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Fear & Reluctance. With the U.N. more or less controlling Elisabethville and with Tshombe in flight, the U.N. had presumably reached its "limited objectives" of freedom of movement in Katanga. But what of the long-range objectives involving a Congo settlement?
Even if there is no further fighting, getting Tshombe and Adoula to meet will be difficult enough. Tshombe is afraid of going to Leopoldville, fearing for his safety, and for prestige reasons Adoula is reluctant to meet Tshombe elsewhere. The terms of an agreement, once a meeting is arranged, will present an even more difficult problem. Even if Tshombe agrees—in effect at gunpoint—to join a Congo federation, the specific degree of each province's independence must be worked out, including the question of who disposes of Katanga's income.
Adoula is under pressure from the U.S. to be generous toward Tshombe, if he is willing to end the secession. The question remains how generous Adoula can afford to be without weakening his own position in the eyes of his supporters and his left-wing rivals. Any major concessions to Tshombe will produce charges from Communist-supported Gizenga that the central government has sold out to the colonial interests. Adoula's prestige has not been helped by the fact that, so far at least, the U.N. has operated against Katanga entirely without the help of the central government's weak, undisciplined army. Adoula eagerly offered this help, but the U.N. declined.
Negotiating an agreement with Tshombe, tempering the bitterness left in Katanga, strengthening Adoula enough to enable him to cope with Gizenga, building a reasonably efficient and civilized administration in the Congo—all these are staggering tasks looming beyond the battle of Katanga. It is inconceivable that they can be carried out by the Congolese without outside help, which presumably will have to come from or through the U.N. Contemplating the travail of the Congo, which has a large Roman Catholic population, Pope John XXIII said last week: "Just as it was about to harvest, from political independence, the long-awaited fruits of comfort and peaceful effort, behold this blessed land is bathed in blood . . . We turn beseechingly to those who can and must intervene with disinterested advice, with light of right, to help in re-establishing peace in this country."