Evening star., 1961-09-19
BY LYNN HEINZERLING
Associated Press staff Writer

Congo mas lost the DeSI Irlen0
it ever had.
When United Nations Secre-
tary General Dag Hammar-
skiold died in a plane crash in
Northern Rhodesia he was on
q mission he first undertook in
July, 1960-to safeguard the
unity. territorial integrity and
viability of a new and confused
republic.
Mr.. H a m m arskjold took
snubS, insults and vilification
from the immature. helpless
and self-seeking political lead
ers Of the Congo. He did not
move an inch from what he
considered was his mandate
from the U. N.
Premier Patrice Lumumba
and other Congolese leaders
from the first assaiied the sec
retary general whenever they
felt their own personal prog
ress was being impeded.
Task Far From Completed
Not one Of them contributed
as much toward making the
tottering, backward jungle land
a stable political state as did
Mr.. Hammarskjold. And he was
far from completing his task in
the Congo when he met his
death.
MFR. Lumumba was most vo-
ciferous in denouncing Mr..
Hammarskjold in the wild and
dangerous days of 1860 until
he found it necessary to seek
u. N. protection. Jacques Lum-
bala, like Mr.. Lumumba now
dead, called the secretary gen.
eral an imperialist. He was a
secretary Of state in the Lu-
mumba cabinet.
Noise Tshombe, the Katanga
leader now fighting the U. NJ,
opposed Mr.. HammarskJold
from the beginning. He has
been determined from the birth
of the republic to keep his cop
per-rich province Independent.
Antoine Gizenga, the left
leaning Lumumba deputy who
tried to set up a government
| in Stanleyville after Mr.. Lu-
mumba's death. questioned Mr..
Hammarskjold's motives and
denounced his policies.
Lundula Turned Back on Him
| Gen. Victor Lundula, once
commander Of the Congolese
army, turned his back on Mr..
Mammarskjold and permitted
his troops to mistreat and beat
up U. N. personnel.
Some members of the pres
ent government were publicly
on record as opposing Mr..
Hammarskjold. Even President
Joseph Kasavubu opposed him
at times.
The Congolese mind some
how could not grasp the fact
that this white mans motives
were of the highest, that his
great desire for the Congo was
Npeace, political maturity and
prosperity.
Fortunately for the Congo,
DR.. Sture Linner, another
Swede and a man with Mr..
| Hammarskjold'S own direct
approach, answering devotion
to the mission and sympathetic
attitude. remains in Leopold
vile to direct the U. N, opera
ton.
Irony Pointed Out
The Congo, more than a year
old, does not even have a
legally adopted constitution.
Only an outside organization
of impeccable motives could
hope to bring order out of the
chaos which followed independ-
ence. And in the present world
that could only be the U. N.
1t was ironical that at his
death Mr.. Hammarskiold was
flying to a meeting with Mr..
Tshombe which could have re-
suited only in failure. Mr.,
Hammarskjoid never could
have accepted Mr.. Tshombe' S
views of Katanga's future in
cease-fire discussions to halt
the fighting between Katanga
and U. N. forces.
From the beginning of the
U. N. operation in the Congo
the international oody's policy
has been to treat Katanga as
a province of the Congo. With
out Katanga, the Congo does