GALLOWS READIED FOR TSHOMBE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000700580012-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 21, 2004
• Sequence Number: 12
• Publication Date: July 28, 1967
• Content Type: NSPR

WASHINGTON STAR
Approved For Relesg 25/f6 : CIA-RDP75-00149Rs8o(I
WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY
Gallows Readied for'
Tshombe'
Who Is raising a hand to proceedings can be brought. And the Congo has no airz
save Moise Tshombe? The answer to that question is planes of its own, at least none'
Well , Mrs. Tshombe for one. disturbingly easy, namely that could easily negotiate the,
She has come to New York to "No"-because at the present long journey from North
do what she can to stir up moment there are no diplo. Africa to Central Africa. They:
.
sentiment in favor of her matic relations between have a couple of Piper Cubs,
husband and to exert pressure Algeria and the Congo, so that but whom would they hire to
on the Congo's Gen. Joseph' whatever were the extradition fly them all that way? Charles..
Mobutu to stay the scheduled agreements that previously Lindbergh?
execution. obtained, for the moment they ; Meanwhile the executioner
Tshombe's French lawyer are inoperative. ' -~ has the gallows ready. Per-'?
. cools. his heels in Algeria, The second question; which hags there will be a little
denied access to his client. In could only be asked if the first; preliminary ritual. When last
the United States, a commit- question were answered' spring Tshombe's successor
tee to help Tshombe has favorably to the Congolese, and the three former Cabinet
retained . Chicago attorney . members were executed a
etitioners
w
h
th
Luis Kutner to prepare a
habeas corpus petition to
present to the United Nations.
There were stirrings a
fortnight ago from within the
Congo, and it was widely
assumed that the mercenaries
who were loyal to Tshombe
were rising up against Mobu-
g
,
a
ever,
e
-
a. s simply to
Yp
half-dozen mercenaries are have accepted the Congo's bill Oh yes, there is another plea
quite enough to topple a of particulars, much as the old.: before the Algerian court that
typical Congolese government. Jacobin court would accept as . may hold things up for just a
But these did not apparently proof anyone's accusations bit. Representatives of other
want power, merely a little provided the rhetoric was African democracies have
loot, and if they were moved sufficiently revolutionary, and petitioned ? Algeria to hold
by a loyalty to Tshombe, they trundle off the defendant to Tshombe pending his trial as
did not make that clear. instant death at the guillotine. an "enemy of the African
r^Tshombe himself, when the Mobutu promptly announced continent." An interesting
th
A
e
lger I" cour t, was thrice
cryptic. He said that whatever.
the decision, he would recee
it as becomes "a chief of
'state." But he is not a chief of
state, rather a former chief of
state. Then he said that his
present plight was the doing of
/ the CIA, a positively unfath-
omable allegation. And finally,
-that he was punished for his
loyalty to Gen. Charles de
Gaulle.
Why would the Algerian
government punish someone i
.friendly to De Gaulle, in
asmuch as the Algerian
government is friendly to De
Gaulle? One suspects that
' Tshombe's wits were addled.
Had he' been brainwashed?
Tortured?
One would certainly not
one manage that? One can,
Algerian want to found a church t hardly expect Pan American
was justice. The court " Airways to schedule an "Exe-
two questions: to determine cation Special" from Algiers
The ? first was whether there to Leopoldville. No, the com-
are extant treaties between mercial carriers are unlikei ?'
'Algeria and the Congo on the . to want to furnish their fa
basis. of which extradition t: ties for that grisly mission.
Approved For Release 2005/01/05 : CIA-RDP75-00149R000700580012-2
p
,
as w
e
er! ? reporter discloses that their
Tshombe had committed non-i eyes wer
fi
e
rst poked out-.a
political and hence extra, ita-~ little Congolese nicety-which
ble crimes in the Congo. 'rho! is wh
when th
y
ey went out into
verdit of the Algerians,; the public square to be
prompted of course by the' hanged, there. appeared with
Congolese, was that he had-: ? black hoods 'offer their heads.
that he had murdered Patrice That is the fate toward which
Lumumba, stolen money, ,
committed
Tshombe appears certainly to
raft
wh
t
arrival, that there was 'no find Tshombe guilty of it in a
need for further legal folderol. ' matter of moments.
Tshombe has already been But what then? How can
"tried" in ' absentia and of Tshombe be executed 'imulta.
course found guilty of every, neously by each and every
heinous misdeed conjurable in Africa state? Perhaps the
the imagination of Mobutu. notion is to execute him on
There was no defense,,no rules color TV, for the delectation
of evidence enforced. It was of the entire continent. Per-
as much a sham as the Congo- haps the Ford Foundation will
lesedemocracy. be asked to finance the facili-.
So ? Tshombe waited to be ties. The United Nations,
deported. Even now he may which has been so eloquently'
be on his way. Indeed, for all silent during the entire fiasco,
we know surely, he may be would :be. , an appropriate
dead at this moment. sponsor..:.: ,~
Whatever delay there has
been is probably attributable'
.
to certain mechanical difficul-
ties in transshipping him to
the Congo. How actually does;