Congo Crisis

The Congo Crisis was a crisis that happened  in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, between 1960 and 1965. It began shortly after the country had become independent. It had been a colony of Belgium before. The country became independent on June 30, 1960. The crisis began almost immediately after the country had become independent. Unofficially, it ended, when  Joseph-Désiré Mobutu controlled all of the territory. When the country beame independent, there as hope and optimism, but there were also many challenges. Directly after independence, The central government was led by Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. Congo is a large country, there are many ethnic groups. Some parts of the country also wanted to become independent of the Comgo. There were ethnic conflics. Lumbumba had to solve all of these issues.  

As with many other conflicts in Africa, other countries also entered the conflict. They had economic interests, and wanted to get contol over natural resources. In the Congo crisis, this interference played an important role. These countries were Belgium, the United States, and the Soviet Union. It was the era of the Cold War, which was also marked by auch proxy conflicts.

Lmbumba tried to get the support of the Soviet Union. This led to more tensions with other countries. Later in 1960, Lumbumba was dismissed from office, under murky circumstances. This led to more instability. President Joseph Kasa-Vubu asked Belgium for help.  Congolese army leader Colonel Joseph Mobutu seized power in a coup in 1960. Western Powers backed  Mobuto, as they saw him as stabilizing force.  The conflict then escalated, into a fully-blown proxy conflict with many different fractions,which were each supported by different powers. Lumbumba was captured in 1961. Later he was murdered. This murder is believed to have been helped by Belgium. Possibly the CIA was involved too. This led to more instability.

The Congo Crisis led to a lot of instabiliy for a long time. In the end, there was the autohriatrian rule of  Mobutu Sese Seko, who would dominate Congolese politics for decades.

Evan after decades, the Congo still has problems related to this crisis. Some of these problems were regional tensions, and widespread corruption. 

Category:20th century in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Category:1960s in Africa