Read Katanga 196063 Mercenaries Spies and the African Nation that Waged War on the World Christopher Othen Books
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Katanga 1960-63 tells, for the first time, the full story of the Congolese province that declared independence and found itself at war with the world. The Congo had no intention of allowing the renegade region to secede, and neither did the CIA, the KGB, or the UN. The UN fielded soldiers from 20 nations, America paid the bills, and the Soviets intrigued behind the scenes. Yet to everyone’s surprise the new nation’s rag-tag army of local gendarmes, jungle tribesmen, and, controversially, European mercenaries, refused to give in. For two and a half years Katanga, the scrawniest underdog ever to fight a war, held off the world with guerrilla warfare, two-faced diplomacy, and some shady financial backing.
Read Katanga 196063 Mercenaries Spies and the African Nation that Waged War on the World Christopher Othen Books
"In pretty good chronological order, Othen, puts the beginning and destruction by the West of the only multiracial state to exist in Africa to paper. I lived there ten years after the secession, visited the site of Hammarskjold's crash, and went to the Elisabethville (Lubumbashi) post office daily. Katanga remains to this date, an occupied province. The Europeans and the West were so terrified a black man could not resist communism that they destroyed the best hope for a state in which all people of all kinds might work together. Katanga is the first but by no means the last failure of freedom. The only thing missing from the book are the anecdotes from the Katangans themselves. I knew many of the brothers and relatives of Moise Tshombe, and Jason Sendwe. The best story I know is that their wives, both Methodists, went forward in the big Methodist church on Avenue Likasi (limit Sud) and prayed together, hand in hand, during the height of their husbands' forces fighting. Many of the expats Othen named still remained in Katanga until they died. Why not? They were Katangans. Othen reveals, the mixed motives and dashed hopes of an extraordinary people caught up in the attempt to make their own nation, together. Characters are as he portrays them. What has been lost is epic . Congo , my Congo, has potential, they say. It will always have potential. But once, the South nearly realized that potential."
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Katanga 196063 Mercenaries Spies and the African Nation that Waged War on the World Christopher Othen Books Reviews :
Katanga 196063 Mercenaries Spies and the African Nation that Waged War on the World Christopher Othen Books Reviews
- “Katanga, 1960-63†is a very readable political and military history of the immediate post-independence war that broke out between the UN-recognized government based in Leopoldville, now Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the breakaway province, or nation at the time, of Katanga. Othen provides a brief background of the Congo’s brutal colonial history, but the meat of the book begins with Congo’s independence day. Unfortunately within days anarchy became the norm as racial vengeance, black and white, an army mutiny, and tribal wrongs devolved into violence. Murders, rapes, beatings and more became common as blacks attacked whites, and as various, normally tribal-based, political groups jockeyed for power. Within weeks the provinces of South Kasai and Katanga declared their independence. The United Nations, viewing the world through a Cold War and a Westphalian state paradigm, sided with the Leopoldville-based government of Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba and President Joseph Kasa-Vubu. Then within months Kasa-Vubu and Lumumba had a falling out which led the Lumumba’s murder, only adding to the turmoil.
It was in this maelstrom of violence that Katanga’s war of independence began. Through a combination of guerrilla tactics and duplicitous diplomacy, and with the controversial use of white mercenaries, Moise Tshombe’s government held out for two years. Othen’s book is not only a linear conventional military history of the war, he also gets into the personalities of the major African and Belgian players, and mercenary leaders. He takes a look at the battles between the tribes in the area, battles against the Congolese army, and those with United Nations forces. He also gets into the politics between Congo’s major, often tribal-based, political parties before describing an end to the war which basically led to a compromise government involving all parties.
All in all a very readable history of a war that has passed into memory, but related to the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s problems today, to include a still existing, although small, insurgency in Katanga. - In pretty good chronological order, Othen, puts the beginning and destruction by the West of the only multiracial state to exist in Africa to paper. I lived there ten years after the secession, visited the site of Hammarskjold's crash, and went to the Elisabethville (Lubumbashi) post office daily. Katanga remains to this date, an occupied province. The Europeans and the West were so terrified a black man could not resist communism that they destroyed the best hope for a state in which all people of all kinds might work together. Katanga is the first but by no means the last failure of freedom. The only thing missing from the book are the anecdotes from the Katangans themselves. I knew many of the brothers and relatives of Moise Tshombe, and Jason Sendwe. The best story I know is that their wives, both Methodists, went forward in the big Methodist church on Avenue Likasi (limit Sud) and prayed together, hand in hand, during the height of their husbands' forces fighting. Many of the expats Othen named still remained in Katanga until they died. Why not? They were Katangans. Othen reveals, the mixed motives and dashed hopes of an extraordinary people caught up in the attempt to make their own nation, together. Characters are as he portrays them. What has been lost is epic . Congo , my Congo, has potential, they say. It will always have potential. But once, the South nearly realized that potential.
- This is an excellent book. Factual, thorough and well written. As one who knew some of the participants in the Katanga secession, I found Othen's retelling remarkably similar to some of the events as later described to me. Othen's narrative is rich in detail and his battle descriptions gripping reading.
However, the best of this book is the author's writing skills. He is an artist with words. He writes in a fluid manner and his descriptions of the "dramatis personae" are often irreverent and sarcastic, but always witty. I enjoyed this book and finished it in a few hours. I strongly recommend this book. I cannot wait to this author's next effort. - Excellent story telling in a journalistic style. The citations and footnotes are almost as interesting as the narrative. Highly recommend.
- I thought that this is a well researched and well written book on the Congo crisis. Looking forward to reading more of the author's books.
- Having lived in Congo over a period of years, I can attest that this book faithfully captures the atmosphere of the place, its fratricidal politics, and the schizophrenic relationship with Belgium. Furthermore it's full of fascinating details and a cast of improbable characters.
- Great book ,properly built up ,expalining every little thing. Only complaint ,needed maps ,to give reader sense of what happened where.Also pictures corresponding to the chapters they were related to. but all in all .great.
- Othen is an ace writer and his deep dive into a complicated and crazy episode of the Cold War/National Liberation era in Africa is well worth your time.
