Fomenting Discord

June 30th 1960 was a day of hope and also regret for the Congo. It had just gained independence from Belgium. Its young Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba’s scathing response to King Baudoin I’s rose-tinted view of Belgium’s colonial record[1] emphasised two things. Lumumba and his nation would not tolerate Baudoin’s revision of the humiliating and brutal colonial past, and if he had not been previously, Lumumba was a marked man from that day forth.

Fearing the loss of their plantations and business interests Belgian colonists fought to maintain their privileges. They did so by taking advantage of divisions in the government between President Joseph Kasa-Vubu and Lumumba, who favoured different systems. They also stoked the flames by instigating the secessionist movement in the mineral rich Katanga province.

Katanga’s secessionist government was led by Moïse Tshombe, but it was sustained by mainly Belgian mercenaries. The strategy soon bore fruit, as the Congolese army soon mutinied.

Plots

Plotting Lumumba’s downfall gathered pace. The governments of Belgium, Britain and the USA wanted a permanent solution to the Lumumba problem. Fearful of losing influence and privilege, especially in Katanga province, the former colonial power began destabilising the newly independent Congo.

The Chief of Staff, Joseph Désiré Mobutu, – a man Lumumba had unwisely promoted – proved a willing vessel. The new government was soon in a chaotic state – one that could be exploited. On September 5th 1960 Lumumba was dismissed by President Kasa-Vubu, but the Prime Minister refused to accept it and dismissed the President – the Prime Minister had greater power than the President.

Just over a week later Mobutu made his move, launching his first coup. Lumumba was put under house arrest. Initially, Lumumba was more Pan-Africanist than socialist and had wanted normal relations with the USA, but his anti-colonial speech in response to Baudoin I’s paternalistic appreciation of Belgian colonialism and rule came at a high cost. It alarmed the west and also Kasa-Vubu and Mobutu.

Lumumba asked for help from the USA, especially to resolve the separatist problem, but it was refused. That left him little option but to ask the United Nations and also the USSR to help. At the height of the Cold War Lumumba had been driven into the arms of the USSR and that heightened western fears about him.

The governments of the USA, Britain and Belgium wanted a permanent solution to the ‘Lumumba problem’. And now they had their pretext.

Cynical Ruse

After four months he was allowed to escape, but that was a ruse. The UN did nothing to save him. Almost certainly on the orders of the Belgian Minister for African Affairs, Mobutu and Kasa-Vubu had Lumumba delivered into the hands of Katanga’s secessionists. Lumumba was made to literally eat his own words. Tshombe then did what Mobutu could not – he had Lumumba murdered by Belgian mercenaries led by Julien Gat on January 17th 1961.

Another Belgian mercenary, Charles Huyghé boasted of his role in the murder of an unarmed prisoner, and claimed that Lumumba begged for his life. Instead of facing justice, Huyghé was awarded Belgium’s top award for bravery, the Order of Leopold. Huyghé was also made a Knight of the Realm.

[1]  The following extract of Lumumba’s impromptu speech is quoted by Chukwunyere Kamalu in The Little African History Book – Black Africa from the Origins of Humanity to the Assassination of Lumumba and the Turn of the 20th Century. The third edition, sadly out of print was published by Orisa Press in 2007: “For this independence of the Congo, even as it is celebrated today with Belgium, a friendly country with whom we deal as equal to equal, no Congolese worthy of the name will ever be able to forget that it was by fighting that it has been won, a day-to-day fight, an ardent and idealistic fight, a fight in which we were spared neither privation nor suffering, and for which we gave our strength and our blood. We are proud of this struggle, of tears, of fire, and of blood, to the depths of our being, for it was a noble and just struggle, and indispensable to put an end to the humiliating slavery which was imposed upon us by force”.

Consolidation

The defeat of the Kabaka (ruler of the Kingdom of Buganda) Mutesa II neutralised both him and also his party Kabaka Yekka. Defections from it to the Uganda Peopleʼs Congress ended Mutesaʼs influence and the relevance of his party at least for the time being. The Democratic Party also suffered defections. Uganda was on its way to becoming a one-party state, but Ugandan Prime Minister Milton Obote was still a long way from ultimate power, as divisions in the Uganda Peopleʼs Congress reappeared.

Obote still had some way to go to see off all the threats. His political astuteness had outmanoeuvred Mutesa II. The Democratic Party was no longer a threat to win elections, but dissenters in the ruling Uganda Peopleʼs Congress were the new threat, or rather they were an old threat emboldened to take on Obote. They were gifted an opportunity in early 1966 through the carelessness of Oboteʼs military protégé, a then Colonel Idi Amin.

An African Tyrant

The outstanding leader of the Congoʼs liberation struggle from Belgium Patrice Lumumba had been murdered on January 17^th 1961 after being delivered to Katangan secessionists by his former protégé Joseph Désiré Mobutu. Shorn of its gifted leader the Congo-Léopoldville as it then was soon descended into chaos, which was exploited by Mobutu to seize power through a coup dʼétat.

Mobutuʼs coup had the tacit support of the Western powers due to Cold War politics. That decision left the Congolese people suffering the tender mercies of the despot for three decades. Armed opposition included Pierre Mulele, Nicholas Olenga and future President of the Democratic Republic of Congo Laurent-Désiré Kabila.

Opposition to Mobutu was organised in Africa if that is the right word, as it was incredibly disorganised. Che Guevara despaired of the lack of organisation by Kabila. Nevertheless, African leaders, including Obote quickly saw the danger Mobutu posed and conspired with Congolese opposition to oust him forcibly. Aminʼs carelessness gave Oboteʼs opponents in the Uganda Peopleʼs Congress their chance.

No Confidence

Congo was rich in resources. It was soon plundered by both sides. Mobutuʼs corrupt and brutal kleptocracy all but ruined the country. Kabila, like other armed opponents trafficked ivory and gold – they had little choice to fund their struggle. Obote chose to support Olenga, but it soon backfired.

Amin deposited a gold bar stamped by the Congolese government into his personal account in 1966. It was brazen. The account was credited with $17,000. Oboteʼs opponents had their opportunity.

They discovered that Obote had used the Ugandan army, especially Colonel Amin to interfere in the crisis in the Congo. Amin claimed that the money had been used to purchase weapons from the Chinese for General Olenga, but Olenga said that he never received them. That enabled Oboteʼs opponents to accuse Amin and Obote among others of corruption, aided and abetted by Olengaʼs claims. Amin said the weapons had been bought, but were intercepted in Kenya.

Oboteʼs Coups

Oboteʼs opponents in the Uganda Peopleʼs Congress took advantage while he was away from Kampala. The vote of no confidence was near unanimous, but Obote outmanoeuvred the partyʼs General Secretary Grace Iginbira and her allies by staging a coup against his own government, arrested his party opponents and imposed a new constitution without debate or a vote. He concentrated powers in the Prime Ministerʼs Office and took away the autonomy of the regional kingdoms.

Faced with dissent in Buganda from the Kabaka, Obote sent in troops under Aminʼs command to subdue the opposition, which Amin did once Obote lost patience and demanded results. The Kabaka Mutesa II escaped and fled into exile. The Constitution, dividing Buganda into four districts, imposed martial law. Obote had outmanoeuvred his opponents – now he had to deliver without opponents to out-muscle or blame if things went wrong.