L'État colonial et les missions catholiques face au mouvement kimbanguiste à la veille de l'indépendance du Congo belge. 1944-1960

Resume En 1944, l'administration coloniale sollicite l'aide des missionnaires catholiques pour assurer l'enseignement aux enfants des kimbanguistes relegues dans la region d'Oshwe. Elles accedent a cette demande et tentent a son tour, de convaincre les autorites coloniales de la responsabilite des mouvements politico–religieux, manipules selon elles par les missions protestantes, dans les emeutes qui se sont produites a Matadi en novembre 1945. Jusqu'alors, l'etat colonial et les missions catholiques portent presque le meme regard sur ces sectes. Mais au lendemain de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale, le gouvernement colonial va organiser ses propres enquetes sur les sectes religieuses et developpera une politique moins influencee par l'Eglise catholique. A partir de 1953-1954, les enfants de Simon Kimbangu, entoure d'un groupe de jeunes gens instruits et dynamiques, vont reformer, reorganiser et ainsi moderniser le mouvement. Ils parviennent a gagner partiellement la confiance des autorites coloniales qui finalement vont reconnaitre le kimbanguisme en 1959 malgre les contacts entre ce mouvement religieux Kongo et le mouvement nationaliste ABAKO. Mots-cles: ABAKO, Kimbanguisme, Simon Kimbangu, Missions catholiques Abstract In 1944, the colonial administration approached the Scheutist Fathers with a request to organise the teaching of the children of Kimbanguists banished to the region of Oshwe. These Catholic missionaries reacted favourably to this request. In November and December 1945, the Redemptorists tried to convince the colonial authorities that the “Ngunzist” and “Kimbanguist” movements were involved in the strikes and workers\' revolt that had taken place in Matadi. They added that these movements were manipulated by the Protestant missions. Until then, the colonial state and the Catholic missions had shared the same perception of all these religious movements. But after World War II, the colonial government began to organize its own lines of research into these sects and it consequently developed a policy towards them which was less influenced by the Catholic Church than before. From the years 1953-1954, the sons of Simon Kimbangu, together with a group of young, dynamic, well-educated and ambitious men, went to great pains to modernize the Kimbanguist movement. For a certain period, the colonial authorities feared that the religious Kimbanguist movement and the political ABAKO movement would join forces and, as such, provide Kongo nationalism with a major impetus. Eventually, in December 1959 to be precise, the Kimbanguist Church was officially recognized. Keywords: ABAKO, Kimbanguisme, Simon Kimbangu, Catholic Missions Annales AEquatoria 25(2004)95-149