The Loner

Katanga, the southernmost and richest province of the Congo, is a land of eroded mountains, rocky plateaus, and grassy savannas where lions and dwarf elephants still roam. Though twice the size of Oregon, Katanga is sparsely populated with 1,750,000 Congolese, and some 40,000 Europeans who are mostly employed by the Union Miniere du Haut-Katanga, a cartel owned by Belgian, British and U.S. investors which mines 60% of the free world's cobalt, 10% of its uranium and 8% of its copper. Before independence, Katanga supplied 60% of the income of the Belgian Congo. Katanga's Premier Moise Tshombe, 41, the man who possesses the key to this treasure house, had obviously decided it would be foolish to share it with the crumbling central government of Patrice Lumumba.

Self-Feeding. Tshombe (pronounced Chombay) is a rarity in the Congo, since he was born to a life of relative ease. His father was wealthy even by European standards, owned vast plantations in the vicinity of Musumba. Moise Tshombe graduated from high school, took a correspondence course in accounting before setting up as a trader in everything from peanuts to beer. Handsome and pleasure-loving, Tshombe has fathered eight children by his wife, the daughter of a chief, as well as an undisclosed number of illegitimate offspring.

As a member of the so-called "civilized" native middle class, Tshombe was given special privileges and responded by hanging in his office the pictures of Belgium's King Baudouin and Leopold II, who founded the Belgian Congo. As a political figure, Tshombe lacks the fanatic passion of nationalists like Patrice Lumumba. His common sense and essential conservatism are reflected in his Cona-kat Party, which draws its strength from tribal leaders such as Mwenda Munongo, the grandson of the last Katanga King, M'Siri, who ruled until 1891 and was chiefly famed for his favorite punishment of enemies: they were tied to trees, starved, and then fed their own limbs until they had cannibalized themselves.

Facts of Life. The power behind Tshombe is the potent Union Miniere du Haut-Katanga, which financed his election campaign and supplied Tshombe with an adviser when he attended the Brussels conference last February that gave independence to the Congo. Patrice Lumumba, who hates Tshombe, derisively pointed out that Tshombe always consulted with the U.M.H.K. officials before saying anything. A company executive says that U.M.H.K. backs him because "he is a businessman who understands dollars and cents."

While Lumumba and other hotheads were mouthing phrases about liberty and freedom, Tshombe kept hammering away at the economic and financial facts: the Congo would collapse without continuing Belgian investment and technical help. He also had no desire to see Katanga's riches used to improve the lot of the Congo's five other provinces, fought for a states'-rights system with provincial ownership of mineral rights. Said he last week: "Let us face the truth. Democracy does not exist at the moment. It will be years before Africans here consider themselves Congolese rather than members of individual tribes."

Restored Order. As premier of Katanga, Moise Tshombe has drawn up plans to attract German, French and U.S. capital for the industrialization of his province. He had visited all three countries shortly before independence, and is especially enthusiastic about his trip to Washington and New York. Since the U.S. visit, Tshombe wears button-down collars and a Homburg, and drives about in a black Cadillac. Says Tshombe: "We need Americans more than anyone else."

Moise Tshombe was looking better and better to Belgians hoping to save something of their huge investments in the Congo, and the government was reported seriously considering granting Katanga de facto if not de jure recognition.

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