Fourth International Publications

The International’s English-language periodicals: World Outlook, Inprecor and their companions, 1958–1994

Ahidjo to the Rescue of Ishombe

World Outlook Vol. 3, No. 4, 22 January 1965 · pp 9-12 · 1,613 words

Africa

RESCUE OF TSHOMBE

[The following statement, issued ‘by the Jeunesse Democratiquedu Cameroun, has been translated from French by. World Outlook. J

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In a speech delivered at Ndikiniméki December 19, 1964, while campaigning in the Mbam region, [President Ahmadou] Ahidjo stated his position on the tragic events in the Congo for the first time.: He took up the cudgels for Tshombe, stating in particular:

Mile [ania jo] have always ‘thought that the other African states, together with us, must within the measure of our means grant aid to the Congolese people and to the legal government so that peace and harmony could be restored. .. . We cannot agree to certain African’ states interfering in the internal affairs of other African states. " [Emphasis added,]. Oo

This . “signifies that the Ahidjo government:

(1y Considers the Tshombe government to be legal and conse= |. quently asks the African states to back the imperialist aggression in the Congo and to furnish the necessary aid to subdue the valiant. Congolese people.

(2). Condems the African states which, concerned about Africa's independence and dignity, answered the imperialist challenge by granting help to the Congolese patriots.

In the UN, after the green light from the French delegation, the Kamerun delegation headed by Ahidjo's Minister of Foreign Affairs Balla Benoit, in concert with the Nigerian delegation, spared no efforts to come to the aid of the imperialists and Mr, ficash Register" by participating in maneuvers to stop talking about the Belgian- American aggression at Stanleyville. In the Council of Ministers of the OAU TL Organization of African Unity], meeting in New York to study the situation created in Central Africa as a consequence of the Belgian~American aggression at Stanleyville, the Kamerun delegation especially distinguished itself by being the only one to. vote, against a resolution. advocating the immediate withdrawal of the mercenaries from the Congo.

Ahidjo'ts position openly in favor of Tshombe and the imperialists is not at all surprising to those who know how Ahidjo came to power and how he maintains himself. What is involved in brief is a manifestation of solidarity between "two walking museums of imperialism and neocolonialism,"

If, in effect, Tshombe is the murderer of Patrice Lumumba, Mpolo and Okito, Ahidjo's hands are red with the blood of Reuben Um Nyobe, Felix-Roland Moumié, Martin Singap and many other Kamerunian . patriots, It is no secret that the regime in Yaoundé, like the one

in Léopoldville, owes. its existence. to imperialist bayonets and foreign mercenaries. In Kamerun, Ahidjo is backed by French troops and. African mercenaries of the Community of the OAS torgani zation . of African States], while in the Congo, Tshombe is backed-by Belgian paratroopers, South African mercenaries and American bombers piloted by Cuban counterrevolutionaries,.

_ it was-:not by accident that the murder of F.-R. Moumié November 3, 1960, by the Frenvh Red Hand was followed ten days later by the- signing of the agreement again placing Kamerun in total dependence on the imperialists, The massacres and bombings inflicted on the populations of Sanaga-Maritime, Bamiléké, Moungo, etc., re- ‘call ‘those inflicted on our brothers of Bukavu, Albertville and Stanleyville, In short we are 2 SSSA RE with two regimes that are as like as two peas in _a.pod. _ ;

The puppets in Yaoundé serve as reminders to those who try to find national or African sentiments in them. In advocating that the Congolese people be abandoned to the mercenaries from South Africa and the USA in order to save Tshombe, Ahidjo shows himself once again to be an inveterate enemy of African independence and unity. He adhered to the OAU only to refurbish his: own coat of arms and because he thought that this organization would become a Holy Alliance to support the traitorous puppet governments of Africa’ at any price under guise of their "legality."

Ahidjo's vicious attitude toward the revolutionary states of Africa that have decided to go beyond pious resolutions to concrete acts, is the expression of the disarray and panic spreading among the puppets in Yaoundé who believe that with the support of the Belgian-American imperialists, the real Africa would tolerate Tshombe as. it has temporarily tolerated Ahidjo.

Bowing to the new strategy of an imperialism flooded by ‘the © revolutionary tide in Africa, Asia and Latin America, Ahidjots policy of nonalignment has recently led those who are least alert. to believe that the regime is evolving toward a certain independence in relation to the neocolonialist powers and toward a healthy understanding of the interests of the African peoples in general and the Kamerunian people in particular. Unfortunately there is no substance to this. The facts force us to recognize that Ahidjo is trying to fool African and world opinion in order to break the front of antiimperialist forces to which the namerunian people are closely linked in their armed struggle against Ahidjo's neocolonialist dictatorship and in favor of the establishment or a regime of new democracy in a Kame run .

The Jeunesse Démocratique du Cameroun [Democratic Youth of Cemeroun] brands the attitude of puppet Ahidjo and renews its solidarity with the Congolese youth and the Congolese people, The‘JDC states that the attitude of the Kamerunian people in relation to the tragic events in the Congo is not that of the traitor Ahidjo, but that ‘of

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the Union des Populations du Cameroun {upc], expressed November 26, 1964,. by the Comité Révolutionnaire of the UPG in its statement. on. ; the events in Stanleyville, an attitude of support to the Congolese people in combat against imperialism and its lackey Tshombe,. ‘

The: Jeunesse Démocratique du Cameroun is pleased about the aid which certain African states are granting to the CNL [Conseil National de Libération] despite the threats and the blackmail of the imperialists and we hope that they take the second step toward recog= nition of the Government of the Popular Republic at Stanleyville as the state authority representing Léopoldville Congo, particularly in the OAU.

‘The Jeunesse Démocratique du Cameroun holds, as stated in particular in its November 28 statement, that in face of the imperialist coalition, the anti-imperialists and antineocolonialists must . unite to save Africa from the danger represented by imperialism and its lackeys like the Tshombes and the Ahidjos. This is the only: means of achieving genuine unity and | independence in the African continent. oo,

VERWOBRD'S. POLICE STATE

By Franz J. T. Lee. Se tl ce ae mene

When. the Nationalist party, composed mainly of Afrikaansspeaking whites, that is, Boers, came to power in 1948, its leader, Prime. Minister Dr. DF. Malan, had the following to say:

"The history of the Afrikaner reveals a determination and a definiteness of purpose which make one feel that Afrikanerdom is not the work of man but a creation. of God. We have a Divine right to be Afrikaners. Our history is the highest work of art of the Architect of the centuries," (Quoted in The Rise. of the South African Reich, Brian Bunting, Penguin. 1964, p.7. ) :

In 1953, Malants successor J.G.strijdom explained the goal of the Boers in. South Africa:

. "our, polic is that the Europeans - must. stand their ground’ ‘and must remain Baas tmaster’ in South Africa. If we reject:the Herrenvolk idea. . . how can the European remain Baas? Our view is that in every. sphere the European must retain-the right to rule the country | and:to keep it white mants country." (Quoted in African Nationalism, Ne Sithole, Oxford University Press, 1961. p47.

Justice ‘Millin, a member of the South African Supreme Court, said the following about. the present Prime Minister Dr.H.F. Verwoerd:

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- "He did support Nazi propaganda, he did make his paper [the. Transvaler] a tool of the Nazis in South Africa, and. he knew it." Quoted in Witness in the Dark, S. Cronje. . A Christian Action pamphlet. 1964. p.

- When an attempt to assassinate him failed, Dr. Verwoerd said: "White South Africa must continue to rule!" To this, he added: "I do not have the nagging doubt of ever wondering whether, perhaps, I am wrong." (ibid. p.l.)

As early as 1942, the present Minister of Justice B.J,Vorster stated his goals: ,

"We stand for Christian Nationalism which is an ally of National Socialism. You can call this anti-democratic principle dictatorship if you wish. In Italy it is calied Fascism, in Germany. . national Socialism, and in South Africa Christian Nationalism," (ibid. pet .

Because of his Nazi associations and activities, the, Smuts government of South Africa interned Vorster. He became prisoner No, 2229/42 in Hut 48, Camp 1. In January 1944 he was released on parole and kept under “house arrest in Robertson,

In 1962 when he became Minister of Justice, he made the following memorable declaration: “Rights — are getting out of hand. " (Dagbreek, November 18, 1962,)

- During the debate in parliament in 1963 over the proposed | General. Law Amendment Act (generally known as the 90-day law), said: “It is not a very nice. thing to see a human being broken. The man taking these powers must take responsibility for them,"

~ In. the same year, on May 31, the anniversary of the white republic, he bluntly declared: “We have reached the stage in our national life where we realize more and more that there are times in.a nation's history when not only reason must speak but blood as well =- and that time is now!" (Witness in the Dark, p.4.)

The International Commission of Jurists offered the following judgment in 1963: "anyone who doubts that South Africa has become a police state should examine its laws, The question is then no longer in doubt." (

← Neville Alexander in "Times Literary Supplement" · Verwoerd's Police State →

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