Moise Kapenda Tshombe

Moise Kapenda Tshombe , 1919-69, political leader in Congo (Kinshasa). He was related to the royal family of the Lunda people and received his education at mission schools. In 1951 he was elected to the advisory provisional council of Katanga and later became (1959) president of the Belgian-supported Conakat, the strongest political party in Katanga. In 1960 he attended the Brussels Congo Conference, where he pressed for a loose federation of independent states in the Congo. In the general elections of 1960 Conakat gained control of the Katanga provincial legislature, and, when the Congo became an independent republic, Tshombe proclaimed Katanga 's secession from the country. He worked closely with Belgian business interests, appointed a Belgian officer to command his army, and refused to cooperate with either the United Nations or the central government led by Patrice Lumumba . In Aug., 1960, he was elected president of Katanga; he maintained a large mercenary army to fight against UN troops. He was charged by a UN investigation commission with complicity in the murder (Jan., 1961) of Lumumba in Katanga. In Apr., 1961, Tshombe was arrested by the central government but was released when he pledged to reunite Katanga with the Congo. He quickly repudiated the promise and continued to defy the central government. Finally forced to capitulate, Tshombe went into exile in Europe in 1963. He returned, however, in 1964, and, in July, President Kasavubu named him premier of a government of national reconciliation. He served until Oct., 1965, when Kasavubu dismissed him. Accused (1966) of treason against the government, Tshombe went into exile in Spain and was sentenced (1967) to death in absentia. In June, 1967, a plane in which he was flying was hijacked to Algeria, where he was first jailed and then kept incommunicado until his death in 1969.

Bibliography: See his My Fifteen Months in Government (tr. 1967); biography by I. G. Colvin (1968).

Tshombe, Moise (Kapenda) (1920–69) African leader in the Belgian Congo. He founded the Conakat political party, which advocated an independent but loosely federal Congo. He took part in talks that led to Congolese independence in 1960, but then declared the province of Katanga independent of the rest of the country. He maintained his position as self-styled President of Katanga (1960–63) with the help of white mercenaries and the support of the Belgian mining company, Union Minière. Briefly Prime Minister of the Congo Republic (1964–65), he was accused of the murder of LUMUMBA, and of corruptly rigging the elections of 1965, and fled the country when General MOBUTU seized power. In 1967 he was kidnapped and taken to Algeria, where he died in prison.