Katanga was a mess, and Belgium had a lot to do with it. Forget Eisenhower, look into who was C-A Director then. The aircraft pictured was one of three Fouga Majisters delivered to Katanga by C-A, there was supposed to b seven
Congo in Crisis: The Rise and Fall of Katangan Secession
When the Republic of the Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) became independent from Belgium in June 1960, the new country immediately descended into a political chaos known as the “Congo Crisis.” The arbitrary boundaries drawn by Colonial powers combined with leftover racial tensions and general uncertainty led to violence along racial lines and widespread mutiny in the Belgian-led army. Belgian troops sent in to protect Belgian citizens clashed with Congolese forces, leading to the U.N. ordering the Belgian forces out of the country.
On July 11, 1960, less than two weeks after the country formally gained independence, a politician named Moise Tshombe declared the southernmost province of the Congo to be an independent nation called the State of Katanga. Katanga, with its copperbelt and lucrative mining operations was the wealthiest province of the Congo. The Belgians, French, and British, wanting influence in the wealthy region, supported the Katanga movement in practice, if not in name. Despite U.N. regulations forbidding countries from directly supporting the secessionists, members of the European armed forces became hired mercenaries in Katanga’s army.
Patrice Lumumba, Prime Minister of the Congo, appealed to the U.N. for forces to end the secessionist movement. The U.N. initially refused, considering the rebellion an internal issue. Patrice Lumumba had managed to acquire Soviet weapons for the Congolese army before he was deposed as Prime Minister by Mobuto Sese Seko in November 1960 and killed in early 1961. This led the U.N. to pass Resolution 161, which authorized U.N. forces to take “all appropriate measures” to prevent civil war in the Congo; essentially authorizing the U.N. to take offensive measures against the Katangan state. The conflict came to a close in January 1963, after U.N. and U.S. forces overwhelmed the Katangan military and Moise Tshembe stepped down as President of Katanga.
Francis Terry McNamara was an officer at the U.S. consul in Elisabethville from 1961 to 1963 and witnessed firsthand the struggle to bring peace to the Congo. He recalls his experiences with Charles Stuart Kennedy in a 1993 interview.
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