Congo Drums
THE first spark which lit the fuse which exploded into a massacre in Leopoldville was the cancellation of a Sunday meeting called by the nationalist organisation Abako. A frustrated crowd of about 500 Afrians then moved on to the house of the local Negro Mayor. He had just returned from Belgium and was suspected of pro- While sympathies. The crowd began to bait and then to threaten him. The crowd grew and grew, fed by fans streaming home from football matches. Soon there were 2,000 angry Africans jamming the streets. They began to loot the White shops of the Greek and Portuguese merchants. The barometer was set for a spell of riot.
During Sunday and Monday more and more of Leopoldville's 350,000 Negroes joined the mob. Eventually a third of the coloured population were fighting an unofficial civil war. Three million pounds of damage was done in the trading area. Fourteen schools were pillaged and looted. The technical centre was burned to the ground. Throughout Sunday night the French inhabitants of Brazzaville could see across the Congo the entire Eastern bank of the river ablaze with burn- ing buildings.
The police fought back with every .weapon in the armoury of repression. Eye-witnesses described the police measures as `savage in the extreme.' They saw machine-guns, mortars and grenades dropped by aircraft to supply the police engaged on the ground in hand-to-hand battle. The official figures admit that forty-two Negoes were killed. This is a ludicrous underestimate. The unofficial count is nearer 1,500 and this seems much more in accordance with the facts.
The cancelled meeting was only the excuse for the riots. The real causes were two: the fiery speeches from Accra which publicised General de Gaulle's offer of independence to the French colonial territories (throughout the demonstra- tions the crowds chanted two slogans—Nive Ghana! Vive De Gaulle!'); secondly, the plum- meting copper prices which have put 50,000 Leopoldville Negroes out of work and left many of them on the verge of starvation.
The authorities have used every device of censorship and misrepresentation to minimise the extent of the unrest. They have underplayed all the casualty figures. They have prevented repor- ters from visiting the area by stopping all trans- port across the Congo River. The Secretary- General of the Governor of Brazzaville has protested against the descriptions of the riots on the French radio—though these have been restrained and mild compared with the truth. In order to ensure that there are no further out- breaks troops have been rushed to the spot by plane and ship and the eleven leading members of A bake are under arrest.
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