A Familiar Frontier: The Kennedy Administration in the Congo ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

embassies of the U.S.S.R. and Czechoslovakia, ending diplomatic relations between theCongo and the Eastern Bloc. In this action, Mobutu showcased a pro-Western bent thathad made the CIA notice him and encourage his coup.Mobutu’s coup escalated a war of words between the United States and the SovietUnion. Eisenhower had previously made a public statement that “the United Statesdeplores the unilateral action of the Soviet Union in supplying aircraft and otherequipment for military purposes to the Congo.” He added that the U.N.’s objectives were“threatened by the Soviet action, which seems to be motivated entirely by the SovietUnion’s political designs in Africa.” 63 Khrushchev lambasted the West when he came toNew York to address the General Assembly on September 23, accusing the “colonialists”of resorting “to every possible means of overthrowing that Government. They set out tosecure the establishment of a puppet government.” 64The controversy between the Kasavubu and Lumumba factions continued withoutreal resolution, despite Mobutu’s desire to neutralize all involved parties, until November8, when President Kasavubu made his own address at the General Assembly. Claiming hewas the sole legal ruler of the Republic of the Congo, Kasavubu proclaimed his authorityto name the country’s delegation to the U.N., a maneuver that the United States stronglysupported. On November 22, the General Assembly voted narrowly to seat Kasavubu’sdelegation, marking a major blow for Lumumba and the Soviets. 65 His rival wasacknowledged as the rightful leader of the country, and so Lumumba made theextraordinary move of leaving U.N. protection in Leopoldville to drum up support inStanleyville. For four days after he snuck past the U.N. lines on November 27, no one63 Qtd. in Mazov, A Distant Front in the Cold War, 11364 Qtd. in Mazov, A Distant Front in the Cold War, 12165 Kalb, The Congo Cables, 15537
was able to locate Lumumba, even as the U.S. scrambled to stop him from setting up arival government in Orientale Province. On December 2, the Congolese Army announcedthat it had captured Lumumba and a group of his supporters in Kasai. He was returned toLeopoldville, showing clear evidence of having been beaten, and then attacked again byangry troops, all in front of a group of news reporters. Timberlake expressed concernsmostly about the public relations aspect of such a spectacle. General Carl von Horn, headof U.N. forces in the Congo, summed up the U.N. reaction thusly, “A small minoritywere plainly alarmed and dismayed. But most of us felt quite rightly that there was now agenuine chance of the Congo returning to some degree of tranquility.” 66 This kind ofreaction to the public beating of a national leader, by the head of a U.N. operation,demonstrates the depth of discontent against Lumumba by this point.With Lumumba incarcerated, Antoine Gizenga, the disciple of Lumumba andformer Deputy Prime Minister, announced that he considered the legal government of theCongo to reside with him in Stanleyville, in the Lumumbist stronghold of OrientaleProvince. On December 25, forces from Stanleyville seized a garrison in Kivu andclaimed control of the provincial government. In early January of 1961 they went evenfurther south, seizing the town of Manono in Katanga after joining forces with local anti-Tshombe troops. Neither the soldiers led by Mobutu nor the U.N. forces demonstratedany interest in challenging these moves for almost a year.Meanwhile, Lumumba was being held at the army facility in Thysville, near thecapital and the site of the initial mutiny of the Force Publique that had set off the crisis.On January 13, the garrison at Thysville mutinied once again, this time with demands ofbetter pay. Lumumba was even freed for a matter of hours, but opted to return to captivity66 Qtd. in Kalb, The Congo Cables, 16338
Page 3: TABLE OF CONTENTSIntroduction 1Chap
Page 6 and 7: adical and his party had won a plur
Page 8 and 9: Kennedy intended it to apply to for
Page 10 and 11: in terms of American interest or to
Page 12 and 13: found a precedent in the actions of
Page 14 and 15: willingness to tolerate him because
Page 16 and 17: advisers were paying much attention
Page 18 and 19: A year later, responding to the pre
Page 20 and 21: On July 11, a few events dramatical
Page 22 and 23: Gizenga was a committed Marxist, mo
Page 24 and 25: Bandung Conference to offer a third
Page 26 and 27: the U.S.S.R. in the Congo: “For t
Page 28 and 29: Indeed, Lumumba was a wild card, an
Page 30 and 31: position from which they conspicuou
Page 32 and 33: Lumumba’s erratic personal added
Page 34 and 35: the President, especially in writte
Page 36 and 37: took to the airwaves to dismiss Pri
Page 38 and 39: to outside world that Lumumba was b
Page 42 and 43: ather than take a ministerial post
Page 44 and 45: Chapter Two:LEOPOLDVILLEEvents in t
Page 46 and 47: assessment is valid, but it had lit
Page 48 and 49: damage to his reputation among Afri
Page 50 and 51: U.S. Ambassador Clare Timberlake su
Page 52 and 53: would not respond any better to a n
Page 54 and 55: about a greater degree of Congolese
Page 56 and 57: will place yet another strain on NA
Page 58 and 59: Once again, however, State Departme
Page 60 and 61: overstepped their influence by tryi
Page 62 and 63: ecommends that we permit the presen
Page 64 and 65: States would only accept the best o
Page 66 and 67: government was “as good as we cou
Page 68 and 69: he wants Katanga to stay in Congo a
Page 70 and 71: Chapter Three:ELISABETHVILLEThe Con
Page 72 and 73: stability in Katanga, and in neighb
Page 74 and 75: eminder of the low priority that Ei
Page 76 and 77: gentle and realistic tack with the
Page 78 and 79: without too much damage in Europe.
Page 80 and 81: also warned the State Department ab
Page 82 and 83: military action from turning into a
Page 84 and 85: The events of August 1960 impressed
Page 86 and 87: pointed out he had taken major risk
Page 88 and 89: announced to the press that “this
Page 90 and 91:
evidence for such an outcome. On th
Page 92 and 93:
after the cease-fire, leading to th
Page 94 and 95:
especially by Union Miniére, which
Page 96 and 97:
ConclusionEvents in the Congo turne
Page 98 and 99:
Congo crisis began well before Amer
Page 100 and 101:
BibliographyHoskyns, Catherine. The
show all

A Familiar Frontier: The Kennedy Administration in the Congo ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?