THE BELGIAN CONGO

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27410, 24 July 1954, Page 3

THE BELGIAN CONGO

LAND OF RICHES AND PROBLEMS Fabulous Congo. By Felice Bellotti. Andrew Dakers Ltd. 223 pp. Between the Atlantic seaboard and the mountains that separate the Nile and the Congo basins lies the Belgian Congo; it is a region of dense forests where live some of the most primitive peoples of the world, as well as of | modern cities; it is a comparatively | sparsely populated region that contains i some of the world’s richest mineral deposits, including the vital uranium. I Felice Bellotti is an experienced journalist who recently visited I the Congo to learn what he could of i all aspects of life in the territory. He ispent some time observing wild life j and the enormous variety of game that exists there. This section of the book , dealing with these things, is both vivid 'and entertaining; Mr Bellotti has an | acutely observant eye and an ability |to convey the atmosphere that makes his story fascinating reading even to I those who usually find accounts of elephant stampedes, lion hunts, and I near-misses by deadly snakes dull i reading. The important part of the book concerns Mr Bellotti’s impressions of the natives, and his opinions on the problem of white settlement and policy. The Congo, with the ad* ijacent territory of Ruanda-Urundi, is administered by the Belgian Government. Official policy is to discourage “poor white” settlers; would-be settlers have to make deposits of money, and though nominally free land is available to Belgian citizens, Mr Bellotti estimates the cost of settling there and proving one’s claims at about £llOO for one person? There is in consequence no white working class and the vast mineral deposits are worked entirely by coloured labour. This policy the author considers to be largely the result of the influence of the Societe Generale de Belgique, which, together with its associates, possess enormous privileges and exercises enormous influence in the colony. The Societe fears that a large white population holding democraitc elections would threaten its power. Mr Bellotti alleges that he found widespread resentment among the colonists at the powers of the Societe, but that at present most can do nothing about it. Mr Bellotti considers the policy on native, labour and settlement most unsatisfactory. The natives, many of whom are drawn from tribes still living at a primitive level, transplant badly into the city or the mining settlement. The wastage among native labour both from sickness and desertion is high; the native villages are robbed of some of the fittest men and the birth-rate (or more important still the reproduction rate) is falling. Social problems created by the sudden transplantation of simple people into a complicated and completely different culture are extremely serious; the native is given privileges that he is unable to appreciate and asked in return for duties whose nature he is unable to comprehend. Mr Bellotti feels that the cultural and political evolution of the native must neces--1 sarily be very gradual and that no good will result from expecting him to learn in a few years conceptions of justice that it has taken centuries to evolve. Here he is often sharply critical of the British colonial policy. Alcoholism and venereal disease are both serious social problems with the urbanised Congo natives, in spite of the fact that every possible physical care is taken of their welfare. Native mine workers form a perfect target for future Communist propagandists in that they are paid less than a European worker would be on similar i work; on the other hand. Mr Bellotti 'considers it impossible to pay them I more since their output is only a tenth of that of a European worker. The justice of this, however, would be I apt to be missed by a simple mind. 1 .Mr Bellotti’s descriptions suggest the magnitude of the problems that face the Belgian Administration, and lead to a good deal of thought on colonial problems with native peoples in general. Whether or not one accepts his viewpoint, he has stated the problem with great clarity. His criticisms of the British policy of encouraging European education of the natives and of working towards self-government in an appreciable time, suffer because they take no account of the dilemma j in which colonial powers find themselves. Are they to hold out against such ambitions on the part of the native populations—even if they consider them to be premature—and face ! the possibility of creating such discontent that an extreme form of political power may be encouraged? The author’s solution to the Congolese problem would be to bring in displaced people from Europe to form a [working class, and the, [natives to continue to live in their| own villages and evolve in a gradual manner to more modern forms of thought. Perhaps he takes too easily I the possibility of making this a practical reality when the Congo has near neighbours who are growing to indeI pendence. Mr Bellotti spent a great deal of time 1 in native villages and has some interesting and valuable chapters on tribal customs and the influence that is still held by such figures as the witch doctor.