UN General Assembly
1962

16. Our position with regard to the Congo crisis and our conception of the United Nations mission in that unhappy land has on numerous occasions been stated over and over again in these halls. The United Nations went into the Congo at the request of that young Republic's Central Government to help the Government ensure the preservation of the sovereignty of the Republic, its territorial integrity and the stability which is necessary for the progress and welfare of its people. For over two years now the Congo has been the most painful thorn in the sensitive ribs of this Organization. It has constituted the heaviest drain on the resources of this Organization since its inception. On the success or failure of the United Nations undertaking in the Congo may depend the all-too-important verdict regarding the prestige and the future utility of this Organization in meeting similar crises.