Transcript lecture march11 - University of Alberta

History 247-20th Century Africa
“ History will one day have
its say, but it will not be the
history that Brussels, Paris,
Washington or the United
Nations will teach, but that
which they will teach in the
countries emancipated from
colonialism and puppets.
Africa will write its own
history, and it will be, to the
north and to the south of the
Sahara, a history of glory
and dignity”
Lumumba’s Last Letter, written to
his wife just before his death.
The Belgian Congo 1950s
The Congo is a
territory larger than
Western Europe,
bordered by nine
countries (former
colonies).
Colonial Development
How well developed was the Congo?
- Human Resources, underdeveloped:
-no African army officers
-3 African managers in civil service
-30 University Graduates
-first Congolese permitted in Belgian
universities in 1950s
-First universities in Congo in 1954
(Catholic), 1956 (lay), graduating 16 by the
time of independence
Colonial Development (cont.)
Mineral resources: well developed
- copper, gold, tin, cobalt, diamonds,
manganese, zinc
- massive investments from West
Economy dominated by mining:
- 70% controlled by Belgian Societe Generale
(who also controlled river and rail transport)
Colonial Development (cont.)
-Union Miniere Haut Katanga:
- 70% world’s copper production (1953)
- 80% cobalt, 5% zinc
- 1950-9, net profits 620 million $$, overall
production increased 149%
- labour force 100,000 - twice as large as
elsewhere
- attracted post-war immigration
Copper in Katanga
[ Ali Mazrui, The Africans, London 1986: 163]
Colonial Development (cont.)
Cash crops almost as much product of
Western investment as mining:
- 35%-40% commercial agriculture in hands
of Huileries du Congo Belges (subsidiary
Anglo-Dutch Unilever Co., same one active in
West Africa)
- dominated palm-oil production
- plantations covered hundreds of
thousands of acres
-labour: poorly paid wage to
forced
Colonial Development (cont.)
Urban Growth: dramatic
- mostly workers, many migrants
- growth urban associations, usually ethnically
based
- African newspapers
1957 municipal elections: Africans voted
(largest cities like Stanleyville, Leopoldville,
Elisabethville)
Colonial Development (cont.)
Colonial Society: settler-based
- settlers did not demand autonomy of
neighbouring colonies
-Large number:
white officials
para-military forces,
agricultural officers enforcing
compulsory cultivation
-
Colonial Development (cont.)
Belgian aim:
- to create Middle Class who would
eventually attain full citizenship in BelgoCongolese community
“Cartes de merite civile”:
-Held out as ‘carrot’
- so rarely given out, became source of
grievance
Colonial Development (cont.)
Education:
-primary education in hands of Christian
Missionaries
-Evangelism very successful: 600 Congolese
priests, 500 ministers c.1956
-Of 16 million Congolese, 3 ½ million
Catholics; 1 ¾ Protestants
- 1950s move towards more secular education
had missionaries rallying converts in support
of church
Colonial Development (cont.)
1957 paper announced need for
‘independence plan’ in 30 years
- hailed in Catholic journal, Conscience
Africaine
- followed by educated Congolese, including
young postal worker, Patrice Lumumba
- responded by requesting Congolese elite be
consulted
- first Congolese University graduates
emerged 1957/58, engaged with idea
Patrice Lumumba
[from
http://www.un.int
/drcongo/history.htm]
Decolonisation?
Process of ‘decolonisation’ did not exist in
Belgian Congo.
- 1957 Belgian academic proclaimed
independence would have to be prepared for –
in 30 years
- 1959 saw riots spread throughout colony
- announcement made by Belgian king that
independence would be granted in18 months h
- and it was.
Political Situation in Congo
Politics organized around 3 ‘nodes’:
Leopoldville:
- evolues in city surrounding area, Kongolese
“Association des BaKongos” (ABAKO),
leader J Kassavubu
- similar to mass parties of West Africa but
with strong ethnic focus
- desire to restore ancient ‘Kongo’ (taking
pieces from French Equatorial Africa,
Portuguese Angola
- originally cultural association founded 1950
drawing on memories Simon Kimbangu
Political Situation in Congo
-originally cultural association founded
1950
- drew on memories Simon Kimbangu
‘Prophet’ who led colonial resistance
- Kassavubu thought to be guided by
his spirit
Joseph Kassabuvu
[http://www.un.int/drcongo/history.htm]
Political Situation in Congo (cont.)
Elisabethville:
-Confederation des Associations Tribales du
Katanga (CONAKAT)
- drew on fears local peoples against Luba
migrant workers
- large Belgian settler population (more than
100,000 post-war immigration)
- enormous wealth, began talking secession
Political Situation in Congo (cont.)
Leader Moise Tshombe:
- well-off businessman
- lost considerably in late 1950s economic
slowdown)
- closely associated with foreign financial
interests
- supported from beginning by UMHK
Political Situation in Congo (cont.)
Stanleyville:
-heterogeneous population, “hodge-podge”
political interests
- less clearly-defined ethnic interests than
other major cities
-Movement National Congolese
- leader Patrice Lumumba
- favoured national unity rather than
federation
- comparable to Nkrumah’s CPP in Ghana
Political Situation in Congo (cont.)
Kwame Nkrumah:
“The situation which faced the Congo on the
eve of independence did not differ profoundly
from that which threatened Ghana’s
independence at the period of the ascendancy of
the NLM of Ashanti, the Togoland Congress,
the Anlo Youth Assoc., the Northern People’s
Party and the Muslim Assoc., all of which were
designed to destroy the CPP movement. As in
Ghana, I was convinced that the Congo needed
a strong unitary form of government. Events in
the Congo since independence have only
strengthened this conviction”.
[Cited in Mazrui & Tidy, African Political Parties, p.96]
1959 Riots
-began in Leopoldville, spread to other cities,
rural areas
- reflecting economic situation: post war
boom, hit by depression 1955/6, fall in world
copper prices 1957
- overall slowdown, massive unemployment,
especially acute in Leopoldville
-exacerbated ethnic cleavages incited by work
migrants; cultural associations
- NOT reflection history or ‘tribes’ as
presented by Belgians
The Riots of 1959 (cont.)
-immediate cause: banning of ABAKO meeting
in Leopoldville; riots spread to townships
-no Europeans killed, < 50 Africans dead
-impact rural areas unexpected: facilitated by
movement migrants, cultivated locally
- response rooted in years forced labour,
plantations, infrastructure projects, compulsory
crop growing schemes etc
- so successful: local administrators turned to
Congolese party leaders for assistance
Belgian view of ‘independence’
“WHY” did Belgium suddenly move to
independence for richest (and only) colony?
- Belgian politicians did not believe in
‘independence’: Congo with proliferation ‘last
minute’ political parties would continue to be
vulnerable to Belgian influence
- both business and church (each for own
reasons) saw time had come to extricate
themselves from business of colonial rule
Independence: ‘the’ speech
Independence Day, June 30 1960:
- Belgian King, Premier present
- former delivered speech referring to courage,
civilizing role Leopold II
- praised colonial policies
-warned Congolese not to jettison Belgian
institutions, policies until they could improve
on them
Independence: ‘the’ speech
- Kassabuvu read out prepared, obsequious
response
- Lumumba replied with unscheduled speech
- denounced colonialism as ‘humiliating
slavery imposed on us by force’!
[see ‘Lumumba’s speech’, Additional Readings]
Independence Day
Lumumba arrives Palais
de la Nation, Leopoldville
for Independence Ceremony,
30 June 1960.
[Ludo de Witte, The Assassination
of Lumumba, London 2001:96&ff.]
Lumumba and Gaston
Eyskens (Belgian Prime
Minister) sign Declaration
of Congolese Independence.
[Ludo de Witte, The Assassination
of Lumumba, London 2001:96&ff.]
Lumumba’s First Government
Patrice Lumumba (centre) forms his first government as
Prime Minister. Joseph Mobutu (far right) ‘waits in the wings’.
[Ludo de Witte, The Assassination of Lumumba, 96&ff]
“The Speech” (cont.)
-Belgian king insulted: concluded Lumumba
‘madman’ to be eliminated
-Tshombe (and CONAKAT) worried about
implications for investment in their region
-‘West’ in general (US in particular) worried
about unpredictability of prime minister
“Key” moment: Lumumba announced that he
was not to be controlled by any existing party
or interest – domestic or foreign
Domestic Concerns: Katanga
-Katanga: center wealth, foreign investment
-leader Moise Tshombe: related to royal
Lunda family, mission educated, attended
Brussels Congo Conference 1960
- pressing for Katanga to be independent state
- worked closely with Belgian business
- following independence: refused
cooperation, maintained large mercenary
army (paid for by taxes from UMHK)
- Belgian officers in charge
Foreign Concerns
- Post-war Soviet Union: influence rural areas,
none in cities
- independence and Lumumba as possible
‘openings’
- US (lesser extent Britain, France, South
Africa) saw investments threatened
-role American State Department, CIA
actively stepped up
- included interference with media
The Mutiny… and afterwards
Within days Independence, Army mutinied:
- remained in hands Belgian officers
- provoked by Commander Jansson, infamous
for writing/stating:
“Avant l’Independence = Apres l’Independence”
-uncontrolled attacks on Belgians:theft, rapes,
beating, deaths
-white exodus civil servants, technicians, army
personnel
- Belgium demanded order.
The Mutiny… and afterwards (cont.)
Mutiny:
- then formal secession Katanga, Kisai.
- civil conflict continued, Belgium sent
paratroops – against wishes Lumumba
- social chaos, foreign troops back in congo,
state disintegrating, Lumumba turned to:
- United Nations
- United States
- African Allies
- Soviet Union
UN Intervention
Lumumba with UN Secreatry General Dag Hammarskjold,
after their conference at UN Headquarters in New York on the
critical situation in the Congo, 24 July 1960.
[Ludo de Witte, The Assissination of Lumumba, 96&ff]
Congo as Theatre of Cold War
‘Power Vacuum’: sucked in foreign powers
-Congo was strategic:
- wealth (mineral)
- physical position: whoever controlled Congo
(especially Katanga) could influence Central
and Southern Africa
- in the 1960s, this meant South Africa,
Rhodesia, Mozambique, Angola among others
Congo as Theatre of Cold War (cont.)
US, Soviet Union ‘cold war’:
- Africa new arena, Congo flashpoint
-any African leader preaching non-alignment
opening the door to Communism
-Lumumba labeled ‘communist’:by US,
Belgim, South Africa (last had vested interest)
-UN attempted to neutralize situation but
would not intervene where American interests
were strongest - Katanga
Congo as Theatre of Cold War (cont.)
- US chose Joseph Mobutu, former aide to
Lumumba, Colonel in army, as ‘their man’
- Lumumba arrested (assent of Kassabuvu)
- Mobutu took control
- UN provided ‘protection’ for Lumumba
- escaped; UN refused protection
- recaptured by Mobutu’s army
- taken to Katanga: he, two others murdered
with Tshombe’s knowledge, consent
Mobutu, 15 September 1960
Joseph Mobutu in Leopoldville on 15 September 1960,
having just announced that the Congolese army would be
taking over the running of the country.
Ludo de Witte, The Assassination of Lumumba, 96&ff.]
Lumumba’s Last Arrest
Lumumba and his aids in a truck at Leopoldville airport,
on the day after their arrest by Mobutu’s army, 2 December
1960.
[Ludo de Witte, The Assassination of Lumumba, 96&ff.]
Escape.. But not for Long!
Officials nest to the Ford sedan car alleged to have been used
by Lumumba and his aides to escape prison, 11 February 1961.
(From left: commissioner for Katanga police, unknown police
commissioner, Belgian agent of Kantanga Intelligence service,
captain in charge of Prison Guards.)
[Ludo de Witte, The Assassination of Lumumba, 96&ff]
Mobuto and Kennedy
Mobutu and Kennedy: a young president and an army chief
reach ‘an understanding’ during the Cold War years. (n.d.)
Michela Wrong, In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz, London, 2001: 132&ff]
Murder of Lumumba
Kwame Nkrumah:
“The assassination of Lumumba is the first
time in history that the legal ruler of a country
has been done to death by the open
connivance of a world organization [UN] in
whom that rule put his trust.”
- argument that this was purely ‘domestic’
murder proven recently to be inaccurate:
Belgium, US, UN all implicated
Murder of Lumumba (cont.)
Lumumba’s murder:
- protest crowds at UN (New York)
- support by Black Americans, Pan-Africanism
- Peace Corps (Kennedy’s ‘New Frontier’)
advance into ‘uncharted African territory’
- Congo Crisis (known world-wide) made
Africa a Cold War Battlefield
World Wide Protest
Protestoers in London’s Picadilly on their way to the
Belgian Embassy, 19 February, 1961.
[Ludo de Witte, The Assassination of Lumumba, 96&ff.]
After Lumumba…
Aftermath:
-3year battle to re-integrate Katanga, Kasai
-arrest Tshombe (then exiled)
- return as premier: recognized Katanga as
part of Congo
Medium term: fatigue of Congolese people
- received ‘second independence
- Mobutu took over with American backing
Long term: Mobutu’s rule of Congo like
Leopold II’s
- personal fief - “King Leopold’s Ghost”
Battle to Reintegrate Katanga
Tshombe’s troops recapture a North Katanga town and
American Weaponry, February 1962.
Bill Freund, The Making of Contemporary Africa, facing 177]
Mobutu ‘Sese Seko’
After Lumumba: contemporary views
See reviews of French 2000 film “Lumumba”
http://www.frenchculture.org/cinema/releases/pecklumumba.html
Several ‘youtube’ clips, more in French than eEnglish but
worth looking at
See Books:
Ludo de Witte, The Assasination of Lumumba
Michela Wrong, In the Footsteps of Mr Kurtz [on video]
http:www.theglobalsite.ac.uk/review/111waddell.htm
Adam Hochschild, King Leopold’s Ghost
http://www.completereview.com/reviews/hochscha/kingleo.htm
Contemporary Views (cont.)
BBC Documentaries:
“Who Killed Lumumba?”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/correspondent/974745
.stm
“Review (of above)”:
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/jan2001/lum-j10.shtml
“This man died for your sins”:
http://www.diacritica.com/sobaka/2002/lumumba.html
Contemporary Views
 on recent constructions in the arts of Lumumba and
his role in creating a contemporary ‘collective memory’,
“A Congo Chronicle: Patrice Lumumba in Urban Art”,
curator Bogumil Jewsiewicki (African Historian, Laval)
http://thegalleriesatmoore.org/presscongo.shtml
“What is most striking about this history [the exhibit]
is how artists molded the figure of Patrice Lumumba,
the first elected prime minister of the Congo, into a
metonym for Congolese history itself. Lumumba’s
dramatic rise to power and meteoric fall from grace
became the foundation for an art of pain, an art of
suffering, and an art of catharsis. Lumumba is
canonized on canvas: he is the prophet rendered in
paint.” (from review no longer on web)