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Zaire The Road to Independence
The rioting that swept across Léopoldville in early
January
1959, did more than induce the Belgian government to
recognize
independence formally as the ultimate goal of its
policies; it also
set in motion a decolonization plan designed to lay the
foundation
for major constitutional reforms. The Colonial Council,
renamed the
Legislative Council, would include twelve indigenous
Congolese
members and provide the embryo of an upper chamber; the
Government
Council and provincial councils would be transformed into
advisory
bodies to monitor the decisions of the Belgian governor
general and
provincial governors. By late 1959, local councils would
be elected
to serve as an electoral college for the establishment of
provincial councils. No provision was made, however, for
the
transfer of executive or administrative power to
non-Europeans. And
the few Congolese selected for membership in the new
advisory
organs could scarcely be seen as representative of their
countrymen's interests.
In view of its omissions and ambiguities, it is easy to
see why
the Belgian plan fell short of the expectations of most
politically
conscious Congolese. Even before it began to be put into
effect,
the Belgian blueprint had been largely outstripped by the
pace and
intensity of nationalist activity. Faced with an impasse,
the
Belgian government finally agreed to the Round Table
Conference,
held in Brussels in January 1960, involving the
participation of a
broad spectrum of nationalist organizations. At the
conference,
June 30, 1960, was agreed upon as the date of
independence.
Elections would be held in May, on the basis of universal
suffrage,
for the election of a bicameral parliament and provincial
councils.
Finally, a special commission was appointed to frame a new
constitutional system, which became the Fundamental Law.
The constitutional formula adopted by the Round Table
Conference was a carbon copy of the Belgian constitution.
Its
essential feature was a threefold division of powers,
between the
central government and the provinces, between the Senate
and the
Chamber of Representatives, and between the head of state
and the
prime minister. The duality of executive powers meant in
theory
that the president would be cast in the role of the
Belgian king,
acting largely as a figurehead, with effective executive
power
vested in the hands of the prime minister. In the context
of the
newly emergent Congolese polity, however, this system
incorporated
within itself the seeds of a major conflict of
jurisdiction between
the president and the prime minister.
The national legislative elections of May 1960 and the
setting
up of national and provincial executives almost completed
the
process of decolonization. At the national level,
Lumumba's MNC was
able to control a slim majority of seats in both chambers,
thanks
to its alliance with smaller parties. Lumumba thus became
the
country's first prime minister, but the presidency went to
Abako
leader Kasavubu. At the provincial level, there emerged a
more
complex situation. Only in Orientale (now Haut-Zaïre
Region) did
the MNC win a solid majority. Katanga was split between
separatists
(identified with Tshombe's Conakat) and unitarists. Kasai
was about
to become the scene of a major ethnic confrontation
between Lulua
and Luba elements. And in Léopoldville Province Abako
failed to win
a majority of seats, thus paving the way for serious
tensions
between Bakongo and Bangala deputies. In at least three
provinces
out of six, the political arenas were fraught with
incipient ethnoregional conflicts, and these in turn quickly generated a
vicious
circle at the center.
Data as of December 1993
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