Albert Kalonji

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Albert Kalonji (around 1960)

Albert Kalonji , also Albert Kalondji , (born June 6, 1929 in Hemptinne ; † April 20, 2015 in Katende , Democratic Republic of the Congo ) was a Congolese politician of the Democratic Republic of the Congo .

Political career

Kalonji comes from the then Kasai province and belongs to the Bantu people of the Baluba . He attended a mission school and in the late 1950s took over the leadership of the Baluba in the Belgian Congo .

Towards the end of Belgian rule he founded the Mouvement National Congolais (MNC) party together with Patrice Lumumba . Because of the question of whether the independent Congo should get a federal or centralized character, Kalonji broke away from Lumumba's MNC in July 1959 and entered into an alliance with Joseph Kasavubus ABAKO in January 1960 . His group, known as Kalonji-MNC , later lost some supporters, including future Prime Minister Cyrille Adoula , who criticized the party for being too fixated on tribal interests rather than the state as a whole.

Even before the Congo's official independence on June 30, 1960 , South Kasai announced its secession from the state as a whole. The province's wealth consisted of the world's largest production of industrial diamonds, mined by the Belgian Forminière .

Diamond emperor

On August 8, 1960, South Kasai declared itself formally independent under the name Etat autonome du Sud-Kasai, with Kalonji as president and Joseph Ngalula as head of government. Bakawanga became the capital . Kalonji's father was awarded the title of chief mulopwe by a meeting of notables on April 12, 1961 . He immediately abdicated in favor of his son, who was now called Albert I. In Europe he was also known as the Diamond Emperor. The motto of his policy towards his subjects was débrouillez-vous (Help yourself).

Shortly before, in February, he had entered into an alliance against Lumumba with President Katangas , Moise Tschombé and Kasavubus Prime Minister Joseph Ileo.

Regarding Lumumba's death, the version is also held that he was originally not supposed to be brought to Tschombé in Elisabethville , but to Bakawanga to see Kalonji, who wanted to celebrate his murder there. Only the fact that UN troops were present at the airfield led to the onward journey to Elisabethville. According to other accounts, Kalonji had changed his mind at the last minute and had the airfield blocked himself. In the course of 1961, the central government was able to strengthen its position vis-à-vis the defected provinces, also through the deployment of UN troops . After Tschombé had come to terms with the central government, Kalonji's territory was conquered after heavy fighting and Kalonji was imprisoned at the turn of the year 1961/1962. He was housed in a military camp near Lépoldville . He escaped from prison on September 7, 1962; his attempt to re-establish his rule in South Kasai failed within a month. The province was later divided into the two provinces of Kasaï-Oriental and Kasai-Occidental .

Further career

Kalonji first left the Congo and went to Geneva . In 1964 he took over the Ministry of Agriculture in the Chombés government

In 2005 he published a book about his view of events at the time and took a trip to the United States to present it there.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Décès de M. Albert Kalonji Ditunga Mulopwe ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / acpcongo.com
personal data
SURNAME Kalonji, Albert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kalondji, Albert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Congolese politician of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
DATE OF BIRTH June 6, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Hemptinne
DATE OF DEATH April 20, 2015
Place of death Katende , Democratic Republic of the Congo