1960 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The following lists events that happened during 1960 in the Republic of Congo.

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 1960
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Decades:
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See also:Other events of 1960
History of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Incumbents

Events

January
  • January 25 - Belgium agreed to grant its African colony, in the Belgian Congo, independence, setting a date of June 30, 1960, and elections to be held in May.[1]

February
  • February 20 - Following a month-long conference in Brussels, Belgium, the date of June 30 was set for granting independence to its African colony of the Belgian Congo. Under an agreement between the Belgian government and Congolese leaders, elections would be held on May 16 for provincial legislatures and a 137-member national Chamber of Representatives, and the provinces would then select a Senate.[2]

May
  • May 25 - Fifteen days of voting, for a 137-member Chamber of Deputies, concluded in the Belgian Congo, as the nation prepared for independence. Patrice Lumumba's National Congolese Movement won a plurality of seats, with 36.[3]

June

July
  • July 5 - The army in the newly independent Republic of Congo mutinied and attacked European civilians after the Belgian commander, Lt. Gen. Émile Janssens, tried to enforce discipline. Europeans fled from Léopoldville where the mutiny started.[5]
  • July 9 - The Belgian national airline Sabena began airlifting Belgian citizens out of the Republic of Congo. Over the next three weeks, 25,711 flew home.[6]
  • July 11 - Moise Tshombe declared the Congolese province of Katanga independent, and, taking advantage of the Congo's dismissal of Belgian officers from the Congolese Army, asked for military aid from Belgium. The Congo's Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba asked the United Nations to intervene in the crisis.[7]
  • July 14 - By an 8–0 vote, the United Nations Security Council authorized the sending of U.N. forces to restore order in the Congo and in Katanga, and to request that Belgium withdraw its troops. The first U.N. forces arrived from Tunisia the next day.[7]
  • July 17 - Joseph Kasavubu and Patrice Lumumba, unhappy with the United Nations' progress in pressuring Belgium to withdraw its troops from the former Belgian Congo, added a new dimension to the crisis with an ultimatum: If Belgian troops did not withdraw within 48 hours, the Congolese leaders would invite the Soviet Union to send troops to the African nation.[8]

August
  • August 8 - The Mining State of South Kasai, with its capital at Bakwanga (now Mbuji-Mayi), seceded from the rest of the Republic of Congo, by declaration of Chief Albert Kalonji. Congolese troops recaptured Bakwanga two weeks later on August 24.[9]
  • August 28 - The United Nations announced that it had sufficient peacekeeping troops in the Congo to preserve order, and demanded that the last of Belgium's forces there be withdrawn.[9]

September
  • September 3 - In the bloodiest day of fighting since the Congo became independent of Belgium, more than 300 people were killed and 700 wounded as Congolese troops invaded the "Mining State" that had been declared by Albert Kalonji in the Kasai Province. The cities of Mwene Ditu and Laputa had been retaken by government troops loyal to Patrice Lumumba, while Kasai rebels were marching to defend the major city of Bakwanga (now Mbuji-Mayi).[10]
  • September 5 - President Joseph Kasavubu announced on Radio Leopoldville that he had fired Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. An hour later, Lumumba announced on the same station that he intended to stay, and then fired Kasavubu. Congo's Army Chief of Staff Joseph Mobutu sent troops to place Lumumba under house arrest while contemplating the future of Kasavubu's regime.[11]
  • September 14 - Colonel Joseph Mobutu, the 30 year old Army Chief of Staff, staged a military coup, while allowing Joseph Kasavubu to continue as President. Two days later, Mobutu gave the Soviet Union's forces 48 hours to depart.[12]
  • September 16 - Joseph Kasavubu expelled two Communist ambassadors from the country.[13]

References
  1. Michael Crowder, The Cambridge History of Africa (Vol. 8), (Cambridge University Press, 1984), p712
  2. The World Almanac and book of facts 1961 (New York World-Telegram, 1960), pp157–161
  3. "Chronology May 1960", The World Almanac and book of facts, 1961 (New York World-Telegram, 1960), pp168–172
  4. "Congo Off To Angry Start", Winnipeg Free Press, June 30, 1960, p1
  5. Ludo de Witte, The Assassination of Lumumba (Verso, 2002), p.6
  6. David W. Wainhouse, International Peacekeeping at the Crossroads (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1973), p283
  7. "Chronology July 1960", The World Almanac and book of facts, 1961 (New York World-Telegram, 1960), pp175–178
  8. Eşref Aksu, The United Nations, Intra-state Peacekeeping and Normative Change (Manchester University Press, 2003), p102
  9. "Chronology August 1960", The World Almanac and book of facts, 1961 (New York World-Telegram, 1960), pp178–182
  10. "Congo Fight Bloody", Sunday Express and News (San Antonio), September 4, 1960, p1
  11. Kevin C. Dunn, Imagining the Congo: The International Relations of Identity (Palgrave 2003), pp64–65; "CONGO: Dag's Problem Child", TIME Magazine, September 19, 1960
  12. Robert B. Edgerton, The Troubled Heart of Africa: A History of the Congo (St. Martin's Press, 2002), p194
  13. This Day in the 1960s
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