The elections were over and the votes were counted, but for harassed Belgian officials in sweltering Léopoldville last week, the nightmare of readying the Congo for independence on June 30 had just begun.
No one knew for certain where the capital would be, and controversy even raged over the new flag (yellow stars on a blue field). The man with the largest bloc of votes in the first Parliament, goateed Patrice Lumumba, 34, was a convicted embezzler; the only other leader who might command a following, chubby, erratic Joseph Kasavubu, 43, just three...
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