Ireland, the United Nations and the Congo
Subtitle: a military and diplomatic history, 1960-1
By: Michael Kennedy and Art Magennis
Contributors: Magennis, Art, author
Publisher: Four Courts Press
Published: 2014
Place of publication: Dublin; Portland, OR
Language: eng
Number of pages: 271
ISBN-13: 9781846825231
Subjects: Peacekeeping forces; History; Irish Peacekeeping forces; Irish; Irish Participation; Diplomatic history; United Nations; Ireland. Armed Forces; Ireland; United Nations Operation in the Congo
Other titles: Ireland, the United Nations and the Congo, a military and diplomatic history, 1960-1961
Description: In 1961, Irish UN peacekeepers went into combat in the Congolese province of Katanga. It was the Irish Defense Forces' first experience of active service since 1923. Irish diplomat Conor Cruise O'Brien headed the UN mission in Katanga. Former chief of staff of the defense forces, Lt.-Gen. Sean MacEoin, was in overall command of UN troops in Congo. Irish units suffered casualties and men were taken prisoner as the fighting in Katanga continued. The crisis now facing Taoiseach Sean Lemass became the most delicate and dangerous chapter in Ireland's foreign relations since 1945. Based on a first-hand account of the fighting by an Irish cavalry officer, previously unseen UN archives, and the papers of UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold, this book covers 18 critical months, from July 1960 to December 1961, which almost tore the UN apart and which brought the realities of UN membership to Ireland. This book is an Irish diplomatic and military perspective on a defining moment in the history of the United Nations, the Cold War, and modern Africa.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 241-244) and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: "There is nothing like the Congo. You will thank God for that."; title: Intervention; title: The learning curve; title: Deepening crisis; title: Conflict in Katanga; title: The 35th Irish Battalion; title: Rumpunch; title: From Rumpunch to Morthor; title: Morthor; title: Cover-up; title: "'Little' Katanga had checked the 'big' United Nations"; title: "Continual and violent flux"; title: The point of no return; title: Conclusion: "Deliver us from E-ville".