Congo

A nationalist movement in the Belgian Congo demanded the end of colonial rule which led to the country's independence on June 30, 1960. Minimal preparations had been made and many issues, such as federalism and ethnic nationalism, remained unresolved. In the first week of July, a mutiny broke out in the army and violence erupted between black and white civilians. Belgium sent troops to protect fleeing whites. 

The State of Katanga proclaimed its independence from the Republic of Congo-Léopoldville on July 11, 1960 under Moise Tshombe, leader of the local Confédération des associations tribales du Katanga (CONAKAT) political party. The new Katangese government did not enjoy full support throughout the province, especially not in the northern Baluba areas.

The declaration of independence was made with the support of Belgian business interests and over 6,000 Belgian troops. Tshombe was known to be close to the Belgian industrial companies which mined Katanga's rich resources of copper, gold and uranium. Katanga was one of the richest and most developed areas of the Congo. Without Katanga, Congo would lose a large part of its mineral assets and consequently government income. The Congolese central government and a large section of international opinion saw this secession as an attempt to create a Belgian-controlled puppet state run for the benefit of the mining interests. Belgium did not officially recognize the new state, despite providing it with military assistance.

The involvement of the Soviets split the Congolese government and led to an impasse between Lumumba and President Joseph Kasa-Vubu. Mobutu, in command of the army, broke this deadlock with a coup d'état, expelled the Soviet advisors and established a new government effectively under his own control. Lumumba was taken captive and subsequently executed in January 1961. There has been significant evidence uncovered in official documentation of the involvement of Belgian, American, and, possibly, British agencies in the support of the Mobutu coup and of plots to assassinate Lumumba before his capture and imprisonment. This includes documentation of a CIA plot to poison Lumumba.

After Lumumba’s execution, a rival government of the "Free Republic of the Congo" was founded in the eastern city of Stanleyville by Lumumba supporters led by Antoine Gizenga. It gained Soviet support but was crushed in early 1962. Meanwhile, the UN took a more aggressive stance towards the secessionists after Hammarskjöld was killed in a plane crash in late 1961. Supported by UN troops, Léopoldville defeated secessionist movements in Katanga and South Kasai by the start of 1963.

With Katanga and South Kasai back under the government's control, a reconciliatory compromise constitution was adopted and the exiled Katangese leader, Moïse Tshombe, was recalled to head an interim administration while fresh elections were organized. Before these could be held, however, Maoist-inspired militants calling themselves the "Simbas" rose up in the east of the country. The Simbas took control of a significant amount of territory and proclaimed a communist "People's Republic of the Congo" in Stanleyville. Government forces gradually retook territory and, in November 1964, Belgium and the United States intervened militarily in Stanleyville to recover hostages from Simba captivity. The Simbas were defeated and collapsed soon after. Following the elections in March 1965, a new political stalemate developed between Tshombe and Kasa-Vubu, forcing the government into near-paralysis. Mobutu mounted a second coup d'état in November 1965, now taking personal control. Under Mobutu's rule, the Congo was transformed into a dictatorship which would endure until his removal in 1997.