AH WI: Make the Democratic Republic of the Congo a First World nation

Use the original definition and have the DRC firmly allied to the Capitalists

It was firmly allied to the capitalists.

Alright, first things first, Mobuto has to be sane. If he's the arrogant wanker of OTL he'll overthrow Lumumba and everything will go wrong from there. While we're on the subject, Lumumba has realise the weakness of his position, he's not that powerful, he's in dangerous territory. Pissing of the Americans will not work well and pissing off his ministers will work worse. The name of the game is softly softly.

Secondly, have him pick principled, yet charismatic individuals who will get rid of the stealing fuckwads that were there in the beginning, and who will do their job diligently and who will talk back to him when he comes up with a bad idea.

Thirdly, NO FUCKING ARMY. The standing army was the bane of the newly-independent African country, it existed only to abuse the people; overthrow the government and be a hole for corrupt military generals to dig money out of. Instead of having an army, Mobuto spends time training up a police force instead. The military begins five years in, no sooner.

Fourthly: No big projects. What the DRC needs is small, local building projects to foster relations between various isolated communites, roads, railways etc. Big dams and huge, unnecessary hydroelectric plants are good for dickwaving but not much else, especially when the majority of your populace is uneducated and will have their livelihoods destroyed by flooding.

Fifthly: Education, education education. This is a poor country gentlemen, we need trained scientists, engineers, mathematicians, computer scientists and programmers ASAP.

Five years in, and things should be rolling along nicely. Unfortunately, that's when the Katanga secession will start up. Not to mention the whole, Rwanda situation.
 
You never do see much attention about Africa (asides from that excellent timeline regarding Katanga) and although I have nothing to contribute on my own due to my lack of ignorance regarding the Congo, I want to bump this and see if anyone has any ideas.
 
A stable Afrosocialist regime ruled by a canny black Tito who uses COMECON aid, relies on East German and Cuban development, and unites the country, successfully navigating through the fall of the USSR to become a Chinese proxy. All it takes is an AH character to rise to power.
 
The Belgian parliament accepts the 1955 proposal for a 30 year road to independence plan for the Belgian Congo with a gradual transition of power and the Belgian government manages to persuade the congolese leaders that this is the best way to achieve a stable, properous and independent country.
 
Redraw the national boundaries to the reality of tribal allegiances.
Then you need a king who is popular and sane and only moderately corrupt, with poor tolerance for competition in the corruption game and the necessary ruthlessness to impose order on his nation.
With that and the resource wealth of the Congo, I could see the country being a low-end First World nation.
 
The Belgian parliament accepts the 1955 proposal for a 30 year road to independence plan for the Belgian Congo with a gradual transition of power and the Belgian government manages to persuade the congolese leaders that this is the best way to achieve a stable, properous and independent country.
This, though 1955 might already be to late to convince the Congolese leaders while any sooner Belgium would consider the very idea of independence to be ridiculous. This is the real problem, convincing Belgium that the Congo deserves a well prepared independence whilst also convincing the Congolese that they are not ready yet to go at it alone.
A major reason the country went downhill fast is that all the engineers, officers, administrators... where Belgians who left soon after independence without any blacks having the necessary skills to replace them. (the first university opened in 1954, meaning only 2-3 classes had graduated by independence)
 

BlondieBC

Banned
I mean a well-developed nation with a decent standard of living. Is that impossible?

Can you give a dollar amount for "decent"?

Delay independence from Belgium (somehow.)

The problem consistently cited by all the sources from and about the period was that the colonisers left a vast country in equatorial Africa with next to no roads, university graduates or disciplined army officers. Delay independence, and perhaps the Belgians could have - with enough willpower - have invested more worthwhile time and energy in the whole country, rather than the mining operations in Katanga.

The Belgium treatment of natives in the Congo is nothing short of a Crime against Humanity, but even demons can be demonized too much. Roads/Railroads were built in the Congo to a level similar to the rest of Africa outside of South Africa. Many of the roads/railroads that existed were not maintained and are no longer in service. So yes, the Congo started from a low base, but it went lower.

Outside of South Africa, which country had a high level of University graduates?

And which countries had a professional army?

Other countries started out in equally bad shape, but performed better than the Congoese, and the Congoese deserve a lot of the blame for what happened.
 
Can you give a dollar amount for "decent"?



The Belgium treatment of natives in the Congo is nothing short of a Crime against Humanity, but even demons can be demonized too much. Roads/Railroads were built in the Congo to a level similar to the rest of Africa outside of South Africa. Many of the roads/railroads that existed were not maintained and are no longer in service. So yes, the Congo started from a low base, but it went lower.

Outside of South Africa, which country had a high level of University graduates?

And which countries had a professional army?

Other countries started out in equally bad shape, but performed better than the Congoese, and the Congoese deserve a lot of the blame for what happened.
No, the Congo was administrated in a much different manner than the very poor baseline of African colonies. British and French colonies had educated natives in their administration, and opportunities were opened for people to get educated in the colonizing country.

No such opportunities were afforded to the Congolese. The Congo had always been run by the Belgians as a rentier state.
 

Delvestius

Banned
No such opportunities were afforded to the Congolese. The Congo had always been run by the Belgians as a rentier state.

I wonder how things would have been different if the Congo was a British holding. It probably would not have enough to make it like South Africa as developed as South Africa (race has a lot to do with that) but I imagine it wouldn't be nearly as screwed up as the Belgians had left it.
 

BlondieBC

Banned
No, the Congo was administrated in a much different manner than the very poor baseline of African colonies. British and French colonies had educated natives in their administration, and opportunities were opened for people to get educated in the colonizing country.

No such opportunities were afforded to the Congolese. The Congo had always been run by the Belgians as a rentier state.

Look at what I was reply too, you are changing the subject, so I will restate the question.

1) Besides South Africa, which colonies had substantially better road and rail networks?

2) Which African colony had a black professional army?

3) Which country had a substantial number of Black college graduates. Yes, Germany, France, and the UK did some primary and secondary education? But large numbers of college graduates?

The poster I replied to was using these as the reason for the Congo's poor performance. I don't see any of these three items as the main reason for the Congo sorry state today compared to other African countries.

And if you are saying it is the better French colonial system, would you please explain to me why the Central African Republic is a success story?
 

BlondieBC

Banned
I wonder how things would have been different if the Congo was a British holding. It probably would not have enough to make it like South Africa as developed as South Africa (race has a lot to do with that) but I imagine it wouldn't be nearly as screwed up as the Belgians had left it.

I guess it depends on the POD. If after 1908, I don't see a lot of improvement.
 
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