The collapse in the Congo spread last week from the army to the government. Cabinet ministers argued heatedly with each other on the streets of Leopoldville. Lanky Premier Patrice Lumumba could seldom be found. With long-suffering President Joseph Kasavubu in tow, he was busy flying from city to city trying to impose a semblance of order.
Who's Master? Their trip was an embarrassing failure. The authority of Lumumba's central government extended no farther than the sound of his voice. As soon as he left a town or a province, power returned to whoever was strong enough and ruthless enough to wield it. At Elisabethville, capital of the secessionist province of Katanga, the plane was denied permission to land. A spokesman for the Katanga leader, Moise Tshombe, said that President Kasavubu was welcome, but "we refuse to let that other character set foot on Katangese soil." When the two harassed leaders took off from Luluabourg and headed for Stanleyville, they never made it: a Belgian crew member overheard Lumumba say he wanted to break off diplomatic relations with Belgium, and the Belgian pilot turned the plane toward Leopoldville, where Ndjili Airport was in the hands of Belgian paratroops.
As the plane landed, the Belgians dutifully drew up an honor guard. Alighting, Lumumba stonily refused to review "enemy forces." A Belgian officer said: "Our presence here is only to protect the whites." Snapped Lumumba: "The whites need no protection, and we do not need your presence." As the two Congolese leaders waited for another plane to take them to Stanleyville, they were surrounded by an angry crowd of Belgian Lumumba was cursed and spat upon.
"Why don't you go see the women have been raped?" shouted a white and punched Lumumba in the face. In best performance since he became Pre mier, Patrice Lumumba remained and unshaken.
Dark Hint. By midweek it seemed if every Cabinet minister was crying help from somewhere. The Deputy Pre mier asked tiny Ghana to send its army. Foreign Minister Justin Bomboko for U.S. troops, but his appeal was promptly disavowed by Lumumba, who had been off on one of his flights. Lu mumba instead asked the U.N. for help, and hinted darkly that unless he got it, the Congo would appeal to Communist China. No one in the Congolese government asked Belgium for anything, but Brussels moved swiftly in response to the cries of its beleaguered citizens. Para troops and commando units fanned out from the big Belgian military bases at Kamina and Kitona; planeloads of home troops were rushed to the Congo from Belgium.