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

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after the cease-fire, leading to the conclusion that Tshombe would respond only to force.George Ball, the Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, wrote to Kennedy aboutthis predicament: “So long as he feels in control of the military situation in the Katanga,and so long as he remains under the effective direction of his Belgian backers andadvisers, Tshombe will be unwilling to negotiate for anything but the partition of theCongo.” Ball proposed an obvious but radical solution, “We must immediately buildup UN fighting power to the point where Tshombe will realize he cannot win.” 53 TheUnited States found itself in the surprising position of opposing Great Britain on theaggressiveness of the U.N.’s Congo policy, a far cry from the cooperation between thetwo countries in recent months.At the same time, Adoula was dealing with the continued intransigence ofGizenga, who had left Leopoldville on October 4 and did not return a week later asagreed. In an effort to undermine the opposition in Stanleyville, Adoula prevailed onGizenga’s military commander, General Victor Lundula, to swear his loyalty to Adoula’sgovernment. Then Lundula joined Mobutu to lead an offensive against Katanga startingon November 2. 54 The same day, the Belgian government announced that it would nolonger consider as valid the passports of its citizens serving in the Katangese militarypolice; Tshombe responded by claiming that his armed forces no longer contained anymercenaries. 55 The U.N. was spurred to act even more forcefully in the Congo, given thattroops from Stanleyville had mutinied and surrounded the U.N. soldiers in the town ofKindu, arresting, beating and killing Italian airmen over the course of several days inmid-November. It was in this environment that the Security Council approved a53 Memo from Ball to Kennedy, FRUS, 1961-1963, 20:23554 Kalb, The Congo Cables, 30655 Hoskyns, The Congo: A Chronology of Events, 1989
esolution on November 24 that authorized the use of force to end the secession inKatanga and expel foreign missionaries. The next day, Tshombe made a speech thatencouraged the people of Katanga to resist the Security Council resolution and killsoldiers of the United Nations, using poisoned arrows if they did not have access tomodern weapons. 56The battle-lines had clearly been drawn, so that on the night of November 28,Katangese commandoes attacked a dinner party being held in honor of U.S. SenatorThomas Dodd, a great supporter of Tshombe. The men kidnapped and beat BrianUrquhart and George Ivan Smith, the U.N.’s top civilian officials in Katanga now thatO’Brien had gone back to New York. Smith was rescued shortly thereafter, but Urquhartspent the night in a military camp and was only released when a local U.N. commanderthreatened to destroy the presidential palace. When the Katangese troops refused toremove barricades on the road leading to the airport in Elisabethville, even with repeatedwarnings and ultimatums, the U.N. forcibly removed it on December 5, sparking violenceall over the city. 57This time, the United States was eager to help, using six American planes totransport U.N. troops and antiaircraft guns to Leopoldville, with the plan to devotetwenty-one more transport planes to bringing additional U.N. troops to the Congo fromtheir home countries. By this point, the United Nations had its own air force of fifteencombat planes, which it used to support the U.S. transportation efforts and to bombElisabethville and other areas. The air strikes were strongly protested by Belgium and56 Kalb, The Congo Cables, 31157 Hoskyns, The Congo: A Chronology of Events, 2190
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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 40 and 41:
embassies of the U.S.S.R. and Czech
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 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
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