AHC A Prosperous Peaceful land for the people of the Congo

The Congo region has incredibly valuable mineral resources. Previously it provided rubber, very much valued.

How could it become a place where the actual inhabitants enjoy high material living standards and real prosperity.
 
I'm not greatly familiar with the Kingdom of Kongo didn't they have a lot of succession crises? With sons competing for the throne? Maybe a set system that carries a lot of weight with the people when a heir designate is chosen and recognised with the support of the traditional authority figures. This could avoid a couple of civil wars while the kings of Kongo continue the consolidation of power and introduce the parts of western tech that would be advantageous to the Kongo.
 
This is actually not terribly hard to do. The Congo was prosperous and industrializing in the 1950's, and without deliberate destabilization by Belgium and the Congo Crisis, could easily have continued on that track.

In The Anglo-American Nazi War Congo is a analog of the Asian Tiger economies, with Congolese-made cars appearing on the U.S. market in the 1990's (it's sort of a Korea to Brazil's Japan). Like OTL, there's lots of European immigration in the late 40's and 50's, most of it non-Belgian. Because Belgium is Nazi-occupied, the Belgian exile regime in Congo is a U.S. proxy. When Belgium is finally liberated in 1960, neither white nor black Congolese are interested in returning to being a colony and Belgium can't stop its independence. I don't know if you need a full Nazi victory, but you need a situation where Belgium is in no position to undermine the Congolese regime and white settlers in the Congo have more connection to the Congo than to Belgium. The second is relatively easy because only a minority of whites in the Congo were Belgian. Allow a ruler like Lumumba to take office instead of a Belgian puppet like Tshombe or a corrupt strongman like Mobutu and there's no reason the Congo needs to be a basket case. Race relations will have to be handled gently and the white Congolese can't be in a position to dictate policy too much, otherwise they'll vote to ensure their supremacy at the expense of the country and you'll have a Zimbabwe situation. The whites need to be an unprivileged minority but whoever runs the country has to know better than to use them as a scapegoat as happened OTL.
 
This is actually not terribly hard to do. The Congo was prosperous and industrializing in the 1950's, and without deliberate destabilization by Belgium and the Congo Crisis, could easily have continued on that track.

In The Anglo-American Nazi War Congo is a analog of the Asian Tiger economies, with Congolese-made cars appearing on the U.S. market in the 1990's (it's sort of a Korea to Brazil's Japan). Like OTL, there's lots of European immigration in the late 40's and 50's, most of it non-Belgian. Because Belgium is Nazi-occupied, the Belgian exile regime in Congo is a U.S. proxy. When Belgium is finally liberated in 1960, neither white nor black Congolese are interested in returning to being a colony and Belgium can't stop its independence. I don't know if you need a full Nazi victory, but you need a situation where Belgium is in no position to undermine the Congolese regime and white settlers in the Congo have more connection to the Congo than to Belgium. The second is relatively easy because only a minority of whites in the Congo were Belgian. Allow a ruler like Lumumba to take office instead of a Belgian puppet like Tshombe or a corrupt strongman like Mobutu and there's no reason the Congo needs to be a basket case. Race relations will have to be handled gently and the white Congolese can't be in a position to dictate policy too much, otherwise they'll vote to ensure their supremacy at the expense of the country and you'll have a Zimbabwe situation. The whites need to be an unprivileged minority but whoever runs the country has to know better than to use them as a scapegoat as happened OTL.
So you are saying the only way for the Congo to be advanced is if it has more whites in the country?
 
So you are saying the only way for the Congo to be advanced is if it has more whites in the country?

Not at all. The white population was the cornerstone of the developing industrial economy in the 1950's, so if your POD is between WWII and 1961 you need to strike a middle ground between Congo existing to be plundered by Europeans, resident and otherwise, and the white population being scapegoated as responsible for the country's woes. Something like Zambia OTL, not South Africa. I didn't suggest more whites, seeing as there were a few hundred thousand in 1960 OTL, and it definitely would be counterproductive for Congo to be a settler colony like Rhodesia. Just enough educated people to serve as mid-level bureaucrats and factory managers until native Congolese can succeed them. With an education system like OTL India or Nigeria that should be no problem.
 
...no, he is saying that Belgium needs to be in a situation to not destabilize the Congo.

More the opposite. The AANW scenario works because the Brussels government doesn't exist and the Belgians in the country are forced to think of themselves as Congolese first, and the main U.S. priority is ensuring Congo is stable enough to provide troops and raw material to the war effort. I don't think it's possible for Belgium to be a responsible steward or guardian of Congo, so some sort of separation is necessary. Without having Belgium Nazi-occupied in the 1950's, you could maybe have Lumumba or some similar figure declare independence unilaterally, supported by non-Belgian whites in the Congo, and then the U.S. supports that regime as an alternative to communism. Even if all the Belgians leave at that point, you still have most of the makings of a successful country. You just have to prevent instability, whether leftist in eastern Congo or Belgian-led in Katanga.
 
As I think about this, Zambia is a good model for Congolese independence gone right. Leftist ruler cultivates good relations with the U.S. and stays out of wars, peaceful transition to democracy. Zambia's GDP has grown about 2.5 times as fast as Congo's since 1960. Per capita GNI has grown 3.5 times as fast. Zambia's economy is a lot more cyclic than Congo's should be because it's historically been almost entirely dependent on copper exports. It wouldn't be surprising to see a Congo with a per capita GDP about the same as India's if everything goes right and Congo focuses on educating its population as a path to prosperity.
 
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Not at all. The white population was the cornerstone of the developing industrial economy in the 1950's, so if your POD is between WWII and 1961 you need to strike a middle ground between Congo existing to be plundered by Europeans, resident and otherwise, and the white population being scapegoated as responsible for the country's woes. Something like Zambia OTL, not South Africa. I didn't suggest more whites, seeing as there were a few hundred thousand in 1960 OTL, and it definitely would be counterproductive for Congo to be a settler colony like Rhodesia. Just enough educated people to serve as mid-level bureaucrats and factory managers until native Congolese can succeed them. With an education system like OTL India or Nigeria that should be no problem.
Ah ok.
 
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