I initially wrote a post about Congo here:
https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...rnative-cold-war.280530/page-12#post-10199422
I've decided to write a more detailed post about Congo's immediate independence period before writing more about the 1970s and so on. Where this post contradicts the former (there is quite a lot of this), this post's information is to be considered canon to the TL. Hope you all enjoy it.
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The dissolution of Belgium resulted in a transfer of power in the Belgian Congo to a UN Trust Territory in May 1953 in order to ensure that the fledgling nation would be ready for independence in 1960. The roadmap to independence outlined by the UN would involve gradual (but limited, as the UN largely had to pay it out of its own Congolese Development Budget, which was funded entirely by international aid donations and
very modest dues on mining companies) infrastructural development and the maintenance of law and order whilst native political forces emerged and organised that could take over the reigns of government. The colonial gendarmerie was still the only armed force in the nation, but was now under the command of the UN Governor. Like the Trust Territory of Somaliland, the Trust Territory of the Congo and Ruanda-Urundi was administered by a national of the former colonial overlord; Léo Pétillon. Born in Liege, Wallonia, Pétillon was a technocratic type who did little to deal with the social and ethnic divisions which built tension in Congolese society. He would govern until 1957, when he was replaced by former Governor-General of the Belgian Congo, the Fleming Pierre Rickmans[213]. Ill-health would leave Rickmans somewhat of a lame-duck Governor, which suited the emergent Congolese political class just fine. He passed away in February 1959, and would not formally be replaced; instead a Transitional Council was formed.
The emergent native political class in the Congo was primarily composed of
évolués (literally "evolved", which should tell you enough about Belgian and French colonial attitudes to their subjects). The
évolués were the small emergent middle-class educated along Western lines. They were deemed to be assimilated, unlike the so-called
sauvages that still followed customary law and whose primary loyalty was to traditional chieftains and kings. The
évolués almost always lived in the cities, utilising their education and knowledge of European customs to access the low-level white collar jobs which were available to them. The largest of the emergent political organisations was the
Mouvement National Congolais (Congolese National Movement, MNC) led by Patrice Lumumba. The MNC was a 'popular front' party, seeking to incorporate many different ethnic groups and political interests. The largest opponent of the MNC was the Alliance des Bakongo (ABAKO), a Bakongo ethno-nationalist party lead by Joseph Kasa-Vubu. ABAKO sought immediate independence, unlike the MNC, which was satisfied with independence according to the UN roadmap. ABAKO sought primacy of the Bakongo people, seeing the future independent state as the successor of the early modern Kingdom of Kongo. The third significant political force was the
Confédération des Associations Tribales du Katanga (Confederation of Associated Tribes of Katanga, CONAKAT), organised around Moïse Tshombe. CONAKAT sought a highly-decentralised federal Congo and represented the native peoples of southern Katanga. A number of other small parties were formed around either small ethnic groups or other political ideologies, notably the
Parti Solidaire Africain (African Solidarity Party, PSA).
Patrice Lumumba, first Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo
The inclusive nature of the MNC inevitably led to disagreements between various interest groups within it. Albert Kalonji and Joseph Iléo defected, forming their own faction, known as the MNC-Kalonji (MNC-K), as opposed to the majority MNC-Lumumba (MNC-L), but it failed to trigger the mass defections expected. Whilst it did have followers throughout the Congo, the MNC-L's support was most highly-concentrated in the east, around Stanleyville. The MNC-K's support base only really existed around Élisabethville among the Luba ethnic group. In the Congolese capital of Léopoldville, a number of riots broke out in January 1959. An ABAKO rally had been interrupted and not allowed to go ahead by the UN administration, which required all political parties to receive consent for public demonstrations. Unruly ABAKO demonstrators were then dispersed by the
gendarmerie, whose officers ordered more violent action than had been requested by the UN administration. Anger at this rough treatment exploded into widespread rioting throughout the city, including indiscriminate attacks on the European population. News of the ruthless suppression of the demonstration engendered greater involvement in the independence movement amongst rural Congolese, whilst in the cities panicked European colonists formed
Corps de Voluntaires Européens to police their neighbourhoods. Seeing the potential for vigilante violence and reprisals to get out of hand,the Trust Territory government banned the volunteer militias in March. The French government, who had inherited a great deal of economic interests from Belgium, accused Lumumba of being a communist and provided financial support to CONAKAT.
The various Congolese political leaders convened with UN representatives at the 1959 Congo Conference [214]. Kasa-Vubu's fiery and haughty manner resulted in a split between him and ABAKO vice president Daniel Kanza. Kasa-Vubu ended up walking out of the conference. The discussions did result in a guarantee for Congolese self-governance in July, and Lumumba, and general elections were to be held before then. The leader of the party with the greatest number of seats would be tasked by the United Nations with forming a government. The
Loi Fondamentale (Fundamental Law) was also confirmed, which would serve as the first constitution of the Congolese state. It would establish a bicameral parliamentary republic, led by a Prime Minister, and with a President who would be a separate institution with the power to ratify laws and dismiss governments if they were unable to function correctly. This constitution was poorly-suited to the Congolese political situation, but was relatively less-controversial amongst Congolese delegates than any alternatives. The 1960 general election campaigning began on the 11th May. Voting was compulsory for all males at least 21 years of age. A confused and chaotic campaign season, as to be expected in a country with no democratic tradition and a myriad of political parties, resulted in a victory of sorts for the MNC-L. The only major party to campaign nationwide, the MNC-L received 23.5% of the vote, the largest of any party. The socialist PSA of Antoine Gizenga won 12.5% and ABAKO received 9.5% of the vote. CONAKAT won 4.7%. The distribution of Senate seats (the upper house) did not reflect the popular vote, however. Out of 84 total seats, the MNC-L received 21, CONAKAT won 7, ABAKO won 5, PSA 5 also, and MNC-K took 4 seats. Nor did the distribution of seats in the Chamber of Deputies (137 total seats; MNC 33, PSA 13, ABAKO 12, MNC-K 7, CONAKAT 8). Lumumba and Kasa-Vubu both began to engage in attempts to form governments, and were in constant competition and dispute with one another. After many backdoor deals and political shenanigans, where Kasa-Vubu initially insisted on the presidency, was denied by Lumumba, sought a separate province for the Bakongo, which was also denied, and finally acceded to Lumumba's government with some ABAKO representation, a government was formed. Kasa-Vubu faced Jean Bolikango, a conservative Bangala from Équateur Province. Despite Lumumba saying he would stay out of the selection, he in fact had his deputies put their support behind Bolikango [215]. Kasa-Vubu was frustrated and angered, but unable to do much about it. ABAKO was, after all, represented in government. The Minister of Finance, Pascal Nkayi, was an ABAKO representative. Another ABAKO, Charles Kisolokele, was named one of the four ministers of state. CONAKAT was also frustrated at the composition of the new government. Their representative Joseph Yav had been made Minister of Economic Affairs, however a separate Minister of Mines and Power position had been created, outside of the hands of CONAKAT. This led Tshombe to declare his support for the government "null and void". A general strike by Bakongo ABAKO supporters in Léopoldville was defeated in its infancy when the UN administration ordered gendarmes to start running basic functions. Seeing it would be pointless, and with some ABAKO representation in the new government, the strikers promptly returned to work. On June 23rd, the Chamber of Deputies convened in the
Palais de la Nation to vote on Lumumba's new government. Despite representation from almost every major party, there was a great deal of dissatisfaction with the MNC-led coalition. Many of the parties themselves were divided, for example the PSA. Cléophas Kamitatu's moderate wing of the PSA didn't support the new government, whereas Antoine Gizenga's leftist faction threw their support behind Lumumba. Kalonji stated that he would encourage the people of Kasaï to "run their own affairs", keeping it vague whether he meant outright secession or mere autonomy. At the vote, there were 57 absences. Of the remaining 80 deputies, 74 voted in favour of the government. Whilst this would still have been enough to form a government even without the absences, it boded poorly for the stability of the first Congolese government. On the 30th of June, independence was finally granted to the fledgling Republic of the Congo.
The Congolese Independence Ceremony
The 5th of July saw several army mutinies as black soldiers rebelled against their white officers in the new
Armée National Congolais (Congolese National Army, ANC) which was constructed out of the pre-independence
gendarmerie. This rebellion was provoked both by dissatisfaction with the continued presence of European officers in the post-colonial armed forces, and wasn't helped by Lieutenant-General Émile Janssens meeting with the Léopoldville garrison, where he wrote on a blackboard the message "Before Independence = After independence". Lumumba dismissed Janssens and had all Congolese troops promoted by one rank. The new commander-in-chief would be Major-General Victor Lundula, with Joseph-Désiré Mobutu as his chief of staff and second to Lundula. Whilst this quelled the revolt, it was not before spurts of violence against Europeans throughout the country began to hurt Congo's reputation amongst the international community. A large number of Europeans fled, resettling either in Katanga where the European population was its largest, or even across the border in northern Rhodesia. Taking advantage of the West's horror at the news of attacks on European settlers in Congo, Tshombe declared the independence of Congo's southeastern Katanga Province. At his capital of Élisabethville, Tshombe announced that he was the first President of Katanga. Tshombe, an ethnic Lunda, was the son of a successful businessman who were Lunda royalty. Several Tshombe family members throughout history had served as the Mwaant Yav, the traditional Lunda kings. In the 1950s, he had managed several of his family's businesses, but they consistently failed, and was able to afford to do so as the scion of a rich family. Tshombe had close ties to the settler elite in Katanga, who exploited the rich mineral resources of the province, most notably copper, tin and uranium. Like many of the Lunda upper class, Tshombe was concerned at the influx of Luba people from the neighbouring region of Kasaï. The Luba had come in droves seeking economic opportunity, as many were experienced miners, as Kasaï was a centre of diamond mining. Tshombe forged a political alliance between the Lunda, Batabwa, Tshokwe and Bayeke peoples of southern Katanga on a platform of preventing Luba immigration and keeping Katanga's wealth in-province. In the 1960 General Election, his party CONAKAT had successfully taken control of the provincial legislature. Upon Congolese independence, Tshombe claimed that they were "seceding from chaos" and accused Lumumba of dictatorship and communist leanings. Tshombe was supported by CONAKAT's largest donor, the
Union Minière du Haut Katanga, which operated almost all mining interests in the province and was owned by the
Société Générale de Wallonie [216]. The
Société Générale encouraged the French junta to provide support for the Katangan separatists, and whilst the French didn't give Katanga formal recognition, they did provide funding for white mercenary groups operating in the area, which predominantly hailed from South Africa and the Central African Federation. Less than a month later, a small segment of Kasaï province around Bakwanga declared independence as "
L'état du Sud-Kasaï" (The State of South Kasaï) , led by Albert Kalonji. South Kasaï was funded by another Wallonian mining interest,
Forminière. Concerned about the threat of a Kongo revolt led by Kasa-Vubu, Lumumba and Lundula ordered the ANC to occupy various points around Léopoldville. With the secession of Katanga and South Kasaï, Congo was cut off from 40% of its revenue.
Flag of the breakaway Katanga State
Concern about Paris' interference in the affairs of the Congo led to widespread denunciation in the United Nations, especially amongst newly independent post-colonial states who feared such meddling in their own countries. UN Secretary General Kamal Al Din Salah (of Egypt) [217] demanded the immediate removal of mercenary forces from the Congo. Political pressure from the United States forced France to abstain on the resolution allowing deployment of a UN mission to the Congo, but they worked to try and limit its mandate. The
Opération des Nations Unies au Congo (ONUC). Lumumba's government welcome the UN force, believing that it would engage the separatists to protect the Congo's territorial integrity. Lumumba also sought the support of US President Eisenhower, who rebuffed him. Lumumba then turned instead to the Soviet Union, which provided weapons, logistical support and a thousand military advisors. With this support, the ANC mounted an invasion of South Kasai, defeating the rebellion and reincorporating the territory into the state. The operations of
Forminière were nationalised, angering the French. During the invasion, violence meted out on Luba civilians and favouritism of the Bena Lulua people led to an exodus of several thousand Luba civilians. The American CIA and French SDECE became increasingly active in the Congo, trying to prevent what they believed was an impending communist takeover. Getting in touch with Kasa-Vubu and Mobutu, they encouraged an ABAKO revolt, now that ANC forces were being redeployed east. They also tried to convince President Bolikango to dismiss the Lumumba government [218], and whilst he strongly considered it, he was concerned at the outcome, which would likely be an ABAKO-led government.
An uprising amongst the Bakongo against Lumumba's government flared up at Luozi, and began to march east towards the capital. It's armed wing was led by Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, who had under his command rogue ANC forces loyal to himself. Mobutu and Kasa-Vubu hoped that by seizing the capital, they would be able to arrest Lumumba and Bolikango, dissolve the MNC-led government, and institute a loose federal state conducive to their interests.
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[213] IOTL, Pétillon was replaced by Hendrik Cornelis as Governor of Belgian Congo.
[214] IOTL, there was a Round Table Conference in Brussels between the Congolese delegation and the Belgian government.
[215] IOTL, Lumumba did the opposite, shafting Bolikango in favor of Kasa-Vubu. It seems that he was vacillating between the two at this time, and I have him going with Bolikango, as ITTL, with a UN administration, he is less concerned about Bolikango's tie to Belgian interests.
[216] a renamed
Société Générale de Belgique.
[217] IOTL, Dag Hammarskjöld was only able to become secretary-general in 1953 due to the British and Americans convincing the Republic of China not to veto over Sweden's recognition of the PRC. ITTL, the ROC doesn't abstain, and as such the deadlock continues, and eventually Kamal Al Din Salah is selected as a compromise candidate.
[218] ITTL, without being double-crossed by Lumumba during the presidential selection, Bolikango doesn't become a CIA asset.