 The increasing demands placed on the Congolese population by the colonial authorities during the war , however , provoked strikes , riots and other forms of resistance , particularly from the indigenous Congolese . These were repressed , often violently , by the Belgian colonial authorities . The Congo 's comparative prosperity during the conflict led to a wave of post @-@ war immigration from Belgium , bringing the white population to 100 @,@ 000 by 1950 , as well as a period of industrialisation that continued throughout the 1950s . The role played by Congolese uranium during the hostilities caused the country to be of interest to the Soviet Union during the Cold War . 
