Under the Knife

Suffering from amoebic dysentery, fainting spells and an inflamed kidney, Moise Tshombe, 43, was being treated last week in the Clinique de Passy in Paris. At the same time, his once potent and economically healthy domain of Katanga was going under the knife back in the Congo. Last year the Congo central government cut North Katanga out of Tshombe's former domain, leaving him only the southern part. Now the government subdivided the area further, into the provinces of East Katanga and Lualaba (see map).

The purpose of the gerrymander is to remove any power base to which Tshombe might return. Premier Cyrille Adoula and other central-government leaders in Leopoldville have been terrified of a renewed secession attempt in Katanga once U.N. troops pull out of the Congo. A personal campaign against Tshombe began last May when his bodyguard was forcibly disbanded. Next Tshombe's correspondence was seized, with hints that it gave proof of treasonable designs. The ailing Tshombe took the hint and left for Europe, vowing: "I will come back, and I will not abandon my post."

Technically, Moise Tshombe is still eligible to run for office in East Katanga. But since much of Tshombe's political strength lies with the Luanda tribe, now isolated in the new Lualaba province, his chances might be slim. Though Tshombe still has considerable popularity in Katanga, the Europeans there want no more adventures, and the flourishing Union Miniere asks only that it be allowed to mine copper undisturbed and continue earning $260 million a year for the Congo--more than twice the export revenue of the rest of the country. The secessionist spirit seems to be dying. Says one of Tshombe's old ministers: "We were puppets protecting European interests, and now nobody wants to pull our strings. It's all over. We have no choice but to accept the dictates of Leopoldville."

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