Albert Kalonji
Albert Kalonji | |
---|---|
Head of State of South Kasai (first as President, later as Mulopwe/God-king/Emperor) | |
In office 9 August 1960 – 5 October 1962 | |
Preceded by | Edmond Mukanya Mulenda |
Succeeded by | position disestablished |
Personal details | |
Born | Hemptinne (near Mouvement National Congolais-Kalonji (MNC-K) | 6 June 1929
Albert Kalonji Ditunga (6 June 1929 – 20 April 2015)[1][2] was a Congolese politician best known as the leader of the short-lived secessionist state of South Kasai (Sud-Kasaï) during the Congo Crisis.
Early life
Little is known about Albert Kalonji's early life. He was born in 1927 or 1929 in Hemptinne, Kasai Province,
Early career
Kalonji, a
South Kasai
Within days of being independent from Belgium, the new
Kalonji, claiming that the Baluba[b] were being persecuted in the Congo and needed their own state in their traditional Kasai homeland, followed suit shortly afterwards and declared the autonomy of the diamond-rich[4] South Kasai on 8 August, with himself as head.[5] Unlike Tshombe, Kalonji shrank from declaring full independence from the Congo and rather declared its "autonomy" with a hypothetical, federalised Congo. He, as representatives of his party, continued to sit in the Congolese parliaments in Léopoldville.
In emulation of Winston Churchill, he adopted the V sign for victory to express his confidence in South Kasai's ability to achieve its goals.[6]
On 12 April 1961, Kalonji's father, Edmond Mukanya Mulenda, was granted the title Mulopwe (which roughly translates to "emperor" or "god-king"),[7] but he immediately "abdicated" in favor of his son.[5] On 16 July, In April 1961, Kalonji took the royal title Mulopwe ("King of the Baluba") to tie the state more closely to the pre-colonial Luba Empire. The act divided the South Kasaian authorities and Kalonji was disavowed by the majority of South Kasai's parliamentary representatives in Léopoldville.[d] The move was controversial with members of Kalonji's own party and cost him much support.
Kalonji's reign, however, proved to be short-lived. As preparation for the invasion of Katanga, Congolese government troops invaded and occupied South Kasai, becoming involved in ethnic-based violence and displacing thousands of Baluba. On 30 December, Kalonji was arrested.[5] He managed to escape shortly afterwards. The administrative apparatus of South Kasai survived, under Congolese occupation, until a coup d'état was led against Kalonjists by the state's Prime Minister, Joseph Ngalula, in October 1962 when the state returned to the Congo.[5]
Legacy and subsequent activities
Escaping from arrest, Kalonji fled to Francoist Spain. He returned to the Congo between 1964-65 to hold a ministerial portfolio in the central government led by Tshombe but returned to exile following Joseph-Désiré Mobutu's 1965 coup d'état,[citation needed] which ended his political career.[8] Under Mobutu, the territory of South Kasai was divided into two regions to discourage future secessionist tendencies.[5]
In exile in Europe, Kalonji still claimed the title Souverain Possesseur des Terres occupées par les Balubas (Sovereign Owner of the Lands occupied by the Baluba).[5] He wrote about his experiences in Memorandum: Ma lutte, au Kasai, pour la Verité au service de la Justice ("Memorandum: My fight in Kasai in the Service of Truth and Justice", published 1964) and Congo 1960. La Sécession du Sud-Kasaï. La vérité du Mulopwe ("Congo 1960. The South Kasai Secession. Truth from the Mulopwe", published 2005). He died in April 2015 and was buried in Katende.
Notes
- ^ Not to be confused with the neighboring country of the same name, sometimes known as Congo-Brazzaville.
- ^ In most Bantu languages, the prefix ba- (or sometimes wa-) is added to a human noun to form a plural. As such, Baluba refers collectively to members of the Luba ethnic group.
References
- ISBN 2738412637.
- ^ Décès de M. Albert Kalonji Ditunga Mulopwe Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine Agence Congolaise de Presse. 30 May 2015 (in French)
- ^ Akyeampong & Gates 2012, p. 274.
- ^ Larry Devlin, Chief of Station, Congo: Fighting the Cold War in a Hot Zone, p. 62
- ^ a b c d e f The Imperial Collection: The Autonomous State of South Kasai
- ^ "Sous le Signe V Kalonji veut reconquérir le Kasaï". Le Soir Illustré (in French). 15 September 1960.
- ^ ""Zaire: A Country Study", "Establishment of a Personalistic Regime"". Lcweb2.loc.gov. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
- ^ Akyeampong & Gates 2012, p. 276.
Bibliography
- Akyeampong, Emmanuel Kwaku; Gates, Henry Louis, eds. (2012). Dictionary of African Biography. Vol. 3. New York: Oxford University Press USA. ISBN 978-0-19-538207-5.