A Familiar Frontier: The Kennedy Administration in the Congo ...

Chapter Three:ELISABETHVILLEThe Congo had been dominated for almost a full year by contests over itsleadership, and the thrust of American involvement had been first to remove Lumumbaand then to find a suitable replacement. Even though those efforts had succeeded atLovanium with the installation of Cyrille Adoula as head of government, the U.S. and theU.N. agreed that more work remained to be done. As many observers in the Congo andthe rest of the world realized, the reunification with Katanga was an imperative for thelegitimacy of Adoula’s government. The resolution of the succession crisis in favor of theacceptable Cyrille Adoula allowed the West to turn its attention to the issue that had beennecessarily relegated to the background for much of the Congo Crisis: using diplomacyor force to rein in the problematic province of Katanga.Katanga’s vast mineral wealth, in cobalt and copper, as well as smaller amountsof numerous other riches, had long set the province apart from the rest of the Congo. Themineral lode’s value was enhanced even more by its accessibility, with much of it locatedonly feet from the surface. Accordingly, Europeans had invested in hydroelectric powerand railroads to facilitate mining in the region, and the company Union Minière hadessentially governed the area on behalf of the disinterested Belgian government. As aresult of these advantages, the Katangese enjoyed a somewhat higher standard of living67