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Happy Days. Whatever criticism was being leveled at the U.N. operation, it drew noisy cheers back in Leopoldville, where Congolese Central Government Premier Cyrille Adoula has been walking a tightrope between a rebellious Parliament and a restive army. Although his government was nearly bankrupt without the huge revenue from Katanga promised to it by the departing Belgian regime 2½ years ago. Adoula's hopes rose last week with the visit of Union Miniére and Bank of Katanga officials who declared their readiness to divvy up the profits. After lunching with his visitors, Adoula announced: "This is the happiest day of my life."
Adoula was under heavy pressure to get the Katanga mess settled before spring, for Tshombe's secession has been the main complaint of Leopoldville's chaotic Parliament. This unruly rabble, governed largely by its tribal loyalties, does not hesitate to change its tune with every turn in the complicated Congo political mess. For no apparent reason other than to embarrass Adoula, the Deputies last month voted unanimously to free Communist Sympathizer Antoine Gizenga from his island prison at the mouth of the Congo River. Adoula sensibly ignored the resolution, last week announced that Parliament was adjourning, bought tickets home for the legislators, and sent them out of town for at least two months. Though they grumbled that his action was "not polite,'' the Deputies went away quietly.
Before they return, Adoula must have a definite deal in the works. He may well be holding long talks with his old foe, Moise Tshombe himself, by that time. This, of course, is the goal of the U.N. Congo effort. There is no desire to destroy Tshombe himself. Even the U.N.'s U Thant recognizes that Tshombe is about the most capable man in Katanga to deal with. Other alternatives are grim; Katanga's Interior Minister Godefroid Munongo, Tshombe's No. 2 man, is a fanatic who declares that he will never deal with either the U.N., Adoula, or "the python of Wall Street."
But getting Moise Tshombe to Leopoldville will not be easy, for he is determined to hold out for all of Katanga's wealth until it becomes clear that the alternative is to lose it all. Last week the State Department in Washington was putting on the pressure. Though Belgium and Britain were dickering to get Tshombe back to his capital of Elisabethville for talks with the U.N. on any terms, the U.S. declared: "We expect Mr. Tshombe to end promptly the Katanga secession." It added reassuringly, "There is no desire to deny Mr. Tshombe a place in the future political life of the Congo."