Free Missing in Action by Ralph Riegel

sergeant – and the 25,000-man Force Publique, or Congolese army, was commanded by 1,135 Belgian officers. In the entire army there was not a single commissioned Congolese officer in 1958. In the Congolese civil service in 1955, there were just three African managers in positions of any semblance of power. Many Belgians automatically presumed that after independence the new fledgling country would simply retain its existing administrative and commercial cadre out of sheer necessity.
    Writing in David O’Donoghue’s excellent collection of essays, The Far Battalions , one Congolese clergyman, Rev. Daniel Diafwila, described King Leopold II as little more than a thief and warned that the single worst element of the Belgian administration was its blunt refusal to place Africans in any position of responsibility. ‘One of the worst aspects of the colonial system was the total exclusion of African people from politics and urban administration. In 1959, the French President Charles de Gaulle, delivered a speech in Brazzaville calling for the start of the emancipation process for the African nations. The Belgian colonialists were greatly surprised by this and would not agree to hand over control of the country’s riches to the people of the Congo,’ he wrote.
    But riots in Leopoldville badly frightened the Belgian admin-istration in 1959. In an effort to ensure the Force Publique would maintain its discipline after independence, its commanding officer, Lt General Émile Janssens, bluntly – and insultingly – spelled out to Congolese soldiers what would happen. He simply wrote on a blackboard in a military briefing room: ‘Before Independence – After Independence’. In other words, there would be no change. Badly paid, worried about their futures and furious over the lack of promotion opportunities, soldiers in some military units chose to revolt.
    Brussels then looked south to Paris and saw that even the mighty French were struggling to cope with a vicious civil war in Algeria. The lesson was obvious: if Paris could not militarily contain a revolt in one of France’s own departments (Algeria was not considered a colony but an actual part of France), then what hope did little Belgium have in fighting a nationalist uprising in a country bigger than western Europe?
    Having dragged their feet on independence for decades, Belgium now moved with astonishing, if not reckless, speed. It was announced that the Congo would receive its independence within twelve months. On 30 June 1960, Congo celebrated its independence day and Belgium’s King Baudouin attended a special ceremony at the Palais de la Nation in Kalina, a district of Leopoldville which, in colonial times, was strictly reserved for white Europeans. The final part of the ceremony saw Congo’s newly elected Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba, a well-educated trade unionist and former post office clerk, deliver a key speech.
    King Baudouin – who had been on the Belgian throne for a decade – was still a relatively young man and delivered a speech prepared for him by his courtiers and advisers. In it he wished the Congo well in its independent future but, controversially, he chose to exalt Belgian achievements and particularly the legacy of King Leopold II. Baudouin chose to publicly endorse the family version of Leopold’s achievements while ignoring the African opinion that he was a ruthless robber baron. ‘The independence of the Congo constitutes the culmination of the work conceived by the genius of King Leopold II – undertaken by him with tenacious courage and continued with perseverance by Belgium. Do not compromise the future with hasty reforms. Do not replace the structures that Belgium hands over to you [today] until you are sure you can do better,’ the king declared.
    The speech may have salved Belgian consciences, but it infuriated the Congolese who regarded Leopold as the worst face of European colonial exploitation. However, most Congolese leaders