After many years of political struggle, the Belgian Congo was finally
granted its independence in June 1960.
Becoming the Republic of the Congo and later the Democratic Republic of
the Congo, what was supposed to be a momentous occasion in the country's
history was rapidly transformed into a bitter internecine political
battle which would tear the Congo apart. Within weeks, two Congolese
provinces had declared their own independence putting the Congo's
economic future in jeopardy.
Recruiting hundreds of white mercenaries to sustain its secession,
mineral-rich Katanga then attempted to fight off all attempts to bring
it back into the fold. By early 1963 the mercenaries had been forced to
leave by the UN, but other major outbreaks of armed protest against the
Congolese government were taking place. The most significant of these
were the Stanleyville, Kindu and Kivu Rebellions led by supporters of
Patrice Lumumba, the former Prime Minister assassinated in January
1961.
With the Soviet Union, the Republic of China and radical African
governments all aiding rebel movements, what was a series of localized
conflicts became a proxy war between the East and the West. Not wishing
to see the Congo fall under what it perceived as 'communist domination',
the United States then began to provide its own form of military
assistance to government forces.
Ripe for Rebellion is the first of two volumes examining the so-called
'Congo Crisis'. Based on extensive research in multiple official
archives, it throws entirely new light upon developments in a country
which many US citizens of the time believed would become the next major
battlefield. Richly illustrated, it provides a detailed account of the
global political dynamics which led to civil war and encouraged so many
to take up arms, and an intricate reconstruction of the military role
played by the United States from 1964. The story told in Ripe for
Rebellion will be continued in For God and the CIA, though each volume
stands alone.
