Congo Crisis (PJW)

The Congo War was a long-running proxy war in Central Africa during the Cold War. Upon receiving independence from Belgium in 1960, the new Congo state quickly broke down due to instability and infighting. In the east, two areas, Katanga and South Kasai, seceded, and Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba sought foreign aid. With the UN support limited, America isolationist, and Western European support for the rebels, Lumumba found support from the Soviet Union. Soviet support resulted in a split between Lumumba and President Joseph Kasa-Vubu, culminating in a coup d'etat led by military leader Joseph Mobutu that deposed Lumumba. Mobutu reformed the Congo government, while Lumumba fled to the eastern half of the nation and founded the Free Republic of the Congo.

Western Europe dropped its support of the separatists and backed Kasa-Vubu's government, while the Soviets supported Lumumba. The Democratic Republic and the Free Republic fought to a stalemate, while the Belgian-supported Katanga fought against both sides. The Democratic Republic would nearly collapse due to the withdrawal of French and British support to focus on other colonial conflicts, and a Maoist "Simba" rebellion gripped the capital region. The instability led to Mobutu taking power in another coup; he quickly established a militarized, authoritarian regime that managed to negotiate a ceasefire with the Free Republic in 1963 to focus on reclaiming Katanga. Belgian support prevented a takeover of the region, and another ceasefire.

Despite the ceasefires, no peace treaties were ever signed, leaving the three new states in an intense standoff. Rebellions and instability in the region, as well as the fighting in the rest of Central Africa, resulted in a depopulation region following the extremely violent Central African War in the late 1970s.