United Nations operation in the Congo

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ONUC
operation area Republic of the Congo
German name United Nations operation in the Congo
English name United Nations Operation in the Congo
French name Operation des Nations Unies au Congo
Based on UN resolution 143 (July 14 1960)
Type of mission Peace mission
Beginning July 1960
The End June 1964
management Ralph J. Bunche ( USA ) July - August 1960
Andrew W. Cordier (USA) August - September 1960
Rajeshwar Dayal ( India ) September 1960 - May 1961
Mekki Abbas ( Sudan ) March - May 1961
Operating strength (min.) 5,871 (December 30, 1963)
+ civilian staff
Operating strength (max.) 19,828 (July 1961)
+ civilian staff
Deaths 250
costs US $ 400.1 million
Location of the operational area LocationDRCongo.svg

The United Nations Operation in the Congo ( French Opération des Nations Unies au Congo , ONUC ) was a July 1960 bis June 1964 permanent UN peacekeeping mission , based on UN Resolution 143 of 14 July 1960 to solve the Congo crisis in the Republic Congo , formerly also known as Congo-Léopoldville and now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo .

In the course of the mission, the acting Secretary-General of the United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld died in September 1961 in the unexplained crash of his UN plane .

Basics

Originally legitimized by resolution 143 (1960) of July 14, 1960, it was intended to support and secure the transition of the former colony of the Belgian Congo to orderly self-administration. The withdrawal of Belgian troops should also be monitored. Their mandate was extended by resolutions 161 (1961) of February 21, 1961 and 169 (1961) of November 24, 1961 to protect the state's integrity, in particular against the secession of the Katanga province of the Congo and the withdrawal of all foreigners, especially Belgian ones Enforce troops and mercenaries .

procedure

Even before the independence of the Congo from Belgium in mid-1960, there were conflicts between the approximately 70 indigenous ethnic groups. After independence, it came to the secession of the mineral-rich Katanga province on 11 July 1960 and a mutiny of the army against the still Belgian officer corps. Belgium officially dispatched 10,000 paratroopers to protect the 100,000 remaining Belgians and other Europeans in the country. Since they were no longer master of the situation, the government of the Congo under Prime Minister Lumumba and President Kasavubu first asked the US for military support on July 11 and, after no reaction, on July 14, the USSR pledged support. But on July 14th, with the votes of the USA and the USSR, with France , Great Britain and the Republic of China abstaining , the ONUC was dispatched with Resolution 143.

The first UN troops reached the Congo on July 15, 1960. However, the mission was initially neither authorized to end the Katangas secession , nor to force the withdrawal of the Belgians. The UN Secretary General Hammarskjöld refused to pursue the extension of the mandate requested by Lumumba. Therefore, he turned to the USSR, which also supplied advisors and material, but no weapons. Thereupon Lumumba was ousted with the support of the CIA . The new strong man became Mobutu . The USSR then refused to continue to recognize Hammarskjöld as UN Secretary General, considering him to be partisan and involved in the disempowerment of Lumumba. This led to a further paralysis of the ONUC, which was exacerbated by the withdrawal of the contingents of all communist and most African countries.

Since April 1961 the ONUC received a more robust mandate, but it had no real success until August, but on August 28, almost all of Katanga's foreign mercenaries were encircled in Operation Rum Punch. However, an offensive under the command of the Tunisian Mahmoud Khiray against Katanga failed after 8 days in early September.

After Hammarskjöld's death in a mysterious plane crash on September 18, 1961 near Ndola in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia ) on the way to talks with President Katangas Moïse Tschombé , a short-lived armistice was agreed. From November onwards the fighting started again. After the final withdrawal of the Belgian troops, the ONUC carried out a major offensive against Katanga from December 1962, which led to the end of the secession on January 15, 1963.

The UN troops withdrew by July 30, 1964.

Strength and loss

During the peak (July 1961) it comprised around 20,000 civil and military members, at the time of the withdrawal it still comprised 6,000 people. The military personnel was from Argentina , Ethiopia , Burma , Brazil , Denmark , Ghana , Guinea , India , Indonesia , Iran , Ireland , Italy , Canada , Liberia , Malaya , Mali , Morocco , the Netherlands , Nigeria , Norway , Austria , Pakistan , Philippines , Sweden , Sierra Leone , Sri Lanka , Sudan , Tunisia , the United Arab Republic (from 1962 only from Egypt ) and Yugoslavia . From 1963 onwards there were regular troops from the Republic of the Congo.

Of these, 250 people, almost exclusively military personnel, were killed.

Military leadership of the ONUC

  • General von Horn, Sweden, July 1960 - December 1960
  • General MacEoin, Ireland, January 1961 - March 1962
  • General Guebre, Ethiopia, April 1962 - July 1963
  • General Christian Roy Kaldager , Norway, August 1963 - December 1963
  • General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi , Nigeria, January 1964-June 1964

literature

Web links

Endnotes

  1. ↑ a b c Resolution 143 of the UN Security Council v. July 14, 1960 (English, French), accessed on May 3, 2019
  2. ↑ In is the official translation of the United Nations and is used officially in Germany and Austria, since in Switzerland the two states of the Congo are masculine, the use of a certain article - and thus im - is mandatory there, but also in Germany and in Austria as a minor form gram. permitted. Cf. ( PDF ( Memento of the original from June 13, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. ) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / webserver.bkg.bund.de
  3. ↑ Resolution 161 of the UN Security Council v. February 21, 1961 (English, French), accessed on May 3, 2019
  4. ↑ Resolution 169 of the UN Security Council v. November 24, 1961 (English, French), accessed May 3, 2019