Evening star., 1961-06-04

rising so rapidly all around the
globe.
The Afrikaners contend that
their treatment Of the African ma
jority of their fellow-countrymen
is solely their own affair, and that
the rest of the world has no right
to intervene. This claim is surely
unreasonable. The world cannot
be Indifferent to local injustice
and oppression anywhere. This Is
intolerable in itself, and it is
doubly intolerable when it has the
effect, abroad, of exaggerating
racial tension in other countries
that have the problem of a mixed
population on their hands.
The ex-Belgian Congo resembles
West Africa in being, for the most
part, a country in which Euro
peanS cannot permanently make
themselves at home. The main
cause of the present deplorable
situation there is Belgium'S in
tention, until a short time ago,
to go on ruling the Congo, and to
60 on drawing economic profits
from it, for an indefinite time to
come.
Troining for Industry
Consistently with this intention,
Belgium deliberately conditioned
her Congolese subjects. She
trained them for elementary in
dustrial Jobs in which they were
useful to her, but she prevented
them from obtaining any higher
education and from gaining ex-
perience in running the country
through being given responsible
posts.
Belgians used to boast Of this
policy of theirs to English people.
They would deride the English for
the soft-headedness that they
showed In planning to give their
own African subjects independence
and in deliberately preparing
them for this. But the Belgians
suddenly discovered that, con-
trary to their expectations, they
could no longer keep their African
subjects under control; and then,
in panic, they abdicated at short
notice and threw their Congolese
subjects out into a difficult world
with which they had not been
taught to cope.
Belgium's colonial record has
been a lamentable one. 1t fully
accounts for the deplorable course
Of events in the Congo since the
Belgian regime there broke down.
1t accounts for the Congolese
peoples resentment against their
former Belgian rulers, for their
relapse into tribal quarrels, and
for their present failure to man
age their affairs on modern lines.
The other African countries
south of the Sahara can be
touched upon only briefly within
the limits Of this article. The
Portuguese have one merit as
colonialistS. They do intermarry
with their Asian and African sub
jectS, and intermarriage is the
best cure for racial tension.
Unfortunately, European Portu-
guese settlers have recently been
planted in the highland of Angola
in considerable numbers, and this
new element there may give An
gola's future development South
African twist.
In Kenya and Northern Rho
desia, as in Tanganyika, the Euro
pean minority is so small that
there is some hope that it will
reconcile itself to African major
ity rule under a democratic con-
stitution. In Nyassaland, the
European minority is negligible.
Neither Nyassaland nor Northern
Rhodesia would present serious
problems If they had not both
been tied up in a federation with
Southern Rhodesia against the
wishes of their African majorities.
Fort u n tely, Notwithstanding
this federal link with Southern
Rhodesia, both these countries are
still being administered by the
United Kingdom government; so
London will have the last word
in deciding their future.
Ruanda- -Urundi, like Uganda, is
a thickly populated country with