Evening star., 1961-12-31
Views of Kotonqo

amount OF sentiment ln favor
Of Noise Tshombe and his
Katanga rebels in the cur
rent Congo crisis. Both the
ill-informed and the hypo-
critical are going into lengthy
diScourSes decrying the treat
ment of Tshombe and his
followers. Many of these hyp-
ocrites have no interest in
the residents of Katanga,
their so-called leader, or their
alleged fight for freedom.
Their real sentiment lies with
the Belgians and the Euro
pean mining interests who
have for years drained the
Congo of its resources with
out putting anything back in,
save an occasional mission
ary.
Some Tshombe sympathiz-
ers have attempted to draw
a parallel between the pres
ent Congo farce and the
American Revolutionary War.
Such attempts are extremely
naive. In view of the absence
of the same or similar mo-
tives, the equating of the
Congo affair with the Amer
lean Revolution is something
less than absurd.
Katanga is not a colony of
the Congo. 1t is an integral
part of this African nation
subject to the control of the
Central Government. The
secession attempt by Katanga
can be favorably compared
with a similar attempt by
the now defunct Confeder-
acy in 1861. AS Jeff Davis
and his rebels were restrained
from splitting the Union, so
must Tshombe and his brig
ands be halted in their at
tempt to divide the Congo.
The U. N. is obliged to aid
the duly constituted govern
ment of this nation establish
order and effect some sort
of tranquility in its internal
affairs.
1t is fortunate that the
United States has elected to
support the U. N. in its ef-
fort in the Congo. The cour-
age and insight Of the State
Department in this matter
is highly commendable. Let
us hope that they have the
will and the determination
to be steadfast until the U. N.
attains it's goal.
Ernest E. Fletcher.
. D
The letter from A. L. Beall
contained the following
thought-provoking question:
Why is it necessary to unite
Katanga under the Red
dominated Congo? Why
couldn't the Congo be united
with Katanga province, un-
der the leadership of Tshom-
be?
This question seems to me
to be a challenging one and
I have often thought the
above solution would long ago
have solved the Congo's
troubled problems.
If wealthy Katanga prov
ince is the richest and most
sought-after part of the Con-
60 because of its vast re-
sources for income, it stands
to reason that the seat Of
the government should be
located in Elisabethville rath-
er than Leopoldville, seat of
the poorer province. Logic
demands that the poorest
provinces bow to the leader
ship of the richer one, source
of the income, rather than
vice-versa.
Noise Tshombe. the friend
of the United States, who
has shown leadership ability
in progressive Katanga,
should be offered this mer-
tied status.
L. C. Hieber.
Il 4
Your December 81 editorial,
Tempting Tshombe," casts
strong doubt upon the judg-
ment and even the intentions
of the United Nations direc-
ton Cor what passes for it
in the CongO in employing
1000 troops of the central
Congo army in Katanga.
Rightly so! Perhaps the U. N.
wishes to employ these CEN
trail Congo troops to take
some of the stigma and at
tention off the behavior Of
it's Ghurkas and Ethiopians
there.
What has the United Ma
tions done about the murder
ers of the 13 Italian airmen?
Are these among the 1000