CONGO CRISIS ( ) By: Kirusan & Cynthia

HISTORY OF CONGO  Had been a colony of Belgian since 1908 – 1960  Was previously known as “Congo Free State” but was named “Belgian Congo”  In the first 30 yrs of Belgian control on Congo, roughly 10 million people (half the pop. at the time) died in forced labor camps.  After years of oppression, slave labor and the denial of basic rights, Congo was finally granted independence in  Named the “Democratic Republic of Congo”

CONGO CRISIS  June 1960, Belgium negotiated post-colonial mining rights in declaring an independent Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), decided to form a mutiny and commit acts of violence on remaining Belgian and European residents  Prime Minister = Patrice Lumumba, President = Joseph Kasavubu  Led to rebellion from Congolese army requesting for higher pay & removal of white officers. When Belgium intervened militarily to protect Belgians in Congo> bigger rebellion.  Mineral-rich Katanga was declared independent by Moise Tshombe who lead the people in Katanga.  Lumumba appealed to UN – Security Council created army Mission of the United Nations Organization in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC).  Restore law and order and maintain it.  Stop other nations from getting involved with the crisis.  Assist in building the nation’s economy.  Restore political stability.

CONGO CRISIS  UN army was only allowed to use force as a means of self defense – no taking sides. This angered Lumumba – accused UN of siding with Tshombe’s gov’t and European powers.  Lumumba went to the USSR for help. The Russians provided Lumumba’s government with military equipment that gave him the opportunity to launch an attack on Katanga  US feared Soviet Involvement – backed up Kasavubu. Lumumba’s attack on Katanga failed.  Sept Kasavubu dismissed Lumumba as PM. Col. Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, the army's chief of staff, seizes power in a military coup. He suspends parliament and the constitution. (power is later returned to Kasavubu  Dec Lumumba was later captured by Katanga rebels, reported murdered in Jan UN couldn’t do anything as it agreed to only attack on self defense.  Evidence later emerges connecting Mobutu and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to Lumumba's murder.

CONGO CRISIS  Aug 1961 – Kasavubu wanted UN troops to attack Tshombe‘s gov‘t.  Sept The plane carrying U.N. Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld crashes while en route to peace talks about the conflict in Congo, killing all aboard.  Tshombe agrees to end Katanga's secession, UN forces withdraw.  After Crisis – 1945 Motubu holds another coup and takes over DRC as a single party state.

KEY PLAYERS TshombeLamumbaKasavubu

What was the extent of national commitment The crisis that took place for four years in the Congo totalled expenses of $400 million dollars. Not every nation was pleased with what the UN had done and countries such as Russia, France, and Belgium refused to pay their part of the $400 million needed to pay the cost of the operation. This hurt the UN significantly and almost pushed them towards bankruptcy. The Congo Crisis resulted in around 100, ,000 deaths. It also led to the assassination of Prime minister Patrice Lumumba. The Congo crisis also was looked at as a traumatic setback to the UN due to the fact the UN secretary general Dag Hammarskjold in a plane crash as he sought to mediate the conflict.

What was the technology or weaponry? The Congo Crisis was a war that took place on land, the weapons that were used were machine guns, Belgian rifles and various grenades In order to send in troops from other countries, soldiers would be airlifted using planes

Who were the fighters? Regular army, militia, special forces or agents? Civilian involvement? Was there a role played by outsiders? Was there intervention by outside forces?  Yellow: National Government based in Léopoldville  Red: Rival National Government based in Stanleyville  Green: Katanga (Independent)  Blue: Mining State of South Kasai

Who were the fighters? Regular army, militia, special forces or agents? Civilian involvement? Was there a role played by outsiders? Was there intervention by outside forces? Congo had been given independence from Belgium June In early July the army of congo known as Force Publique at the time decided to form a mutiny and commit acts of violence on remaining Belgian and European residents. The Force publique also changed there name to the Armée nationale congolaise In response to this the Belgian Government sent paratroopers who were charged with protecting the Belgian residents of Congo In an attempt to attract outside assistance Prime minister Lumumba appealed to the UN, and the UN sent troops but were unable to take sides but only fire on belligerents only if they themselves were fired upon

Who were the fighters? Regular army, militia, special forces or agents? Civilian involvement? Was there a role played by outsiders? Was there intervention by outside forces? This is not what Lumumba hoped for he wanted assistance from the UN in defeating Tshombe in the south because he believed that Congo would never be truly stabilized until the region was under control of a central government When the UN secretary refused Lumumba appealed to the USSR for help, and the soviets agreed to provide military assistance and launched an attack on Katanga but that was unsuccesful Lumumba's decision to accept Soviet help angered the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower in the United States who via the CIA, increasingly supported Mobutu and Kasa- Vubu.

How did they measure victory in the course of the conflict Ultimately it was apparent that Mobutu was victorious due to the fact that The Congo established as an independent, unitary state under Mobutu. During the course of the Congo Crisis, it was evident that if a person was able to successfully hold power and land they would be looked at as victorious For example Albert Kalonji can be looked at as victorious for a short amount of time considering how he was able to hold land and power in Sout Kasai for a period of time.

RESULT  This resulted in a defeat of the Tshombe’s government in Katanga.  Outsider’s Influence. BelgianUSUSSRUN Left Congo in a chaotic state Presence of army violated Congo’s Independance CIA and US played a role in death of Lumumba Supported Kasavubu’s government Supported Lumumba and even sent weapons to aid in attack towards Katanga Sent Peacekeeping forces to aid

What types of issues were decided by the fighting? What types of issues were negotiated? What types of issues were left unsettled The main issue that was solved due to the crisis was finding a single leader for all of Congo rather than having four different regimes present in the area. Mobutu seized power On 25 November 1965, seized power from President Kasa-Vubu with the help of the CIA. He established a one-party state, banning all other political organizations except his own. This solved the problem of there being multiple regimes present in Congo.

Was/ is the settlement stable or unstable Although Mobutu succeeded in taking power, his position was soon threatened by the Kisangani Mutinies These mutinies were proved to be unsuccessful After changing the country's name to Zaire in 1971, Mobutu also pursued a policy expunging remnants of colonialism. In addition to changing the names of the country and many of its cities, major industries were nationalized. As the Cold War came to an end in the early 1990s, so did Western support for Mobutu. Belgium, France, and the United States all suspended military and financial assistance to Mobutu's regime As the economic and political situation worsened, Laurent-Désiré Kabila began a military drive from eastern Zaire in 1996 to depose Mobutu and successfully overthrew Mobutu May 17 th 1997 until his assassination This shows that the settlement was unstable due to the fall of Mobutu’s regime

POLITICAL CARTOON

Analysis of cartoon  In this political cartoon two figures are present a bear and an eagle. The bear representing the USSR and the eagle representing the US. By looking at the expressions of the two animals and the way they look at each other it is apparent that the two do not like each other. The pieces of paper say deepening suspicions and irresponsible statements. This can be related to the Congo crisis due to the fact that the US intervention into the conflict was a factor of the USSR supporting Lujumba. The two countries possess very little trust in each other and Eisenhower assumed the USSR was supporting Lujumba in order to gain another communist ally.

DOCUMENT ANALYSIS  CIA station chief in leopoldville said “Congo is experiencing a classic communist effort [to] takeover government... there may be little time to take action to avoid another Cuba“  Here it is evident that the speaker does not want a repeat of what happened during the cuban revolution and how a country that was previously not communist becoming communist

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