THE CONGO THE U.N . DRIVES IMPLACABLY AHEAD BELGIAN CEMENT WORKER ALBERT 
VERBRUGGHE WAS DRIVING HIS WIFE AND ANOTHER WOMAN DOWN A QUIET 
STREET IN THE COPPER TOWN OF JADOTVILLE ONE DAY LAST WEEK, 
WHEN HE SUDDENLY HEARD THE CLATTER OF GUNFIRE . PULLING THE 
TRIGGERS FOR NO APPARENT REASON WERE NERVOUS INDIAN TROOPS OF THE 
ADVANCING UNITED NATIONS FORCE . VERBRUGGHE SLAMMED HIS LITTLE VOLKSWAGEN TO 
A HALT . HIS WIFE WAS ALREADY DEAD, THE OTHER WOMAN 
DYING . WITH AN ANGUISHED SCREAM, VERBRUGGHE STUMBLED OUT, BLOOD STREAMING 
FROM A WOUND UNDER HIS EYE . " MY WIFE IS 
KILLED, " HE CRIED . " WHY, WHY, WHY ? " 
THE SAME QUESTION, IN A LARGER CONTEXT, WAS BEING ASKED IN 
MANY CAPITALS LAST WEEK . FOR THE THIRD TIME IN 15 
MONTHS, THE WORLD WAS HORRIFIED WITNESS TO THE SPECTACLE OF FOREIGN 
SOLDIERS, AIDED BY THE U.S., SEIZING THE TOWNS AND FIRING ON 
NATIVE SOLDIERS OF THE CONGO . TO MANY, THE U.N.'S VERY 
PRESENCE IN THE AFRICAN LAND WAS OF DOUBTFUL WISDOM . BUT 
IN ANY CASE, THE BLAZING GUNS AND SWOOPING PLANES OF THE 
U.N . HARDLY FITTED THE PACIFYING INTENT OF ITS ORIGINAL CONGO 
MANDATE . " IT IS AN UNSPEAKABLE TRAGEDY, " SAID CONNECTICUT'S 
DEMOCRATIC SENATOR THOMAS DODD, " THAT THE WORLD ORGANIZATION WHICH WAS 
SET UP TO PREVENT WAR AND PRESERVE THE PEACE SHOULD BE 
STARTING WARS . " IN LONDON, 90 TORY M.P.S ACCUSED THE 
U.N . OF ACTING " CONTRARY TO ITS OWN CHARTER . 
" EVEN PRESIDENT KENNEDY, WHO LAST WEEK ORDERED THE U.S . 
TO BEGIN SHIPPING 2F-TON TRUCKS, ARMORED CARS AND TRANSPORT PLANES TO 
THE U.N . CONGO FORCE, WAS REPORTED TO BE ALARMED AT 
THE DISORDER THAT AROSE FROM THE U.N . SHOOTING . ON 
TO JADOTVILLE . BUT THERE WAS NO TURNING BACK ON THE 
BASIC DECISION THAT HAD BEEN MADE . KATANGA'S SECESSIONIST PRESIDENT MOISE 
TSHOMBE HAD USED EVERY SLY TRICK IN THE BOOK TO FRUSTRATE 
EFFORTS TO REUNITE HIS REBELLIOUS, COPPERRICH PROVINCE WITH THE REST OF 
THE CONGO . NOW, U.N . SECRETARY-GENERAL U THANT, WITH U.S 
. ENCOURAGEMENT, WAS DETERMINED TO END THE KATANGA PROBLEM ONCE AND 
FOR ALL . THE OCCASION HAPPENED TO BE THE COLLAPSE OF 
DISCIPLINE AMONG TSHOMBE'S BOOZY, RAGTAG 20,000-MAN GENDARMERIE . WHEN THEY BEGAN 
SHOOTING AT U.N . SOLDIERS IN KATANGA A FORTNIGHT AGO, THE 
U.N . REPLIED WITH ALL THE POWER AT ITS COMMAND . 
LAST WEEK IRISH INFANTRYMEN MARCHED INTO KIPUSHI, SITE OF COPPER MINES 
AT THE RHODESIAN BORDER . ETHIOPIAN U.N TROOPS ALREADY OCCUPIED ELISABETHVILLE 
ITSELF . BUT THE BIG PRIZE WAS JADOTVILLE, A TOWN OF 
90,000, WHERE THE GIANT UNION MINIERE MINERAL OUTFIT PRODUCES ONE-THIRD OF 
ITS COPPER (110,000 TONS) AND THREE-FOURTHS OF ITS COBALT (6,600 TONS) 
EACH YEAR . TOWARD JADOTVILLE, 70 MILES FROM ELISABETHVILLE, MOVED A 
TWO-MILE-LONG COLUMN OF INDIANS COMMANDED BY BRIGADIER REGINALD NORONHA, A GUTTY 
SOLDIER WHO MUNCHED HARDBOILED EGGS WHILE MORTAR SHELLS BURST AROUND HIM 
. WEAPONS AFLOAT . ALARMED AT THE PROSPECT OF DAMAGE TO 
MINE INSTALLATIONS IN WHICH BOTH BRITAIN AND BELGIUM HAD HEAVY INVESTMENTS, 
BRITISH U.N . AMBASSADOR SIR PATRICK DEAN AND BELGIUM'S WALTER LORIDAN 
DEMANDED ASSURANCES FROM THANT THAT THE U.N . FORCES WOULD GO 
NO FARTHER . THANT ASSURED THEM THAT THEY HAD HALTED AT 
THE LUFIRA RIVER . THAT WAS CORRECT, UP TO A POINT 
. WITH THREE BRIDGES DOWN, THE INDIANS STOPPED AT THE LUFIRA 
ALL RIGHT, BUT ONLY LONG ENOUGH TO RIG ROPES AND PULLEYS 
TO A SWIMMING FLOAT AND FERRY 120-MM . MORTARS, RECOILLESS RIFLES 
AND JEEPS ACROSS THE STREAM . NORONHA HAD NO ORDERS TO 
TAKE JADOTVILLE BUT THEN AGAIN, HE HAD NO ORDERS NOT TO 
SO HE KEPT ON GOING . UNOPPOSED, THE INDIANS TROOPED INTO 
JADOTVILLE WITH NORONHA HIMSELF HEADING A COLUMN OF JEEPS . THINGS 
WERE GOING LESS SMOOTHLY BACK AT U.N . HEADQUARTERS IN MANHATTAN 
. CONVINCED THAT THANT HAD DECEIVED THEM ABOUT JADOTVILLE, BELGIAN AND 
BRITISH DIPLOMATS WANTED TO KNOW WHAT HAD HAPPENED . THANT INTIMATED 
THAT HIS AIDES IN THE CONGO HAD EXCEEDED THEIR ORDERS . 
" THERE OCCURRED A SERIOUS BREAKDOWN, " A SPOKESMAN SAID, " 
IN EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AND COORDINATION BETWEEN THE U.N . HEADQUARTERS AND 
THE LEOPOLDVILLE OFFICE . " OFF TO LEOPOLDVILLE " TO DETERMINE 
THE CAUSE OF THIS LAPSE AND TO ENSURE IT WILL NOT 
RECUR " FLEW U.N . UNDER SECRETARY RALPH BUNCHE . BUT 
ONCE THERE, BUNCHE ANNOUNCED THAT THE U.N . STILL WANTED " 
FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT " THROUGHOUT ALL OF KATANGA, AND ADDED : 
" THE TASK 