Belgians+in+the+Congo

=**Belgians in the Congo**=

The United Nations’ role in the Congo crisis between 1960 and 1964 saw its largest deployment of men and some of its most controversial actions. Until 1960, the Congo had been a colony of Belgian but in 1960, Belgian announced that it was giving the Congo its independence. Belgian gave the Congo just five months to get itself ready for independence despite the fact that it was clearly unprepared for such a task. The independent Congo Republic was declared on June 30th, 1960. Its Prime Minister was Patrice Lumumba and its president was Joseph Kasavubu. In the first week of July, the army mutinied against the remaining white officers that lead the Congolese army and numerous attacks took place against Europeans in general. The mutiny immediately took away any authority the civilian government had. It also created a state of near panic within the Congo as 100,000 Belgians lived there primarily in or near the capital Leopoldville. In response to the crisis, the Belgian government sent Belgian paratroopers to protect Belgian citizens in the Congo. This was an illegal act as the Congo was an independent nation and free from Belgian rule. The government of the Congo had not invited the troops in.



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BIBLIOGRAPHY: //History Learning Site//. Web. 03 June 2011. . In this website i picked out useful information and use it for most of the paragraph.

"BBC - H2g2 - King Leopold II and the Belgian Congo." //BBC - Homepage//. Web. 03 June 2011.  I used this website mostly for references

@http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0198161.html: In this website i picked out useful information.