The Congo Crisis: Mutiny, Katanga and the UN

Within a week of independence the Congo began to fall apart. On 5 July 1960 soldiers of the Force Publique mutinied against their Belgian officers after their commander told them nothing would change with independence. Panic spread among Belgian residents, and Belgium sent troops without the Congolese government's consent. On 11 July Moïse Tshombe declared the mineral-rich province of Katanga independent, backed by Belgian officers and mining interests; South Kasai seceded weeks later.

Lumumba and Kasavubu appealed to the UN, which sent a large peacekeeping force, ONUC. When the UN would not immediately use force against Katanga, Lumumba turned to the Soviet Union for help, alarming the United States. In September Kasavubu dismissed Lumumba, and army chief Joseph-Désiré Mobutu took power, with Western support. In September 1961 UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld died in a plane crash while on a peace mission. Katanga's secession was ended by UN forces in January 1963.