United Nations Operation in The Congo

United Nations Operation In The Congo

Opération des Nations unies au Congo, abbreviated ONUC (English: The United Nations Organization in the Congo), was a United Nations peacekeeping force in Congo that was established after United Nations Security Council Resolution 143 of July 14, 1960. From 1963 the name changed to Opération des Nations Unies au Congo, keeping the same abbreviation. To generalise, the mission was a response to the Congo Crisis.

ONUC was the UN’s first peacekeeping mission with muscle. Dispatched to the Belgian Congo, ONUC has been described as a “pyrrhic victory at best.”

Congo became independent in 30 June 1960, but the Belgian commander refused to "Africanize" the officers' corps of the Force Publique (the army), and because of that disorder and mutinies broke out. While the President and the Prime Minister were trying to negotiate with the mutineers, the Belgian government decided to intervene to protect Belgians that remained in the country at the request of Moïse Tshombé, who advocated independence for Katanga, one of the richest provinces in the country due to an abundance of minerals.

On July 10, Belgian troops were sent to Elisabethville, the capital of Katanga, to control the situation and protect Belgian civilians. With the help of the Belgians, Tshombé proclaimed the independence of the province. On 12 July, the President and the Prime Minister asked for help of the UN. The Secretary-General addressed the Security Council at a night meeting on 13 July and asked the Council to act "with utmost speed" on the request.

At the same meeting, the Security Council adopted resolution 143 (1960), by which it called upon the Government of Belgium to withdraw its troops from the territory of the Congo. The resolution authorized the United Nations Secretary-General to facilitate the withdrawal of Belgian troops, maintain law and order, and help to establish and legitimize the post-colonial government. This mandate was extended to maintain the territorial integrity of Congo, through particularly the removal of the foreign mercenaries supporting the secession of Katanga. ONUC's intention was an unprecedented role for a UN peacekeeping force, as it was not self-evidently peacekeeping in nature.

Following Security Council actions, the United Nations Force in the Congo (ONUC) was established. To carry out these tasks, the Secretary-General set up a United Nations Force, which at its peak strength numbered nearly 20,000. The UN Force stayed in the Congo between 1960 and 1964, and underwent a transition from a peacekeeping presence to a military force.

ONUC’s main goals stayed consistent from the first to fifth resolution. It featured the double purpose of withdrawing Belgian military personnel (later expanding to mercenaries) and providing military assistance to ensure internal stability. The successive Security Council resolutions added to and elaborated on the initial mandate but did not fundamentally change the operation’s objectives. These were especially significant because Belgium’s invasion violated the norm of sovereignty, and the second objective was set to prevent the country from becoming a Cold War proxy state.

The first troops reached Congo on 15 July, many airlifted in by the United States Air Force.

Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, dissatisfied with Dag Hammarskjöld's refusal to use UN troops to subdue the insurrection in Katanga, decided to attempt an invasion of Katanga on his own and turned to the Soviet Union for help. The invasion attempt never reached Katanga but led to dissension within the Central Government, the collapse of the Central Government, and eventually to Patrice Lumumba's arrest in December.

In February 1961, the legally elected Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba was killed, and only then did the United Nations Security Council explicitly authorize the use of force for purposes beyond self-defense.