108. Editorial Note

In telegram 39667 to the Station in Leopoldville, February 3, 1962, the Central Intelligence Agency reported that during a meeting on February 1 with Ambassador Gullion he had raised with CIA the question of the removal of Antoine Gizenga from the Congo. Gullion was apprehensive that the pressure to see that no harm came to Gizenga may have gone too far and that there was a danger he might even be released from custody and could thereupon assemble some support. It was generally agreed that any movement if not done by force would require causing Gizenga to fear for his life if he remained in the Congo. (Central Intelligence Agency Files, [text not declassified], Folder 1, Gizenga)

Responding in telegram 3096, February 6, Leopoldville reported that Gizenga was now a prisoner on the island of Boulabemba, a move that appeared to have created furor in certain United Nations Operations in the Congo circles. While concurring that it would be advisable to get Gizenga out of the country, the Station warned that this would provide no guarantee he would not return if and when the moment appeared appropriate and once current charges against him had died down. The Station preferred to see him charged with revolt and other crimes, though there was no way of being sure that he would be convicted and sentenced, and if he “were tried and acquitted it would be serious blow for [cryptonym not declassified] and would mean that he would soon be back in parliament and perhaps in the govt where he would be in a position to work from within.” Efforts to obtain information from the Government of the Congo had produced nothing definite other than the fact that Gizenga had been transferred to Moanda where, according to Victor Nendaka, he was to be held until a judicial investigation preliminary to his trial was completed. (Ibid.)