Supernatural Counterinsurgency in the Congo

This unusual document, "Witchcraft, Sorcery, Magic, and Other Psychological

Phenomena, and Their Implications on Military and Paramilitary Operations in the
Congo," was prepared for the US !rmy in "#$% The report is a treatise on paranormal
com&at, discussing "counter'magic" tactics to suppress re&els who are &ac(ed &y witch'
doctors, charms, and magic potions
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This report has &een prepared in response to a <uery posed &y O4CS6OPS, 4epartment
of the !rmy, regarding the purported use of witchcraft, sorcery, and magic &y insurgent
elements in the +epu&lic of the Congo =*eopold/ille> Magical practices are said to &e
effecti/e in conditioning dissident elements and their followers to do &attle with
0o/ernment troops +e&el tri&esmen are said to ha/e &een persuaded that they can &e
made magically imper/ious to Congolese army firepower Their fear of the go/ernment
has thus &een diminished and, con/ersely, fear of the re&els has grown within army
ran(s
The pro&lem, therefore, which CI,.!C was as(ed to e?plore is the role of supernatural
or superstitious concepts in a counterinsurgency in the Congo
!ny reply to this <uestion in/ol/es consideration of se/eral factors It is necessary to
e?amine the nature of general !frican &eliefs a&out magic, insofar as this may &e done on
the &asis of pu&lished studies It is also necessary to gain some insight as to the roles
played my magic in other !frican re/olutionary uphea/als !nd finally, it is suggested
that today@s insurgency situation should not &e studied in a /acuum, &ut should &e
considered as part of a continuum stemming from the pre'independence Aelgian
administration, the impact of Western culture upon !frican tri&al systems, the
circumstances of the &irth of the Congo +epu&lic, and the nature of the struggle for
power within the Congo since "#$3
! re/iew of the a/aila&le literature indicates that in !frica, uprisings em&odying
supernatural practices ha/e tended to occur generally whene/er the continued physical
safety or internal power structure of a tri&e or tri&es has &een seriously threatened
Manifestations of witchcraft and sorcery in these instances can &e said to reflect, in part,
a return to traditionalism ! tri&e unites more readily when a threat is e?plaina&le and
solutions are propounded in terms of tri&al common denominators of &elief In order to
determine the degree to which such a generaliBation is applica&le to the current situation
in the Congo, a &rief recapitulation of certain aspects of recent Congolese history will
ser/e as a useful point of departure
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Origins of Congolese Political Insta&ility
The tri&al uprisings which ha/e erupted in the +epu&lic of the Congo =*eopold/ille>
since its independence in "#$3 can &e traced to situations which appeared to threaten the
/arious tri&es &oth in terms of their physical well'&eing and their position within the
structure of Congolese national society With independence, these tri&es found
themsel/es lac(ing the &asic ser/ices which the colonial administration had pro/ided ''
alimentation, hygiene, medical care, schools, and physical security '' while at the same
time the future of the tri&e and its organiBation was &eing de&ated &y the new go/ernment
at *eopold/ille Ay and large, howe/er, it was the disruption in go/ernment machinery
which forced the younger mem&ers of the tri&es to see( the ur&an centers in an effort to
impro/e their situation, and pushed the older mem&ers &ac( towards traditionalism and
its &eliefs in magic and witchcraft
The actual disintegration of the Congo was caused &y two main factorsC the a&sence of
associational groups which could replace the departing colonial administrationD and the
power struggle that too( place &etween those Congolese political parties fa/oring
centralism and those fa/oring federalism this conflict pre/ented any attempts &y
Congolese go/ernments to restore some sem&lance of administrati/e order
The apparent docility of the Congolese people had led the Aelgian colonial administration
to &elie/e its regime would endure, and that it could ta(e its time in preparing the country
for an e/entual peaceful transfer of power It was not until the &loody riots of 8anuary 2,
"#2#, that the Aelgian go/ernment realiBed that it would ha/e to gi/e freedom to the
Congo much sooner than it had en/isaged In the ensuing agreements &etween Congolese
representati/es and the Aelgian 0o/ernment, pro/isions were made for the utiliBation of
Aelgian colonial ci/il ser/ants in their former capacities until Congolese replacements
could &e trained Such agreements were ne/er implemented On 8uly 7, "#$3, eight days
after independence, the Congolese ,ational !rmy in the capital city of *eopold/ille
mutinied against its Aelgian officers, and in less than three days the mutiny had spread to
the rest of the Congo where the position of all Aelgian ci/ilians &ecame serious Easai
pro/ince was to follow suit in !ugust On 8uly "5, Premier Patrice *umum&a called on
the United ,ations to eFect the Aelgian troops and help restore
'G'
order In the wee(s following the arri/al of U, forces, *umum&a@s followers made
repeated attempts to reimpose central go/ernment control on Eatanga and Easai These
attempts, and the high num&er of casualties resulting from them, precipitated a power
struggle &etween the centralist &loc of *umum&a and the federalist &loc of President
8oseph Easa/u&u which paralyBed all go/ernment acti/ity !lthough *umum&a was
e/entually remo/ed from office &y the !rmy Chief of Staff, and a more or less .ederal
set'up with a strong e?ecuti/e was esta&lished, the go/ernment remained /irtually
paralyBed &y its effort to regain Eatanga pro/ince !narchy thus set in, pro/iding
*umum&a@s followers with opportunities to set up their own political organiBations
These were cast along tri&al lines, and the trappings of tri&alism, including manifestations
of &eliefs in magic and witchcraft, &egan again to impinge upon politics at the natural
le/el
)lements of )ast'West confrontation entered the picture when the situation in the Congo
was internationaliBed Ay calling in the United ,ations, *umum&a had hoped that it
would help him in his efforts to restore central go/ernment control o/er Easai and
Eatanga pro/inces while also helping him train ci/il ser/ice cadres to replace the
Aelgians who had departed after the 8uly riots In the U,, *umum&a had recei/ed his
initial support from the !fro'!sian and Communist Alocs Aut when the United ,ations
refused to accede to all of his demands, he turned against it and accepted the proffered
assistance of the Communist Aloc countries, along with that of 0hana, 0uinea, and the
United !ra& +epu&lic Communist machinations, and su&se<uent attempts &y U,
0hanian troops to disarm the Congolese !rmy seemed to ha/e prompted 0eneral Mo&utu
to stage the remo/al of *umum&a With the o/erthrow of *umum&a and the eFection of
all Communist Aloc missions from the Congo &y Mo&utu, it appeared that Communist
influence in the Congo was reduced to a minimum in spite of the fact that some of
*umum&a@s left'leaning associates remained acti/e on the scene The present recurrence
of Communist agitation seems, howe/er, to deri/e its main impetus from the Chinese
Communist Mission in Aurundi
The role &eing played today &y tri&alism, with its attendant re/ersion to other aspects of
traditionalism, can &e understood fully only in light of the effect on the tri&es of the
transition from colonialism to full independence Aelgian colonial policy was, in general,
paternalistic in tone and indirect in administration The Aelgian administration assumed
the role of tutor, and dealt with local populations through local indigenous institutions It
was thought
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that this process would &e less disrupti/e and would condition local societies to accept
foreign rule more readily With particular reference to the tri&es, indirect rule resulted in
the incorporation of the tri&al chiefs into the administrati/e system With minor
e?ceptions, the Aelgian administration came to control the tri&e through it chief, lea/ing
the internal organiBation of the tri&e intact In a sense, a chief &ecame the principal agent
&etween his tri&e and the colonial authorities
Thus the Aelgians accepted the traditional &oundaries of the chiefdoms, reemphasiBed the
hereditary character of tri&al chieftancy, and made the chiefs responsi&le for population
registration, pu&lic health, ta? collection, security, and la&or matters within the respecti/e
chiefdoms It was mainly in the field of Furisprudence, and especially puniti/e actions,
that the traditional powers of the chiefs were curtailed Too, the a&ility of tri&al mem&ers
to appeal directly to colonial authorities on legal points, and the fact that )uropeans could
disregard tri&al immigration &arriers esta&lished &y the chiefs and recruit la&or at will,
tended to reduce the o/erall effecti/eness of the chiefs
)?panding economic opportunities, missionary acti/ity, and the suppression of intertri&al
warfare contri&uted in the long'run to the gradual erosion of the role or tri&al
communities in the social structure of the Congo as a whole With the esta&lishment of
maFor ur&an centers, and the close contact &etween )uropeans and Congolese which they
afforded, a new class of Congolese &egan to emerge The longer they remained in the
cities, the wea(er &ecame their tri&al attachments, until in the post World War II era
many were to har&or strongly anti'tri&al sentiments The new class was (nown as e/olues
=literallyC e/ol/ed>, and most e/olue leaders came to regard the continued e?istence of a
tri&al society as typifying &ac(wardness and colonialism
With independence, most of the e/olues, of which Patrice *umum&a was one, &ecame
identified with the centralist political &loc, while others, such as Moise Tshom&e and
8oseph Easa/u&u, tri&al chieftans in their own right, formed the federalist &loc of
political parties The centralists /iewed any federal set'up as an attempt to preser/e
colonial influences and practices, while the federalists /iewed centralism as the attempted
elimination of the political opposition and the esta&lishment of a dictatorship similar to
that of 0hana and 0uinea The power struggle &etween these two &locs pre/ented the
drafting of a constitution clearly defining the role and position of the tri&es, and it was
not until recently that
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this was resol/ed in the form of a federalist system with a strong e?ecuti/e This
represented a compromise &etween centralist and federalist points of /iew It recogniBed
tri&al structures, &ut underlines the authority of the central go/ernment Unfortunately,
the persistence of political chaos and insurgency has hindered the restoration of effecti/e
go/ernmental machinery, and until this machinery is restored no o&Fecti/e e/aluation of
the compromise system will &e possi&le
Supernatural !spects of the Present Insurgency Situation
We &egan this discussion with an o&ser/ation that threats to the concept or form of tri&al
structures in !frica tend to generate uprisings characteriBed &y emphasis upon
traditionalist elements in !frican life The current uprisings in the Congo, and for that
matter elsewhere in &lac( !frica, gain impetus from the insurgent practice of employing
magical procedures to con/ince tri&al insurgents that no harm can &e done to them &y
forces of the central go/ernment
These tactics are effecti/e, &ecause in the Congo and elsewhere in &lac( !frica &eliefs in
witchcraft, sorcery, magic, and other supernatural phenomenon are deeply rooted among
the people !lthough the manifestations of these &eliefs /ary widely according to tri&al
and cultural circumstances, magico'religious causes are usually cited to e?plain
misfortunes of any (ind, e/en those of clearly natural origin If crops are &lighted, if a hut
ca/es in and (ills its occupants, if the chief &ecomes unfriendly, or if sudden illness or
death occur, &ewitching is usually gi/en as the primary cause The people may
understand that in fact the house fell &ecause termites ate away the foundations, &ut that it
fell at the time it did was a result of witchcraft or sorcery Witchcraft is also sighted as a
factor in personal disputes, especially where the relationship is inherently su&Fect to
tensions '' as for e?ample, in the relationship &etween hus&and and wife, or &etween co'
wi/es In these cases, not only physical or direct remedies, &ut occult remedies as well
are considered necessary to counteract the e/il influence
! distinction is drawn &y )/ans'Pritchard in his Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic !mong
the !Bande =O?ford Uni/ersity Press, "#GH> which is helpful for purposes of study is that
&etween witchcraft and sorcery !lthough these two concepts often o/erlap, especially in
application =the same person may &e thought to practice sorcery as well as witchcraft>>,
they do represent two distinct theories of supernatural &eha/ior which are shared &y
practically all !frican tri&al societies
! sorcerer is one who is thought to practice e/il magic against others
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The techni<ues of sorcery may &e learned &y anyone, and are usually &ased upon the use
of /arious organic or /egeta&le compounds called "medicines" which, when prepared
according to stringent ritualistic re<uirements, are &elie/ed to ac<uire magical properties
ena&ling them to wor( the will of the sorcerer
The reciprocal to the concept of sorcery, or the practice of e/il magic, is the concept of
the use of magical rites or medicines for socially'appro/ed purposes These include
e/erything from the protection of personal safety, to impro/ement of soil fertility, to
success at the hunt or in &attle In short, "good" magic may &e in/o(ed to stimulate good
results in any phase of the life cycle !gain, strict and proper ritual must &e o&ser/ed in
the preparation of the necessary medicines, and these rituals '' which include ta&oo
o&ser/ance, /er&al formulae, etc '' are idiosyncratic to particular tri&es, and e/en
differing schools of thought within the same tri&e or su&'tri&e
Witchcraft, on the other hand, is said to &e an in&orn trait which ena&les its possessor to
harm other people merely &y wishing to do so "Medicines" play no part in true
&ewitching operations Some tri&es &elie/e that witchcraft power is acti/ated &y feelings
of hostility or en/y e/en without conscious decision on the part of the witch '' or e/en
without the witch@s (nowing that he contains witchcraft power within him In the Congo,
&elief that the witchcraft power was em&odied as a physical su&stance in the &elly was so
widespread that the Aelgian authorities had to &an the practice of tri&al elders@ performing
autopsies upon the &odies of suspected witches In "#5% the colonial administration also
&anned use of the poison ordeal '' the other uni/ersally accepted method of screening
suspected witches =+itually'prepared poison was administered to suspects in the &elief
that the innocent would sur/i/e and the guilty perish>
!lthough !frica@s infrastructure of supernatural &eliefs and practices has &een su&Fected
to concentrated assault &y )uropeans '' primarily missionaries '' for as many as fi/e
hundred years in some areas, few lasting inroads ha/e &een made against ingrained
traditions In the Congo, practically all education since "7H7 has &een in the hands of
/arious Catholic and Protestant missionary groups Missionary acti/ities ha/e succeeded
in esta&lishing rather su&stantial church organiBations and church mem&ership, &ut closer
e?amination re/eals that to the e?tent that Christian and other )uropean influences ha/e
ta(en root in the Congo, they ha/e also often &een modified so as to merge with, not
supersede, the traditional foundations of the country and its people )uropeaniBed
Congolese
'H'
may carry amulets and charms, consult oracles a&out the ad/isa&ility of &usiness
transactions, and o&ser/e other rituals learned in childhood Others hold &oth traditional
and Christian funeral ceremonies Institutionally, many syncretic sects '' often pseudo'
Christian '' stand &etween Christianity and tradition, started &y prophets who &elie/ed
they were di/inely inspired Most &egan as messianic cults &ut de/eloped nationalistic
and anti')uropean characteristics along the way
!mong the people, there is little e/idence that traditional &eliefs in witchcraft, sorcery,
and magic ha/e &een diminished &y Western influences The e/idence is rather that the
practice of secret magical rites is on the increase -istory indicates that &eliefs in witches
and magic die hard in all societies !nd &ecause of !frica@s particular cultural setting, it is
unli(ely that these &eliefs will disappear other than as a result of generations of careful
and gradual education in the Western mold Western education is not, howe/er, and
immediate solution In !frica &eliefs in magic and witchcraft are used to e?plain ultimate
causations '' the e?istence and origin of fortune and misfortune Western secular
education does not pro/ide une<ui/ocal answers to <uestions of such a fundamental
nature
Western institutions ha/e, as a matter of fact, ser/ed in some ways to increase tensions
and an?ieties in !frican societies, especially as these relate to superstitious &eliefs and
practices the control of witches and sorcerers is of paramount importance to people who
&elie/e in magic 1et the imposition of political systems of a Western type upon !frican
tri&es has resulted in the elimination of the most efficacious witch'control measure '' the
poison ordeal In addition, the e?ecution of con/icted witches and sorcerers is no longer
allowed !s a result, many !fricans feel that western political systems such as the
modern state ha/e aligned themsel/es on the side of e/il &ecause from their standpoint
the "ci/iliBed" elimination of traditional control measures wor( to protect witches and
sorcerers from retaliation &y their innocent /ictims The !frican man'in'the'&ush is,
therefore, much more at the mercy of those who wish to harm him &y supernatural means
than e/er &efore -e thus tends to rely more and more upon the witch'doctorI who, in the
a&sence of the poison ordeal and
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
I The term witch'doctor is used in the popular sense for the con/enience of the reader !
more percise 9sic: &ut less familiar term would &e maFico'religious practitioner, since the
practices attri&uted to witch'doctors neither necessarily include, nor are confined to
witchcraft per se, &ut may include sorcery and other forms of magic as well
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other drastic sanctions, pro/ides the main source of protection from e/il
Counterinsurgency !nalysis
In the conte?t of the current insurgency situations in Ei/u and Eatanga, where insurgents
rely upon "medicines" and ritualistic o&ser/ances to protect them from firepower, the
suggestion to de/ise and employ magical practices in counterinsurgency operations is
o&/ious and tempting Aefore adopting this course of action, howe/er, the US
counterinsurgency planner should gi/e serious consideration to se/eral pertinent factorsC
! In the e/ent that the US role, if any, in the Congo will &e of an ad/isory character,
the ad/isors must rely upon the e?tent of their influence upon Congolese counterparts
US policy recommendations must, therefore, &e accepta&le to Congolese leaders The
Congolese leadership class is dri/en almost e?clusi/ely from a small elite group who,
ha/ing o&tained Western education under the Aelgians, ha/e &ecome ")uropeaniBed" =a
concept /irtually e<ui/alent to "ci/iliBed"> to the e?tent that they are (nown as e/olues
Easa/u&u, *umum&a, EalonFi, !doula, Mo&utu, and Tshom&e are all e/olues and as
such are fiercely proud of their "ci/iliBed" status and image These e/olues can &e
e?pected to resist any association with policies which might reflect endorsement of
"unci/iliBed" &eha/ior, e/en though they themsel/es might &e to some e?tent dependent
upon secret charms or other superstitious &eliefs or practices
A !lthough &eliefs in witchcraft, sorcery, and magic are endemic throughout su&'
Saharan !frica, these &eliefs /ary considera&ly in detail according to tri&e or su&'tri&e
*iterally, one man@s charm may &e another man@s poison, depending upon particular tri&al
&eliefs It follows that the counterinsurgency planner, should he desire to e?ploit the
psychological potential of superstition, must &e a&le to compile and analyBe a large
<uantity of specific and detailed information em&racing the entire spectrum of
superstitious &eliefs and other /alues of the specific ethnic group with which he is
concerned This tends to relegate the use of magic to limited tactical o&Fecti/es rather
than &road strategic concepts or solutions to fundamental pro&lems Ay the same to(en,
howe/er, the pre/alence of superstitious &eliefs in !frica suggests that the
counterinsurgency planner re<uires considera&le information a&out these &eliefs for
intelligence and counterintelligence purposes alone ! sound understanding of magical
concepts, practices, and mannerisms is necessary for defensi/e purposes should they play
any role or importance in an insurgency situation Enowledge of the specific uses of
charms,
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medicines, &odily scarification, and the li(e, will help to identify mem&ership in a
particular cult, or will ena&le patterns of acti/ity to &e defined .ailing complete and
detailed information of this type, &oth operational and counterintelligence planning will
&e unrealistic Unfortunately, such information may not &e <uic(ly ac<uired a&out the
more than 533 reported tri&es in the Congo, &ut must &e painsta(ingly gathered and
e/aluated o/er a long period of time 4etailed studies of supernatural &eliefs of specific
tri&es are limited The secrecy inherent in most magical rituals presents a formida&le
o&stacle to the outside in/estigator, whether he may &e a scientist or an intelligence
agent
C !nd finally, the tactics employed to counter current insurgencies in /arious parts of
the Congo must &e e/aluated in terms not only of their immediate effecti/eness against
the short'term military pro&lem, &ut in terms also of their positi/e or negati/e influence
upon the long'range pro&lem of esta&lishing a /ia&le political system
It cannot &e denied that the e?ploitation of superstitious &eliefs &y insurgent leaders is a
dou&le'edged weapon .ear of magic and witchcraft can &e re/ersed and used with telling
effects against the insurgents If relia&le and detailed operational intelligence can &e
gathered, counterinsurgency planners will &e a&le to concoct "medicines" and other
de/ices within the superstitious framewor( of the target group, with which to neutraliBe
and o/erpower the magic spells cast &y insurgent witch'doctors These procedures could
well in/ol/e a continuing duel of thrust and parry, &ecause the witch'doctors could also
&e counted on to de/ise counter'counter measures, and so forth Aut there is little dou&t
that counter'magic tactics properly concei/ed and imaginati/ely e?ecuted could &e <uite
effecti/e in achie/ing short'run /ictories ! &roader <uestion is whether the e?ploitation
of superstition in this fashion is not also a triple'edged weapon, in that superstition itself,
rather than the central go/ernment, may &ecome, in the long'run, the main &eneficiary
Since tri&alism and superstition, so closely related to each other, ha/e pro/ided a fertile
seed&ed for political insta&ility in the Congo, and measures which enhance the di/isi/e
and destructi/e aspects of tri&alism simply lay additional o&stacles in the already
cluttered path toward Congolese nationhood Should the central go/ernment successfully
use occult methods to defeat a mo/ement &ased upon such methods, the /ery concepts of
sorcery and magic which lend impetus to the insurgencies of the moment may gain
strength and ac<uire e/en greater trou&le'
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ma(ing potential for the future In other words, the more successful the
counterinsurgency campaign, if that campaign is &ased upon a counter'magic approach,
the more ominous the outloo( for the future !ny thesis that an insurgency inspired or
sustained &y magical concepts may &e defeated more easily and at less cost and trou&le
&y employing counter'magic is therefore <uestiona&le on these grounds
,or does the current situation in the Congo represent anything new in the history of
insurgency insofar as the use of magical practices is concerned history is replete with
instances wherein uprisings ha/e &een reinforced &y magic spells the T@ai P@ing re&ellion
in China was led &y a man who represented himself as the younger &rother of 8esus
Christ The Ao?er cultists &elie/ed that they could cause cannon to fall apart at great
distances &y psycho'(inetic means those who too( the Mau Mau oaths in Eenya were
taught that oath /iolation would &e instantly lethal !frican history contains numerous
other e?amples or similar phenomena =the "MaFi'MaFi" re&ellion in Tanganyi(a, the
Ma(omo&e uprising in Portuguese )ast !frica, etc> Current pro&lems in the Congo as
well as the *umpa uprising in ,orthern +hodesia today e?emplify the same superstitious
manifestations
!ny study of historical e?amples of uprisings supported &y superstitious practices,
howe/er, will re/eal that /igorous military counter'measures of a con/entional nature
ha/e produced optimum results in suppressing the insurgency If there are su&stantial
political or economic moti/es &ehind the uprisings, these naturally must &e ta(en into
account The reference here is to military tactics and their effects against magic
4espite the ingrained <uality of superstition throughout &lac( !frica, there is a certain
core of pragmatism immediately applica&le to the present pro&lem The history of
messianic mo/ements and especially those mo/ements whose primary function in the
detection and6or neutraliBation of witchcraft and sorcery re/eals that !fricans easily
recogniBe and accept concrete proof of the ineffecti/eness of a particular magical rite or
charm Such recognition and acceptance in no way affect the &asic pattern of &elief in
magic The opposite is in fact true, as is pro/en &y the continuing succession of short'
li/ed anti'witchcraft cults throughout !frica !fricans are <uite prepared to admit that
they ha/e &een fooled &y a particular practitioner or cult The pattern then is to reFect the
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"false" cult and accept one which, until e/ents pro/e otherwise, is the "real thing" The
same type of mental processes seem to apply to witch'doctors themsel/es Informed
opinion is that most witch'doctors &elie/e themsel/es as indi/iduals to &e cle/er
charlatans, since they are aware that they really ha/e no magic power Aut an indi/idual
witch'doctor is also li(ely to &elie/e that he alone is a charlatan and that his colleagues
do indeed ha/e magical a&ilities
In the Congo, as elsewhere in &lac( !frica, there is e/ery reason to &elie/e that
disciplined troops, proficient in mar(smanship, and led &y competent officers, can
handily dispel most notions of magical in/ulnera&ility It is <uite true that the raising of
such a force may pose more pro&lems in the Congo than in some other areas, &ut the
pro&lem is &y no means insolu&le The elite gendarmerie organiBed &y the Aelgians to
offset the ill'disciplined .orce Pu&li<ue gendarmerie is an e?ample of what can &e done
in the Congo The same concept of the gendarmerie was employed, together with foreign
mercenaries, &y Moise Tshom&e in the Eatanga secessionist mo/ement Tshom&e@s
forces were generally conceded to &e highly effecti/e, and were suppressed only with
great difficulty &y the United ,ations
The immediate military pro&lems related to the Congo@s fundamental pro&lems of
insta&ility and chaos appear more suscepti&le to lasting solution &y con/entional methods
than &y reliance upon purely psychological or occult phenomena whose /alues are
limited to support functions in tactical situations and whose implementation is fraught
with long'run ris(s 4rawing upon the Aelgian e?perience as well as that of Tshom&e in
Eatanga, it would appear that a more fle?i&le approach to the military pro&lem is to &e
found in the concept of elite troopsC troops which are carefully trained and disciplined,
and which are well'commanded Unit morale and the confidence engendered &y good
training, (nowledge of weaponry, and, a&o/e all, dynamic and competent leadership, can
go far to counteract superstitious fears
AIA*IO0+!P-1
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9end of document: