CONGO
ROME, Jan. 30 -« The International Secretariat of the Fourth International released the following statement today on the situation in the Congo following the formal dissolution of Katanga as an "independent" puppet state of Belgian imperialism:
"Dighteen months after the accession of the Congo to formal independence, the Congolese people are still not masters of their destiny. The legally elected government of Lumumba was overthrown by imperialist stooges; the actual murderers of Lumumba are still free. The country is divided into zones of influence by international trusts. U.S. imperialism is moving in deeper and deeper, actually running, the central government through UN advisers and UN military forces. Corruption is rampant. Political freedom is denied to the revolutionary nationalist organizations, whose leaders are in exile or in jail like Gizenga. Lach day the masses become more conscious of the fact that they still have to conquer real independence.
"Despite their rapid disintegration, Tshombe's forces have not — been completely disarmed and Tshombe \is retained as a puppet to goverr the Katanga province, and it is even proposed that he join the Central sovernment. These facts confirm once again that the UN used the
~5 mandate given it by the General Assembly to eliminate the Katanga secession and to restore the unity of the Congo, in order to foster the Balkanization of the country, to prevent the Central government's: armed forces: from completely crushing imperialist puppets like Tshombe and Kalonji, and to maintain and protect the big domains of the imperialist trusts in the country. The aim of the UN intervention in Katanga is to save the Adoula government against a revival of the authentic revolutionary nationalist Lumumbist mass movement.
‘ "The I§ appeals to the Congo people to fight under the present conditions for: _ "(1) Bhe arrest and trial of Tshombe and all accomplices for the murder of Lumumba and other nationalist leaders, including the acconplices inside the Adoula government.
"(2) The immediate release of Gizenga and all arrested or exiled national revolutionaries. -
"(4) The complete disarmament and disbandment of Tshombe's ‘gendarmerie'.
"(4) The nationalization of the Union Miniere and the other big Belgian and international trusts. .
"(5) The withdrawal of the UN forces. The IS calls upon the peoples and governments of the independent African states like Algeria, Ghana, Egypt, Guinea, Tanganyika, etc., to answer the appeals of the popular forces in the Congo to provide the Congolese people with material and military assistance, in order to enable them to form a government of their own free choice. The IS calls upon the international working class.to support these demands."
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