ABAKO
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Alliance of Bakongo Alliance des Bakongo | |
---|---|
Abbreviation | ABAKO |
President | Centre-right |
Religion | Christianity (Kimbanguism) |
Colours | Yellow |
The Alliance of Bakongo (
Because of its long exposure to the West and rich heritage of messianic unrest, the lower Congo region, homeland of the Kongo people, was the first area to emerge as a focal point of militantly anti-Belgian sentiment and activity. ABAKO and Kasa-Vubu spearheaded ethnic nationalism there and in 1956 issued a manifesto calling for immediate independence.
The move came about as a response to a far more conciliatory statement by a group of intellectuals from other ethnic groups identified with the editorial committee of a
The metamorphosis of ABAKO into a major vehicle of anti-colonial sentiment unleashed considerable unrest throughout the lower Congo region. In the capital city of Léopoldville (present-day Kinshasa) the party emerged as the dominant force: in the municipal elections of December 1957 ABAKO candidates won 133 out of 170 seats on the communal council, giving unfettered control of African communes into the hands of the party which advocated "complete independence."[citation needed] While the party's victory at the polls greatly strengthened its bargaining position in relation to the colonial administration, in the countryside its local sections quickly proliferated, creating a de facto power structure almost entirely beyond the control of the colonial civil servants.
In Léopoldville, meanwhile, the situation was rapidly getting out of hand. The turning point came on 4 January 1959, when Belgian administrators took the fatal step of dispersing a large crowd of ABAKO supporters gathered to attend a political meeting. The move led to
Its anti-Belgian orientation notwithstanding, ABAKO was first and foremost an ethnic movement of the Kongo people. Its concentration on the past splendors of the pre-colonial Kongo Kingdom and the cultural value of the Kikongo language were entirely aligned with its proclaimed objective of working toward the reconstruction of the Kongo polity, and, at one point, of advocating secession as the quickest way of achieving this all-consuming goal.
Thus, while ABAKO militancy inspired other groups of Africans to emulate its demands for immediate independence, another consequence that came along with it was the structuring of political competition along ethnic lines. In Léopoldville, the ethnic Kongo elements soon came into conflict with groups of
The party never exhibited a systematic political program other than promoting immediate independence. Following independence, members of ABAKO held prominent roles; Joseph Kasa-Vubu became the country's first president (1960–1965). Daniel Kanza, the vice-president of ABAKO, became the first non-white mayor of Kinshasa (1960–62), while his son, Thomas Kanza, one of the first Congolese people with a university degree, became a member of the Lumumba Government and served as ambassador to the United Nations (1960–62) and later as ambassador to the United Kingdom (1962–64).
ABAKO was eventually dissolved in 1966 when the authoritarian presidential-type regime led by Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, based on single-party rule by his Popular Movement of the Revolution (MPR), was established.
A small political party in modern-day Congo, the Alliance of Builders of Kongo (Alliance des Bâtisseurs du Kongo) also uses the acronym ABAKO as an homage to the original group's legacy. They won three National Assembly seats in the 2006 general election and two seats in the 2011 election.
References
- Carter, Gwendolen Margaret, ed. (1963), Five African States; Responses to Diversity: the Congo, Dahomey, the Cameroun Federal Republic, the Rhodesias and Nyasaland, South Africa, OCLC 413212.