Toward a Showdown

Through the streets of Elisabethville swirled 100 howling Africans and Europeans carrying banners blazoned, "No G.I.s in Katanga!" At the U.S. consulate they trampled on an American flag and shattered windows with rocks and ripe mangoes. It was Secessionist Moise Tshombe's way of replying to the U.S. decision last week to send a military mission to the Congo to see what equipment the United Nations force will need to bring his secessionist Katanga province to heel.

Judging from the mood at the U.N. and in Washington, Tshombe will have plenty of other opportunities to signal his displeasure in coming weeks, for a showdown is rapidly shaping up. "Either the U.N. brings Tshombe to reason," fumed Robert K. A. Gardiner, top U.N. official in the Congo, "or it may as well get out right away. The longer we delay, the more we bring the U.N. into contempt." And, he might have added, the closer the U.N. moves to bankruptcy. It is already $76 million in the red from its 2 1/2-year effort to reunify the Congo, and is still spending $10 million a month there.

The Plan. What alarms the U.N. most is the shaky position of the head of the central government in Leopoldville, Premier Cyrille Adoula, who has taken to sleeping in a paratroop compound in fear for his life. "He is hanging on by an eyelash," said a diplomat. The tumultuous Parliament is openly rebellious. One portly Deputy named Emile Zola drew cheers by reciting a long list of grievances against Adoula, punctuating each with "J'accuse."

With the central government tottering toward anarchy and Tshombe apparently hoping to give it one last push simply by stalling long enough, U.N. Secretary-General U Thant decided to act. His instrument for "reconciliation"' is known simply as "The Plan," a four-part program drawn up last August and designed to force Tshombe to bring his mineral-rich province back into the Congo. Fortnight ago, Thant decided to stir up some action. Off to Britain, Belgium, Portugal and South Africa went letters urging a boycott on the copper and cobalt that earn some $200 million in foreign exchange for Katanga's giant Union Miniere each year. Most merely shrugged. Then, Adoula wrote to 17 nations urging them to stop buying Tshombe's exports. Many of them would shrug too.

The Men of JTF-4. The most dramatic part of the plan was a request to the U.S. to send additional military equipment to the U.N. Congo force. The U.S. responded last week by naming Lieut. General Louis W. Truman, 54, a bantam, 150-lb. West Pointer (and second cousin of Harry S Truman) as head of an eight-man mission to weigh the U.N.'s arms needs. Seven of the eight are members of a top-drawer planning group called JTF4 (for Joint Task Force 4), set up in 1961 to chart long-range military contingency plans for sub-Saharan Africa. As General Truman flew into Leopoldville, Swedish, Philippine and Italian fighter planes were headed toward the Congo for U.N. use, and 1,800 Indonesian infantrymen and a unit of 300 Norwegian antiaircraft gunners were en route to join the Congo force.

Nobody wants another round of shooting. The U.N.'s main purpose is to frighten Tshombe into signing up as a part of the Congo. But there is always the chance of an ugly incident that could touch off a big U.N.-Katanga fight. Thant's next step under The Plan is to cut Katanga's rail, post and telecommunications links with the outside, a move likely to provoke retaliation. Thant warns that the U.N. "will use arms vigorously, whenever and wherever it may be attacked."

Tshombe is in no mood to fight. To stave off armed action and keep talks going, he offered to give the Central Government a bigger share of his $50 million-a-year revenues. Thant was hardly enthusiastic. "In view of our past experiences with Mr. Tshombe.'' he said, "we are not jumping to any hasty conclusions."

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