Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
In contrast to the many Congolese children with numerous siblings, Albert's father, André
Lokasola, received his parents' full resources. He excelled at l'École des Frères Maristes, a tech-
nical college with both African and Belgian students, and while others dropped out, he went on to
graduate, one of four Congolese students to receive a diploma. At the ceremony, whites arrived to
recruit the graduates, and Albert's father became a
contre-maître
, the foreman of a woodworking
atelier for a Monsieur Béleau, in Kisangani.
But independence was an insecure time for the
évolués
, who had conformed so closely to Belgi-
an culture, and they would see their positions threatened in the years of violence that followed. The
politics and conflicts of that era would transform the life of André Lokasola and shape the world
into which Albert was born.
As for the Belgian government, it was reluctant to let go of such a lucrative colony. But as
nearby African countries achieved statehood, the Congo demanded the same. Only with riots in
Léopoldville (Kinshasa) and new political parties challenging the power structure did Belgium con-
cede. Patrice Lumumba, a fiery thirty-four-year-old, was elected prime minister, and the older, far
more conservative Joseph Kasavubu president. On June 30, 1960, King Baudouin I of Belgium,
who had traveled to the Congo to be present at the independence ceremonies, spoke of the Congo's
progress under colonialism and how his own country would guide it in the years to come, as if in-
dependence were but nominal.
President Kasavubu gave his own innocuous speech, and then Lumumba took the stage. He
spoke of the Congo and Belgium as equals and announced that “no Congolese worthy of the name”
would forget that independence had been won only through a fight—“a day-to-day fight,” he de-
clared:
an ardent and idealistic fight, a fight in which we were spared neither privation nor suffering,
and for which we gave our strength and our blood. We are proud of this struggle, of tears,
of fire, and of blood, to the depths of our being, for it was a noble and just struggle, and
indispensable to put an end to the humiliating slavery which was imposed upon us by force.
The speech burned itself into the consciousness of the Congolese, who'd never heard one of
their own speak to Belgians like this. Though it made Lumumba a national hero overnight, his ten-
ure was short-lived. Only a few days later, he raised the pay of all government employees except
the military, a blunder that catalyzed the six-year period of conflict known as the Congo Crisis. The
discontent exploded on July 5, less than a week after independence, when the Belgian lieutenant
general Émile Janssens of la Force Publique, the Congolese army, convened a meeting of soldiers
who expected the military to be Africanized. Janssens, refusing to allow black soldiers to serve as
officers, wrote on a blackboard, “After independence = before independence,” intending to remind
them of their duty and that nothing would change. The outraged soldiers began to plunder the com-
missary, and rioting spread throughout the country.
Lumumba grasped at solutions, changing the name of La Force Publique, which dated to the be-
ginning of colonization in 1885, to l'Armée Nationale Congolaise (ANC). Then, as Belgian military
officers fled, he promoted largely untrained soldiers to replace them. But the chaos intensified, and
Katanga, the country's wealthiest province, declared independence under Moïse Tshombe, who had
the support of Belgian settlers and industries wanting to keep control of copper and cobalt mines.
Not long after, South Kasai, the diamond-rich region, followed suit. These were the areas that had
