TSHOMBE, MOISE

Moise Tshombe (November 19, 1919-June 29, 1969) served as president of the secessionist state of Katanga, and then as prime minister of the Republic of the Congo.

PHOTO CAPTION: Tshombe Moise. SOURCE: EA Library

Oldest son of Joseph Kapend, Moise Tshombe was born at Musumba, 200 km (120 mi) south of Katanga, capital of the Lunda empire of the great chief Mwant Yav, to whose royal line he was related by both blood and marriage. His father was one of the most successful Congolese businessmen of the colonial epoch.

As the oldest son, it was young Moise who was to inherit management of the firm “Joseph Kapend Tshombe et Fils.” To this end, his father sent him to primary school at the Methodist mission near Sandoa, 90 km (50 mi) south of Musumba, where the family then lived, and on to the Methodist teacher-training institute of Kanene, about 200 km (120 mi) southeast of Musumba, where he obtained a teaching certificate after four years of study. His formal education was completed through a correspondence course in accounting.

At this point, the young Tshombe arrived in Elisabethville (now Lubumbashi) in order to conduct his father’s business. In the city, however, the way of life was markedly different from that which the young man had known during his years in the country. He was dazzled. Moise Tshombe visited the enchanting nightclubs, spending most of his time ambling through the city, and quickly became popular in the cafés of Elisabethville.

His father, who had acquired his wealth by the sweat of his brow, reacted by sending the young spendthrift to manage a series of stores in the bush, far from the bright lights of Elisabethville. Moise, however, who had in the meantime married the daughter of chief Mbaku Ditend (who became Mwant Yav Ditend Yavu a Nawej III, who ruled from 1951-63), did not have his father’s success, and the latter had to intervene three times to save Moise from bankruptcy.

In 1951, following his father’s death, Moise Tshombe took over as director of the family’s interests in Elisabethville. As such, he enjoyed the status of an évolué (Western-educated African), was elected president of the African Chamber of Commerce of Elisabethville, and replaced his father on the provincial council where he held a seat until 1953.

After his father’s death he continued with his business; but got into difficulties because Belgian colonial law did not permit Congolese Africans to obtain credit from banks, even when they had landed and real properties. It was this disability which forced Tshombe to enter politics.

When his commercial enterprises began to waver, Tshombe decided to entrust them to his brothers; he entered politics where he finally found great success. In 1956 he founded a Lunda tribal association, approved by the Belgians as a non-political club although it did not hesitate to become a political one. In 1958 Tshombe became regional president of A.C.M.A.F. (Association of African Middle Classes) and president of G.A.S.S.O.M.E.L. (Grouping of Mutual [ethnic] Associations of the Lunda Empire).

In Katanga, as everywhere in the Congo, communal elections were held in December 1957 about constitutional reform concerning the status of cities. In Elisabethville these elections gave three out of four posts of burgomaster (mayor) to the Luba elements originally from Kasai.

This victory of the “foreigners” was not well accepted by the “true Katangans” and provoked a movement for solidarity among the Katanga ethnic groups: With a view to confronting the rising Katangan professional and social elements, Moise Tshombe and his colleagues created CONAKAT (Confederation of Tribal Associations of Katanga) in October 1958.

The following year relations between those born in Katanga and those from Kasai deteriorated even more. There was an economic recession, and many Africans found themselves without work. Misery was widespread in the industrial centers; the Katanga-born denounced the competing Kasai immigrants. The principal objective of CONAKAT then became the repatriation of 160,000 Luba “foreigners” to Kasai.

For Tshombe, the idea of a federal Congo, permitting autonomy amounting to secession for Katanga, came chiefly from the recession of 1959 and the rising ethnic tensions with the Luba from Kasai. He hoped to see an autonomous state of Katanga to stop “ruinous immigration” and to keep a larger portion of mineral profits for the Katangans from whose soil the copper came.

In this regard, the rapid rise of the M.N.C. (Mouvement National Congolais, or National Congolese Movement), led by Patrice Lumumba, evoked the menace not only of radical, foreign influence but also the continued dominance of a government outside the province and one under the control of Luba-Kasai. (The directing committee of the M.N.C. was composed principally of Luba from the province). Tshombe’s attitude toward the Luba of Kasai earned him the opposition of the related Luba of Katanga, led by Jason Sendwe’s BALUBAKAT (Association of Luba of Katanga), a former member group within CONAKAT. Sendwe then formed the Katanga Cartel with the Kasai immigrants and Cokwe (Chokwe) leaders.

Tshombe, as president of CONAKAT, incorporated into his coalition the Katanga Union, an association of white colonists known for their secessionist, or at least federalist views. The whites wanted autonomy for different reasons than Tshombe. For them, the principal threat was the radical view of the northern leaders, such as Lumumba and the M.N.C.—i.e. those urging a unitary state. The whites estimated that their interests would be better preserved under an autonomous regime led by a moderate well-disposed to their interests. From January 20 through February 20, 1960, there was a political Round Table conference in Brussels at which the unitarist thesis of Lumumba’s M.N.C. triumphed. During Tshombe’s visit to Belgium in early 1960, he was given very special treatment by Belgian financiers and politicians, and he assured them of his full cooperation after independence.

On his return home he had a rousing welcome from the Katangese. He also rejected the offer of Sir Roy Welensky, the prime minister of what was then the Central African Federation, for a union between Katanga and the federation. Tshombe himself was a convinced federalist and stood for a form of confederation—a position he defended during the Round Table Conference. This led people to conclude that he was in the pay of the mining companies. On March 3, 1960, he was invited to Brussels by the Movement for the United States of Europe. He told the members of this organisation of his plans for an independent Congo and asked for their help in achieving his goal. He then returned to the “Capital of Copper,” Elisabethville. In April his party won the provincial elections. On June 17 the provincial government was formed with Moise Tshombe as its president. On the national level, however, his enemy Patrice Lumumba had won the battle for leadership and formed a central government on June 23. Katanga was given two ministerial portfolios; Tshombe judged this share insufficient. At this point, supported by the European community, he attempted to proclaim independence for the copper province before June 30, the date foreseen for the Congo. Belgian counselors and the copper-producing Union Minière du Haut Katanga (UMHK), however, prevented Tshombe from doing so.

The Congo’s independence took place on June 30 in an atmosphere of calm, but shortly afterward the soldiers of the Force Publique mutinied in several garrisons throughout the country. Katanga was not spared. In Elisabethville, for example, a revolt erupted on July 9 at Camp Massart. Tshombe called upon the Belgian para-commandos from Kamina, 400 km (250 mi) northeast of Lubumbashi, to save the situation, and on July 10 calm was restored in Katanga. Supported by the European community of Katanga and the Belgian military, Tshombe profited from the reigning chaos in the rest of the Congo to proclaim Katanga’s independence on July 11, 1960.

Convinced of a Belgian hand in Katanga’s action, the central government in Léopoldville (now Kinshasa) broke diplomatic relations with Belgium on July 14. The Belgian government – without, however, officially recognising Katanga – supported Tshombe’s ambitions by continuing to give his government technical assistance and by maintaining key Belgian personnel within the secessionist state. Tshombe took advantage of the Belgian military who themselves clearly supported secessionism in Katanga. The copper revenue of Katanga was the major reason for Tshombe’s secessionist movement. Complex negotiations followed the declaration of secession, and included the following events: In September 1960, a Katangan delegation went to Brazzaville and signed an agreement with Joseph Ileo, then prime minister of the Congo, under which Katanga would give its full support to Joseph Kasa-Vubu and Ileo. The form of polity to be established was to be discussed later at a Round Table Conference.

On November 30, 1960, Tshombe was invited to Brazzaville by Abbé Fulbert Youlu, prime minister (later president) of the Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville), to attend the independence celebrations. It was then suggested that a round table conference should be called in the near future to settle the Congo problem. Tshombe agreed. Tshombe at this time found money to give a present to King Baudouin and Queen Fabiola of Belgium and was received in audience at the royal palace in Brussels. Some days later, during a banquet given in his honour by a Katangese delegation in Belgium, the Count d’Aspremont Lynden, the Belgian Minister of African Affairs, informed the gathering that the king had awarded President Tshombe the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Crown, and that the honor was in recognition of Tshombe’s courage. This decoration made Tshombe unpopular at home since he was regarded as a dangerous opportunist. However, the Belgian government did not officially support his secessionist movement.

In January 1961, Tshombe attended a conference in Tananarive, capital of Madagascar, where most major Congolese personalities, except Justin Bomboko, were present. The conference accepted Tshombe’s idea of a federated Congo. He afterwards returned to Elisabethville and gave a banquet in honour of Kasa-Vubu. But in April 1961, when Tshombe and Kimba went to Coquilhatville for a conference to implement the Tananarive accords, they were arrested on April 26, and charged with treason against the central government. Later, on June 24, 1961, they were released by Kasa-Vubu and Mobutu on the intervention of Fulbert Youlou. Very quickly the Katanga conflict became inter-nationalised. Pressures of all sorts were exercised in vain on the Katanga government to renounce secession. All attempts for negotiations between the central government and Katanga were similarly doomed to failure. In the end, intervention by the “Blue Helmets” (the United Nations Emergency Force, or U.N.E.F.) put down the Katanga secession.

At Kolwezi on January 14, 1963, Moise Tshombe proclaimed the end of Katanga’s bid for independence. Following his return to Elisabethville, he left for Paris by way of Ndola in Northern Rhodesia (Zambia). In March he returned to Katanga to recognise the authority of Joseph Ileo, designated by the central government as general commissioner for Katanga affairs. Having recovered the copper province, however, Léopoldville conducted an investigation, Tshombe did not remain sheltered from the inquiries. In June 1963 he returned to Paris, moving on to Barcelona, Spain, and then, in November, Madrid. From abroad Moise Tshombe maintained and multiplied his contacts. From Barcelona or Madrid, he addressed the politicians of Léopoldville and their advisors, expressing his desire to serve the central government loyally “without a backward glance to secession or personal ambition.”

In the meantime, the Congolese situation deteriorated. The 1964 rebellion led by Pierre Mulele had won three-quarters of the country, thanks to the parallel action of Emile Soumialot in the east. Just beyond the Congo’s borders, the Katanga mercenaries threatened to invade from Angola, and Christophe Gbenye founded a National Council of Liberation (C.N.L.) in Brazzaville (capital of the Republic of the Congo, formerly the French Congo).

In despair of ever reaching an accord with the central government of Cyrille Adoula (in office 1961-64), Tshombe turned to the C.N.L., meeting with its representatives in Madrid on February 22-24. An accord was concluded for national reconciliation and the cessation of all hostilities. Although this accord was never put into effect, the political leaders in Léopoldville, faced with growing rebellion and external pressure, were convinced that Tshombe’s return was the only possible solution. On June 26 Moise Tshombe arrived in Léopoldville, and Prime Minister Adoula offered his resignation to the president of the Republic on June 30.

Tshombe then formed a new central government, calling for dedication to “the public welfare” and national reconciliation. The forces of rebellion, however, did not disarm. Tshombe had to call on European mercenaries to supplement the Congolese National Army (A.N.C.), which undertook operations for the systematic reconquest of the territories occupied by the insurgents. These operations succeeded in part. On the diplomatic level, however, Tshombe confronted opposition from African countries, who reproached him principally for having called for aid from the West. In September 1964, the Organisation for African Unity (O.A.U.) asked that the “recruitment of mercenaries in the Congo cease immediately” and demanded the expulsion of the mercenaries already recruited.

On October 5 Tshombe, who had gone to Cairo to attend a conference of non-aligned countries, was assigned to a house under surveillance. On his return to the Congo, he attempted to recover his standing. He visited the president of France, Charles de Gaulle, in Paris, was received at the Vatican, and traveled in West Germany, everywhere seeking to win as many allies as possible. Tshombe participated later in the conference of the Joint African and Malagasy Organisation (O.C.A.M.) in Abidjan, the capital of the Ivory Coast, then went to Brussels where he believed that he had succeeded in finally regulating the contentious Belgo-Congolese economic issues. New elections took place in the Congo in the second half of 1965. CONACO (the National Congolese Convention) Tshombe’s new political party, assured itself of parliamentary control. President Joseph Kasa-Vubu convinced that Tshombe was going to oust him in the transition to a new constitutional structure, requested Tshombe’s resignation. When Tshombe’s resignation was not forthcoming, Kasa-Vubu dismissed him from office despite CONACO’s parliamentary majority. The situation was confusing.

Finally, on November 25, 1965, General Mobutu discharged Kasa-Vubu and proclaimed himself president with executive authority for five years. Tshombe was traveling, on July 1, 1967, by air from Madrid to the Balearic Islands, where he wanted to purchase a property at Ibiza, when the plane was hijacked by an ex-convict called Bodenan, and forced to land in Algiers. Tshombe was put under house arrest by the Algerian government, and an enquiry was held into his activities in the Congo. The Congolese government sent delegations to seek his extradition for trial for offences which included the murder of Patrice Lumumba, but President Boumedienne refused to release him. He spent his days reading, and going for car rides around Algeria with his guards, until he died of a heart attack on June 30, 1969 . His wife was allowed to take his body to Brussels, where he was buried on July 4, 1969.

MUTEBA KABEMBA NSUYA