Aside from the geography and the vastness and the emptiness. there is another factor to be considered. namely. the tribal organization. Tribal organization is still paramount in the Congo. This organization is not without some democratic features. I hasten to add. Most of the tribal chieftains have means of checking and being checked by members of their tribes. but this has also created a sort of paternalismthat of actual dependence on the tribal chief by the members of the tribe. Now. when thousands of Congolese have been uprooted. when they have been removed as refugees into Elisabethville or Leopoldville. they are no longer under tribal discipline. They are naive. They are babes in the political woods.
Identified stereotypes
Congolese refugees are described as naive and babes in the political woods.