ANOTHER CIA FOUL-UP IN CONGO?

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000700580003-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 21, 2004
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: August 27, 1967
• Content Type: NSPR

A British We*
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LONDON-It seems clear now, from information I have re-
ceived from more than one source, that the CIA was implica'.ed
in the kidnaping of Modse Tshombe. At the very least, senior
CIA representatives in Kinshasa, the Congolese capital, must
.have known that the snatch was imminent, and their influence
with President Mobutu is such that they could certainly have
prevented it if they had. wanted to.
to ;;ly to his CIA backers. Hence the long stalemate, while des-
rut negotiations continued beneath the surface. Meanwhile
t zero are reports of now recruiting among Tshombe's former
r_..e ., b~?4H ?? ?? ? CIA's equivocal position derives from the same mistake which
There can be no doubt about that whatsoever. And the CIA-
Mobutu reckoned that his position would never be secure
bank accourits to draw on, He was right. Prior to the kidnaping, . another secession.
on their side watching Tshambo all the. time, the, kidnapers experts. If the West hadn't backed the anti-Communists with
- -_ ~~
the Communist rebels. In both cases, most of the gloating and reJodeing? has been
the West and lean towards the Communists, and, as immediate CIA may be backing the wrong horse.
should switch his support from Israel to the Arabs, break with Katangeso copper mines. Not for the first time, however, the
pretend that it knew nothing about Tshombe, determined to crushing Katanga-that the Congo needs stability and the cen-
ask a high price for its embarrassing captive-that Mobutu tral government cannot survive without a secure grip on" the
-officer who talked. So the Algerian government, unable now to argument for it was presumably the same as the argument for
for two reasons; because the co-pilot managed to transmit a apart from the ethics of conniving at Tshombe's kidnaping and
message and because the plane was met in Algeria by a junior potential execution, I am doubtful about the expediency. The
.The Boston Sunday "Herald, ' 27 August 1g67
Approved For Release 2005/01/05 : CIA-RDP75-00149R000700580003-2