THE CONGO CRISIS 1960-1965
Introduction
Intro
The Players
The Congo Crisis has come to describe the constant and extreme state of turmoil and uncertainty that the Congo found itself entrenched in after the country finally received their independence from Belgium in mid-1960.
Now having their independence, the question of what to do with it remained, and disagreements over this led to issues that spiraled out of control.
Patrice Lumumba
Patrice Lumumba
- Former president and founding member of the National Congolese Movement (MNC)
- The first multitribal Congolese political party
- Wanted a strong state and to create a national Congolese identity
- Elected Prime Minister in election marking the Congo's independence
- Nationalist with communist tendencies
- HQ in Stanleyville
Joseph Kasa-Vubu
Joseph Kasa-Vubu
- Leader of the ABAKO party
- Advocated for the interests of the Bakongo ethnic group
- HQ in Leopoldville
- Instrumental in Belgium's decision to hold Round Table Conference
- Through civil disobedience campaign
Joseph Mobutu
Joseph Mobutu
- Former journalist, military leader, and member of the MNC
- Rose to political prominence on the coattails of Lumumba
- Entered political scene as Lumumba's secretary but became Lumumba's Secretary of State following his election to Prime Minister
- Pro-Capitalist/Anti-Communist
- Became an even larger figure as the Congo Crisis unfolded
Moise Tshombe
Moise Tshombe
- Leader of CONAKAT
- Capitalist and pro-American party
- HQ in Katanga
- Pro-American sentiment coupled with highly capitalist views
- Largely due to wealth of Katanga province from mining
- Campaigned for a federalist government that would keep Katangan wealth in Katanga
- Rather than supporting the rest of the Congo
United Nations
United Nations
- Dag Hammarskjöld and the United Nations played a large role in the proceedings of the Congo Crisis
- Played an especially important role in both the events surrounding Lumumba and Katanga's secession movement
- Acted as an arm of the United States during the early years of the Congo Crisis
Pictured: Dag Hammarskjöld, Secretary-General of the United Nations until his death in 1961
Laurent Kabila
Laurent Kabila
- Communist leader backed by the Soviet Union
- Led Chinese-influenced side of Congolese civil war
- Through Simba Rebellion
- Will eventually become president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Well after the Congo Crisis in 1997
Major Events
1960
- Congo received their independence and organized an election on June 30, 1960
- Results:
- Lumumba - Prime Minister
- Kasa-Vubu - President
- Parliamentary Majority - CONAKAT
Pre-Election
- January 1959 - Leopoldville Riots
- Uncoordinated gathering that called for immediate independence rather than Belgian's proposed 30-year plan
- January 1960 - Round Table Conference in Brussels, Belgium
- Gathering of Belgian and Congolese officials to decide the future of the Congo
- Joseph Kasa-Vubu played pivotal role in creating this meeting
- Through a civil disobedience campaign
- Resulted in the setting of the date for independence and elections to be June 30, 1960
Chaos Ensues
- Five days after the election, the Force Publique, something of a militarised police force mutinied
- Due to their exclusion from a pay raise that all other government employees received and white officers remaining in command of the black troops
- Eleven days after the election, Katanga seceded
- Aided by US and South Africa
- South Kasai followed in secession a month later
- Lumumba called on United Nations for assistance in controlling upheaval, returning Katanga to the Congo, and removing unwarranted Belgian intervention
- To no avail
- Lumumba then turned to the Soviet Union for the assistance he needed
- This marked the beginning of the end of Lumumba
- US now saw him as a Communist threat and began supporting Mobutu, while the CIA plotted assassination attempts
September 5th
- September 5th and the weeks following stand as an immensely vital period in the history of the Congo
- September 5th
- 8:12 PM - Kasa-Vubu, through a public radio broadcast, announces his removal of Lumumba from his position as Prime Minister
- Highly encouraged by Belgium and actions protected by United Nations peacekeepers
- Over the next several hours, Lumumba made three separate radio broadcasts defending his position and deposing Kasa-Vubu
- September 6th
- During that time span and the hours after, the United Nations' troops shut down airports and eventually shut down the radio station
- September 14th
- Nine days after Kasa-Vubu's proclamation, Mobutu made a radio broadcacast announcing that he was neutralizing Lumumba, Kasa-Vubu, and Parliament.
- Also announced that the army would give them an armistice until the end of December when everyone would decide on a single government
Lumumba's End
- 1960
- October - Lumumba arrested by Mobutu, then kept under house arrest by United Nations forces
- November - Escaped to meet up with his supporters in Stanleyville.
- December - Recaptured by Mobutu's troops
- 1961
- January
- Transported to Elisabethville at the request of Belgium, Congolese, and Katangan officials
- Feared soldiers in Thysville would be sympathetic toward Lumumba
- On arrival, he and his associates were conducted, under arrest, to the Brouwez House
- Here they are brutally beaten and tortured by Katangan officers
- On the same day of their arrival in Katanga, Lumumba, and two associates, were lined up and shot by three firing squads under Belgian command
- Initially thrown in a shallow grave, but the next morning the bodies were dug up on the orders of Katanga's Interior Minister
- A team dug up, dismembered, and dissolved their corpes in sulfuric acid, while their bones were ground and scattered
- February - Katangan Government, after nearly a month, officially announced Lumumba's death, claiming he had been killed by villagers after he escaped their custody
1961
- Patrice Lumumba killed in January in Katanga
- US' already bleak outlook on the Congo worsened
- UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld died in plane crash
- Power is seized by Mobutu who shares with Kasa-Vubu
- The two began a campaign to return Katanga to the Congo
- Moise Tshombe agreed, in theory, to respect Congolese Government's authority
- Negotiations almost immediately fell through, resulting in further conflict
1962
- South Kasai's secession ended
- After UN military intervention
- US became less involved in the situation
- Only slightly distracted by Cuba
- The UN's stranglehold on Katanga tightened
The Plot Thickens in Katanga
The Plot Thickens in Katanga
- December 1962
- Belgium's Foreign Minister, Paul Henri Spaak, officially supported UN's or Congo Government's intervention in Katanga's secession efforts
- Operation Grandslam
- Elizabethville is occupied by UN troops, forcing Tshombe to flee
- Ceasefire is agreed upon shortly after
- UN troops went beyond orders and occupied Jadotville, preventing Katanga forces from regrouping
- Beginning of the end of the Katangan secession movement
Major Events
1963
- Katanga's secession officially ended in January
- Through UN military efforts
- Following the end of the Katangan secession movement, negotiations began that were focused on reconciliation with Katangan leadership
- Both the Kwilu and Simba Rebellions began
Major Events
- Two rebellions that began in 1963, picked up steam
- Kwilo and Simba Rebellions
- Luluabourg Constitution is ratified
- Result of reconciliation negotiations that had begun following the end of the Katangan succession movement
1964
Kwilu and Simba Rebellions
Kwilu and Simba Rebellions
Kwilu Rebellion
- Led by Mulele, follower of Lumumba.
- Supported by Communist China
- Group of rebels staged a revolt against the Kwilu District's Government
- Cultural, economic, and social grievances.
- Suppressed in 1965
- Resulted in Kwilu losing its status as an official province of the Congo
Simba Rebellion
- Led by followers of Patrice Lumumba
- Namely Laurent Kabila
- Initially highly successful
- Gained control over much of eastern portion of the Congo
- Set up people's republic in Stanleyville
- US Involvement: Operation Dragon Rouge
- Hostage rescue in collaboration with Belgium
- Undoing was lack of organization and tensions between leadership and communist allies
- Crumbled under attacks by Congolese government that were backed by the West
Luluabourg Constitution and Other Changes from Reconciliation Negotions
Luluabourg Constitution and Other Changes from Reconciliation Negotiations
- New, revised constitution that made several changes
- Gave more power to the position of the president
- Clarified the confusion around the balance of power created by the system implemented immediately after independence
- Increased number of provinces from six to twenty-one
- Also increased the autonomy of those provinces
- Tshombe was appointed Prime Minister by Kasa-Vubu
Major Events
1965
- Mobutu becomes president and sole power in the Congo
- Republic of the Congo is renamed Zaire
- Congo Crisis ended with Mobutu taking power by way of a more thorough coup d'etat than his previous one
Mobutu's Rise to Power
Mobutu's
Rise to Power
- January 24 - Mobutu ousted Kasa-Vubu
- Placed Kasa-Vubu under house arrest for a short period before allowing him to retire
- February 1- Mobutu installed National Revolutionary Council and himself as president
- March 23- Mobutu created MPR (Popular Movement of the Revolution)
- April 24- New Congolese government (entirely MPR) approved new constitution, and gave sweeping powers - Mobutu Rules All
- June 30 - Republic of the Congo renamed Zaire
- July 5- Mining nationalized, including copper in Katanga
- August 3- Presidental Guard created & enforced
- September 13- Katanga Province integrated into Zaire