Eye on Africa

MVEMBA DIZOLELE: Thank you very much, Bridget, for having me.

BRIDGET CONLEY-ZILKIC: Can you take us back a little bit to the time you mentioned how young, for instance, Mobutu was at his first coup. At that moment, you have Congo coming out of its colonial period. What are the questions that the Congolese people are struggling with? What are the questions that will frame this new country?

MVEMBA DIZOLELE: The big questions of the day in 1960 or before 1960. One is freedom. People want freedom. Enough already, because the Belgians had been here since 1885. So people wanted independence. Remember, it’s after World War II, and some Congolese had fought in World War II. They’ve seen what else is out there. There’s this big movement called the Negritude. A lot of African writers living in Europe, especially in France writing about the black consciousness.

BRIDGET CONLEY-ZILKIC: Who did the Congolese fight with?

MVEMBA DIZOLELE: The Congolese fight on the side of the Belgians. So they were in Ethiopia. They were in the Horn of Africa. They were fighting the Germans in all those areas. So in Congo today you hear of places like Sayo, Gambela and Tabora, all those are places in East Africa where Congolese troops were involved on behalf of Belgium. Nevertheless, they were Congolese. Some of them came back with all these kinds of stories, so they seem not that different from all the Senegalese in France and other places.