CHILDREN
BRUSSELS, Nov, 29 =- Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgium's foreign min-. ister, could have spared the Congo the nightmare situation at Stanleyville. He turned down the possibility. This is the only possible conclusion that can be drawn from revelations made by Ernest Glinne, a left-wing Socialist member of parliament, in the November 28 issue of La Gauche. . ao a :
"TI personally," writes Glinne, "had official assurance from certain Pan-African sources that if Colonel Van de Walle and several other officers of the Belgian army assigned to the Congo and direct= ing the operation against Stanleyville were recalled to Brussels 'for consultation,' this would have sufficed to. free the Belgian children . heldiat Stanleyville, favoring a negotiated. solution of the problem as.a whole. Naturally I informed Spaak and others about this, at a time when it now appears that Spaak had already made his military decision, I am convinced that he would have to pay a nonmilitary price to save the Belgians and Africans from the dangers threatening them. The price was to inflict on M, Tshombe and those hé represents some displeasure. For political reasons, P.-H,. Spaak and the government did not want to take this road. The detailed counterproposals, . made at Nairobi by a number of African governments, were not consider-~ ed either. P.-H. Spaak was content to only quickly reject the bargaining proposal of a:'cease-fire! advanced by Thomas Kanza in the name of the Stanleyville authorities. ee
"Ty will add that the Congolese inhabitants in other areas ‘bex sides Stanleyville had excellent reasons to believe since last June that the presence of Europeans was their sole protection against bloody, . blind air raids in which a large number of. Congolese civilians of both sexes and all ages have lost their lives or have been mutilated."'. [Emphasis in original.]-
The revelation made a sensation in Belgium. Spaak qimodiately went on the air to claim that the offer was not a "serious"one.
It -is expected that Glinne will back: ‘up his revelations with fresh “facts to show that Spaak had no reason whatsoever for such an irresponsible conclusion.
Meanwhile protests over: the Stanleyville operation are beginning to build Up.
In Ghent, some 300 students marched through the streets November 26, “shouting slogans hostile to the Belgian neocolonialist aggression and expressing their solidarity with the Congolese free-~ dom fighters. A counterdemonstration failed when only thirty fascists turnéd up. “Police attempts to stop the one-hour demonstration also failed, Many trade-union bodies voted strong resolutions * against the paratroop operation,
In Brussels and Liege new protest meetings and demonstrations have been announced.
At the regional congress of the Socialist: party in Liége, yesterday, members of the Jeunes Gardes Socialistes staged a vigorous demonstration against the main reporter for the day, Spaak, because of his role in the military intervention against the Congolese free-. dom fighters,
DET THE CONGOLESE PHOPLE DECIDE THEIR OWN PATE . [re United Secretariat of the Fourth International issued the following statement November 26, J
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With the help of American and British imperialism, the Belgian imperialists have conmitted military aggression by landing paratroop-~ ers in Stanleyville, seat of the provisional government of the Congo People's Republic. Be en
It is completely hypocritical to claim that this was done for "humanitarian" purposes. The real goal was to drive the government of the Congo People's Republic out of Stanleyville, and this was a big part of the actual operation,
The fakery of the "humanitarian" pretext is shown by the fact that the Belgian, American and British governments support Tshombe!s army which is spearheaded by white racist foreign mercenaries who commit unspeakable crimes against the most elementary rules of humanity every day in the week, >: Phe fakery of the "humanitarian" pretext is likewise shown by the fact that the Belgian igovernment -knew perfectly well that if it continued to. build up military and financial ‘support for Tshombe,. white civilians would inevitably be made the target of reprisals, The Belgian government was warned emphatically about this months ago by both Belgian left-wing forces in the iabor movement and by the Congo, freedom fighters.
No other conclusion is “possible except that the Belgian govern-
ment deliberately decided to risk the lives of white civilians in the: Congo in its rabid pursuit of the aim of strengthening. neocolon= ialism in the Congo.
The loss of Stanleyville is a blow against the Congolese revolution, but amounts to no more than a temporary defeat. Tempered still further by this latest experience with the unholy imperialist alliance and its Congo puppet, the Congolese freedom fighters will continue their struggle, resolving even more firmly never to return to slavery. Their cause is unconquerable!}
. The United Secretariat of the Fourth International asks workers everywhere, but especially in Belgium, Britain and the United States, to make known their feelings about this latest imperialist outrage, oe
No more aid to the imperialist puppet Tshombe}
The United Secretariat of the Fourth International joins with all those who are appealing to the independent governments of Africa, and to the African nationalist organizations, to end at once any kind of recognition or collaboration with the foul Tshombe clique and to give full support to the heroic fighters of the Congolese revolution.
For the sake of the African revolution, block stabilization of the Tshombe regime!
Down with imperialism, neocolonialism and its murderous stooge Tshombe t-
let the Congolese