Chaos Begins in the Congo (PJW)

"Chaos Begins in the Congo" is an excerpt from the 1974 British documentary Justice, Peace, Work.

Chaos
"Anyone that's interested in this Crisis has probably seen the picture by now, right? The one where [General Emile] Janssens stands in front of a chalkboard and tells a crowd of black officers that Before Independence = After Independence? That's the one. That's what started the whole mess.

"Things had been getting busy at the embassy in Leopoldville during the independence process. The Ambassador, Robert Johnson, had everybody working over time to make sure the process went smoothly. The new Congolese government would be sitting on a literal goldmine of resources, not just gold but copper and uranium, which was absolutely vital for the nuclear bomber fleet. We heard the rumors of [Prime Minister] Lumumba turning red; we had to make sure he stood with us.

"Things were calm for maybe...five, six days after independence. While the officers may have disliked Janssens' attitude, at least they knew how to take orders. The foot soldiers though...they thought the new order was going to bring them an immediate pay raise and more blacks in the command structure. So when they saw the Belgians were still in charge of the military, the Belgians still held positions in the bureaucracy...they believed the change they wanted hadn't come.

"The first mutiny was at Thysville. It wasn't long after that soldiers began mutinying within the capital. Janssens wanted to deploy Belgian soldiers to end the mutinies, but Lumumba wouldn't accept it. Janssens was dismissed and returned to Belgium. The army was re-organized with blacks having a greater part in command; Colonel [Joseph] Mobutu became Lumumba's Chief of the Army and essential deputy. The government worked hard to solve things quickly. Lumumba, [President Joseph] Kasa-Vubu, and Mobutu personally met with the mutineers at the capital and Thysville and brought them to an end.

"But, by then, the mutiny had spread across the region. But they weren't just mutinies anymore; they were on a whole other level. White officers hung from lampposts...white-owned stores and houses bombed and burned and looted...white men slaughtered and white women raped...the region was descending into chaos.

"Lumumba wasn't going to accept any foreign aid. But unfortunately for the Prime Minister, they didn't need his permission. British troops were stationed in nearby Northern Rhodesia as part of the campaign to put down their own insurgents. They were afraid of what could happen should the violence spill over into their Federation there. So the first British soldiers crossed the southern border by the end of June.

"And then, of course, the Belgians had to send in the paratroopers..."

- Larry Devlin, CIA Station Chief (Congo), 1960