as a fifth-column to weaken Mr Tshombe. Dangerous Alms

After his release and return to Katanga Mr Tshombe sent envoys to Leopoldville to work out administrative and financial relationships between Katanga and the Central Government, but even today helpless as he is, he will give them no fresh directive to parley. His latest speech in Kolwezi has, instead, a defiant ending: “Add, if you will, to the guilt of the United Nations in Kasai, Kivu, Maniema and Stanleyville a bloody Katanga, lost to Africa and the free world. What can we do but remain calm and united and work on and produce! Whatever happens, remain calm, but flrm and decided.” From now on the United Nations in Katanga can be expected to abandon more and more its first mandate in the Congo, of maintaining law and order but abstaining from interference in local politics. To both the United Nations and the Central Government it is vital to obtain Katanga’s money if bankruptcy is to be staved off, both financial and political. Workin" behind the United Nations and parallel with it are people with more dangerous aims. It is important to the pan-African States, and their paymasters in. Cairo and Moscow, that co-operation between a liberated territory and the former colonial Power should not be seen to be workable. In thia aim they enjoy a certain sympathy among United Nations officials recruited from the non-

From Katanga this alliance Sir Roy Weiensky rightly fears, will pass on to attacking the more solid multiracial fabric of former British colonies. On the present form of United Nations financing, the British taxpayet will be shouldering both experiments.