GUERRILLA WAR FLARES IN THE CONGO
BRUSSELS «- Reports received here from the Congo reveal that guorrilla war has flared on an extensive scale in the province of Kwilu, birthplace of Antoine Gizenga, leader of the Lumumbist opposi-~ tion who is now being held in prison on a small island in the mouth of the Congo river.
Pierre Mulele is reported to ‘be at the head of the fighters, He was minister of education, first in the Lumumba government before the. Congolese freedom leader was murdered, then in the Gizenga government at Stanleyville,
[A February 3 United Press International dispatch from Leopold= ville called Mulele a "Peking-trained terrorist,'
[an Associated Press. dispatch from the same city on the following | day merely said he had "visited both Moscow and Peking."
[American Ambassador Edmund Gullion was reported by the same | source as saying, after a trip to Kwilu, that government forces had “captured the notebook of a man who attended a guerrilla warfare school," According to Gullion,. the subversive prize of battle "con~ tained ideas from Cuban guerrilla expert Ernesto Guevara and China!s Mao Tse-tung. "J
[Agence France Presse reported from Leopoldville February 5 that “the rebels" particularly "threatened" Leverville. "This town is the center of the biggest plantation of the Unilever company. The Lever ville plantation includes a refinery and several palm groves, It pro« duces half the Congo oil sold by Unilever, some 21,000 tons, It employs around 10,500 Congolese. It was partly evacuated Tuesday afternoon," ]
‘Estimates as to the size of the forces that have launched guer= rilla war vary from 700 to 3,000. A letter from an American woman — missionary was quoted in the reactionary Belgian daily La Libre Botgique, as saying that “Pierre” (Mulele) “has supporters in every
aZee
Most of the guerrilla fighters are reported to be members of the Youth League of the Gizenga party [Parti Solidaire Africain].
The well-paid mercenaries in General Mobutu's "National Congo= lese Army" are engaging in attempted encirclement operations throughout the province, and are using terror in efforts to put down the uprising.
‘That they will succeed remains to be seen, According to one report, the revolt has spread to two other provinces, Kwango and Kasaf,
‘There are even indications that a tribe living on both sides of the Kwango-Angola frontier has risen, This, if true, would signify
the opening of a new front in the Angolan revolution, .
Finally, considerable unrest is evident in the Stanleyvillearea, a former stronghold of the Lumumbist nationalist forces, There a group of gendarmes is said to have mutinied, while a number of sole ‘ diers were arrested for attending a meeting sponsored by. Lumumbist political organizations.
The reactionary neocolonialist Kasavubu-Adoula regime, alarmed by the situation, is maneuvering for military intervention by the United Nations or the United States, If the rebellion is not quickly stamped out, the puppet government night very well Lose control of an important part of the country,
Belgian ‘Students Defend Guerrilla Fighters
In Belgium, the left-wing: Federation of Brussels Socialist Students‘has come out in support of the Congolese freedom fighters, On January 29 they distributed a leaflet on a broad scale appealing for Solidarity with the guerrilla forces,
The leaflet declared:
"For some days, the big press has reported guerrilla actions in Kwilu in the Congo. _These guerrilla actions are led by Mr, Pierre Mulele. Who is he? The minister of education of the Lumumba govern~ ‘ment, formed in June 1960, a representative of the African Solidarity party .(PSA) of Antoine Gizenga.
"The whole Belgian press, from the Libre Belgigue to Drapeau eke Lorgan of the Communist ‘party! characterize these guerrilla.
ers as !'gangs! of tterrorists,
"While recalling that Marxists have always been opposed to the use of individual terror and gratuitous violence, we believe that before discrediting a movement by c aracterizing it as a terrorist gang, it is necessary to make a precise analysis of it and of the social conditions of the country involved,
“With regard to this, we point to an extremely disquieting fact: according to the latest letter of an American woman missionary, 'young African villagers sought refuge with her and with another missionary out of fear of the soldiers, (La Libre Belgique, January 28,
“So it is not so much the gerrilla fighters of Pierre Mulele as the practorians of Mobutu who are sowing terror, even according to a source which can scarcely be disputed. This does not astonish us- Paced with the loss of its social base, the government of Mr, Cyrille Adoula is forced more and more to seek support in a military caste of privileged and uncontrollable praetorians, This tendency has been particularly noticeable since the months of September (banning of Lumumbist parties) and October (proclamation of a state of emergency). Moreover, the student leaders of the UGEC (Union Générale des Etudi-
oo Gon
ants Congolais), in view of the progressive positions of this organ-_ ization, have been subjected to police persecution and legal proceed= ings.
‘Why the unpopularity of the Adoule government? Because it is the instrument of neocolonialism in the Congo. It has become the. puppet of Belgian=American financial interests since the rapprochement between the financial groups of these two countries following their agreement to absorb Tshombism, in a ‘gentle’ way. to 'limit the damage,'
"In fact let's read the recent declaration made by Adoula himself: ‘The private sector has understood the real interests of Bel~ gium in the Congo, Consequently, avoiding hasty conclusions, it has aimed at the future, The evolution of the situation. .. proves fully that it has seen correctly. . . Within this background, I should like to remind you that the Gongo has deliberately opted for: a free enterprise, competitive economy. This, it seems to me, is the most appropriate path for assuring the expansion of our country. . We shall assume all the responsibilities flowing from this choice,! ('Private Enterprise in the Congo,! In the 'New York Times! of January 28, page paid by the companies associated with the Société Générale de Belgique. )
"In face of this neocolonialist behavior, a vast opposition formed in the Congo, The UGEC came out in favor of nationalizing the key sectors of the economy, At Kivu, A. Kashamura: organized the Union des. Force Populaires Congolaises, Gbenye led the Lumumbist opposition, — The trade unions began making their own demands. It was to muzzle the opposition that the Congolese parliament was dissolved and a military dictatorship installed by Adoula,
"It was only natural ‘that. a government of neocolonialist violence would arouse violence in kind. The parliamentary road being closed, ‘only direct action could obtain results, Noting that the revolt. led by P. Mulele enjoyed the support of the population (Libre Belgique, January 28) and was even spreading to other provinces (Le ons. Janu~ ary 29, evening edition of January 28), the Drapeau fete of January 29 © came out with a position of watchful waiting.
"The Belgian progressives must therefore carry out their most elementary duty in face of a situation that can lead to big develop~ ments.
"We heard on the Belgian radio-television that on January 28 the ultrapatriots had begun to set off explosives in the lodgings of, black undergraduates,
"DOWN WITH CHAUVINISM!
"Adoula is deliberately letting the sick Gizenga rot in prison.
"FREE GIZENGA! |
"DOWN WITH NEOCOLONIALISM!
we D wee
"LONG LIVE LUMUMBISM}
"The colonial revolution is. spreading, and from Algeria to Zanzibar, from the Congo to the Cape, it can only be socialist if real inde~ pendence is to be won}
"the Socialist Students,”
ZANZIBAR TRADE