Congo Crisis

Congo Crisis (1960–5) A state of near-anarchy that followed the sudden independence of the Democratic Republic of Congo (later Zaïre) from Belgium on 30 June 1960. In the months before independence, Belgian authority collapsed, with the troops of the armed police attacking their senior (Belgian) officers, and attacks against European property. As the police forces became ineffective, rivalries between many of the different tribes erupted again, and strikes were a frequent occurrence. Despite the instalment of Kasavubu as President and Lumumba as Prime Minister, central authority failed. Most threatening to the young state was the declaration of independence by the Katanga Province under its governor, Moïse Tshombe. He was supported by White mercenaries hired by the Belgian mining company, Union Minière du Haut-Katanga. The army leader Mobutu led a coup in September, ousting Lumumba and handing him over to the forces in Katanga, where he was murdered. In 1962, the UN intervened by sending troops to the country to restore order, in the preparation of which mission the Secretary-General, Hammarskjöld, lost his life. UN troops left in 1964, with Tshombe winning the elections of 1965. He was dismissed by Kasavubu in October 1965. One month later, Kasavubu was in turn deposed by Mobutu, whose army then managed to restore order and defeat the Katangese troops.