Moïse Tshombe facts for kids

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Quick facts for kids Moïse Tshombe
Tshombe in France, 1963

5th Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
In office 10 July 1964 – 13 October 1965
President	Joseph Kasa-Vubu
Preceded by	Cyrille Adoula
Succeeded by	Évariste Kimba
President of Katanga
In office 11 July 1960 – 21 January 1963
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Position abolished

Personal details
Born	10 November 1919 Musumba, Belgian Congo
Died	29 June 1969(1969-06-29) (aged 49) El Biar, Algiers, Algeria
Political party	CONAKAT CONACO

Moïse Kapenda Tshombe (born November 10, 1919 – died June 29, 1969) was a businessman and politician from the Congo. He was the president of the State of Katanga from 1960 to 1963. Katanga was a region that tried to become independent. Later, he served as the prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1964 to 1965.

Early Life and Business
Political Career
- President of Katanga
- Prime Minister of the Congo
Later Life and Death
Portrayals
Honours
Images for kids
See also

Early Life and Business

Moïse Tshombe was born near Musumba in the Belgian Congo. He was part of the Lunda ethnic group. His family was very important, like royalty, and some of his relatives had been traditional kings of the Lunda people, called the Mwaant Yav.

He went to an American missionary school, which was a school run by religious groups. After that, he trained to be an accountant, someone who manages money for businesses. In the 1950s, he tried to run several businesses, including a chain of stores. These businesses did not do well, and his wealthy family often had to help him out.

Katanga Province, where Tshombe lived, was very rich in valuable minerals like copper, tin, and uranium. A big company called Union Minière mined these minerals. Because of this wealth, many Belgians moved to Katanga. The mining jobs paid well, which also attracted people from other parts of the Belgian Congo.

Tshombe and other Lunda leaders were close to the Belgian settlers. They worried about many people from other groups, like the Baluba, moving into Katanga. In the late 1950s, Belgium allowed some democracy in the Congo. In the first local elections in 1957, most of the elected mayors were Baluba. This made the Lunda people fear they would lose their influence in their own province. Tshombe started his political work in 1957 because of these worries.

Political Career

Tshombe helped start a political party called the Confédération des associations tribales du Katanga (CONAKAT). This party wanted Katanga to have a lot of control over its own affairs within an independent Congo. They wanted to protect the rights of the local people in Katanga and control who moved into the province. Most of CONAKAT's supporters were from the Lunda and other local groups in southern Katanga.

Tshombe and other Lunda leaders remembered the old Kingdom of Lunda, which was a powerful kingdom centuries ago. CONAKAT also worked with a party that represented the white Belgian settlers in Katanga. Both groups wanted Katanga to have a lot of freedom within an independent Congo. This was so the wealth from mining could stay in Katanga.

President of Katanga

Tshombe at a meeting about Congo's future, 1960

In May 1960, CONAKAT won control of the Katanga local government in elections. One month later, the Congo became an independent country. Tshombe became the President of Katanga, which was now an independent province. Patrice Lumumba became the first Prime Minister of the new Congo.

Tshombe disagreed with how Lumumba set up the national government. He felt Katanga's influence was being reduced. On July 11, Tshombe announced that Katanga was leaving the Congo. He said the central government was becoming too powerful. Belgium and the Union Minière company supported Katanga's independence.

Tshombe asked Belgium to send military officers to help train an army for Katanga. This new force was called the Katangese gendarmerie, but it was really an army. Most of its trainers were Belgian. Tshombe tried to make it seem like Katanga had a strong military, even while it was still being built.

Tshombe with Operation Unokat casualty cropped

Tshombe in Katanga, 1962

Tshombe wanted the United Nations (UN) to recognize Katanga as an independent country. He warned that any UN troops coming into Katanga would be met with force. However, Congolese Prime Minister Lumumba asked the UN for help. UN forces were sent to the Congo.

A British diplomat named Brian Urquhart met Tshombe several times. He said Tshombe wanted to be liked and recognized. He often agreed with the last person he spoke to and might change his mind later. Urquhart also noted that Tshombe would sometimes pretend to be sick to avoid difficult questions. Tshombe was seen by some as a weak person who was easily influenced by others.

France, interested in Katanga's minerals, sent a mercenary (a soldier who fights for money) named Bob Denard and his men to help Tshombe.

Later, Prime Minister Lumumba was arrested. He was taken to Katanga. On January 17, Lumumba was killed by a firing squad.

In September 1961, the UN started an operation to bring Katanga back into the Congo. Tshombe fled to another country for a short time. However, the Katangese gendarmerie fought back strongly. In one battle, called the siege of Jadotville, Irish UN troops had to surrender. The UN Secretary-General, Dag Hammarskjöld, flew to meet Tshombe to discuss a ceasefire. Sadly, Hammarskjöld died in a plane crash after the meeting.

In the 1960s, some American conservatives (people with traditional political views) saw Tshombe as a good African leader. They believed he represented a way for African countries to become independent without changing too much, which they hoped would prevent communist influence. They often said that Tshombe tried to keep peace between different groups in the Congo.

Some groups in the United States supported Tshombe. They saw the UN's actions against Katanga as being influenced by communist goals. However, many African-Americans did not like Tshombe. They saw him as an "Uncle Tom", which is a negative term for a black person who is seen as too obedient to white people.

Prime Minister of the Congo

Prime Minister Tshombe visiting Stanleyville in 1964

In 1963, UN forces successfully ended Katanga's attempt to be independent. Tshombe went into exile, first in Northern Rhodesia and then in Spain. He took a lot of money with him, which allowed him to live very comfortably. Meanwhile, the Katangese treasury was found to be almost empty.

In early 1964, a rebellion called the Simba rebellion started in the Congo. The government quickly lost control of the eastern part of the country. At the same time, Tshombe began talking with some of his former rivals, including the army commander, General Joseph-Désiré Mobutu.

The Congolese army was struggling against the rebels. Mobutu believed the Congo needed help from Western countries. Mobutu had a lot of power in Congolese politics. He convinced President Joseph Kasa-Vubu to appoint Tshombe as prime minister. Mobutu thought Tshombe was the best person to get Western support.

Many of the valuable businesses in the Belgian Congo were partly owned by the Belgian state. When Congo became independent, Belgium did not want to give its shares in these businesses to the Congolese government. This meant the Congo lost out on a lot of money.

In March 1964, the Belgian Foreign Minister agreed to transfer these shares. It seems that appointing Tshombe as prime minister was a condition for this transfer. Also, the US government under President John F. Kennedy was not supportive of Tshombe. But after Kennedy was killed in November 1963, the new president, Lyndon B. Johnson, was more supportive of Tshombe because he saw him as a pro-Western politician.

In July 1964, Tshombe returned to the Congo and became prime minister in a new government. One of his first actions was to lift a curfew in the capital city. He also released 600 political prisoners and ordered the Katangese soldiers who had been in exile to return and join the national army.

When he was president of Katanga, Tshombe had used white mercenaries (soldiers for hire) to fight for him. As prime minister of the Congo, he hired these same mercenaries to fight for the country. Tshombe's return to power was not popular with everyone. Malcolm X, a famous American civil rights leader, strongly disliked Tshombe. He called him "the worst African ever born" because of his role in Lumumba's death.

In 1965, Tshombe formed a political group called the Convention Nationale Congolaise (CONACO). This group won many seats in the 1965 general election. However, despite this victory, President Kasa-Vubu removed Tshombe from his position as Prime Minister in October 1965. He was replaced by Évariste Kimba. In November, General Joseph Mobutu took power in a coup. Mobutu accused Tshombe of treason, and Tshombe fled the country again, settling in Spain.

Later Life and Death

In 1965, Tshombe's brother, Daniel, became the Mwaant Yav, the traditional king of the Lunda people. This made Tshombe even more popular in Katanga.

In 1967, Tshombe was sentenced to death in Congo, but he was not there to face the judgment. On June 30, 1967, he was on a plane that was hijacked by an agent. He was taken to Algeria, where he was put in jail and then under house arrest. The Congolese government wanted him to be sent back to Congo, but Algeria refused.

Tshombe died in Algeria in 1969. Algerian and French doctors said he died naturally in his sleep. However, some people, including his nephew, had doubts because no doctor chosen by his family was allowed at the autopsy. Some theories suggested he was poisoned.

Moïse Tshombe was buried in a Methodist service near Brussels, Belgium. Because of his role in the death of Lumumba and his connections with Western countries, many Black African nationalists saw Tshombe as someone who betrayed his own people.

Tshombe's nephew, Jean Nguza Karl-i-Bond, later became an important politician and served as prime minister of Congo (then called Zaire) from 1980 to 1981.

Portrayals

Moïse Tshombe has been shown in several films:

The 1978 film The Wild Geese was partly inspired by ideas about Tshombe's plane being diverted.
French actor Pascal N'Zonzi played Tshombe in the 2000 film Lumumba and the 2011 film Mister Bob.
Danny Sapani played him in the 2016 film The Siege of Jadotville.