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126-737: Lubumbashi International Airport was founded in colonial times as the Elisabethville Airport . It was also known as Luano Airport . This airport played a high-profile role during the Katanga war . After it was seized by the United Nations Force in the Congo (ONUC) troops, the airport was used as a base against the secessionist government. [REDACTED]  This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency This article about an airport in

252-662: A communist and, hoping to fragment the nationalist movement, supported rival, ethnic-based parties like CONAKAT. Many Belgians hoped that an independent Congo would form part of a federation, like the French Community or Britain's Commonwealth of Nations , and that close economic and political association with Belgium would continue. As independence approached, the Belgian government organised Congolese elections in May 1960 . These resulted in an MNC relative majority . The proclamation of

378-670: A Belgian parliamentary working group on the future of the Congo was published. It noted a strong demand for "internal autonomy". August de Schryver , the Minister of the Colonies, launched a high-profile Round Table Conference in Brussels in January 1960, with the leaders of all the major Congolese parties in attendance. Lumumba, who had been arrested following riots in Stanleyville, was released in

504-545: A College of Commissionaires-General ( Collège des Commissaires-généraux ) consisting of a panel of university graduates, led by Justin Bomboko . Soviet military advisors were ordered to leave. Allegedly, the coup was intended to force the politicians to take a cooling-off period before they could resume control. In practice, however, Mobutu sided with Kasa-Vubu against Lumumba, who was placed under house arrest, guarded by Ghanaian UN troops and an outer ring of ANC soldiers. Kasa-Vubu

630-672: A New Year's message at the beginning of 1965, Tshombe rejected conciliation with the Simba rebels and called for their total defeat. Tshombe formed the federalist Convention Nationale Congolaise (CONACO), a bloc of forty-nine parties for the 1965 general election . The party won comfortably gaining 38 seats with the alliance as a whole winning 122 seats. Despite this victory Tshombe was dismissed from his position as Prime Minister in October 1965 by President Kasa-Vubu and replaced by Évariste Kimba . In November, General Joseph Mobutu , who had just staged

756-691: A black man who was submissive and docile towards whites. In 1963, UN forces succeeded in suppressing Katanga, driving Tshombe into exile in Northern Rhodesia and then Spain. Tshombe took 890 suitcases full of one million gold pieces with him into exile, which he placed into various European banks, allowing him to live in comfort and luxury. At the same time, the UN forces found that the Katangese treasury had been stripped bare. The entire vault contained only £10 British pounds together with one dead rat. In early 1964,

882-490: A ceasefire failed, UN troops launched Operation Grandslam and occupied Élisabethville, prompting Tshombe to leave the country. A ceasefire was agreed upon soon thereafter. Indian UN troops, exceeding their orders, then occupied Jadotville, preventing Katangese loyalists from regrouping. Gradually, the UN overran the rest of the Katanga and, on 17 January 1963, Tshombe surrendered his final stronghold of Kolwezi , effectively ending

1008-404: A coordinated MNC-L reaction to the news. Both chambers of Parliament, however, supported Lumumba and denounced Kasa-Vubu's action. Lumumba attempted to dismiss Kasa-Vubu from his position, but could not get support for this, precipitating a constitutional crisis. Ostensibly in order to resolve the deadlock, Joseph-Désiré Mobutu launched a bloodless coup and replaced both Kasa-Vubu and Lumumba with

1134-661: A foothold in these countries". American conservatives presented the Belgian Congo as a place of racial harmony, which Tshombe had tried to preserve. The principal lobbying group for Tshombe was the American Committee for Aid to Katangan Freedom Fighters that portrayed the United Nations as a communist-dominated organization that was seeking to crush Katanga to achieve Soviet foreign policy goals in Africa. The support for Tshombe

1260-492: A localist party led by Moïse Tshombe , was the third major organisation; it advocated federalism and primarily represented the southern province of Katanga . These were joined by a number of smaller parties which emerged as the nationalist movement developed, including the radical Parti Solidaire Africain (PSA), and factions representing the interests of minor ethnic groups like the Alliance des Bayanzi (ABAZI). Although it

1386-502: A major offensive against South Kasai. The attack was extremely successful, but during the course of the offensive, the ANC became involved in infighting between the Baluba and Bena Lulua ethnic groups. and perpetrated a number of large massacres of Luba civilians. Around 3,000 were killed. The violence of the advance caused an exodus of thousands of Baluba civilians who fled their homes to escape

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1512-505: A mandate to arrest foreign mercenaries wherever they encountered them. In September 1961, an attempt to detain a group of Katangese mercenaries without violence during Operation Morthor went wrong and turned into a fire-fight. ONUC's claim to impartiality was undermined in mid-September when a company of Irish UN troops were captured by numerically superior Katangese forces following a six-day siege in Jadotville . Katanga proceeded to hold

1638-566: A moderate policy in the Congo, his successor U Thant supported a more radical policy of direct involvement in the conflict. Katanga released the captured Irish soldiers in mid-October as part of a cease-fire deal in which ONUC agreed to pull its troops back—a propaganda coup for Tshombe. Restated American support for the UN mission, and the murder of ten Italian UN pilots in Port-Empain in November 1961, strengthened international demands to resolve

1764-451: A more centralized state. President of Katanga,DRC Katanga Government DRC Government CONAKAT won control of the Katanga provincial legislature in the May 1960 general elections . One month later, the Congo became an independent republic. Tshombe became President of the autonomous province of Katanga. Patrice Lumumba was tasked with forming a national government . Members of his party,

1890-597: A number of legal challenges to force the Algerians to release Tshombe to no avail. Long-time aide Michel Struelens travelled to different European cities to lobby for Tshombe, eventually to no avail. Tshombe died in Algeria in 1969. The Algerian government called in eight Algerian physicians and three French doctors, who concluded that he died in his sleep. Later, an autopsy concluded a natural death. Tshombe's nephew Joseph Kayomb Tshombe stipulated that no medical doctor chosen by

2016-454: A possible military government to restore order while others petitioned the colonial government for crackdowns. As law and order began to break down, white civilians formed militia groups known as Corps de Voluntaires Européens ("European Volunteer Corps") to police their neighborhoods, but these militias were outlawed on March 25. In the fallout from the Léopoldville riots, the report of

2142-518: A rebel government in November 1960 in opposition to the central government in Léopoldville. The Gizenga government was recognised by some states, including the Soviet Union and China, as the official government of the Congo and could call on an approximate 5,500 troops compared to the central government's 7,000. Faced with UN pressure, the Gizenga government however collapsed in January 1962 after Gizenga

2268-589: A set "native policy" ( politique indigène )—in contrast to the British and the French, who generally favoured the system of indirect rule whereby traditional leaders were retained in positions of authority under colonial oversight. There was also a high degree of racial segregation . Large numbers of white immigrants who moved to the Congo after the end of World War II came from across the social spectrum, but were nonetheless always treated as superior to black people. During

2394-561: A significant amount of territory and proclaimed a communist "People's Republic of the Congo" in Stanleyville. Government forces gradually retook territory and, in November 1964, Belgium and the United States intervened militarily in Stanleyville to recover hostages from Simba captivity. The Simbas were defeated and collapsed soon after. Following the elections in March 1965, a new political stalemate developed between Tshombe and Kasa-Vubu, forcing

2520-608: A sore throat, Mr. Urquhart"), he would suddenly whisper. " Je dois prendre immédiatement une piqûre " ("I must immediately get a [medical] shot.") And that would be the end of the conversation. Tshombe was basically a weak person who was always being manipulated by others – the Union Minière , right-wing politicians in Europe and the United States, mercenaries, arms dealers and other adventurers who were after his money." France, wishing to take advantage of Katangese minerals, sent to Tshombe

2646-516: A successful coup against Kasa-Vubu, brought charges of treason against Tshombe, who again fled the country and settled in Francoist Spain . In 1965, Tshombe's brother, Daniel, became the Mwaant Yav, which greatly added to his appeal in Katanga. Traditionally, the title of Mwaant Yav alternated between different Lunda royal families, but since 1965 the office of Mwaant Yav has been held by members of

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2772-735: A team of over 100 advisors led by Che Guevara to advise the Simbas on tactics and doctrine. The Simba rebellion coincided with a wide escalation of the Cold War amid the Gulf of Tonkin incident and it has been speculated that, had the rebellion not been rapidly defeated, a full-scale American military intervention could have occurred as in Vietnam . After its early string of successes, the Simba rebellion began to encounter local resistance as it encroached on areas outside of

2898-570: The Mouvement National Congolais (MNC), was a united front organisation dedicated to achieving independence "within a reasonable" time. It was created around a charter which was signed by, among others, Patrice Lumumba , Cyrille Adoula and Joseph Iléo , but others accused the party of being too moderate. Lumumba became a leading figure within the MNC, and by the end of 1959, the party claimed to have 58,000 members. The MNC's main rival

3024-565: The Belgian Congo demanded the end of colonial rule: this led to the country's independence on 30 June 1960. Minimal preparations had been made and many issues, such as federalism , tribalism , and ethnic nationalism , remained unresolved. In the first week of July, a mutiny broke out in the army and violence erupted between black and white civilians. Belgium sent troops to protect fleeing white citizens. Katanga and South Kasai seceded with Belgian support. Amid continuing unrest and violence,

3150-537: The Confédération des associations tribales du Katanga (CONAKAT) party. CONAKAT promoted a federal Congo independent of the Belgian colonial empire . CONAKAT was founded in October 1958 to address the perceived problems of "immigration" into Katanga from the other provinces of the Belgian Congo, and its platform called for upholding the rights of the "indigenous" peoples of Katanga by ending the "immigration". The majority of

3276-630: The Congo Free State , in 1885. By the turn of the century, however, the violence of Free State officials against indigenous Congolese and the ruthless system of economic extraction had led to intense diplomatic pressure on Belgium to take official control of the country, which it did in 1908, creating the Belgian Congo . Belgian rule in the Congo was based around the "colonial trinity" ( trinité coloniale ) of state , missionary and private company interests. The privileging of Belgian commercial interests meant that capital sometimes flowed back into

3402-617: The Copperbelt of neighbouring Northern Rhodesia (then part of the Central African Federation ) than with the rest of the Congo, and because of its economic importance it had been administered separately from the rest of the country under the Belgians. CONAKAT furthermore contended that Katangese people were ethnically distinct from other Congolese. The secession was partly motivated by the Katangese separatists' desire to keep more of

3528-503: The Kiswahili word for " lion "), had a populist but vague ideology, loosely based on communism, which prioritised equality and aimed to increase overall wealth. Most of the active revolutionaries were young men who hoped that the rebellion would provide them with opportunities which the government had not. The Simbas used magic to initiate members and believed that, by following a moral code, they could become invulnerable to bullets. Magic

3654-454: The Luba ethnic group , and its president, Albert Kalonji , claimed that the secession was largely sparked by persecution of the Baluba in the rest of the Congo. The South Kasai government was supported by Forminière , another Belgian mining company, which received concessions from the new state in return for financial support. Without control over Katanga and South Kasai, the central government

3780-474: The Luluabourg Constitution , after the city in which it was written, to create a compromise balance of power. The new constitution increased the power of the presidency , ending the system of joint consultation between president and prime minister, and appeased federalists by increasing the number of provinces from six to 21 while increasing their autonomy. The constitution also changed the name of

3906-607: The Mouvement National Congolais , were given charge of the portfolios of national defence and interior, despite Tshombe's objections. The portfolio for economic affairs was awarded to a CONAKAT member, but this was undercut by the positioning of nationalists in control of the Ministry and Secretariat for Economic Coordination. Mines and land affairs were placed under separate portfolios. Tshombe declared that this diluting of CONAKAT's influence rendered his agreement to support

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4032-550: The Simba rebellion broke out and the Congolese government rapidly lost control of the entire eastern half of the Congo. At the same time, Tshombe started to correspond with several of his former enemies such as the justice minister, Justin-Marie Bomboko ; the police chief, Victor Nendaka ; and most importantly, the commander of the army, General Joseph-Désiré Mobutu. As the Armée Nationale Congolaise could not handle

4158-464: The UN Security Council was called on 7 December 1960 to consider Soviet demands that the UN seek Lumumba's immediate release, his restoration to the head of the Congolese government and the disarming of Mobutu's forces. The pro-Lumumba resolution was defeated on 14 December 1960 by a vote of 8–2. Still in captivity, Lumumba was tortured and transported to Thysville and later to Katanga, where he

4284-478: The Union Katangaise party that represented the white Belgian settlers of Katanga. Both CONAKAT and the Union Katangaise wanted very broad autonomy for Katanga within an independent Congo in order to keep the wealth generated by the mining industry within Katanga. In contrast to CONAKAT with its calls for autonomy and curbs on "immigration", the "immigrants" in Katanga tended to favor the parties that called for

4410-529: The United Nations deployed peacekeepers , but UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld refused to use these troops to help the central government in Léopoldville fight the secessionists. Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba , the charismatic leader of the largest nationalist faction, reacted by calling for assistance from the Soviet Union, which promptly sent military advisers and other support. The involvement of

4536-424: The " Free Republic of the Congo " was founded in the eastern city of Stanleyville by Lumumba supporters led by Antoine Gizenga . It gained Soviet support but was crushed in early 1962. Meanwhile, the UN took a more aggressive stance towards the secessionists after Hammarskjöld was killed in a plane crash in late 1961. Supported by UN troops, Léopoldville defeated secessionist movements in Katanga and South Kasai by

4662-505: The 1940s and 1950s, the Congo experienced an unprecedented level of urbanisation and the colonial administration began various development programmes aimed at making the territory into a "model colony". One of the results of the measures was the development of a new middle class of Europeanised African " évolués " in the cities. By the 1950s, the Congo had a wage labour force twice as large as that in any other African colony. The Congo's rich natural resources, including uranium— much of

4788-529: The 1950s, he took over a chain of stores in Katanga Province , which failed. Tshombe ran a number of businesses, which all failed, requiring his wealthy family to bail him out. Tshombe later became involved in politics. Katanga was different from the other provinces of the Belgian Congo, being rich in copper, tin and uranium, all of which were mined by the Union Minière company. The wealth generated by its minerals led to 32,000 Belgians settling in Katanga by

4914-467: The 1950s, which had more white settlers than any other province of the Belgian Congo. The mining industry provided, by the standards of Africa, well paying jobs, and as such Katanga province attracted immigrants from the other provinces of the Belgian Congo. Tshombe, like many members of the Lunda royalty, was close to the settler elite, and felt threatened by the flood of Kasai Baluba moving into Katanga. In

5040-431: The 1978 war film The Wild Geese is based in part on speculation that Tshombe's plane had initially been diverted to Rhodesia before being sent to Algeria. The film's characters Colonel Allen Faulkner and President Julius Limbani were largely based on Tshombe and his military ally Maj. "Mad Mike" Hoare . Tshombe has been played twice by the French actor Pascal N'Zonzi , first in the 2000 film Lumumba and again in

5166-404: The Belgian government to support colonial expansion around the then-largely unexplored Congo Basin . The Belgian government's ambivalence about the idea led Leopold to eventually create the colony on his own account. With support from a number of Western countries, who viewed Leopold as a useful buffer between rival colonial powers, Leopold achieved international recognition for a personal colony,

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5292-654: The Belgian operation, Lumumba denounced it and called for "all Congolese to defend our republic against those who menace it." At Lumumba's request, white civilians from the port city of Matadi were evacuated by the Belgian Navy on 11 July. Belgian ships then bombarded the city; at least 19 civilians were killed. This action prompted renewed attacks on whites across the country, while Belgian forces entered other towns and cities, including Léopoldville, and clashed with Congolese troops. The Belgian government subsequently announced that it would provide for Belgian bureaucrats back in

5418-440: The Belgian shares of the concessions. During the same visit, Spaak seems to have made appointing Tshombe premier the precondition of the share transfer. Finally, the administration of John F. Kennedy was very hostile towards Tshombe, but on 22 November 1963 Kennedy was assassinated . Kennedy's successor, Lyndon B. Johnson was more supportive of Tshombe, viewing him as a firmly pro-Western politician. In July 1964, he returned to

5544-519: The CONAKAT supporters were Lunda, Batabwa, Tshowke and Bayeke, most of whom lived in southern Katanga. In common with the other members of the Lunda elite, the aristocratic Tshombe looked back nostalgically to the Kingdom of Lunda that once covered much of northern Angola, the southern Belgian Congo and Northern Rhodesia (modern Zambia) in the 17th and 18th centuries. CONAKAT formed an electoral alliance with

5670-539: The Congo and join the national army. Tshombe had made extensive use of white mercenaries to fight for Katanga, and as the Congolese premier, he hired the same mercenaries to fight for the Congo. The return of Tshombe to power was met with criticism. Malcolm X detested Tshombe as an "Uncle Tom", and in a 1964 speech in New York called him "the worst African ever born" and "the man who in cold blood, cold blood, committed an international crime – murdered Patrice Lumumba". In

5796-407: The Congo and that individual regions became specialised . On many occasions, the interests of the government and private enterprise became closely tied and the state helped companies with strikebreaking and countering other efforts by the indigenous population to better their lot. The country was split into nesting, hierarchically organised administrative subdivisions, and run uniformly according to

5922-632: The Congo became independent from Belgium and ended, unofficially, with the entire country under the rule of Joseph-Désiré Mobutu . Constituting a series of civil wars , the Congo Crisis was also a proxy conflict in the Cold War , in which the Soviet Union and the United States supported opposing factions. Around 100,000 people are believed to have been killed during the crisis. A nationalist movement in

6048-418: The Congo might follow the same path as Cuba . Lumumba's appeal for Soviet support split the government and led to mounting pressure from Western countries to remove him from power. In addition, both Tshombe and Kalonji appealed to Kasa-Vubu, whom they believed to be both a moderate and federalist, to move against Lumumba's centralism and resolve the secession issue. Meanwhile, Mobutu took effective control of

6174-520: The Congo to serve as prime minister in a new coalition government. His cabinet was sworn in on 10 July. Tshombe's national support was derived from the backing of provincial political bosses, customary chiefs, and foreign financial interests. Among his first acts in office were the lifting of a curfew in Léopoldville, the release of 600 political prisoners—including Antoine Gizenga , and the ordering of Katangese gendarmes to return from their exile in Angola to

6300-418: The Congolese capital, on 4 January 1959 after a political demonstration turned violent. The Force Publique , the colonial gendarmerie , used force against the rioters—at least 49 people were killed, and total casualties may have been as high as 500. The nationalist parties' influence expanded outside the major cities for the first time, and nationalist demonstrations and riots became a regular occurrence over

6426-600: The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Katanga Crisis Other major events Congolese: Other major events The Congo Crisis (French: Crise congolaise ) was a period of political upheaval and conflict between 1960 and 1965 in the Republic of the Congo (today the Democratic Republic of the Congo ). The crisis began almost immediately after

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6552-483: The Irishmen as prisoners of war, a development that deeply embarrassed the UN mission and its proponents. On 18 September 1961, Hammarskjöld flew to Ndola , just across the border in Northern Rhodesia , to attempt to broker a cease-fire between UN and Katangese forces. His aircraft crashed before landing at Ndola Airport , killing him and everybody else on board. In stark contrast to Hammarskjöld's attempts to pursue

6678-486: The Katangese secession. Following the end of the Katanga secession, political negotiations began to reconcile the disparate political factions. The negotiations coincided with the formation of an émigré political group, the Conseil National de Libération (CNL), by dissident Lumumbists and others in neighbouring Congo-Brazzaville . The negotiations culminated in the creation of a new, revised constitution, known as

6804-444: The Katangese secession. Under Tshombe's interim government, fresh elections were scheduled for 30 March and the rebellion broke out in the central and eastern parts of the Congo. The period of political crisis had led to widespread disenchantment with the central government brought in by independence. Demands for a "second independence" from kleptocracy and political infighting in the capital grew. The "second independence" slogan

6930-545: The Kitona Declaration in December 1961 in which he agreed in principle to accept the authority of the central government and state constitution and to abandon any claim to Katangese independence. Following the declaration, however, talks between Tshombe and Adoula reached a deadlock, while Katangese forces continued to harass UN troops. Diminishing support and Belgium's increasing reluctance to support Katanga demonstrated that

7056-612: The MNC-Kalonji (MNC-K), while the majority group became the MNC-Lumumba (MNC-L). The split divided the party's support base into those who remained with Lumumba, chiefly in the Stanleyville region in the north-east, and those who backed the MNC-K, which became most popular around the southern city of Élisabethville and among the Luba ethnic group . Major riots broke out in Léopoldville ,

7182-476: The MNC-L's old domain. The People's Republic also suffered from a lack of coherent social and economic policy, contributing to an inability to administer its own territory. From the end of August 1964 the rebels began to lose ground to the ANC. Albertville and Lisala were recaptured in late August and early September. Tshombe, backed by Mobutu, recalled many of his former mercenaries from the Katangese secession to oppose

7308-540: The Simba. Mercenaries, led by "Mad Mike" Hoare and mostly whites from central and southern Africa, were formed into a unit known as 5 Commando ANC . The unit served as the spearhead of the ANC and were involved in unsanctioned killing, torture, looting and rapes in recaptured rebel areas. The mercenaries were also materially supported by the CIA. In November 1964, the Simbas rounded up the remaining white population of Stanleyville and its environs. The whites were held hostage in

7434-497: The Simbas, Mobutu argued that the Congo needed Western help. Mobutu had been the king-maker of Congolese politics ever since he staged his first coup in 1960. He pressured President Joseph Kasa-Vubu to appoint Tshombe premier on the grounds that he was the Congolese politician most likely to secure Western support. Most of the economic concessions in the Belgian Congo were para-statal, as the Belgian state had invested its own funds alongside those of European capitalists in developing

7560-467: The Soviet Union, which agreed to provide weapons, logistical and material support. Around 1,000 Soviet military advisors soon landed in the Congo. Lumumba's actions distanced him from the rest of the government, especially Kasa-Vubu, who feared the implications of Soviet intervention. The Americans also feared that a Soviet-aligned Congo could form the basis of a major expansion of communism into central Africa. With Soviet support, 2,000 ANC troops launched

7686-528: The Soviets split the Congolese government and led to an impasse between Lumumba and President Joseph Kasa-Vubu . Mobutu, at that time Lumumba's chief military aide and a lieutenant-colonel in the army, broke this deadlock with a coup d'état , expelled the Soviet advisors and established a new government effectively under his own control. Lumumba was taken captive and subsequently executed in 1961. A rival government of

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7812-520: The Tshombe family was admitted at the autopsy. Further doubts were raised regarding Tshombe's death by former governor of Katanga and political exile Daniel Monguya Mbenge, who accused French lawyer Jacques Vergès of poisoning Tshombe by order of Mobutu. In the context of a series of interviews regarding a conspiracy theory about the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy , Belgian mercenary Joseph Smal told author Stephen J. Rivele that Tshombe

7938-491: The Tshombe family. In 1967, Tshombe was sentenced to death in absentia . On 30 June 1967, Tshombe was in a Hawker Siddeley jet aircraft that was hijacked by Francis Bodenan, an agent of the French SDECE . According to the Congolese government, Tshombe was travelling to Africa. He was taken to Algeria , jailed, and placed under house arrest. At his trial, he was represented by French lawyer René Floriot . The pilots of

8064-595: The Victoria Hotel in the city to use as bargaining tools with the ANC. In order to recover the hostages, Belgian parachute troops were flown to the Congo in American aircraft to intervene. On 24 November, as part of Operation Dragon Rouge , Belgian paratroopers landed in Stanleyville and quickly secured the hostages. In total, around 70 hostages and 1,000 Congolese civilians were killed but the vast majority were evacuated. The Belgian troops were only under orders to liberate

8190-421: The aim of reintegrating Katanga into the Congo, causing Tshombe to flee into Northern Rhodesia for a time. However, the Katangese gendarmerie proved to be tougher than expected and in the siege of Jadotville , Irish troops serving under the United Nations flag were forced to surrender. The United Nations secretary-general, Dag Hammarskjöld, flew to meet Tshombe to discuss a ceasefire. After the meeting, Hammarskjöld

8316-597: The apparent sudden collapse of order in the Congo, as the world view of the Congolese situation prior to independence—due largely to Belgian propaganda—was one of peace, stability, and strong control by the authorities. Lumumba's stance appeared to many Belgians to justify their prior concerns about his radicalism. On 9 July, Belgium deployed paratroopers, without the Congolese state's permission, in Kabalo and elsewhere to protect fleeing white civilians. The Belgian intervention divided Lumumba and Kasa-Vubu; while Kasa-Vubu accepted

8442-551: The army, routing foreign aid and promotions to specific units and officers to secure their allegiance. On 5 September 1960, Kasa-Vubu announced on national radio that he had unilaterally dismissed Lumumba , using the massacres in South Kasai as a pretext and with the promise of American backing. Andrew Cordier , the American UN representative in the Congo, used his position to block communications by Lumumba's faction and to prevent

8568-461: The broad absence of suitably qualified black Congolese replacements. Many Congolese people had assumed that independence would produce tangible and immediate social change, so the retention of whites in positions of importance was widely resented. "Independence brings changes to politicians and to civilians. But for you, nothing will be changed ... none of your new masters can change the structure of an army which, throughout its history, has been

8694-552: The central and eastern Congo. The Kwilu Rebellion broke out on 16 January 1964 in the cities of Idiofa and Gungu in Kwilu Province . Further disruption and uprisings then spread to Kivu in the east and later to Albertville , sparking further insurrection elsewhere in the Congo and the outbreak of the larger Simba Rebellion . The rebels began to expand their territory and rapidly advance northwards, capturing Port-Émpain, Stanleyville, Paulis and Lisala between July and August. The rebels, who called themselves "Simbas" (from

8820-412: The central government's leftist prime minister, Patrice Lumumba . Accusing Lumumba of communist sympathies, Tshombe declared Katanga's independence as the breakaway State of Katanga , becoming a major actor of the Congo Crisis . Following Lumumba's overthrow and execution by Tshombe's supporters in 1961, the Katanga rebellion was suppressed in 1963, forcing Tshombe into exile. The following year, he

8946-423: The chief advocate of a unified state. Less than a month after the Katangese secession, on 8 August, a section of Kasai Province situated slightly to the north of Katanga also declared its autonomy from the central government as the Mining State of South Kasai ( Sud-Kasaï ) based around the city of Bakwanga . South Kasai was much smaller than Katanga, but was also a mining region. It was largely populated by

9072-538: The concessions. When Belgium granted independence to the Congo in 1960, the Belgians refused to transfer their shares in the concessions to the Congolese state under the grounds that the Congo refused to assume the debts that the Belgians had incurred when developing the concessions, which deprived the Congolese state of much needed revenue. In March 1964, the Belgian Foreign Minister Paul-Henri Spaak visited Leopoldville and agreed to transfer

9198-680: The country. Rather than deploying Belgian troops against the mutineers as Janssens had wished, Lumumba dismissed him and renamed the Force Publique the Armée Nationale Congolaise (ANC). All black soldiers were promoted by at least one rank. Victor Lundula was promoted directly from sergeant-major to major-general and head of the army, replacing Janssens. At the same time, Joseph-Désiré Mobutu , an ex-sergeant-major and close personal aide of Lumumba, became Lundula's deputy as army chief of staff . The government attempted to stop

9324-504: The crowning success of the nationalist movement . Although Lumumba's address was acclaimed by figures such as Malcolm X , it nearly provoked a diplomatic incident with Belgium; even some Congolese politicians perceived it as unnecessarily provocative. Nevertheless, independence was celebrated across the Congo. Politically, the new state had a semi-presidential constitution , known as the Loi Fondamentale , in which executive power

9450-601: The deteriorating human rights situation and prevent the outbreak of full-scale civil war. The resolution "completely rejected" Katanga's claim to statehood and authorised ONUC troops to use all necessary force to "assist the Central Government of the Congo in the restoration and maintenance of law and order". The Katangese made further provocations and, in response, ONUC launched Operation Unokat to dismantle Katangese roadblocks and seize strategic positions around Élisabethville. Faced with international pressure, Tshombe signed

9576-523: The direction of UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld . The British diplomat Brian Urquhart , who met Tshombe several times, wrote: "Tshombe was not stupid, but he desperately wanted to be liked and recognized. He tended to agree with the last person he had talked to and could be counted on to go back on any agreement as soon as he had seen his next visitor. He was also an accomplished hypochondriac, using feigned ill health to avoid answering awkward questions. “ J’ai mal à la gorge, Monsieur Urquhart ” ("I have

9702-533: The eventual withdraw of the Belgian troops". Tshombe engaged in a successful bluff in the summer of 1960 as he maintained that Katanga had the military forces to repel an invasion while an army was being raised. Tshombe demanded United Nations recognition for independent Katanga, and he announced that any intervention by UN troops would be met with force. Nonetheless, Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba and his successor, Cyrille Adoula , successfully requested intervention from UN forces. UN forces were sent under

9828-478: The fighting. The involvement of the Soviet Union alarmed the United States. The American government under Eisenhower, in line with Belgian criticism, had long believed that Lumumba was a communist and that the Congo could be on track to become a strategically placed Soviet client state . In August 1960, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agents in the region reported to their agency that "Congo [is] experiencing [a] classic communist ... takeover" and warned that

9954-586: The first President of Orientale Province , Jean-Pierre Finant , were executed in South Kasai for "crimes against the Baluba nation". Gizenga's soldiers then shot 15 political prisoners in retaliation, including Lumumba's dissident Minister of Communications, Alphonse Songolo . Since its initial resolution of July 1960, the UN had issued further resolutions calling for the total withdrawal of Belgian and mercenary forces from Katanga in progressively stronger terms. By 1961, ONUC comprised nearly 20,000 men. Although their mandate prevented them from taking sides, ONUC had

10080-455: The government "null and void". On the evening of 11 July, Tshombe, accusing the central government of communist leanings and dictatorial rule, announced that Katanga was seceding from the Congo. Tshombe had the full support of both Belgium and the Union Minière in proclaiming Katanga independent. One American diplomat described Katanga as a sham, reporting to Washington that the State of Katanga

10206-474: The government in Léopoldville (President Joseph Kasa-Vubu and Mobutu) to send Lumumba to Katanga. That would have stemmed from Lumumba's increasing popularity among soldiers, who might release him. Meanwhile, soldier mutinies and unrest increased by the day, at Prison Camp Hardy in Thysville. The telegram has still not been shown to exist. Whilst being flown in a Sabena Douglas DC-4 plane to Katanga, Lumumba

10332-454: The government into near-paralysis. Mobutu mounted a second coup d'état in November 1965, taking personal control of the country. Under Mobutu's rule, the Congo (renamed Zaire in 1971) was transformed into a dictatorship which would endure until his deposition in 1997 . Colonial rule in the Congo began in the late 19th century. King Leopold II of Belgium , frustrated by Belgium's lack of international power and prestige, attempted to persuade

10458-401: The hostages, rather than push the Simbas out of the city, but the attack nevertheless "broke the back of the eastern insurrection, which never recovered." The Simba leadership went into exile in disarray and severe disagreement; Gbenye was shot in the shoulder by his general after dismissing him. Meanwhile, the Belgian paratroopers and the civilians returned to their country. In the aftermath of

10584-568: The independent Republic of the Congo , and the end of colonial rule, occurred as planned on 30 June 1960. In a ceremony at the Palais de la Nation in Léopoldville, King Baudouin gave a speech in which he presented the end of colonial rule in the Congo as the culmination of the Belgian " civilising mission " begun by Leopold II. After the King's address, Lumumba gave an unscheduled speech in which he angrily attacked colonialism and described independence as

10710-416: The intervention, Belgium itself was publicly accused of neocolonialism . Mo%C3%AFse Tshombe Moïse Kapenda Tshombe (sometimes written Tshombé ; 10 November 1919 – 29 June 1969) was a Congolese businessman and politician. He served as the president of the secessionist State of Katanga from 1960 to 1963 and as prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1964 to 1965. Tshombe

10836-421: The late 1950s, the Belgians allowed a limited degree of democracy in the Belgian Congo and in the first municipal elections in 1957, the majority of the mayors elected were Baluba, which sparked fears that the Lunda would be a marginalized group in their own province. Tshombe's political involvement started in 1957 in response to the perceived threat of Baluba domination. Along with Godefroid Munongo , he founded

10962-555: The latter days of Belgian rule amid worries that the MNC might seek to nationalise the company's assets after independence. UMHK was largely owned by the Société Générale de Belgique , a prominent holding company based in Brussels that had close ties to the Belgian government. Encouraged by the UMHK, the Belgian government provided military support to Katanga and ordered its civil servants in

11088-546: The metropole, triggering an exodus of most of the Congo's 10,000 European civil servants and leaving the administration in disarray. Engulfed by the disorder spreading throughout the country, most of the government ministries were unable to function. On 11 July 1960, Moïse Tshombe , the leader of CONAKAT, declared the Congo's southern province of Katanga independent as the State of Katanga, with Élisabethville as its capital and himself as president. The mineral-rich Katanga region had traditionally shared closer economic ties with

11214-434: The most organized, the most victorious in Africa. The politicians have lied to you." Lieutenant-General Émile Janssens , the Belgian commander of the Force Publique , refused to see Congolese independence as marking a change in the nature of command. The day after the independence festivities, he gathered the black non-commissioned officers of his Léopoldville garrison and told them that things under his command would stay

11340-493: The next year, bringing large numbers of black people from outside the évolué class into the independence movement. Many blacks began to test the boundaries of the colonial system by refusing to pay taxes or abide by minor colonial regulations. The bulk of the ABAKO leadership was arrested, leaving the MNC in an advantageous position. These developments led to the white community also becoming increasingly alarmed. Some whites looked to

11466-654: The plane, Britons Trevor Copleston and David Taylor, were released and returned to the United Kingdom. The Congolese government demanded his extradition to Congo and his Western supporters agitated for his release. The Algerians resisted both demands. A part of his supporters gathered to form the Tshombe Emergency Committee in the U.S., including Marvin Liebman and William F. Buckley , to press for his release and move to Spain. The Tshombe Emergency Committee filed

11592-473: The proclamation of independence, neither the Belgian nor the Congolese government intended the colonial social order to end immediately. The Belgian government hoped that whites might keep their position indefinitely. The Republic of the Congo was still reliant on colonial institutions like the Force Publique to function from day to day, and white technical experts, installed by the Belgians, were retained in

11718-452: The region to remain in their posts. Tshombe also recruited mercenaries, mainly whites from South Africa and the Rhodesias, to supplement and command Katangese troops. Although supported by the Belgians, Katanga never received formal diplomatic recognition from any country. The Katangese secession highlighted the "fundamental weakness" of the central government in Léopoldville, which had been

11844-465: The reinforcement of the mercenary Bob Denard and his men. It was supported by the networks of Jacques Foccart , the "Mr. Africa" of the French government. Lumumba's government was dissolved , and Lumumba taken prisoner by Mobutu and detained at Camp Hardy in Thysville . Harold Charles d'Aspremont Lynden (Belgian minister for African Affairs) sent a highly confidential telegram on 16 January 1961 to

11970-488: The revolt—Lumumba and Kasa-Vubu intervened personally at Léopoldville and Thysville and persuaded the mutineers to lay down their arms—but in most of the country the mutiny intensified. White officers and civilians were attacked, white-owned properties were looted and white women were raped. The Belgian government became deeply concerned by the situation, particularly when white civilians began entering neighbouring countries as refugees. The international press expressed shock at

12096-487: The run-up to the conference and headed the MNC-L delegation. The Belgian government had hoped for a period of at least 30 years before independence, but Congolese pressure at the conference led to 30 June 1960 being set as the date. Delegates failed to reach an agreement concerning the issues of federalism , ethnicity and the future role of Belgium in Congolese affairs. Belgians began campaigning against Lumumba, whom they wanted to marginalise; they accused him of being

12222-440: The same, summarising the point by writing "Before Independence = After Independence" on a blackboard. This message was hugely unpopular among the rank and file—many of the men had expected rapid promotions and increases in pay to accompany independence. On 5 July 1960, several units mutinied against their white officers at Camp Hardy near Thysville . The insurrection spread to Léopoldville the next day and later to garrisons across

12348-528: The secessionist states. ONUC's initial mandate, however, only covered the maintenance of law and order. Viewing the secessions as an internal political matter, Hammarskjöld refused to use UN troops to assist the central Congolese government against them; he argued that doing so would represent a loss of impartiality and breach Congolese sovereignty. Lumumba also sought the assistance of the United States government of Dwight D. Eisenhower , which refused to provide unilateral military support. Frustrated, he turned to

12474-490: The sending of a multinational contingent of peacekeepers to the Congo under UN command. On 14 July, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 143 , calling for total Belgian withdrawal from the Congo and their replacement with a UN-commanded force. The arrival of the United Nations Operation in the Congo (ONUC) was initially welcomed by Lumumba and the central government who believed the UN would help suppress

12600-566: The situation. In April 1962, UN troops occupied South Kasai. On the night of 29/30 September 1962, South Kasai military commanders launched a coup d'état in Bakwanga against the Kalonjist regime. On 5 October 1962, central government troops again arrived in Bakwanga to support the mutineers and help suppress the last Kalonjist loyalists, marking the end of South Kasai's secession. Resolution 169 , issued in November 1961, called for ONUC to respond to

12726-436: The start of 1963. With Katanga and South Kasai back under the government's control, a reconciliatory compromise constitution was adopted and the exiled Katangese leader, Moïse Tshombe , was recalled to head an interim administration while fresh elections were organised. Before these could be held, however, Maoist -inspired militants calling themselves the " Simbas " rose up in the east of the country. The Simbas took control of

12852-472: The state could not survive indefinitely. On 11 December 1962, Belgian foreign minister Paul-Henri Spaak declared that the Belgian government would support the UN or the central Congolese government should they attempt to end the Katangese secession through force. On 24 December 1962, UN troops and the Katangese Gendarmerie clashed near Élisabethville and fighting broke out. After attempts to reach

12978-585: The state from the Republic of the Congo to Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was ratified in a constitutional referendum in June 1964 and Parliament was dissolved to await new elections. Kasa-Vubu appointed Tshombe, the exiled Katangese leader, as interim prime minister. Although personally capable, and supported as an anti-communist by Western powers, Tshombe was denounced by other African leaders such as King Hassan II of Morocco as an imperialist puppet for his role in

13104-452: The successful recovery of over 100 missionaries. The rebels founded a state, the People's Republic of the Congo ( République populaire du Congo ), with its capital at Stanleyville and Christophe Gbenye as president. The new state was supported by the Soviet Union and China, which supplied it with arms, as did various African states, notably Tanzania . It was also supported by Cuba, which sent

13230-483: The uranium used by the U.S. nuclear programme during World War II was Congolese—led to substantial interest in the region from both the Soviet Union and the United States as the Cold War developed. An African nationalist movement developed in the Belgian Congo during the 1950s, primarily among the évolués . The movement was divided into a number of parties and groups which were broadly divided on ethnic and geographical lines and opposed to one another. The largest,

13356-486: The wealth generated by the province's mining operations and to avoid sharing it with the rest of the Congo. Another major factor was what CONAKAT held to be the disintegration of law and order in the central and north-eastern Congo. Announcing Katanga's breakaway, Tshombe said "We are seceding from chaos." The major mining company in Katanga, the Union Minière du Haut Katanga (UMHK), had begun supporting CONAKAT during

13482-422: Was "designed mainly for the protection of European lives and property". Favoring continued ties with Belgium , Tshombe asked the Belgian government to send military officers to recruit and train a Katangese army. Tshombe's Belgian military adviser, Major Guy Weber, on 13 July 1960 appointed Major Jean-Marie Crèvecœur to train an army for Katanga. To disguise its military nature, the force being raised and trained

13608-461: Was also very important to the rebels who also made extensive use of witchcraft to protect themselves and also demoralise their ANC opponents. As they advanced, the rebels perpetrated numerous massacres in the territory they captured in order to remove political opposition and terrorise the population. About 1,000 to 2,000 Westernized Congolese were murdered in Stanleyville alone, while the rebels initially left Whites and foreigners mostly alone. ONUC

13734-420: Was arrested. Lumumba escaped house arrest and fled eastwards towards Stanleyville where he believed he could rally support. Pursued by troops loyal to Mobutu, he was captured at Lodi on 1 December 1960 and flown back to Léopoldville with his hands bound. Despite UN appeals to Kasa-Vubu for due legal process , the Soviet Union denounced the UN as responsible for the arrest and demanded his release. A meeting of

13860-458: Was at least in part related to American domestic politics as the Kennedy administration supported the United Nations against Katanga and the support for Tshombe in the United States came mostly from conservative Republicans and Democrats, who used Kennedy's opposition to Tshombe to argue that he was "soft on communism". By contrast, Afro-Americans loathed Tshombe, seeing him as an " Uncle Tom " figure,

13986-449: Was beaten by the Congolese soldiers escorting him. In custody in Katanga, Lumumba was visited by Katangese notables and Belgian officers, who included Tshombe, Godefroid Munongo, Kibwe, Kitenge, Grandelet, Son, Gat, Huyghé, Tignée, Verscheure, Segers and Rougefort. Lumumba's execution, on 17 January, was carried out by a firing squad led by a Belgian mercenary, Julien Gat. In September 1961, the United Nations launched Operation Morthor with

14112-486: Was born to an aristocratic Lunda family and ran several businesses in Katanga Province before becoming involved in politics, cofounding the pro-Western, anti-communist CONAKAT party in 1958 and advocating for autonomy for Katanga province. Following the Republic of the Congo-Léopoldville 's accession to independence in June 1960, Tshombe became president of the autonomous province, and soon came into conflict with

14238-401: Was called the Katangese gendarmerie, but this was highly misleading as it was in fact an army. The majority of the officers training the gendarmerie were Belgian. The Belgian historian Jules Gérard-Libois wrote: "During the entire month of August, a veritable race against the clock took place with the objective, for Tshombe and his advisers, of building a more or less efficient gendarmery before

14364-525: Was charged with treason and was forced into exile again. He died four years later under disputed circumstances. A member of the Lunda ethnic group , Tshombe was born near Musumba , Belgian Congo , the son of a successful businessman. The Tshombe family were Lunda royalty and a number of Tshombes had reigned as the Mwaant Yav, the traditional king of the Lunda people. He received his education from an American missionary school and later trained as an accountant. In

14490-415: Was deprived of approximately 40 percent of its revenues. Disquiet about Belgium's support for the secessionist states led to calls within the United Nations (UN) to remove all Belgian troops from the country. The Secretary General of the UN, Dag Hammarskjöld , believed that the crisis would provide the organisation with a chance to demonstrate its potential as a major peacekeeping force and encouraged

14616-550: Was handed over to forces loyal to Tshombe. On 17 January 1961, Lumumba was executed by Katangese troops near Élisabethville. News of the execution, released on 13 February, provoked international outrage. The Belgian Embassy in Yugoslavia was attacked by protesters in Belgrade , and violent demonstrations occurred in London and New York . Shortly thereafter seven Lumumbists, including

14742-539: Was in the process of withdrawing when the rebellions started and had only 5,500 personnel, most whom were deployed in the eastern part of the country and stranded by the conflict. Straggling Western missionaries retreated to their respective embassies, which in turn requested UN assistance. A small force of peacekeepers was assembled and subsequently dispatched to the Kwilu region to retrieve fleeing missionaries. Rescue operations continued throughout March and April and resulted in

14868-546: Was killed by two injections with two different substances, prepared by the CIA . Moïse Tshombe was buried in a Methodist service at Etterbeek Cemetery, near Brussels , Belgium. Owing to his role in the death of Lumumba and his association with Western interests, Tshombe's name became synonymous with "sellout" to Black African nationalists. Tshombe's nephew, Jean Nguza Karl-i-Bond , later became an important politician and served as prime minister from 1980 to 1981. The plot of

14994-482: Was killed in an airplane crash . Tshombe become an iconic figure for American conservatives in the 1960s, who saw him as an acceptable African leader. The American historian Kyle Burke wrote: "To them [American conservatives], Tshombe represented a comfortable kind of decolonization, in which elite Africans would manage the transition from colony to nation without altering the existing racial, political and economic order, thereby ensuring that communists would not gain

15120-555: Was made prime minister of the country as part of a new coalition government against the Simba rebellion by Lumumba's supporters. In 1965, he founded the CONACO alliance, which comfortably won the March and April general elections . However, he was dismissed as Prime Minister in October of that year, being replaced by Évariste Kimba . Following the November 1965 coup which ended the Congo Crisis, he

15246-454: Was re-appointed President by Mobutu in February 1961. From the coup onwards, Mobutu was able to exert considerable power in Congolese politics behind the scenes. Following Kasa-Vubu's reinstatement, there was an attempted rapprochement between the Congolese factions. Tshombe began negotiations for the end of the secession and the formation of a confederal Congo. Although a compromise agreement

15372-504: Was reached, it was prevented from taking effect as negotiations broke down amid personal animosity between Kasa-Vubu and Tshombe. An attempted reconciliation in July 1961 led to the formation of a new government, led by Cyrille Adoula , which brought together deputies from both Lumumbist and South Kasai factions but failed to bring a reconciliation with Katanga. Members of the MNC-L fled to Stanleyville where, led by Antoine Gizenga , they formed

15498-401: Was shared between president and prime minister in a system known as bicephalisme . Kasa-Vubu was proclaimed president, and Lumumba prime minister, of the Republic of the Congo. Despite the objections of CONAKAT and others, the constitution was largely centralist, concentrating power in the central government in Léopoldville, and did not devolve significant powers to provincial level. Despite

15624-502: Was taken up by Maoist-inspired Congolese revolutionaries, including Pierre Mulele who had served in the Lumumba government. The political instability of the Congo helped to channel wider discontentment into outright revolt. Disruption in the rural Congo begun with agitation by Lumumbists, led by Mulele, among the Pende and Mbundu peoples . By the end of 1963, there was unrest in regions of

15750-562: Was the Alliance des Bakongo (ABAKO), led by Joseph Kasa-Vubu , who advocated a more radical ideology than the MNC, based around calls for immediate independence and the promotion of regional identity. ABAKO's stance was more ethnic nationalist than the MNC's; it argued that an independent Congo should be run by the Bakongo as inheritors of the pre-colonial Kingdom of the Kongo . The Confédération des Associations Tribales du Katanga (CONAKAT),

15876-470: Was the largest of the African nationalist parties, the MNC had many different factions within it that took differing stances on a number of issues. It was increasingly polarised between moderate évolués and the more radical mass membership. A radical faction headed by Iléo and Albert Kalonji split away in July 1959, but failed to induce mass defections by other MNC members. The dissident faction became known as

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