Operation Unokat
Operation Unokat, also styled Operation UNOKAT, was an offensive undertaken by United Nations peacekeeping forces from 5 to 21 December 1961 against the gendarmerie of the State of Katanga, a secessionist state rebelling against the Republic of the Congo in Central Africa. The United Nations had tried several times to reconcile the government of the Congo with the State of Katanga, which had declared independence under Moïse Tshombe with Belgian support in 1960.
Following the failure of Operation Morthor and the death of Secretary-General of the United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld in a plane crash, the new Secretary-General U Thant, backed by renewed international support, called for a more robust peacekeeping approach and for the UN to take more military action. A number of skirmishes between Katangese troops and UN forces in the Katangese capital of Élisabethville, and the establishment of roadblocks by the Katangese, led to the UN launching Operation Unokat.
The Katangese forces were gradually pushed back and UN forces secured Élisabethville. The Katangese agreed to negotiate an agreement with the Congolese central government, which led to the Kitona Declaration stating that Katanga was part of the Congo and planned to re-integrate with the Congo. However, the agreement was not carried out, forcing the UN to launch Operation Grandslam to forcibly reintegrate Katanga and end the secession.
Background
Following the Republic of the Congo's independence from Belgium in 1960 after over 50 years of colonial rule, the country fell into disorder as the army mutinied. Shortly thereafter South Kasai and the State of Katanga declared independence from the Congolese government. The latter contained the vast majority of the Congo's valuable mineral resources and attracted significant mining activity under Belgian rule. Many Katangese felt entitled to the revenue generated through the lucrative industry, and feared that under the new central government it would be distributed among the Congo's poorer provinces. Resulting nativist politics with support from the Belgian government and private interests such as the Union Minière du Haut-Katanga precipitated the Katangese secession.To prevent a complete collapse of order within the country, the United Nations established a major peacekeeping mission, the United Nations Operation in the Congo. In addition to a large body of troops, a civilian mission was sent to provide technical assistance to the Congolese government. A new Congolese coalition government was formed in Léopoldville under Prime Minister Cyrille Adoula in August 1961. It faced great pressure to reintegrate Katanga into the Congo and risked collapse if this was not achieved, something ONUC was keen to avoid. The United States also desired reintegration for this end, fearing Adoula's removal would result in his replacement by left-wing politician Antoine Gizenga and allow the Soviet Union to gain influence in the country.
The UN Security Council passed a resolution permitting ONUC to use military force to prevent civil war, make arrests, halt military operations, arrange ceasefires, and deport foreign military personnel. Under the authorisation of this resolution, UN forces launched Operation Rum Punch and Operation Morthor with the aim of securing their own positions in Katanga and eliminating the presence of mercenaries in Élisabethville, the Katangese capital. The former, though limited in scope, was largely successful, but the latter failed to achieve its objectives. As Morthor was underway, Special Representative Conor Cruise O'Brien announced, "The secession of Katanga has ended." This statement was quickly realised to be premature; Katanga fought the offensive to a stalemate.
United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld attempted to meet Tshombe for negotiations in Northern Rhodesia, but on the night of 17 September his plane crashed, killing all aboard. Hammarskjöld's untimely death, combined with an overall rise in tensions, helped rally international support for a more robust peacekeeping approach. His replacement, U Thant, was less averse to using military force in the Congo and believed that the UN should intervene in internal Congolese affairs. Thant promptly requested that the Security Council grant ONUC a stronger mandate. This came in the form of a resolution on 24 November, which maintained the goals of previous ONUC resolutions and cleared up any remaining ambiguities surrounding the role and nature of the UN's intervention. It reaffirmed ONUC's ability to detain and deport foreign military personnel and mercenaries with force, described Katanga's secessionist activities as illegal, and declared the UN's support for the central government of the Congo in its efforts to "maintain law and order and national integrity". Tshombe immediately responded to the resolution by broadcasting an inflammatory speech against ONUC. ONUC's command structure in Katanga, mindful of the new mandate, issued instructions to UN troops to put "an end to Katangese resistance to UN policy by destruction of Gendarmerie and other anti-UN resistance".
Prelude
On 28 November 1961 members of the Katangese Gendarmerie assaulted the UN Representative in Katanga George Ivan Smith and diplomat Brian Urquhart as they travelled to a diplomatic function. Smith was allowed to leave, but the gendarmes held Urquhart overnight. ONUC subsequently sent out teams to search for him, and its Katanga-based command structure issued an order to respond to such incidents with "hard hitting swiftness. ... Such measures entail hitting at gendarmerie. ... We must have sufficient strength NOT only to hit such concentrations but to take all the consequences of such actions such as meeting counter attacks at various points and putting down ruthlessly European mercenaries and volunteer elements." Tshombe secured Urquhart's release after the UN threatened to attack his presidential palace.On 2 December a skirmish broke out between Indian ONUC troops and Katangese gendarmes at the Élisabethville airport, resulting in the detention and disarmament of the latter. The Katangese Gendarmerie feared this signalled the beginning of a new ONUC offensive, and established a roadblock along the thoroughfare to the Swedish ONUC camp on the outskirts of the city where it passed as a tunnel under the railway. The ONUC military commander for South Katanga, Colonel Jonas Wærn, called numerous officials to have the block cleared, but was given evasive responses. Two Irish peacekeepers who approached the block were fired upon but escaped without harm. On 3 December, after the UN entreaties to have the block removed had gone unheeded, a Swedish soldier was killed and two ONUC officers were wounded when they attempted to pass through the tunnel and were fired upon by gendarmes. UN medical personnel who attempted to assist them were detained. Smith then requested that all Katangese forces be withdrawn to their barracks and if not, Katangese officials would be responsible for any action the UN took "to ensure the maintenance of law and order and for the protection of its own personnel". The warning had no effect on the Katangese authorities, and the UN reported later that day that 14 soldiers and civilian personnel had been detained by the Katangese. At the same time, urgent negotiations were taking place between the UN and Katangese officials in New York, with the heavy involvement of the United States. Thant sent a message to UN forces in Élisabethville, authorising local UN officials "to act vigorously to establish law and order to protect life and property in Katanga".
On 4 December Tshombe, then visiting France, declared there were no foreign mercenaries in Katanga. Meanwhile, in the Congo, tensions increased as central government troops occupied Kongolo in northern Katanga. That day Brigadier K.A.S. Raja—the commander of all UN forces in Katanga—and Smith toured all ONUC outposts to encourage their troops to remain patient, stressing that they could take no action against the Katangese forces without the permission of the Security Council. After having lunch with the Dogra Regiment at the Élisabethville airport, Raja and Smith left for the local ONUC headquarters. To their surprise, they discovered that the Katangese Gendarmerie had established three new roadblocks which cut them off from the centre of the city. One of these was placed at a roundabout along Avenue Saio-Stanley. Smith telephoned Urquhart, who was at the headquarters, and asked him to scout out the Katangese positions from his vantage. Urquhart complied and reported that the largest roadblock was manned by armoured cars and as many as 300 troops.
Smith then telephoned Lewis Hoffacker and Denzil Dunnett, the United States' and United Kingdom's respective consuls in Élisabethville. He asked them to intercede with Katangese Foreign Minister Évariste Kimba—who was left in charge of the government while Tshombe was abroad—and ask him to remove the roadblocks. The consuls did so and reported that Kimba promised the roadblocks would be removed by 18:00. Before Tshombe departed Paris to attempt to visit Brazil, a United States official informed him that if the roadblocks were not removed the UN would have to take action. Tshombe indicated to the official that he was powerless to have the blocks cleared and that it would be disastrous for him to order such. ONUC troops who had been entrenching themselves near the airport roadblock withdrew, but by the morning of 5 December it was apparent to the UN forces that roadblocks remained. UN officials concluded that Kimba had no control of the gendarmerie and concluded that the Katangese forces were using the roadblocks to cutoff the ONUC camps from one another so that they could be defeated in detail. Radio intercepts also indicated that the gendarmes were attempting to isolate the UN position at the airport. Upon receiving word that Katangese armoured cars were moving out of Jadotville, Smith became convinced that ONUC had to take quick military action to ensure its local presence would survive. Thant concurred that action should be taken to restore ONUC's freedom of movement, and once the necessary orders were delivered to Raja, Indian ONUC troops began establishing positions near the Katangese roadblocks. At noon the UN announced that Raja was assuming control of all of ONUC's presence in Katanga.