LEOPOLDVILLE/INFLATION/PORTUGUESE RESIDENTS/LABOR UNIONS AND CONDITIONS/BELGIAN NATIVE POLICY/IMPORT-EXPORT STATISTICS, 1952

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000500080182-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 29, 1999
• Sequence Number: 182
• Publication Date: June 11, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 200~1/11/2~ : Cl -RD~80-0p8~19A000500080182-9
I I I
COUNTRY
II ,
U. S. Officials On y
CONFIDENTIAL
5ECURITY INFORW T10N11
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATIOig REPORT
PUOJECT Leopoldville/Inflation/PortuCuece Residents/Labor unions
COM IDENTIP.L\
01 1w[ I,h, Yio *00111. .N.,.1...10.,00 C. 1vf:[ i.. .[C1111
3 "Portug were ~~
The Porto#ueae ,re apparently :More a6f5res:;ive burin as people thaw, are the others;
there are a lot of then U1ere. They ,eet~ along', well ith the Belgians, but they are not
accepted socially. They ^.r?e better able to stand the climate than the Belgians, and
stay an v.v safe of ' year doing home. Belgians go home six months out
of ever,- three y-~wu?s~ end fee' tb r. thi. is not oftr n enough, !Apparently there are
it is hLtCeo1 on e family of three :ri ;;bout a car, a a with two Ibieyclez, with rip fr'_gi-
dy.i re and w th a heavy starch diet. The index ci c ntlis al o (slay 195"2) war, 290 (on
the basis of 100 in 1935), and i_: mTe at 300. { So ilation is' bad. The Governor
We learned that an'I index Of costs Iii kept in L,op4?.,Lvi11e for. Europeans and for Afri-
THIS is UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
Gaeneral and the Coriseil recornmende;i r.nat nrice control be inaugtrated, but Brussels
turned. the recoznmer, dation down, :which was probably 1.n line with,their l ii r;sza-faire
approach. The American Consul lil:enedlthe boom here tolthe Barbary Coast: a real
free-for-all. The Export-Import, sank made a loan a year sago of million for road
building. I I I
2 "The consular oi f c.~ol ,inI .:,in,7 locally produce foodi is not cheap as it'',seams
st fire*, ; e?rr- at I . cif ten roc _?n, a s'~ 1s very small, eta. A 1ot~of frozen foods are
I,or? .Lenish h 1g sn her,- that: there .ere French - robnbly a lot more vigorous.
g
l
rights for natives. They
hns been fairly vocal about demandin
"The , 1. i1r Chvreh
he Church, we ~3uprcisJ want to c?tny here even after thel elgians; leave. Both Prot-
esta nt e.rtd Catholic :ichoolo : '. .cbai:_+. _! fror.. the date which are supposedly equal.
~tbe other union is Confederation Social du r'edcratior.Congo. These are confined mostly
to European workers. The natives unions !are limited to "study groups". Laws control
the modes of employn:elt for both Eiixonean and nctive. The, Government would prefer to
1Labor unions follow the pattern of unions in Belgium] itself, and are A :,,,t,t M' +he
~Belttinn ttnioi : ~0 Livr1 _er~rnte dil. rravail].ers diii Belgique ir. the Socialist van;
U.S. Officia~le Only
DISTR 1~n 1aN r i ~ ' ~ A ? ~ ~ ARMT NAVY X Ali: FBII I -__~
yrlafnating olftce through thel Assistant Director of the OtTIce of Collection aide Dissemillntlon, CIA.
'}Ws report 1s for the use within the USA of the Intelligence; compoTtr, nts of the Departments or
Agencies Indicated abo-re. It is not to h,! transnoltted overseas wtt~out the concurrrince of the
d
an
tistics, 1952 { { {I
 Approved For Release 2001/11/20 :
25X1
CONFIDENTIAL/US IOFFICIALS ONLY
Security Information
ti
gainin
i
g. .--
s o na
-
ves acre now run
about 1500 francs a month, az against a previous 500 francs a month. This' is believed.
to be unfortunate, because the boys are getting spoiled and make demands. For ir}stance,l
Mr. (feu) Mme, the Consul General had toi give his boy al bicycle in order to keep;
him. The use of labor is conspicuously better here than it was in the east. Eerelthey
use wheelbarrows
, cement mixers, etc. All work is done by hand in the east.
6. "Belgian, Poll' c
~i' 1?a ion stated that the Belgians have the natives under pretty strict coat ol. Natives'
must be in their villages by e. certain hour Iin the evening1 or be given a~laisao-,
passer to permit them to go in late. Mellon gave his boys some old under-~ees the other
day. and they were arrested for
n
..i
g wanii" owA aicoholi.c beverages.
7. 'With regard to the 'evolues' (evolved nativoe), there are many Africans wbio call
solves this, but the stage varies greatly for them. MalIon'thinks about 10 poreaa
l
.
of the native population of Leopoldville have cartes d'iamuitriculation. The Bel1ans
promote the natives to far higher technical positions than do the' Rhodosiane. Natives
here do electrical and mechanical work, etc., fobs which would be rooorveCIfor Euiro
e
p
ons in the Rh~doaias.
8. "Tbe present Governor keeps entirely to him elf. His wife is not here
and
he does
,
,
not entertain. He will not accept invitations to private homes, or accept invitation
to'
fur~tiona except on
ti
l
'
,
a na
ona
holiday. ~e thinks that there is much more tal}}cc
I:
about getting out on the part of the Belgians than there was before World 'far
I.
9. " m rte - Ex its 1952
Export, from the Belgian Con /First Six Montha 1952
CQ=nodity t1 Value Bel as francs)
26*27
Palm prod. 1,271,124
Cotton 956,358
Tia and ore 890,363
Cobalt 732,390
Coffee 593,727
Ind. diamonds
Gold 366, 34444
All others 1 648''12
Count of Destination Value
0
um 639,76T
US 999,308
UK1 680,072
5
27
Fr
33
0
o ce
Germany 372,545
South Africa 128,512
All others 6o4.625
9, , 1
Imposts '..Ito Belgian Congo - First Six Months
Commodity Value (Belgian francs)
l.ac. nary -1777,119
Vehicles 1,647,356
Metal. Mfgr. 1,169,061
Textiles 1,002,815
Alliothers 74o.20
6
91969)1200
II' hill
1952
CONFIDENTIAL/US OFFICIALS ONLY
Security Information
Approved For Release 2001/11/20 :
IA-RDP80-00109A00050008~ 82-9
 A
I;
I
ra'~ ed Fort Rele
se 2001/11/20: CIA-RDP80-00809AO 0500080182-9
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CONFIDENTIAL/US oFFICTAT ONLY
countz
or
Valu
e
Be~
3,61
2,226
2,52J ,630
UK
'100,441,601
Japan
35
$,929
rma
,
358,701
South A
fric
a
3,;,160
France
.
l .
l
3111,418
Nether]
s
de
278,219
All otb
cre
I
1,39
Hill
11'CONFIDENTIAL/U6 OFFICIALS ONLY/BECUBITY INFORMATION
A' r`Oed Fo
l..
1 I
Relem
se 2001/11/20 : CIA-RDP80-00809P0 9500080182-9