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Cockroach Invasion. Last week, with the approach of final independence for the Kingdom of Burundi and the Republic of Rwanda, the U.N. Trusteeship Committee was fiercely debating the future of two non-nations, both spectacularly unready to stand on their own feet. On July 1 the last remaining Belgian forces (900 paratroopers) hope to begin a phased withdrawal. But, still shaken by the specter of the Congo disaster, even such normally ardent "anticolonialist" powers as India and Ghana have wondered if the new countries' independence should not be delayed. Economically both territories are destitute; natural resources are few and per capita income is approximately $40 per year. There are no railroads in either country, and Rwanda has only a half-mile of paved road. Nearly 75% of the population is illiterate; Burundi has only one African doctor and one trained lawyer—who is now a political exile. Government has sputtered to a virtual halt as thousands of Belgian civil servants have fled with the memory of the Congo's pillage and rape still fresh.
Riven by the dispute between the Bahutu and the Watutsi, Rwanda lives under the constant threat of massacre. From neighboring countries, the Watutsi exiles have organized guerrilla raiding parties called the inyenzi ("cockroaches," so named because they work at night), whose avowed purpose is to reinvade Rwanda and restore the Watutsi monarchy after the Belgians leave. Paradoxically, any U.N. decision to postpone Rwanda's independence because of this fear of violence would only worsen the situation, as the Bahutu would blame the Watutsi and step up their campaign of vengeance.
At the U.N., Russia gleefully ignored all such problems, insisted that any delay would simply be due to vile Belgian machinations. As for the Belgians, Foreign Minister Paul-Henri Spaak pleaded that his country has no desire whatever to stay on, but argued that it is a joint responsibility of Belgium and the U.N. to provide for law and order after independence and to draw up a plan of administrative and economic aid. Spaak clearly wanted to avoid having Belgium held solely responsible for possible disorder and bloodshed, as it was after its hasty withdrawal from the Congo.