THE CONGO THE INDIA-RUBBER MAN JUST AFTER SUNUP ONE DAY LAST WEEK, 
SECESSIONIST MOISE TSHOMBE SLIPPED OUT OF HIS PINK PALACE IN ELISABETHVILLE, 
CLIMBED INTO THE BACK SEAT OF A BLACK COMET SEDAN, AND 
SPED OFF DOWN THE ROAD TOWARD THE NORTHERN RHODESIAN BORDER . 
SOON AN ARMORED COLUMN OF 500 UNITED NATIONS TROOPS WAS ON 
HIS TAIL . FOR A MOMENT, IT LOOKED AS IF THE 
U.N . WERE IN HOT PURSUIT OF ITS OLD FOE . 
BUT NO ! TO THE ASTONISHMENT OF BUG-EYED NATIVES ALONG THE 
WAY, MOISE WAS ACTUALLY LEADING THE BLUE HELMETS, URGING HIS OWN 
TATTERED KATANGESE GENDARMES TO LAY DOWN THEIR ARMS SO THE U.N 
. COULD REOPEN VITAL RAIL AND ROAD LINKS . BIZARRE AS 
IT WAS, THE INCIDENT WAS AN ACCURATE INDICATOR OF THE WAY 
THINGS ACTUALLY WERE GOING LAST WEEK IN THE CONGO'S COPPER-RICH KATANGA 
PROVINCE, WHERE THE U.N . WAS WAGING WAR WITH TSHOMBE'S BREAKAWAY 
REGIME FOR THE THIRD TIME SINCE SEPTEMBER 1961 . IN TWO 
WEEKS, THE TOUGH U.N . TROOPS HAD SEIZED A STEADILY LENGTHENING 
RIBBON OF RAIL LINES AND NEARLY EVERY MAJOR POPULATION CENTER IN 
THE PROVINCE . ONLY THE WESTERN COPPER TOWN OF KOLWEZI REMAINED 
IN KATANGA'S GRIP ; IT WAS DEFENDED BY 2,000 BOOZY GENDARMES, 
100 OF TSHOMBE'S WHITE MERCENARIES, AND A SMASHING BLONDE AMBULANCE DRIVER 
KNOWN AS " MADAME YVETTE, " WHO SAUNTERED ABOUT IN PARATROOP 
BOOTS, CAMOUFLAGE UNIFORM, BUSH HAT AND SHOULDER HOLSTER . ONLY 50 
MILES FROM KOLWEZI, INDIAN INFANTRYMEN PROBED CAUTIOUSLY FORWARD, WAITING ONLY FOR 
THE SIGNAL TO HEAD FULL BLAST TOWARD THE TOWN . BUT 
THE SIGNAL WOULD NOT BE GIVEN RASHLY, FOR THE RAGTAG MERCENARIES 
THREATENED TO BLOW UP A HUGE DAM AND INDUSTRIAL INSTALLATIONS, LEAVING 
THE TOWN A BLACKENED SHELL . THEY MIGHT NOT BE BLUFFING 
. " I AM BACK . / BUT WITH FULL BACKING 
FROM THE U.S . AND THE AFRO-ASIAN NATIONS, THE U.N . 
WAS DETERMINED TO DICTATE A SETTLEMENT TO TSHOMBE AND MAKE IT 
STICK . IF IT FAILS, THE REST OF THE CONGO, STARVED 
OF THE RICHES THAT ENABLE KATANGA TO ACCOUNT FOR 65 PER 
CENT OF THE COUNTRY'S EXPORTS, COULD SPLINTER INTO A SCORE OF 
WARRING TRIBAL DOMAINS . ALREADY A CORPS OF 100 CENTRAL GOVERNMENT 
FUNCTIONARIES WAS FLYING INTO ELISABETHVILLE TO TAKE CHARGE OF KATANGA'S ADMINISTRATION 
. THE BIG QUESTION MARK, AS USUAL, WAS THE SLIPPERY TSHOMBE 
. AS THE WEEK BEGAN, HE WAS HOLED UP DEFIANTLY IN 
KOLWEZI WITH THE MERCENARIES . THERE WERE RUMORS THAT HE MIGHT 
FLEE TO EUROPE RATHER THAN GIVE IN TO THE U.N . 
BUT HE WAS NOT SURRENDERING KATANGA'S TOP JOB . LO AND 
BEHOLD, HE WAS BACK IN ELISABETHVILLE . " IN SPITE OF 
ALL THE TROUBLE AND BLOODSHED, " HE DECLARED WITH MACARTHURIAN GRANDEUR, 
" I AM BACK . " WHAT POLICY WOULD HE FOLLOW 
? NO ONE COULD SAY, FOR BEFORE LONG HE WAS BOUNCING 
WILDLY FROM ONE POSITION TO ANOTHER . " PURE INDIA RUBBER, 
" MARVELED A FOREIGN DIPLOMAT . LUMP OF SUGAR . IN 
THE SPACE OF THREE DAYS, TSHOMBE 1) PROMISED TO " ABSTAIN 
FROM MAKING ANY DECLARATIONS AGAINST THE U.N . / ; 2) 
IMMEDIATELY BROKE HIS PROMISE BY THREATENING " A SCORCHED-EARTH POLICY " 
IN KOLWEZI (SEE WORLD BUSINESS) ; 3) WAS CLAPPED UNDER HOUSE 
ARREST BY INFURIATED U.N . OFFICIALS " TO RESTRAIN HIM FROM 
FURTHER IRRESPONSIBLE ACTS " ; AND 4) GOT HIS HOUSE ARREST 
COMMUTED TO A NIGHTTIME CURFEW BY LEADING THE U.N . TROOPS 
TO THE RHODESIAN BORDER . THEN, HAVING BAFFLED EVERYBODY, HE VANISHED 
ONCE MORE FROM THE CAPITAL. WITH TSHOMBE'S KATANGA NOW LARGELY UNDER 
U.N . CONTROL, CENTRAL GOVERNMENT PREMIER CYRILLE ADOULA BEGAN FLEXING HIS 
MUSCLES IN LEOPOLDVILLE . HE DEMANDED THAT THE BRITISH AND BELGIAN 
CONSULS IN ELISABETHVILLE LEAVE THE COUNTRY BECAUSE THEY HAD ACTED AS 
MEDIATORS FOR TSHOMBE IN HOPES OF ARRANGING A CEASE-FIRE . HE 
SPURNED A $2,000,000 GIFT FROM THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT BECAUSE OF ITS 
" SUBVERSIVE POLICY " ON KATANGA, AND ONE OF HIS OFFICIALS 
SNIFFED : " WE ARE NOT A LITTLE CHILD WHO CAN 
BE GIVEN A LUMP OF SUGAR TO KEEP QUIET . " 
BOX SCORE . EXUBERANT AS ADOULA WAS OVER TSHOMBE'S PLIGHT, THERE 
WAS NOT MUCH FOR HIM TO CROW ABOUT . EVEN IF 
KATANGA IS SUCCESSFULLY REINTEGRATED, HE WILL STILL FACE THE EQUALLY FORMIDABLE 
PROBLEMS OF ADMINISTRATIVE INCOMPETENCE, OFFICIAL CORRUPTION, ARMY INDISCIPLINE AND WORST OF 
ALL RIVALRIES AMONG THE CONGO'S 200 TRIBES . THE POINT WAS 
UNDERLINED IN BLOOD LAST WEEK IN KASAI PROVINCE, WHERE FEUDING TRIBESMEN 
WERE AT ONE ANOTHER'S THROATS OVER A BORDER DISPUTE . NATIVES 
KIDNAPED AND REPORTEDLY ATE TWO BELGIAN LUMBERMEN, THEN BEGAN SLAUGHTERING ONE 
ANOTHER IN THE TOWN OF KAKENGE . SUCH GRUESOME INCIDENTS NO 
LONGER SURPRISED ANYONE . A LEOPOLDVILLE NEWSPAPER REPORTED THE EVENT AS 
MATTER-OF-FACTLY AS IF IT WERE A BASEBALL BOX SCORE . ITS 
HEADLINE : KILLED AT KAKENGE 370 LULUAS, TWO BELGIANS, ONE MUSONGE, 
ONE KANYOKA . 