The Congo's First Premier
BONDY, FRANCOIS
By Francois Bondy The Congo's First Premier Patrice Lumumba must set the course of his new nation Stanleyville I first saw Patrice Lumumba's face on my taxi driver's shirt, printed together with...
...He is now without doubt the strongest political figure in the country...
...he is one of the active helpers of the MNC, but he does not think very highly of the quality of the propagandists of this raw young party which in the space of a few months had to travel the road from a small organization to a mass movement...
...From all the streets there echoed the cry, "Uhuru," which means both "independence" and "peace...
...It was he who, on his return from the pan-African conference in Accra (which played a decisive role in the history of the Congo), first proclaimed the watchword "Independence" at a meeting in Leopold-ville where shortly afterwards the great disturbances broke out...
...Europeans are always calling to see Lumumba...
...Under this demand he wrote: "Not granted...
...I finally met Lumumba here in Stanleyville, the capital of the "Eastern province...
...From the day about a year ago when, having previously been the head of a civil servants' trade union, he founded his party— the only one to embrace the whole of the Congo—here in Stanleyville, the movement has grown and spread like wildfire...
...Stacks of telegrams containing news are piled up in front of him...
...A week before independence he became the Premier and today is working hard to unite the disparate political forces of his divided young nation...
...Among the Europeans is a young Belgian doctor who has suddenly been ordered to transfer by the Administration because he is too popular and is alleged to be living with a negress (he disputes this, but not very vigorously...
...Anyone who has accompanied him on one of these journeys cannot have the slightest doubt about Lumumba's authority and popularity...
...They are not all correspondents of English and American papers who know that often even the most exciting news from the Congo is reduced to a few lines...
...As a member of the Congo's Executive Council, he had been expected at the second "Round Table" conference in Brussels, which had acted as a sort of Congolese shadow government, with rather vaguely defined powers, until the Congo gained its independence June 30...
...We got into his open American car and the chauffeur drove off at six miles an hour...
...Amid this choir of people running in front of and alongside the car, all trying to touch it, conversation soon became quite impossible, and after we had tried to exchange ideas about the French and Belgian constitutions and a presidential republic, at the top of our voices, we finally gave up...
...We are satisfied...
...Lumumba had suddenly called off his participation in the conference, however, and retired to Stanleyville, the original center and stronghold of his party...
...Since then, Lumumba, whose intellectual and political horizons have been immensely widened within a few years, has had no time to spare for the studies which he carried on in prison...
...Lumumba smilingly counsels him to accept his transfer calmly...
...In the midst of this crowd Lumumba does most of his work in a spirit of unshakeable calm...
...Let's go for a little drive and have a chat...
...In the house where he lives here, Francois Bondy is the editor of the French monthly magazine, Preuves...
...The head of a school hitherto attended predominantly by Europeans comes to discuss its future with Lumumba...
...When the first Round Table conference was convened in Brussels— with an odd assortment of spokesmen from the Congo—Lumumba was in prison reading books on constitutional law which had been sent him by a European friend...
...But the Congolese refused to enter into negotiations without Lumumba and so the "extremist agitator" was taken straight from his cell to Brussels, where, to the astonishment of the world and also most of the Congolese, the Belgians decided to grant complete independence in an amazingly short period of time to the colony which it had administered so ruthlessly...
...Delegations come from the more remote districts—from Banalia or Polis or from villages with traditional tribal chiefs—and report to him on the progress of the elections...
...Soon there were hundreds crowding round the car— mostly children—all roaring: "Our father is here...
...In Leopoldville, the Belgian Congo capital, I had sought for him in vain and in his villa I found only his wife, children, brother and numerous secretaries and officials of his party, the Mouvement National Con-golais (MNC...
...which has been placed at his disposal by one of his friends, he spends most of his time in a large office...
...In front of the windows there is a constant throng which stands from early morning till late at night, gaping and feasting its eyes on the great man it reveres, picking up scraps of his conversations and dictated letters...
...A young, brilliantly clever Greek reports...
...Whenever Lumumba travels his journey lasts many hours since in every village the inhabitants throw trees on the road, block the route and refuse to let him go until he has made a speech...
...It may well depend on an individual like Lumumba whether the Congo disintegrates or takes over what, for all its sins and shortcomings, may justly be described as the great and even noble legacy of the Belgian administration...
...The Congolese Government would see to it that he is placed where he is needed—there is a great shortage of European doctors and so far there is not a single qualified Congolese doctor...
...For where Sekou Toure in Guinea and Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana may be just as strong personalities as Lumumba, the Congo with its 15 million inhabitants is the richest, best administered and most highly developed area of independent Black Africa...
...I spent many hours with Lumumba during my four days in Stanleyville a few weeks before independence...
...By Francois Bondy The Congo's First Premier Patrice Lumumba must set the course of his new nation Stanleyville I first saw Patrice Lumumba's face on my taxi driver's shirt, printed together with this inscription: lndependance—30 juin...
...He is a tall, imposing, bearded man, about 34 years old and taller than most of the Congolese I have seen...
...Even the smallest problem, such as the wage demands of a chauffeur, is submitted to him...
...He often answers the telephone himself...
...The only reporter confident his copy will be used is Homer Bigart of the New York Times which, as everyone knows, has space for everything fit to print...
...All of a sudden Lumumba said to me: "I've done enough work...
...He is an outstanding figure in the political life of the Congo and hence of Africa as a whole...
...This chauffeur is a patriot who will work for us for nothing until the day of independence"—but he allowed the chauffeur's expenses to be paid...
...Today he reigns over both this province—where he is regarded as an uncrowned king—and the country at large as the first Premier of the Republic of Congo...
...In the room itself there are usually over a dozen regional secretaries and colleagues, waiting to be received...
Vol. 43 • July 1960 • No. 29
