The Congo: Bare Cupboard

Awaiting the victorious United Nations at the National Bank of Katanga in Elisabethville were some legitimate spoils —or so it seemed. There should have been $16.2 million in Congolese francs originally deposited in the bank to support the currency of Moise Tshombe’s Katanga—and U.N. officials hoped to turn it over to the Congo government for reconstruction. But when they got there, Tshombe’s cupboard was bare.

For weeks, the bank’s directors had refused to open their files and strongrooms to U.N. investigators, and now the reason for their reluctance was clear. Most of the records were gone, and most of the cash. All the U.N. found was $116.28 in foreign currency—about enough to pay a Congolese army sublieutenant for ten days.

It was not difficult to guess where the money went. Tshombe’s own Katangese officials had withdrawn huge sums of money without troubling to leave receipts. One unnamed official waltzed off with 133 million Katangese francs (worth $2,660,000 at the official exchange rate of 50 to $1 ) in a single swipe. Some 4,000 gold coins valued at $280,000 were smuggled to Geneva for sale by a European syndicate. There was evidence that the bank had transferred 1 billion francs to a branch 150 miles away in Ndola, Northern Rhodesia, to buy arms and pay mercenaries.

With the Central Government in Leopoldville already facing a 1963 deficit of $100 million, the looting of the bank was a sad blow. It was also bad news to the U.S., which has already resigned itself to donating another hefty subsidy to the Congolese. Last week a U.S. aid team headed by Assistant Secretary of State Harlan Cleveland flew into Leopoldville to see what else was needed.