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= Jason Sendwe =
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Introduction
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Jason Sendwe (1917 - 19 June 1964) was a Congolese politician and the
founder and leader of the General Association of the Baluba of the
Katanga (BALUBAKAT) party. He later served as Second Deputy Prime
Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (then Republic of the
Congo) from August 1961 until January 1963, and as President of the
Province of North Katanga from September 1963 until his death, with a
brief interruption.
Sendwe was born in 1917 in Mwanya, Kabongo Territory, Belgian Congo,
to an ethnic Baluba family. He was educated in Methodist schools and
nursing institutions. Unable to become a doctor due to a lack of
medical schools in the Congo, he found work as a minister, teacher,
and nurse. He became involved in several cultural organisations, and
in 1957 founded BALUBAKAT to fight for the interests of the Baluba. He
espoused Congolese nationalism and believed that the Congo should
remain a united country after Belgian rule. In May 1960, shortly
before the country's independence, he was elected to the newly
constituted Chamber of Deputies. Sendwe sought to obtain control over
the government of Katanga Province, but lost to a power struggle
against his rival, Moïse Tshombe, and the Confederation of Tribal
Associations of Katanga (CONAKAT) party. Regardless, Prime Minister
Patrice Lumumba nominated him for the office of State Commissioner for
Katanga.
In early July 1960 Tshombe announced the secession of an independent
State of Katanga. Sendwe opposed the breakaway state and rejected
Tshombe's entreaties for him to join the rebel government, rupturing
relations between the two men. Invested with the responsibilities of
State Commissioner by the Senate, Sendwe unsuccessfully attempted to
restore central government control over Katanga. After a period of
turmoil he was appointed Deputy Prime Minister in August 1961 with the
hope that he could use his political influence to win the central
government support in Katanga. Four months later he was made
Commissioner-General Extraordinaire for the province, nominally giving
him complete authority over the area.
Sendwe's political prospects were severely damaged in December 1962
when the Senate censured him and forced his subsequent resignation
from the deputy premiership. In early 1963, he increasingly focused
his activities in Katanga, as the province acceded to central
authority and Tshombe fled into exile. The territory was divided into
new political units against Sendwe's wishes. Despite his
dissatisfaction, he assumed office as President of North Katanga in
September. In January 1964 he lost his position as president of
BALUBAKAT. In June Simba rebels overthrew his government and killed
him, though it is unclear who held ultimate responsibility for his
death. Sendwe's demise greatly demoralised the Baluba, and his
reputation drifted into obscurity.
Early life
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Jason Sendwe was born in 1917 in Mwanya, Kabongo Territory, Belgian
Congo to a Baluba family. The Luba were a large ethnic group
indigenous to the Katanga and Kasaï regions of the Congo. Sendwe was a
childhood friend of Moïse Tshombe. He received six years of primary
schooling from Methodists in Kabongo and four years of secondary
education at the Kanene Methodist Mission in Kamina. For five years he
took nursing courses in Stanleyville and at the École officielle pour
Infirmiers à Élisabethville. He completed his studies at the École des
Assistants Indigènes de Léopoldville, graduating as a nurse.
His aspirations to become a doctor were curtailed by the lack of
medical schools in the Congo. He worked as a minister and teacher at
the Kanene Methodist Mission, and in 1942 entered the service of the
colonial administration as a clerk. Sendwe later became a nurse and
then a medical assistant, working in Élisabethville, Mutshatsha,
Kongolo and Kabongo. He was a founding member and treasurer of the
Amitiés Belgo-Congolaises cultural organisation, treasurer of the
Académie des Beaux-Arts, councillor of the Association Saint-Luc,
councillor of the Foyer social Léopold III, and served on the council
of the Church of Christ in the Congo. Sendwe married and had eight
children.
Entry into politics
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In 1957 Sendwe founded and became president of the Association
Générale des Baluba du Katanga (BALUBAKAT), with the stated aim of
encouraging unity among the Baluba of the Katanga Province. According
to journalist Évariste Kimba, he was able amass much of their support
through his "dynamism" and frequent interactions with the population.
Three tenants underlined his political philosophy: protection of the
Baluba, achievement of Congolese independence, and the primacy of
conciliation in settling disputes.
In 1958 Sendwe attended the Brussels Expo, working as a medical
assistant at the African Personnel Reception Center. Afterwards he
joined the short-lived Mouvement pour le Progres National Congolais, a
party formed by attendees of the exposition. On 5 February 1959 Sendwe
brought BALUBAKAT into Tshombe's Confédération des associations
tribales du Katanga (CONAKAT) party on the condition that it be able
to maintain a significant amount of autonomy. He initially shared the
xenophobic stances of CONAKAT, but soon grew concerned that its
hostility toward immigrants would extend to incoming Baluba. Sendwe
was also worried by Tshombe's close connections to the Belgians and
was repulsed by the prominence of several of his political rivals
within the party's ranks. BALUBAKAT began to form two trends, one
sympathetic to CONAKAT, and the other supportive of the Mouvement
National Congolais (MNC). The latter was led by Sendwe. In October he
sent a letter to Baudouin, King of the Belgians, urging him to oppose
efforts at "dismantling the immense country" created by his
predecessors.
In November 1959 Sendwe withdrew BALUBAKAT from CONAKAT. He
subsequently negotiated the formation of a "Cartel Katangais" between
BALUBAKAT and two other organisations to compete against CONAKAT in
the December 1959 municipal elections. Sendwe met with Baudouin on 25
December. By January 1960 Sendwe had decided he would pursue Congolese
independence with aim of creating a federal state with a robust
central government, in contrast to CONAKAT's vision of a
confederation. That month he went to Brussels to participate in the
Belgo-Congolese Round Table Conference, a meeting to discuss the
political future of the Belgian Congo. The conference resolved with
the Belgian government acceding to Congolese demands for the colony's
independence on 30 June 1960.
Rise to prominence
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In the national elections before the Republic of the Congo's
independence on 30 June 1960, Sendwe was elected to the Chamber of
Deputies with 20,282 votes from the Élisabethville constituency.
CONAKAT won a slight majority of the seats in the Katanga Provincial
Assembly, and could thus determine the composition of the provincial
government. Sendwe ordered the BALUBAKAT deputies to abstain from
sitting; when the assembly convened on 5 June it did not have a quorum
to vote on the provincial portfolios. CONAKAT offered Sendwe the
office of Katanga Vice-president and the responsibility of several
ministries, but he refused to negotiate. On 15 June the Belgian
Parliament modified the Congo's provisional constitution to reduce the
number of deputies necessary for a quorum to vote on a government.
Cartel Katangais representatives subsequently declared that they would
wait for the Congolese central government's decision after
independence. That same day Sendwe signed a deal with MNC leader
Patrice Lumumba to create a coalition in Parliament to support a
government under Lumumba. In exchange, BALUBAKAT would get some
ministerial portfolios and Sendwe would be nominated to be the State
Commissioner for Katanga. On 19 June a BALUBAKAT delegation led by
Prosper Mwamba Ilunga covertly travelled to Léopoldville to meet with
Lumumba. They encouraged him to dismiss Sendwe if he did not follow
his instructions, and expressed their disapproval of Sendwe's decision
to instruct the BALUBAKAT deputies to boycott the Katanga Provincial
Assembly.
On 23 June the Cartel Katangais declared its preferred Katangese
government, which placed Sendwe as Provincial President. In the
meantime CONAKAT voted in its own government. Despite this, Lumumba,
as Prime Minister, nominated Sendwe to be the State Commissioner for
Katanga. The President of the Katanga Provincial Assembly, Charles
Mutaka, threatened secession if the appointment were confirmed. In
early July Tshombe went forward with the secession of the province
with Belgian backing but actively sought Sendwe's support, hoping to
build a coalition that would bring the latter in as vice-president of
an independent Katanga. Sendwe rejected the idea, rupturing relations
between them. The Senate initially rejected all of Lumumba's nominees
for state commissioner. However, on 22 July the body, in a move meant
to convey its wish that central government authority be reestablished
in Katanga, voted to confirm Sendwe's appointment, 42 to 4 with 7
abstentions. After assuming the role of State Commissioner of Katanga,
Sendwe vainly attempted restoring central government control over the
province. His attempts to do so as well as his aim of brokering an
understanding between BALUBAKAT and CONAKAT at the national level were
frustrated by the Belgian government, which perceived Sendwe as an
instrument of the Lumumba Government, with whom they had tense
relations.
Sendwe was chosen to lead part of the army into northern Katanga to
reestablish the central government's authority, but this plan
dissolved following Lumumba's dismissal by President Joseph Kasa-Vubu
in September. Lumumba's demise caused political turmoil, and Sendwe
was appointed by the Chamber to as 'rapporteur' on a reconciliation
commission tasked with brokering a political agreement between
Kasa-Vubu and Lumumba. Meanwhile, northern Katangese rejected
Tshombe's leadership and the secession in favour of Sendwe, who they
saw as a proponent of nationalism and a protector of the Baluba.
Sendwe also enjoyed a substantial amount of popularity around
Élisabethville, posing a significant political threat to Tshombe.
However, many in the central government saw him as having been too
close with the deposed prime minister.
On 19 October, three days after Tshombe concluded a deal with Colonel
Joseph-Désiré Mobutu to--in Mobutu's words--"neutralise" Lumumba,
Sendwe was incarcerated by central government officials. The United
Nations (UN) secured his release on the basis of parliamentary
immunity. With its sponsorship, Sendwe toured northern Katanga to
promote peace, and received an ecstatic welcome from the Baluba. He
encouraged the Baluba to maintain public order and place their
confidence in the UN. For the most part, his tour improved security in
the region, but his presence in Manono from 2-3 November heightened
tensions in the area. Tshombe denounced him as a "public danger".
While the central government was negotiating the transfer of Lumumba
to Katanga (where he would be executed upon arrival), Tshombe
repeatedly asked to receive Sendwe. Though initially agreeing to the
plan, central government officials later backed away from their
commitment to hand him over.
In December Sendwe attended a Francophone-African conference in
Brazzaville where foreign diplomats attempted to provide mediation
between the Congolese factions. In early 1961 he appealed to the UN to
go on another pacification tour of northern Katanga, receiving their
approval on 8 January. However, the next day forces of the rival Free
Republic of the Congo invaded the area and BALUBAKAT declared its own
administration of the region as the "Province of Lualaba". Sendwe
attempted to broker a political compromise and secure Belgian
political and commercial acceptance of the new province. He celebrated
its creation in a tour of the area in February. Meanwhile, he
travelled to Belgium in February and in May he participated in the
Conference of Coquilhatville, successfully convincing the other
Congolese delegates to give recognition to Lualaba. He undertook
another pacification trip in northern Katanga in July.
On 2 August a new Congolese central government was formed under
Cyrille Adoula. Sendwe was appointed Second Deputy Prime Minister, as
he was viewed as the only figure with enough political clout in
Katanga to challenge Tshombe. Other nationalists in Parliament wanted
him to assume the premiership, but he preferred to focus his political
energies on Katanga instead of the national level, where he had less
support. An 'état d'exception' (state of emergency) was proclaimed on
28 November by the central government in Katanga. Sendwe was appointed
Commissioner-General Extraordinaire for the province, nominally giving
him absolute authority over the area. He devoted much of his time to
attending to the needs of Baluba in refugee camps in Élisabethville
and Albertville. Between March and July 1962 he attempted to negotiate
a deal between the central government and the Katangese secessionists,
generally taking a moderate stance and even suggesting a
reconciliation between BALUBAKAT and CONAKAT. In July he also came
into conflict in the pursuance of his responsibilities with fellow
BALUBAKAT member Antoine Omari, who had been tasked by the government
with reestablishing local administration, as Omari attempted to grant
power to local BALUBAKAT members who wanted to split Katanga Province.
Over time the central government hardened its attitude against
Katanga, and Belgium gradually withdrew its support for it. With the
secession's prospects weakening, Sendwe hoped to obtain control over
the province. Though he had the support of most of the Katanga Baluba
and the BALUBAKAT deputies in Parliament, the Adoula Government sought
to divide Katanga to weaken it. At the same time, BALUBAKAT officials
in northern Katanga wanted an exclusive polity in the region under the
domination of their own party. The Adoula Government also wanted to
use Sendwe 'vis-à-vis' his regional popularity as a counterweight to
Tshombe, without granting him control of the entirety of Katanga.
Political demise
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By the end of 1962 Sendwe was at the peak of his political
aspirations, being able to exert great power and influence over the
new province of North Katanga (formerly Lualaba). However at 22:00 on
23 December, his son became involved in a youth gang street brawl.
Sendwe arrived on the scene and ordered some accompanying soldiers to
intervene. In the process they assaulted Senator Pierre Medie, who had
come to support his own son. On 28 December, in the Senate, Sendwe
attempted to defend his actions during the street altercation, being
frequently interrupted by angry cries from the majority of the
senators. Before he was able to complete his defence, they passed a
motion of censure against him, 45 votes to four with four abstentions.
This formally compelled him to resign as Deputy Prime Minister on 21
January 1963, causing him to withdraw from national to local politics.
His departure heralded the removal of the last of the Lumumbists from
the government.
In early 1963 Katanga was reintegrated into the Congo as multiple
provinces and Tshombe agreed to cooperate with government officials.
Sendwe vied for control of the region, leading to ethnic clashes in
Jadotville in April in which approximately 74 people were killed.
Nevertheless, he negotiated a deal with Tshombe's Minister of
Interior, Godefroid Munongo, to allow for the return of the Baluba in
the Élisabethville refugee camp to their homes. After Tshombe fled the
country, Sendwe sought to extend his constituency beyond the Baluba to
establish control over the whole of Katanga. He questioned the
legality of the existence of North Katanga as a separate political
entity and continued to push for the reunification of Katanga
Province. However, his removal from the central government and the
rejection of his unity proposal by the North Katanga Provincial
Assembly forced him to relax his goals. On 18 May the 'état
d'exception' was retracted in Katanga and he was discharged from his
post as Commissioner-General Extraordinaire.
In July Sendwe moved to Albertville to rebuild his political base. He
blocked the repatriation of the Baluba refugees in the local camp; the
UN feared this was so he could use the refugees to boost his support.
The Adoula Government was pleased by Sendwe's relocation, wanting to
be rid of him in Léopoldville. Soon after he arrived, rumours emerged
that North Katanga Provincial President Mwamba Ilunga had arrested
him. This sparked unrest as rural Baluba and customary chiefs began to
protest, triggering Mwamba Ilunga's resignation. BALUBAKAT deputies in
Parliament lobbied for Sendwe to replace him, and at an August
BALUBAKAT party congress--with Mwamba Ilunga's acceptance--ruled that
Sendwe should be given the provincial presidency. On 21 September the
provincial assembly elected Sendwe President of North Katanga Province
and invested him with the public health portfolio. The situation in
North Katanga under Sendwe quickly became disastrous, driven by his
alcoholism, poor management of public funds, nepotism, lack of a
government programme, and numerous attempts to use his position to
deprecate his rivals. Problems were exacerbated by the withdrawal of
UN peacekeeping forces and destructive floods. By the end of the year
corruption was rampant, civil servants were receiving pay on an
irregular basis, and much of the population was impoverished. Further,
BALUBAKAT became an increasingly ethnic, exclusively Baluba
organisation.
Sendwe's management of North Katanga perturbed other government
officials and Adoula began seeking a way to remove him from office.
Fortunat Kabange Numbi, an ally of Adoula and a BALUBAKAT deputy in
Parliament, considered a solution with Albertville businessmen that
involved granting Sendwe an executive position at a company in
exchange for his resignation. The proposal was rejected by Mwamba
Ilunga and others, who chose instead to revise BALUBAKAT's
organisation. They changed the party's name to Parti Progressiste
Congolais (PPCo) to distance it from its ethnic connotation and called
a congress in January 1964 to vote in new leadership. Sendwe attended
the first meeting but then denounced the event and banned it, which
was reversed at the order of the Deputy Prime Minister. Sendwe lost
his seat as party president in a vote of 28-3. He failed to secure any
significant party office, and was relegated to the position of adviser
to the PPCo. On 15 March the provincial assembly, in a special session
sponsored by President Kasa-Vubu, dismissed Sendwe from his post as
Provincial President and replaced him with Kabange.
Sendwe argued on legal technicality that his removal was unlawful,
denounced the PPCo, and declared that only his government had popular
support. On 27 April the provincial assembly reached a compromise,
re-electing Sendwe President of North Katanga but revising his
government, stripping him of the public health portfolio and making
Kabange Provincial Vice-president. He was re-inaugurated the following
day. He pledged to strengthen North Katanga's institutions and
territorial integrity, protect political parties that sought to
further "superior interests" of the Congo, and encourage friendly
relations between BALUBAKAT and CONAKAT. He also announced his
intention to increase economic cooperation with other provinces and
establish cooperatives for merchants and consumers. Meanwhile, a
radical leftist BALUBAKAT activist, Laurent-Désiré Kabila, planned a
rebellion in North Katanga to overthrow Sendwe and Kabange.
Death
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On 27 May 1964 a coup in Albertville by Simba rebels, led by Kabila,
overthrew Sendwe's government. Sendwe was accused of embezzling public
funds and detained. While the rebel leaders debated what to do with
him, including executing him, Sendwe escaped, and spent the next few
days trying to reestablish his authority as the rebels' control
crumbled. On 30 May, a small government force under the command of
Colonel Louis Bobozo recaptured the town and recovered Sendwe--who
claimed to have been nearly buried alive by the rebels. Sendwe was
under the false impression that Mwamba Ilunga had stoked the rebellion
and had him arrested. Unrest persisted in Albertville. Sendwe failed
to calm the situation and instead gave statements attacking his rivals
and non-Baluba ethnicities. On 19 June the population revolted and the
government evacuated. Sendwe attempted to flee but was hampered by
government troops and was killed by rebels. Questions about his death
were raised in several newspapers, and the central government released
an official report about it two weeks later.
There are various theories about how and why Sendwe was killed.
According to journalist Ian Goodhope Colvin, Sendwe was driving
towards Fizi with an American missionary when his car was stopped by
Simba rebels. In this account, his police escort fled and he and his
companion were murdered. According to political scientist Jean
Omasombo Tshonda, he was arrested by ANC soldiers at Muswaki while
attempting to escape by train and then forced to return to
Albertville. Driving with several relatives, he went into the city to
try and calm the Simbas, assuring them of his Lumumbist credentials by
shouting (in a reportedly drunken manner), "Lumumba is my brother!
Mulele is my brother! All of you, you are my brothers!" The rebels
then shot him and some of his companions on Kangomba hill.
Political scientist Erik Kennes examined various testimonies
concerning Sendwe's death. One witness held Saidi Saleh Mukidadi, a
local politician, responsible for the death. Political scientist
Kabuya Lumuna Sando concluded that ANC defectors shot Sendwe. Kennes
questioned the validity of the latter claim, noting that most ANC
elements had retreated from the area and that no other witnesses
reported dissident soldiers forming part of the Simbas' ranks. Simba
leader Gaston Soumialot accused Mobutu of organising the murder. Other
observers believed that the ANC soldiers' actions indicate central
government involvement. Kabuya, noting the allegedly newer clothing
worn by the soldiers who had prevented Sendwe's departure, posited
that the ANC men were clandestine government operatives. He argued
that Mobutu, head of the ANC at the time, wanted Sendwe dead to make
rapprochement with Tshombe easier. There is a rumour that the
execution was carried out by several Bayombe under orders from Kabila.
Kennes reasoned that this was unlikely because Kabila did not have
Sendwe killed the first time Albertville was seized and was not
present when the city fell on 19 June.
Legacy
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Throughout his career, Sendwe was the undisputed national leader of
the Katangese Baluba and the primary opponent of Tshombe during the
Katangese secession. Historian Reuben Loffman credited him with
hastening the end of the secession through his success in negotiating
with national and international figures. According to British
journalist Ian Goodhope Colvin, Sendwe's death deprived Adoula of a
figure who could guarantee him Katangese support, forcing him to
welcome Tshombe back into the country. His murder also disillusioned
many Baluba in North Katanga with the Simbas' cause, and as a result
many abstained from joining their rebellion. BALUBAKAT collapsed in
his wake. In November 1966 Mobutu, having become president of the
Congo, posthumously awarded Sendwe for dying "in defence of the
country's honour". An avenue and a hospital in Lubumbashi were named
after him.
After his death, Sendwe drifted into obscurity and by the 21st century
there was little memory of him in northern Katanga. The Union des
fédéralistes et des républicains indépendants (UFERI) recalled his
legacy in its rhetoric. Due to the party's militant reputation, the
public associated UFERI with the violent actions of BALUBAKAT, thus
limiting its ability to proliferate a positive image of Sendwe. In
2011 a congress of the "Luba People" declared that Sendwe was among
their "valiant martyrs". There is little study of him in Congolese
historiography.
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