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Zaire Settler Politics in Katanga
The major challenges posed to the MNC in its early
years were
the rise of ethno-nationalism and the threat of regional
separatism
in Katanga. Settler interests played a determining role in
manipulating the regional balance of power to the
advantage of
secessionist forces.
Because of its industrial base and comparatively large
European
population, Katanga differed in some essential ways from
other
regions. By 1956 it claimed a non-African population of
approximately 34,000, about 31 percent of the total
European
population of the colony. Many Europeans became active
members of
the Union for the Colonization of Katanga (Union pour la
Colonisation du Katanga--Ucol-Katanga), a settler
organization
founded in 1944 for the specific purpose of "securing for
the white
population of Katanga the liberties granted by the Belgian
constitution, and to promote, by all available means, the
growth of
European colonization." Yet, as it became increasingly
clear that
self-government under settler rule was not a viable
option, and as
the extension of the vote to Africans in 1957 brought into
existence a new constellation of political forces, settler
politics
took on a radically different objective. The aim was no
longer to
prevent Africans from gaining power, but to work toward a
close
political collaboration with those Africans who shared
both the
settlers' distrust of centralized control and their
separatist
goals.
The most likely catalyst for this collaborative
partnership was
the Confederation of Katanga Associations (Confédération
des
Associations du Katanga--Conakat), headed by Moďse
Tshombe.
Describing themselves as "authentic Katangese," Conakat
supporters
were essentially drawn from the Lunda and Yeke peoples of
southern
Katanga, that is, from those elements who were most
resentful of
the presence of Luba immigrants from Kasai, many of whom
found
employment in the mining centers. The decisive victory
scored by
these "strangers" during the 1957 urban council elections
sharply
intensified the animus of Conakat leaders toward
immigrants from
Kasai, while bringing into clearer focus the common
aspirations of
European settlers and "authentic Katangese."
As time went on, however, another threat to Conakat
emerged
from the north, not from Luba-Kasai but from Luba elements
indigenous to northern Katanga. Led by Jason Sendwe, they
eventually set up their own political organization, the
Association
of the Luba People of Katanga (Association des Baluba du
Katanga--
Balubakat), soon to enter into an alliance with Lumumba's
branch of
the MNC. Despite strong cultural affinities between the
two groups,
the Luba-Kasai went their own way, directing their
loyalties to the
Federation of Kasai (Fédération Kasaďenne--Fédéka). Their
political
aloofness was in large part motivated by the rift in Kasai
between
the MNC-Lumumba and the MNC-Kalonji, identified,
respectively, with
Lulua and Luba elements in the Kasaian arena. Thus, the
alliance of
Balubakat with the MNC-Lumumba made it highly unlikely
that a
similar rapprochement would ever materialize between
Balubakat and
Fédéka. The split between Kasaian and Katangese Luba thus
played
directly into the hands of Conakat and its European
partners.
The victory of the MNC-Lumumba in the May 1960 national
legislative elections transformed the alliance between
European
settlers and Conakat into an increasingly close
partnership, and
Conakat's relationship with Balubakat into a protracted
trial of
strength. The conflict with Balubakat began with the
provincial
elections of May 1960, when Conakat won twenty-five seats,
Balubakat twenty-two, and independents the remaining
thirteen.
Although Balubakat appealed the results, the Belgian
magistrate
rejected the appeal, and after the thirteen independents
joined
Conakat, the latter emerged with a solid majority in the
Katangan
provincial assembly. On June 1, the Balubakat deputies
walked out
of the assembly, depriving it of the necessary quorum to
start its
deliberations. At this point, the provincial governor,
yielding to
the urgings of European settlers, appealed to Brussels to
promulgate an amendment to the constitution, the
Fundamental Law
(Loi Fondamentale), which had been enacted on May 19. On
June 15,
despite the prophetic warning of Balubakat that "the
promulgation
of (the amendment) would inevitably lead to civil war
after June
30," the Belgian parliament nevertheless enacted the
amendment,
thus making it legally possible for Conakat to gain full
control of
the provincial institutions. On July 11, Tshombe formally
declared
Katanga an independent state
(see The
Secession of Katanga
, this
ch.).
Data as of December 1993
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