There were two rivals for head of state. The UN, of course, backed the Moscow favored Patrice Lumumba whereas the Belgian side favored Moise Tshombe, who was pro-western. On independence, the country devolved into civil war, at which time Tshombe felt the best solution was a separate independent state in his native Katanga province, which quickly settled into a fully functioning semi-democracy whereas the civil war in the remainder of Congo between Lumumba and the rest of his rivals continued unabated.
The United Nations decided to send peace keeping forces to end the civil war. Their objective devolved not into ending the civil war where it was actually raging, but to quell the rebellion in Katanga, where it was not.
Long story short is that Dag Hammarskjöld's mission wasn't to end the civil war but to convince Tshombe to come back into the main chaotic province in return for assuming a role in a coalition government, something he probably would not agreed to do given his experience and knowledge of how Communists operated.
Lumumba ended up being shot by a firing squad of his own soldiers, supposedly egged on by Belgian mercenaries. Tshombe became head of state of briefly independent Katanga which the remainder of Belgian Congo opted to join (with the UN's suppression of Katanga's independence) and Lumumba's few remaining backers moved into French Congo, which had become "independent" a year or two before the Belgian portion.
Tshombe served as prime minister for a little more than one year before he was forced to resign and flee into exile on October 13, 1965.
LBJ's administration never liked Tshombe and eventually welcomed Mobutu Sese Seko as military dictator to succeed him. Mobutu had good anti-communist bonafides (including his role in the mock trial and execution of Communist hero Lumumba) but was seen as independent from the west. Congo's name was changed to Zaire and Mobutu continued to milk the United States for hand-outs to oppose the next door Communist Republic of Congo, which did the same thing with the Soviet Union.
Tshombe, sadly, died in exile four years later. Mobutu went on to rule Zaire with an iron first for more than thirty years and the Republic of the Congo went through a series of Soviet Union backed dictators until 1992, when a lack of financial support led them to try democratic elections which lasted exactly five years before it devolved into a new series of military dictators empowered under the cloak of sham elections.
And there you have the history of much of post colonial Africa in a nutshell:
Thanks!
I think I learn more on FR than anywhere. Born in the 50’s, I remember hearing about all that when it happened, but as I was young these were just names in the background. I seem to remember Tshombe being portrayed as a good guy in the US media, but I could be wrong.
Great post.
Notice how overt and covert United States involvement has ameliorated the situation in Africa and enhanced the security and well being of the American people.