MOISE TSHOMBE, IN JAIL STILL INFLUENCES CONGO

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000700580005-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 21, 2004
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: August 20, 1967
• Content Type: NSPR

WASHINGTON STAR
Approved For RetsqLV01/05 : CIA-R!G1*000710
lse:lshom
Still.t ue
By ANDREW BOROWIEC
Africa Correspondent of The Star
From an Algiers prison cell, a
man with a noose over his -head
casts a strange spell over'the 3,000-
mile distant Congo.
He Is Moise Tshombe, former
leader of the Katanga secession,
:;.former premier of the Congo,
-,.-former Madrid exile.
Hijacked to Algiers last June, he
Is awaiting extradition to the Congo,
where he is under the sentence of
} death for treason.
The man who wants to execute
him is the Congolese president,
Gen. Joseph Mobutu, who seized
power in a coup d'etat.
Th mail who will decide whether
Tshoffibe should or should not be
"'extradited is Algerian President
Col. Houari Boumedienne, equally
brought to power by his army.
Neither of the two men on whose
;:.,decision Tshombe's fate,hinges was
elected by popular acclaim. Neither
has hesitated before political
oppression.
To both of them as well as to a
host of Africa's "progressive"
countries, Tshombe is a criminal,
the murderer of Congolese Premier
Patrice Lumumba; a straw man of.
powerful financial interests exploit-
ing the Congo's riches.
ueiween Lsnumue ana the revolt. Lt
claims it intercepted radio com-
,Portuguese Angola.
For the time being, that's how
things stand. In normal circum-
stances, Schramme's ultimatum
should expire today. But in the
,Congo few things are normal.
The man who perhaps could"
iie
u
r ed Al
i
ll
d
..., g
a
e s ,e
g
a~
Trial a Farce
fj 1. not talking. When an Algiers tribu-
Last March he was sentenced to extradited, Tshombe exclaimed "I
death in absentia in the Congolese was the victim of the CIA."
capital of Kinshasa on a vague ,... r It has become common in Africa r.
charge of organizing a rebellion and elsewhere- to blame the
against the regime of Mobutu, his Central Intelligence Agency for
rival. The trial, like most political alnost everything. But in the
trials in Africa, was a farce. Con o the CIA has intervened a
ping to number of times. and generally
flying in a chartered plane between ? not always clear.
two Spanish islands sparked a GEN. MOBUTU
series of strange events in the Tshombe foe
Congo ! K@pf Russians 'Out
.
Shortly after Tshombe's plane lead by a Belgian mystic, Lt. Col.
-was forced to. land at Algiers' Jean Sehramme.' Up to now the United States has
Maison Blanche Airport, Mobutu Despite- Mobutu's claims,' the succeeded in keeping the Russians,
announced "an invasion" of the mercenaries-some 150 men sup- out of the Congo. This was aecom-
eastern Congo by white mercena- ported by about 1,000 black Congo- plished by Mobutus' first coup detat
ries. On July 7 he claimed a vie- ; , ese troops-occupied the scenic in September 1960 and then by"'
tory over the invaders-and ap- town of Bukavu on Lake Kivu and American backing of successive'
pealed to the United States for' hurled an ultimatum at the Congo. central Congolese governments
help. , lese president: Tshombe should.. against secessionists and rebels.
The Invasion turned out.to be a. become a member of the govern. The U.N. attitude ? toward
Tshombe. has as.tortuous as i revolt of a mercenap-,.commando.k J been ...:.._..__...
Approved For Release 2005/01/05 CI.A-RDP75-00149R000700580005-0
A Congolese colonel, Leonard
Monga, formed a "government of '.
public safety" in Bukavu and
vowed "we will liberate all the
provinces ? of the Congo in the near
future."
The Congo promptly appealed for
help from the United Nations
Security Council - as if 1,000 men.''
could be a real menace for a coun-
tiy or 15 million.
But the Congo is not a real coun-
try and the nucleus of the rebellion
is there. In Belgium, the former
colonial power which still keeps its
fingers on the Congo's pulse, it is
believed that the current revolt
r 0y he more serious than the .
Gi enga, Pierre Mulele-and Chris-
MOISE TSHOMBE ., tophe Gbenye.
F The Mobutu _aovernment. claims.,
ce%s -..Con
Couti=aa