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A strong detachment of Moroccan troops headed south to Thysville and Matadi, two of the worst trouble spots. The tough Moroccan commander, Colonel Ben Omar, delivered a speech at every whistle stop, telling Congolese that the United Nations was in charge and would take no back talk. At Thysville's Camp Hardy he ordered the raising of the U.N. flag and told the mutineers, "We have been invited here by your government, and we are taking command." Rounding on a raggedly dressed Congolese, he asked him if he were a civilian or a soldier. A soldier, said the man. Roared Omar: "Then go get dressed like one!"
It was at Camp Hardy early this month that mutinous Force Publique troops had locked up 35 Belgian officers and raped their wives. The soldiers then released the officers and asked them to resume command. "They refused because of what we did to their wives," said a puzzled mutineer. "Why? I gave my wife many times to white men." Another Congolese soldier explained that the European women who were raped were "bad women." He said: "They walked around in shorts showing their legs, but when black men came to them, they refused to shake hands. Belgian officers slept with our women all the time, but we could never sleep with theirs."
Pushing on to the important river port of Matadi, Ben Omar found that all but five of its 1,600 Europeans had fled. The Congolese garrison had successfully held the town against a Belgian attack; yet not a shot was fired as the Moroccans moved in. Several truckloads of mutineers were hauling off loot from European homes; at Ben Omar's command, they sheepishly returned the stolen goods to the sacked houses.
General's Problem. In temporary tactical command of the U.N. forces was Britain's Major General Henry Templer Alexander, who has been "seconded" to Ghana as commander in chief of the Ghanaian army. Early last week the Belgians were taking advantage of the confusion to parachute troops into smaller cities throughout the country, planning attacks on Matadi, Thysville, Stanleyville —Premier Lumumba's home town. Alexander cooled off the Belgians, rushed tough Ethiopian troops to Stanleyville and sent Colonel Ben Omar and his Moroccans down to Thysville and Matadi.
Alexander was equally brusque with Lumumba. On one occasion, Lumumba launched a 4-hour harangue in which he damned the United Nations as "a bunch of imperialists." When it was over, Alexander smiled coldly, said, "Mr. Premier, an imperialist bids you good night," and stalked from Lumumba's presence. The Premier did somewhat better when he ordered Alexander to clear all Belgian troops from Leopoldville by 6 o'clock. The general pointed out that it was already 6:10. "That," said Lumumba grandly, "is your problem, general, and I leave it to you to solve in your own way."