Book contents
- The Long Search for Peace
- The Official History of Australian Peacekeeping, Humanitarian and Post–Cold War Operations
- The Long Search for Peace
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Maps
- Preface
- Glossary
- Part 1 Actor and observer
- 1 The origins of peacekeeping
- 2 St George and the maiden
- 3 Inventing peacekeeping
- 4 Failure
- 5 Success
- 6 Observing at a critical moment
- 7 An intractable dispute
- 8 ‘Tough men wanted’
- 9 Australia and the problem of Palestine
- 10 The Six Day War and after
- 11 ‘If you’re not confused, you don’t understand the situation’
- 12 Over jungle and swamp
- 13 A reluctant start
- 14 The first decade
- 15 Australia and the invention of peacekeeping
- Part 2 New ambitions
- Part 3 Carrying on
- Conclusion
- Book part
- Bibliography
- Index
- Plate Section (PDF Only)
11 - ‘If you’re not confused, you don’t understand the situation’
Australia responds to the Congo crisis, 1960–61
from Part 1 - Actor and observer
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 September 2019
- The Long Search for Peace
- The Official History of Australian Peacekeeping, Humanitarian and Post–Cold War Operations
- The Long Search for Peace
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Maps
- Preface
- Glossary
- Part 1 Actor and observer
- 1 The origins of peacekeeping
- 2 St George and the maiden
- 3 Inventing peacekeeping
- 4 Failure
- 5 Success
- 6 Observing at a critical moment
- 7 An intractable dispute
- 8 ‘Tough men wanted’
- 9 Australia and the problem of Palestine
- 10 The Six Day War and after
- 11 ‘If you’re not confused, you don’t understand the situation’
- 12 Over jungle and swamp
- 13 A reluctant start
- 14 The first decade
- 15 Australia and the invention of peacekeeping
- Part 2 New ambitions
- Part 3 Carrying on
- Conclusion
- Book part
- Bibliography
- Index
- Plate Section (PDF Only)
Summary
In the days after Congo crossed the threshold to independence from Belgian colonial rule, a crisis erupted that quickly consumed the world’s attention. On Thursday 30 June 1960, demonstrations in the capital Leopoldville marred the celebrations of the country’s newfound statehood. These initial disturbances were controlled by the Force Publique – an at times baleful security organisation that had held sway over the local population since its creation in the late nineteenth century by the despotic Belgian King Leopold II. The following Monday, the situation deteriorated. Disgruntled Congolese troops in the Force Publique mutinied against their remaining Belgian officers and dragged the entire country into a state of chaos.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Long Search for PeaceObserver Missions and Beyond, 1947–2006, pp. 277 - 294Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019