The CIA's early 1960s Meddling in Congo, the Murder of Patrice Lumumba, and the Rise of Joseph Mobutu | Foreign Affairs

http://m.foreignaffairs.com/articles/141523/stephen-r-weissman/what-really-happened-in-congo

What Really Happened in Congo

The CIA, the Murder of Lumumba, and the Rise of Mobutu

Stephen R. Weissman

July/August 2014

Summary: 

Newly available evidence shows that the CIA engaged in pervasive political meddling and paramilitary action in Congo during the 1960s -- and that the local CIA station chief directly influenced the events that led to the death of Patrice Lumumba, the country's first democratically elected prime minister.

STEPHEN R. WEISSMAN is the author of American Foreign Policy in the Congo, 1960–1964 and a former Staff Director of the U.S. House of Representatives' Subcommittee on Africa.

It didn't take long for Congo's transition from Belgian colony to sovereign state to turn ugly. Both the Soviet Union and the United States were keeping a close eye on the mineral-rich country at the heart of Africa when, on June 30, 1960, it gained independence under a democratically elected government headed by Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. A charismatic nationalist, Lumumba led the only party in parliament with a nationwide, rather than ethnic or regional, base. Within days, however, Congo's troops mutinied against their all-white officer corps (a holdover from the colonial era) and started terrorizing the European population. Belgium responded by sending forces to reoccupy the country and helping Congo's richest province, Katanga, secede. The United States, declining the appeals for help from the new Congolese government, instead threw its support behind a UN peacekeeping mission, which it hoped would obviate any Congolese requests for Soviet military assistance. But Lumumba quickly came into conflict with the UN for its failure to expel the Belgian troops and end Katanga's secession. After issuing a series of shifting ultimatums to the UN, he turned to Moscow for help, which responded by sending transport planes to fly Lumumba's troops into Katanga.