ABSTRACT
Coincidentally or not, the first definite steps along the road to disaster in the Congo began while Adoula was meeting Kennedy in Washington in midOctober 1963. Throughout the period of the prime minister’s absence there were rumours of a variety of groupings planning to take over the government. More ominously in the wake of the August coup in Brazzaville, which overthrew the right-wing Youlou government in the Republic of Congo, leaders of the leftwing Congo opposition to Adoula escaped from jail and made their way to the haven that Brazzaville had become. The successor government of MassambaDebat in Congo Brazzaville was not constituted until December 1963 but the exiles from Léopoldville were free to urge that Brazzaville’s example should be followed by the overthrow of Adoula. Fear was growing in Léopoldville that there would be a resurgence of anti-government activity by Gizenga and Lumumbist supporters and other leading left-wing elements. To make matters worse, labour leaders of the protests across the river were demanding wage increases and a change of government in Léopoldville. These produced a strike of schoolteachers and contacts with the escaped left-wing politicians opposed to the decaying Adoula regime. One consequence was the state of emergency (state of exception) decree presented to Adoula on his return from the US. It was justified on the basis that the unrest had been inspired by left-wing parliamentarians in contact with communist bloc representatives. The decree was also a way of sidelining Prime Minister Adoula by creating a Committee of Three (Defence Minister Anany, Justice Minister Bomboko and Interior Minister Maboti) to administer the state of exception and the imposition of martial law in Léopoldville. Kasavuba signed the decree which came into effect on 21 October. In response, a call for a general strike for 23 October was not universally heeded but Anany decided to expel all diplomatic representatives from Soviet bloc countries who were seen as encouraging the labour leaders and left-wing opponents of the regime. Diplomats from the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Poland and Bulgaria were therefore again required to leave and accused of ‘meddling’ in the internal affairs of the Congo.1
