Jackson advocate. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1939-current, 1960-10-29

now out Of work.
There is no unemployment re-
lief of any sort. Usually it is ex-
planned that the traditional At
rican tribal and family feeding
system takes care of the needy.
But African solidarity, strong as
it may be, is strained to its limits
in stagnant Leopoldville. There is
little money in the African city
and prices are going up all the
time. In the absence of any sta
tistics one may take the word of
an educated African housewife
that the cost of living here has
increased 100 per cent since July;
"They try to fool US by keeping
price for a standard package of
sugar unchanged while making
the package smaller"
Electricity, gasoline and bus
fares still cost the same as be-
fore independence. Other things
have gone up steeply or are un-
obtainable in the depleted stores.
In the African city people talk
and worry about how difficult and
complicated life in Leopoldville has
become. They also discuss sports
in the bars and saloons of the
Cite. The United Nations at last
has succeeded in becoming a topic
there by organizing a soccer match
between an international eleven
selected from its personnel and a
local Congolese team to celebrate
United Nations Day Oct. "a.
It is difficult to hear politics
outside the few strictly delimited
areas in Leopoldville that are al
ways mentioned in news reports.
They are the United Nations head
quarters in the Royal, brand-new
apartment house; the residence of
the Premier with Mr.. Lumumba
as the occupant behind u n d
Nations and Congolese army
guards; Camp Leopold II, spraw-
ling military compound where Co.
lionel Mobutu lives and works;
President Joseph Kasavubu's pal
ace overlooking the Congo cata-
racts and the two leading hotels
that face each other in the Euro
pean city, the Memling and the
Stanley, where United Nations of
ficials, many diplomats, newspap-
er reporters, business men and
some enigmatic guests are quar-
tered.
Few Reliable Troops
Colonel Mobutu is theoretically
chief of staff of an army of TO-
900. What actual power he has as
a military strong man rests on a
much smaller number of reliable
troops in and near the capital -
perhaps 1000 men. His caretaker
government of the young "high
commissioners" comprises the elite
of Congolese intellectuals Is
university graduates and students
in all.
Colonel Mobutu has had more
and more disagreements with the
United Nations command here. To-
day he announced he would leave
for New York on Tuesday to take
his disputes to United Nations
headquarters.
President Kasavubu controls
much of Leopoldville's African city
through his political tribal organ
ization of the lower Congo, the
Abako. Bossism is the Characters
tic Of the Abako machine, with
loyal but rather inert rank-and-
file, which may account for the
political calm of the Cite.
Few But Vocal
The Lumumbists are few in Leo
poldville but active and vocal.
Whenever one meets rare Con-
golese who starts discussing poll
tics one may be sure that he will
eventually reveal himself a fol-
lower of the fiery ex-Permier.
Colonel Modulus pracetorians,
the governing intelligentsia, the
Abako bosses, the die-hard Lum-
umbists and what other political
actors are on the Leopoldville
stage may add up to one-hund-
redth of the population. Even few
er are those who follow what is
going on in the world and are
aware that their country's fate
is debated at the United Nations
in New York.
IN