United Nations Operation in the Congo
The United Nations Operation in the Congo was a United Nations peacekeeping force which was deployed in the Republic of the Congo in 1960 in response to the Congo Crisis. The ONUC was the UN's first peacekeeping mission with significant military capability, and remains one of the largest UN operations in size and scope.
The Congo descended into chaos and disorder after it became independent from Belgium on 30 June 1960. This prompted a swift return of Belgian troops, under the pretext of restoring order and protecting its nationals. In response to the Congolese government's appeal for assistance, on 14 July 1960, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 143, which called on Belgium to withdraw its troops and authorized the UN Secretary-General to provide the Congolese government with military assistance. The first UN troops, drawn mostly from African and Asian states, reached the Congo the following day.
In the face of worsening conditions—including an insurrection in Katanga, the assassination of Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, the collapse of the central government, and the intervention of foreign mercenaries—the ONUC's initial mandate gradually expanded to include protecting the territorial integrity and political independence of the Congo, preventing an impending civil war, and securing the removal of all unauthorized foreign armed forces.
UN forces numbered nearly 20,000 military personnel at its peak from over two dozen countries, led largely by India, Ireland, and Sweden. During the peak of hostilities between September 1961 and December 1962, the ONUC transitioned from a peacekeeping to a military force and engaged in several clashes and offensives against secessionist and mercenary forces. After the reintegration of Katanga in February 1963, the ONUC was gradually phased out; civilian aid increased, becoming the single largest assistance effort by the UN up to that time. UN personnel were withdrawn entirely on 30 June 1964.
Background
The Congo became independent on 30 June 1960, but Belgian Lieutenant General Émile Janssens, commander of the Force Publique refused to rapidly "Africanize" the FP officers. Disorder and mutinies quickly followed, four days after the Congo gained independence. While President Joseph Kasa-Vubu and Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba were trying to negotiate with the mutineers, the Belgian government decided to intervene to protect Belgians remaining in the country. Interference from Belgium was seen as neo-colonial aggression by the Congolese government; Lumumba accused the Belgian officers of causing the mutiny and trying to annex the Congo. When Belgium received Moïse Tshombé's acceptance, they sent troops to take over Katanga Province and protect mining interests. Katanga was rich in minerals and natural resources, contributing over 60 percent of the Congo's raw materials. It had some of the world's major sources of copper, cobalt, diamonds and uranium in the world, with its uranium used for the nuclear bomb the US dropped on Hiroshima during World War II.On 10 July, Belgian troops were sent to Élisabethville to control the situation and protect Belgian civilians. There were 100,000 Belgians living in the Congo at the time, and many were in a state of panic. The presence of Belgian troops was illegal under international law, because Congolese officials had not requested their presence. With the help of the Belgians, Tshombé proclaimed the independence of the State of Katanga by television on 11 July and announced himself as president. He was widely regarded by critics worldwide as a puppet for the Belgians and their mining interests in Katanga. On 12 July, the president and prime minister asked for help from the United Nations. UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld addressed the Security Council at a night meeting on 13 July, asking the council to act "with utmost speed" on the request.
At the meeting the Security Council adopted Resolution 143, which called on the government of Belgium to withdraw its troops from the Congo. The resolution authorized the Secretary-General to facilitate the withdrawal of Belgian troops, maintain law and order, and help to establish and legitimize the post-colonial government in consultation with the government of the Republic of the Congo. The mission was approved by a Security Council vote of eight in favor and none against, with three countries abstaining: the Republic of China, France and the United Kingdom. The United States and Soviet Union voted in favor. The mandate was extended to maintain the territorial integrity of the Congo, particularly through the removal of foreign mercenaries supporting the secession of Katanga. ONUC was an unprecedented role for a UN force because it was not, strictly speaking, peacekeeping in nature.
Operations
Deployment
The United Nations stated four goals for the operation: to restore law and order, to keep other nations out of the crisis, to help build the country's economy, and to restore stability. A peacekeeping force had landed in the country within 48 hours of the resolution, and civilian experts were tasked with keeping the country's infrastructure operating smoothly.1960
Lumumba asked the United Nations to intervene and use military force to stop Tshombe's forces in Katanga. The first UN troops arrived on 15 July, many airlifted by the United States Air Force as part of Operation New Tape. There was instant disagreement between Lumumba and the UN over the new force's mandate. Because the Congolese army had been in disarray since the mutiny, Lumumba wanted to use the UN troops to subdue Katanga by force; he saw their refusal as betraying the United Nations' initial plans. Lumumba wrote to UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld that, from the text of United Nations Security Council Resolution 143, "it is clear that, contrary to your personal interpretation, the UN force may be used to subdue the rebel government of Katanga". Secretary-General Hammarskjöld refused; to him the secession of Katanga was an internal Congolese matter, and the UN was forbidden to intervene by Article 2 of the United Nations Charter. He said that intervention in Katanga would mean that the UN would be using force in part of the country, which would not be seen as peacekeeping. Disagreements over what the UN force could and could not do continued throughout its deployment.In response, Lumumba accused the UN of siding with Tshombe and foreign mining companies. He then asked the Soviet Union for assistance, and received aid in the form of trucks and aircraft; this deeply concerned the United States and its allies. Using materiel from the former Force Publique, Lumumba ordered the army to attack the breakaway Katanga province but failed to take it back. President Joseph Kasa-Vubu dismissed Lumumba on 5 September 1960, which was condemned by the Congo's houses of parliament; Lumumba refused to step down. On 14 September, Kasa-Vubu dissolved parliament and Joseph-Désiré Mobutu announced on radio that he would take control of the country's military. After Lumumba's dismissal, Hammarskjöld's Léopoldville representative Andrew Cordier instructed that all airfields be closed and the capital's main radio station be shut down. Lumumba was unable to fly in any troops who were loyal to him, and lost his only means of mass communications.
By 20 July 1960, 3,500 ONUC troops had arrived in the Congo. They included 460 troops from the Ethiopian Army, 770 troops from the Ghana Armed Forces, 1,250 troops from Morocco, and 1,020 troops from the Tunisian Armed Forces. The first contingent of Belgian forces left Leopoldville on 16 July, upon the arrival of United Nations troops. After assurances that United Nations contingents would arrive in sufficient numbers, Belgian authorities agreed to withdraw all their forces from the Leopoldville area by 23 July. The last Belgian troops left the country by that day, as United Nations forces continued to deploy throughout the Congo. The buildup continued, with ONUC's strength increasing to over 8,000 by 25 July and to over 11,000 by 31 July 1960. Troops had also arrived from countries which included Sweden, Norway, Ireland and Ethiopia. The UN secretary-general said that there would be no troops from the great powers or from countries with an interest in the crisis. A basic agreement between the United Nations and the Congolese government on the operation of the force was finalized by 27 July, and the UN set up a headquarters in a seven-story apartment building on the Boulevard d'Albert in central Léopoldville.
Albert Kalonji declared the region of south-eastern Kasai, on the Congo's southern border with Portuguese Angola, the new mining state of South Kasai or Autonomous State of South Kasai on 9 August 1960. The use of the word "state" was deliberately ambiguous, allowing Kalonji to avoid specifying whether South Kasai claimed independence as a nation-state or a province within the Congo. Due to rejection of requests to the UN for aid to suppress the South Kasai and Katanga revolts, the Lumumba Government decided to request Soviet assistance. De Witte wrote that "Leopoldville asked the Soviet Union for planes, lorries, arms, and equipment ... Shortly afterwards, on 22 or 23 August, about 1,000 soldiers left for Kasai." De Witte also wrote that on 26–27 August, the ANC seized Bakwanga without serious resistance: "In the next two days it temporarily put an end to the secession of Kasai."
Lincoln P. Bloomfield wrote in 1963,
By February 1961, there were four leaders in the Congo: Antoine Gizenga, Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, Tshombe, and the self-appointed King Albert Kalonji. There were four armed forces: Mobotu's ANC, the South Kasai constabulary loyal to Albert Kalonji, the Katanga Gendarmerie which were part of Moise Tshombe's regime, and Stanleyville dissident ANC troops loyal to Antoine Gizenga.
1961
Early in 1961, Patrice Lumumba was assassinated. UN Swedish troops witnessed Lumumba's transfer to Élisabethville after his capture by Mobutu's forces, and he was badly bruised and beaten. He was executed by a Katangan firing squad, and his body was dissolved in acid. Jawaharlal Nehru reacted sharply. Calling it "an international crime of the first magnitude", Nehru asked Hammarskjöld to take a tough line. When the Security Council passed a second resolution on 21 February 1961, Nehru agreed to send an Indian Army brigade of about 4,700 troops to the Congo and the 99th Indian Infantry Brigade was dispatched. The United Nations mission was strengthened and expanded in an effort to keep foreign mercenaries out of the country. The second UN resolution would restore order in the Congo, oversee the withdrawal of all foreign advisors in the country, and attempt to reconvene the Congolese parliament. In August of that year, three of the four groups claiming control of the country reconciled with help from the United Nations. Parliament was restored, and a large civil war was prevented. Tshombe's breakaway Katanga province was not part of this reconciliation, and United Nations forces clashed with Tshombe's foreign mercenaries several times late in the year. The UN launched Operation Rum Punch under the command of Indian Army Brigadier-general K.A.S. Raja in August, a surprise attack that led to the peaceful surrender of 81 foreign mercenaries.Hammarskjöld was flying to Rhodesia to negotiate peace talks between the government and Tshombe in response to Operation Morthor on 17 September 1961 when his plane crashed, killing him and everyone aboard. The crash was suspicious, and evidence exists that the plane was shot down. A 2016 book by Susan Williams uncovered evidence that a specially-equipped fighter plane from the Katanga Gendarmerie shot down Hammarskjöld's plane. He was succeeded as UN secretary-general by U Thant. Swedish troops were assigned to keep order in a large camp with about 40,000 refugees which was established in two weeks in August and September 1961.
After Hammarskjöld's death, U Thant took a more aggressive approach. UN troops from Sweden, Ireland, India, and Ethiopia were involved in heavy fighting for Katanga's capital, Élisabethville, in December 1961 and eventually took the city. During the fighting, eleven Swedish soldiers were taken prisoner; they were released on 15 January 1962 in exchange for Katangan gendarmes.