EXTERNAL MILITARY INTERVENTION IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO CRIME
The “Congo crisis” was precipitated by a mutiny of the army (the Force Publique) near Léopoldville on July 5, and the subsequent intervention of Belgian paratroopers, ostensibly to protect Belgian citizens’ lives.
A constitutional impasse pitted the new country’s president and prime minister against each other, bringing the Congolese government to a halt. Lumumba’s MNC party defeated Kasavubu’s ABAKO and its allies in the Congo’s first national elections, but neither side was able to form a parliamentary coalition.
As a last resort, Kasavubu and Lumumba formed an uneasy alliance, with the former serving as president and the latter as premier. However, on September 5, Kasavubu relieved Lumumba of his functions, and Lumumba responded by dismissing Kasavubu; as a result of the conflict, there were now two groups claiming to be the legal central government.
Meanwhile, on July 11, Katanga, the country’s richest province, declared independence under the leadership of Moise Tshombe. Belgium’s support for the Katanga secession added credence to Lumumba’s claims that Brussels was attempting to reimpose its authority, and on July 12 he and Kasavubu petitioned United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld for UN security assistance.
The arrival of the UN peacekeeping force, while intended to pave the way for the restoration of peace and order, exacerbated tensions between President Kasavubu and Prime Minister Lumumba. Lumumba’s insistence that the UN use force, if necessary, to reclaim control of Katanga from the central government was met with vehement opposition from Kasavubu. Lumumba then requested logistical assistance from the Soviet Union in order to send troops to Katanga. At that point, the Congo crisis was inextricably linked to East-West tensions in the context of the Cold War.
As the Katanga secession process reached its apex, resulting in the country being divided into four separate fragments (Katanga, Kasai, Orientale province, and Léopoldville), army Chief of Staff Joseph Mobutu (later Mobutu Sese Seko) took power in a coup d’état, announcing on September 14, 1960, that the army would now rule with the assistance of a caretaker government.
The threat posed to the new regime by Lumumba’s loyalists was significantly reduced by Lumumba’s capture in December 1960, following a dramatic escape from Léopoldville the previous month (see Patrice Lumumba), and his subsequent execution at the hands of the Tshombe government.
Although Kasavubu had Lumumba arrested and delivered to the Katanga secessionists, which was intended to pave the way for a reintegration of the province, it was not until January 1963—and only after a violent showdown between the European-trained Katanga gendarmerie and the UN forces—that the secession was decisively crushed.
On September 7, 1964, the pro-Lumumba government in Stanleyville (Kisangani) declared much of eastern Congo to be the People’s Republic of the Congo; this secession was crushed the following year. Meanwhile, on August 2, 1961, a new civilian government led by Cyrille Adoula took power following the convening of the parliament in Léopoldville.
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EXTERNAL MILITARY INTERVENTION IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO CRIME
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