page_title: Immediate Reaction Cell
section_title: Congo
hierarchical_section_title: Immediate Reaction Cell / Operations in Africa / Congo
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: sofort in die Stadt English: original description: "Withdrawal of Paracommandos to the airfield, Paulis" [1]
context_page_description: The Special Operations Regiment is an elite fighting force in the Belgian Land Component, consisting of two paracommando battalion’s, the Special Forces Group and a support unit of the Communication & Informationsystems Group. Known until 2003 as the Para-Commando Brigade, and later as the Light Brigade.
  On 3 July 2018, the Light Brigade transformed into the Special Operations Regiment.
context_section_description: The regiment saw repeated action during the Congo Crisis of the 1960s. In July 1960, 3,000 para-commandos and five independent reserve companies intervened in a number of Congolese cities to facilitate the evacuation of Europeans and the disarmament of Armee Nationale Congolaise mutineers.
  The Simba Rebellion began in 1964 in the Kivu and Orientale regions of the Congo. In August 1964, Congolese government forces were making general headway against the rebels. Sensing defeat, rebel forces took hostages from the local white population. Several hundred were taken to Stanleyville and closely guarded in the Victoria Hotel. Congolese authorities turned to the Belgian and the United States governments for assistance. After failed negotiations, the Belgians responded by sending a task-force led by Colonel Charles Laurent, airlifted by five C-130s provided by the U.S. 322nd Airlift Division.
  On 24 November 1964, with the operation Dragon Rouge, five US Air Force C-130 transports dropped 350 paratroopers of the Para-Commando Regiment onto the airfield at Stanleyville. Once the paratroopers had secured the airfield and cleared the runway, they made their way to the Victoria Hotel. The Simbas were prevented from killing all but some 80 of the hostages. Over the next two days over 1,800 American and Europeans, and 400 Congolese were evacuated.
  The regiment later saw action at Kolwezi during Shaba II in 1978, where they evacuated about 2,000 expats and took part in the Battle of Kolwezi to liberate the city from rebels. They also evacuated European citizens during Operation Blue Beam in September 1991, and during Operation Green Stream in March 1997.
caption: Paracommando's  of the 1st Parachute Battalion in action during Operation Dragon Rouge
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Windows)", "Image DateTime": "2014:07:17 16:43:50", "Image ExifOffset": "164", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "302", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6924", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "446", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "282"}