![]() Joseph Mobutu to orchestrate a coup on Sept. But what was not clear at the time was the CIA’s decisive role in persuading Col. The Congo crisis was front-page news in 1960. Eisenhower’s and the CIA’s culpability in this largely forgotten coup d’etat. The strength of “The Lumumba Plot” lies in Mr. The reader can sense how the Congo’s rippling chaos beset decision-makers thousands of miles away. Reid ably guides us from events in Leopoldville and Stanleyville to deliberations in New York, Washington and Brussels. But Hammarskjold’s peacekeeping force was placed under strict instructions not to take sides among the rival military and political factions.Īn engaging and clever storyteller, Mr. The Belgians did everything they could to undercut Lumumba’s moves to unify the country, including sending military units to Katanga. Two economically critical regions - South Kasai and Katanga - seceded. ![]() Formal independence came six days later.Īlmost as soon as Lumumba delivered a rousing address bidding Congo’s colonial masters good riddance, the country started falling apart. Now prime minister, he formed his first (and only) government on June 24, 1960. By the spring of 1960, Patrice Lumumba was the country’s most recognizable voice for a unitary Congolese state free of outside interference.
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