Tanganyika. From there rich deposits of copper,
cobalt and other valuable minerals were exported.
To the north-west, the province of Kasai provided
in 1959 most of the world’s industrial diamonds.
This mineral wealth was in the hands of Belgian
trusts, the most important being the Société
Générale and the Union Minière. Although most
of the profit flowed out of the country, as in other
colonies, the Belgians were at least more enlight-
ened than the South African mineowners in
encouraging Africans to acquire technical expertise
in their mines. The other regions of the Congo
were very poor, and here agriculture provided the
means of livelihood and the source of exports.
When nationalism developed late in the mid-
1950s it was strongly ethnic, regional and divisive.
There were four main parties: the Abako, led by
Joseph Kasavubu; the Parti Solidaire Africaine, led
by Antoine Gizenga; the Katangan association,
Conakat for short, led by Moise Tschombe; and
the Mouvement National Congolais, whose fiery
and controversial leader was Patrice Lumumba.
In the 1950s the Belgians belatedly decided
that some African representation in the adminis-
tration of the Congo had become necessary. They
accordingly organised municipal elections in 1959
by manhood suffrage, one man one vote. This, in
turn, stimulated agitation: in 1959 there was
rioting and looting in Léopoldville. The pace now
quickened. The Belgians, at first so slow to accept
Africanisation, now seemingly could not get out
fast enough. They wanted to abandon the increas-
ingly burdensome task of keeping order in the
country but to retain their industrial interests.
After all, the Congolese would not be able to run
the mines and market the metals without them.
The fact that the Congolese were not adequately
prepared to run their government administration
nor their army and police did not deter the
Belgians. The Congolese, they reasoned, could
always ask for their assistance. So elections were
arranged in May 1960 and the independent
Congo handed over to a cobbled-together coali-
tion of political rivals, with Kasavubu as president
and Lumumba as prime minister.
Independence day was 30 June 1960. Less
than a week later violence erupted. The frustra-
tion of the Congolese NCOs and soldiers in the
Force Publique boiled over; they were angered by
the fact that only Belgian officers gave commands.
Mutinying soldiers murdered their officers and
went on the rampage, killing and raping whites
and looting. The Belgian troops still in the Congo
left their bases to protect and evacuate their
nationals. But Kasavubu and Lumumba suspected
the Belgians of harbouring sinister designs, espe-
cially when Tschombe declared the richest mining
province of Katanga independent. The world
was horrified by the anarchy and the televised pic-
tures of bloated corpses floating downriver. To
check the atrocities and safeguard the Europeans,
Lumumba had no reliable force apart from the
Belgian troops, but he wanted the Belgians out.
Wishing also to recover control of Katanga,
he appealed to the United Nations. The UN re-
sponded with promises to help restore law and
order; but it declared that the secession of
Katanga was not its concern.
During July, the UN peacekeeping force began
to arrive and the Belgian soldiers left. But para-
military troops and mercenaries from Europe,
Rhodesia and South Africa were ready to defend
Katanga and the European mining interests.
Lumumba now made the error of turning for help
to the Soviet Union, asking the Russians to equip
a still largely unreliable Congolese army to occupy
Katanga and crush the secession. Lumumba’s
refusal to rely on UN forces and his determination
to maintain the ill-disciplined Congolese soldiers
under arms ensured that the disorders and the
attacks on white missionaries and Europeans
would continue. Then, in August, his troubles
multiplied when the province of Kasai also
seceded. Without the two mineral-rich provinces, a
Congo state would become one of the poorest in
Africa. In response to Lumumba’s appeal, Moscow
saw a chance to gain influence in the strategically
important country. Soviet aid arrived by air, and
Kasai was retaken for a time. But Kasavubu and the
African chief of staff Mobutu Sese Seko decided to
rid themselves of the radical Lumumba and to rely
instead on Western help. Lumumba was dismissed,
and then arrested when Mobutu took power.
In December 1960 the pro-Lumumba region
rebelled and set up a rival government. Mobutu
thereupon planned to silence Lumumba, who,
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