Post-independence events in the Republic of the Congo are a veritable
Gordian knot. The ambitions of Congolese political leaders, Cold War
rivalry, Pan-Africanism, Belgium's continued economic interests in the
country's mineral wealth, and the strategic perceptions of other
southern African states all conspired to wrack Africa's second largest
country with uprisings, rebellions and military interventions for almost
a decade.
Congo Unravelled solves the intractable complexity of this violent
period by dispassionately outlining the sequence of political and
military events that took place in the troubled country. The reader is
systematically taken through the first military attempts to stabilize
the country after independence and the two distinguishing military
campaigns of the decade-the United Nations military operations
(Opération des Nations Unies au Congo, or ONUC) to end the secession of
the Katanga Province, and the Dragon Operations led by Belgian
paratroopers, supported by the US Air Force, launched to end the
insurgency in the east of the country-are chronicled in detail. Finally,
the mercenary revolt-an event that tainted the reputation of the modern
mercenary in Africa-is described. / Lesser known military events-Irish
UN forces cut off from the outside world by Katangese gendarmes and
mercenaries, and a combined military operation in which Belgian
paratroopers were dropped from US Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft and
supported by a mercenary ground force to achieve humanitarian ends-go
far toward resolving the enigma surrounding post-independence Congo.
