1960–1965: (The Congo Crisis — Belgium Effectively Fleeing in 1960 Fearing Another Algeria, Nationalists Taken by Surprise, Lumumba Attempting to Hold Togeth…

1960–1965: (The Congo Crisis — Belgium Effectively Fleeing in 1960 Fearing Another Algeria, Nationalists Taken by Surprise, Lumumba Attempting to Hold Together a National Coalition as the Army Mutinied and Katanga Seceded, the UN’s First Major African Adventure Costing Secretary-General Hammarskjöld His Life, Lumumba Kidnapped and Murdered with American Knowledge, and Mobutu Seizing Power in 1965 to Become the West’s Cold War Ally): Nowhere was the fragility of colonial creations clearer than in the Belgian Congo. Fearing total collapse and another Algeria, the Belgians effectively fled in 1960 after years of mounting unrest — chaos ensued as nationalists were taken by surprise and political parties proliferated, many steeped in ethnic regionalism threatening to destroy the Congo before its sovereignty had begun. Lumumba initially attempted to hold together a national coalition, but the state collapsed around him — the army mutinied and copper-rich Katanga seceded in the south, while inter-ethnic violence was intense in Kasai. Foreign interests fueled civil war, with Americans, Russians, Chinese, and even the Belgians becoming involved. The Congo presented the UN with its first major African adventure, an operation costing the life of Secretary-General Hammarskjöld, whose plane crashed in Zambia in September 1961. A UN peacekeeping force brought Katanga under control by 1962, but in the meantime Lumumba had been kidnapped and murdered — possibly with American knowledge and certainly to their relief, as they feared his leftist leanings and charisma. The US-backed army commander Mobutu took control, finally securing power in 1965. He re-established centralized and extraordinarily violent government, molding himself into one of the West’s most important Cold War allies — later renaming the country Zaire and himself Mobutu Sese Seko, the country became a byword for corruption and misgovernment, enjoying Western support until the Cold War ended.