United Nations Operation in the Congo

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".

[16] 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.

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.

[20] 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.

[b][c] The use of the word "state" (état) was deliberately ambiguous, allowing Kalonji to avoid specifying whether South Kasai claimed independence as a nation-state (like Katanga) or a province within the Congo.

"[22] Lincoln P. Bloomfield wrote in 1963, [L]ocal authorities were sensitive of their new independence, nonetheless they were clearly waiting for someone to take action; indeed, the ONUC troops were initially welcomed as saviors from the Belgians.

[23]By February 1961, there were four leaders in the Congo: Antoine Gizenga (leading Lumumba's followers), Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, Tshombe, and the self-appointed King Albert Kalonji.

The second UN resolution would restore order in the Congo (preventing civil war), oversee the withdrawal of all foreign advisors in the country, and attempt to reconvene the Congolese parliament.

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 United Nations launched Operation Unokat in early December 1961, which put pressure on Tshombe to negotiatiate with Congolese prime minister Cyrille Adoula.

[h] In August 1962, Secretary-General U Thant drew up a Plan for National Reconciliation in which Katanga would rejoin a federalized Congo; Adoula and Tshombe accepted the proposal.

Bunche worked with local UN mission chief Robert Gardiner and force commander Sean MacEoin to create a plan for freedom of movement of ONUC personnel and eliminate foreign mercenaries.

[j] The situation reached a breaking point on 24 December 1962, when Katangan gendarmes attacked peacekeeping forces in Katanga and led Thant to authorize a retaliatory offensive to eliminate secessionist opposition.

[k] Major General Dewan Prem Chand launched Operation Grandslam on 28 December, and UN troops controlled downtown Élisabethville by the end of the day.

Indian peacekeepers exceeded their orders and crossed the Lufira River ahead of schedule, generating panic behind the Katangan lines and causing problems with the United Nations leadership.

[36] Dextraze launched a small-scale operation during Pierre Mulele's Kwilu Province uprising in January 1964 to save at least some of the threatened aid workers and missionaries under attack.

[37] The UN was criticised a number of times during its involvement in the Congolese crisis about its handling of situations such as the death of Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba and the secession in Katanga.

[39] On 12 July 1960, after the Security Council adopted a resolution calling on Belgium to withdraw its forces and the UN to assist the Congolese government, Dag Hammarskjöld appointed senior Indian diplomat Rajeshwar Dayal (who would become India's foreign secretary) as his special representative.

[This quote needs a citation] 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.

In response to the United Nations' request, Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman offered a force of 120 men in a 4 August 1960 telegram to the secretary-general.

It was reported in 2004 that the bodies of two dead Swedes were eaten by local people, purportedly because cannibals were believed by some African groups to absorb the victim's strength.

[49] Eleven soldiers, including Stig von Bayer and Torsten Stålnacke, received the Swedish Vasa Medal for "extraordinary courage and commendable action to save human lives".

The Filipino airmen showed great resourcefulness and ingenuity in improvising an engine dolly, equipment vital for aircraft maintenance reducing a third of the man-hours normally required.

Dag Hammarskjold refused Canada's offer to send the brigade to the Congo, saying: "If outside help was required to resolve the developing crisis, they preferred non-African states to be used as a last resort".

[n] Canadian National Defence assumed that the UN would ask for French-speaking military advisers; the army maintained a standby list of one hundred officers, including many who were bilingual and could be posted abroad on short notice.

[o] Berthiaume, cited for his organizational skills, courage and "initiative, linguistic ability, and special aptitude for negotiating", was the first Canadian since World War II to become an officer of the Order of the British Empire.

[55] Although Patrice Lumumba dismissed the first beatings, on 18 August 1960, as "unimportant" and "blown out of all proportion" in order for the UN to "influence public opinion", he attributed them a day later to the Armée Nationale Congolaise's "excess of zeal".

During the operation, about 3,000 members of the elite Kebur Zabagna (imperial bodyguard)—about 10 percent of the Ethiopian Army's strength at that time—were raised by Emperor Haile Selassie in addition to an air-force squadron.

[r] On the eve of the mission's departure, Adoula said by radio that it was a "decisive factor" in restoring the Congo's unity and set "an encouraging precedent" for intervention in emerging states.