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237-705: Throughout the existence of the State of Katanga, the gendarmes sporadically fought various tribes and the Congolese National Army (ANC). In February 1961 the Gendarmerie initiated a series of operations aimed at suppressing anti-secessionist rebels of the Association Générale des Baluba du Katanga (BALUBAKAT) in northern Katanga. The campaign was largely successful, but the fighting led to atrocities and gendarmes were halted by forces of

474-674: A "systemic failure". In 2010, the organization suffered the worst loss of life in its history, when 101 personnel died in the Haiti earthquake . Acting under the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 in 2011, NATO countries intervened in the First Libyan Civil War . The Millennium Summit was held in 2000 to discuss the UN's role in the 21st century. The three-day meeting was

711-659: A 20,000-strong paramilitary force designated the People's Defence Forces. This force was intended to support the FAC and national police but never became effective. The Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement was not successful in ending the war, and fighting resumed in September 1999. The FAC's performance continued to be poor and both the major offensives the Government launched in 2000 ended in costly defeats. President Kabila's mismanagement

948-699: A Swedish ONUC battalion surprised two gendarmerie battalions in Kabundji, seized their weapons, and directed them to return to their civilian livelihoods. Meanwhile, mercenaries in the Kolwezi area had taken Tshombe's threats about a scorched earth policy seriously and planted explosives on all nearby bridges, the Nzilo Dam (which provided most of Katanga's electricity), and most UMHK mining facilities. UMHK officials privately told Tshombe they were withdrawing their support for secession. Muké vainly attempted to organise

1185-621: A UN official, negotiated an armistice to the resulting conflict , with the Security Council deciding that “an armistice shall be established in all sectors of Palestine”. On 7 November 1956, the first UN peacekeeping force was established to end the Suez Crisis ; however, the UN was unable to intervene against the Soviet Union's simultaneous invasion of Hungary , following the country's revolution . On 14 July 1960,

1422-588: A colonel, the force seized control of the city and killed several ANC officers including Colonel Joseph-Damien Tshatshi , the commander responsible for Congolese police operations in Katanga in 1963. Tshipola issued a memo accusing Tshatshi of discriminating against the ex-gendarmes and denouncing Mobutu's coup. Other mercenaries revolted in Isiro and Watso before joining Tshipola's force in Kisangani. The insurrection

1659-481: A conference and initialised the drafting of the UN Charter , which was adopted on 25 June 1945. The charter took effect on 24 October 1945, when the UN began operations. The UN's objectives, as outlined by its charter, include maintaining international peace and security, protecting human rights , delivering humanitarian aid , promoting sustainable development , and upholding international law . At its founding,

1896-450: A free lunch to the work force was a good, sometimes the only, technique to motivate personnel to work at least half of the duty day. The army's logistics corps [was tasked].. to provide logistic support and conduct direct, indirect, and depot-level maintenance for the FAZ. But because of Zaire's lack of emphasis on maintenance and logistics, a lack of funding, and inadequate training, the corps

2133-565: A gunfight ensued. Two mercenaries captured during the clash revealed that Katangese forces faced confusion and desertions. Overall Indian forces faced unexpectedly light resistance and reached the east bank of the Lufira River on 3 January 1963. Mercenaries withdrew to Jadotville the next day after destroying a bridge over the Lufira. UN forces found a bridge upstream and used rafts and helicopters to cross and neutralise Katangese opposition on

2370-458: A mainly diplomatic and partly military rearguard action against what was in retrospect the inevitable end to the secession." After Adoula's appointment, sporadic violence continued between tribes and the government, but Katanga was relatively peaceful for several months. The battle at Kabalo led to heightened tensions between the UN and the Katangese government. The failure of the UN to convince

2607-597: A monument to Lumumba in Stanleyville. Tshombe decided to use foreign mercenaries as well as the ANC to suppress the rebellion. Mike Hoare was employed to create the English-speaking 5 Commando at Kamina , with the assistance of a Belgian officer, Colonel Frederic Vanderwalle, while 6 Commando (Congo) was French-speaking and originally under the command of a Belgian Army colonel, Lamouline. By August 1964,

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2844-704: A mostly Banyamulenge unit mutiniued at Bukavu after its officers tried to disperse the soldiers into different units spread all around the Congo. By mid-1998, formations on the outbreak of the Second Congo War included the Tanzanian-supported 50th Brigade, headquartered at Camp Kokolo in Kinshasa , and the 10th Brigade – one of the best and largest units in the army – stationed in Goma, as well as

3081-1013: A myriad of autonomous, separately administered funds, programmes, research and training institutes, and other subsidiary bodies . Each of these entities have their own area of work, governance structure, and budgets such as the World Trade Organization (or the WTO) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (or the IAEA), operate independently of the UN but maintain formal partnership agreements. The UN performs much of its humanitarian work through these institutions, such as preventing famine and malnutrition (the World Food Programme ), protecting vulnerable and displaced people (the UNHCR ), and combating

3318-509: A native Katangese, was made commander of the Katangese Gendarmerie, but in practice its leadership was still heavily influenced by European mercenaries. Lieutenant Colonel Roger Faulques , a Frenchman, was made chief of staff, and he established a new headquarters near Kolwezi to coordinate anti-UN guerilla operations. The Gendarmerie continued to sporadically fight BALUBAKAT rebels until around September 1961. Relations between

3555-593: A new defence law, provisionally designated Organic Law 130. The first organised Congolese troops, known as the Force Publique , were created in 1888 when King Leopold II of Belgium , who held the Congo Free State as his private property, ordered his Secretary of the Interior to create military and police forces for the state. In 1908, under international pressure, Leopold ceded administration of

3792-424: A new government. Lumumba and his cabinet responded by accusing Kasa-Vubu of high treason and voted to dismiss him. Parliament refused to confirm the dismissal of either Lumumba or Kasavubu and sought to bring about a reconciliation between them. After a week's deadlock, Mobutu announced on 14 September that he was assuming power until 31 December 1960 , in order to "neutralize" both Kasavubu and Lumumba." Mobutu formed

4029-569: A nucleus for the Katangese Air Force . Joseph Yav, a native Katangese, was made Minister of Defence. Much of Gendarmerie's early organization was based on the Force Publique's organization , and it was characterized by rapid advancement of many soldiers. By January 1961 there were approximately 250 former Force Publique officers serving in the Gendarmerie. They occupied all senior leadership positions and part of their salaries

4266-528: A peaceful end to the fighting, his plane crashed on September 18, 1961, killing him. A few days later a cease-fire was reached. That month, Gendarmerie forces were estimated to number 13,000; mainly deployed in North Katanga, troops were also present in Manono, Albertville, Kongolo, Kolwezi , and Jadotville. Katangese leaders hailed the cease-fire as a military victory; Muké was promoted to general, and

4503-547: A permanent member to block adoption of a resolution, though not debate. The ten temporary seats are held for two-year terms, with five members elected each year by the General Assembly on a regional basis . The presidency of the Security Council rotates alphabetically each month. The UN Secretariat carries out the day-to-day duties required to operate and maintain the UN system. It is composed of tens of thousands of international civil servants worldwide and headed by

4740-606: A plane crash . Months later he was posthumously awarded the Nobel Peace Prize . In 1964, Hammarskjöld's successor, U Thant , deployed the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus , which would become one of the UN's longest-running peacekeeping missions. With the spread of decolonization in the 1960s, the UN's membership shot up due to an influx of newly independent nations. In 1960 alone, 17 new states joined

4977-423: A political and military adventure in Katanga without it being useful to our own policy. [...] [W]ithout this we will be in difficulty in our own fight against subversion." – PIDE statement, June 1968 The straggling gendarmes who returned to Angola after the defeats in the Congo initially maintained the hope of fighting for their return within a few years. This plan was nevertheless disrupted by Tshombe's detention,

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5214-421: A rebel government there. As the rebel movement spread, discipline became more difficult to maintain, and acts of violence and terror increased. Thousands of Congolese were executed, including government officials, political leaders of opposition parties, provincial and local police, school teachers, and others believed to have been Westernised. Many of the executions were carried out with extreme cruelty, in front of

5451-588: A rivalry with Tshombe, and in October 1965 dismissed him from the premiership. Political deadlock ensued as Parliament refused to approve Kasa-Vubu's new appointee to the premiership, and in November Mobutu launched a coup and assumed the presidency. Tshombe returned to exile in Spain and resumed planning for a return to power. New mercenaries were recruited for the purpose with Portuguese support. By mid-1966

5688-722: A single line along the Bengo River to face an 800-strong Cuban force across the river. Thus the Battle of Quifangondo began. The Cubans and MPLA fighters bombarded the FNLA with mortar and 122 mm rockets, destroying most of the FNLA's armoured cars and six Jeeps carrying antitank rockets in the first hour of fighting. Mobutu's support for the FNLA policy backfired when the MPLA won in Angola. The MPLA, then, acting ostensibly at least as

5925-439: A sniper shot an ONUC soldier outside the post office while other peacekeepers were attempting to negotiate its surrender, and heavy fighting ensued there and at the radio station, in which over 20 gendarmes were killed under disputed circumstances. Due to miscommunication between ONUC commanders, Tshombe was able to avoid capture and flee to Northern Rhodesia . Hammarskjöld and other top UN officials who had not been fully aware of

6162-667: A strength of over 16,000 peacekeepers in the country. Its principal tasks are to provide security in key areas, such as the South Kivu and North Kivu in the east, and to assist the government in reconstruction. Foreign rebel groups are also in the Congo, as they have been for most of the last half-century. The most important is the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), against which Laurent Nkunda 's troops were fighting, but other smaller groups such as

6399-508: A strong, decisive offensive to pre-emptively eliminate Katangese forces. ONUC launched Operation Grandslam on 28 December. On the first day, UN forces killed 50 Katangese gendarmes before securing downtown Élisabethville, the local Gendarmerie headquarters, the radio station, and Tshombe's presidential palace. Early on 29 December, the ONUC Air Division launched a surprise assault on the Kolwezi airfield, inflicting serious damage to

6636-685: A stronger fighting force, Katanga (with the help of Belgians) disarmed all Force Publique troops based in Camp Massart except for 350 Katangese soldiers. The first iteration of the army was planned to consist of 1,500 men, all Katangese. The first volunteers were primarily Lunda people from southern Katanga, who were organized by the Mwaant Yav and Tshombe's family. Throughout the year additional forces were recruited, including Luba warriors , 2,000 Bazela from Pweto , Bayeke from Bunkeya , and several white volunteers from Kaniama . By November,

6873-586: A symbol of secessionist thinking. The Belgian Congo was established from the Congo Free State in 1908. Belgium retained control of the colony until it gained independence as the Republic of the Congo on June 30, 1960. Though the nation had elected officials including Joseph Kasa-Vubu as president , Patrice Lumumba as prime minister , and various bodies including a senate and assembly , upon independence its affairs quickly devolved into chaos. Congolese soldiers mutinied against their white commanders in

7110-445: A two-thirds majority of those present and voting is required. All other questions are decided by a majority vote. Each member has one vote. Apart from the approval of budgetary matters, resolutions are not binding on the members. The Assembly may make recommendations on any matters within the scope of the UN, except matters of peace and security that are under consideration by the Security Council. Draft resolutions can be forwarded to

7347-508: A visit by a Chinese technical team in 1985, most of the tanks operated, but such an improved status generally has not lasted long beyond the departure of the visiting team. Several factors complicate maintenance in Zairian units. Maintenance personnel often lack the training necessary to maintain modern military equipment. Moreover, the wide variety of military equipment and the staggering array of spare parts necessary to maintain it not only clog

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7584-889: A wide variety of complex tasks. The UN comprises six principal operational organizations: the General Assembly , the Security Council , the Economic and Social Council , the International Court of Justice , the UN Secretariat , and the Trusteeship Council , although the Trusteeship Council has been suspended since 1994. The UN System includes a multitude of specialized agencies , funds, and programmes, including

7821-1033: A wide variety of topics. These include the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues , which advises UN agencies on issues relating to indigenous peoples , the United Nations Forum on Forests , which coordinates and promotes sustainable forest management, the United Nations Statistical Commission , which co-ordinates information-gathering efforts between agencies, and the Commission on Sustainable Development , which co-ordinates efforts between UN agencies and NGOs working towards sustainable development . ECOSOC may also grant consultative status to non-governmental organizations. as of April 2021 almost 5,600 organizations have this status. The UN Charter stipulates that each primary organ of

8058-549: Is a diplomatic and political international organization with the intended purpose of maintaining international peace and security , developing friendly relations among nations, achieving international cooperation, and serving as a center for coordinating the actions of member nations. It is widely recognised as the world's largest international organization. The UN is headquartered in New York City , in international territory with certain privileges extraterritorial to

8295-861: Is a presidential force called the Republican Guard , but it and the Congolese National Police (PNC) are not part of the Armed Forces. The government in the capital city Kinshasa , the United Nations , the European Union , and bilateral partners which include Angola , South Africa , and Belgium are attempting to create a viable force with the ability to provide the Democratic Republic of Congo with stability and security. However, this process

8532-667: Is being hampered by corruption, inadequate donor coordination, and competition between donors. The various military units now grouped under the FARDC banner are some of the most unstable in Africa after years of war and underfunding. To assist the new government, since February 2000 the United Nations has had the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (now called MONUSCO ), which currently has

8769-467: Is defined in the UN Charter as the organization's chief administrative officer. Article 99 of the charter states that the secretary-general can bring to the Security Council's attention "any matter which in their opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security", a phrase that secretaries-general since Trygve Lie have interpreted as giving the position broad scope for action on

9006-737: Is evidence of a covert program supplying weapons to the Gendarmerie. In the immediate aftermath of the Katangese secession, Katangese forces clashed with the Armée Nationale Congolaise (ANC) in the Kasai region. In August 1960 the region of South Kasai seceded from the Congo. The ANC launched an offensive and successfully occupied it, but the Gendarmerie and South Kasian forces successfully prevented them from making incursions into Katanga. The Gendarmerie first saw major action in Northern Katanga in efforts to suppress

9243-647: Is noted above, proved incapable of mastering the situation and preventing the overthrow of Mobutu in 1997. The Battle of Kinsangani took place in March 1997 during this war. The AFDL rebels, created by the Rwandan Patriotic Front , took the city defended by the Zairian Armed Forces (FAZ), loyal to President Mobutu. Before the battle itself, the air force, Serbian mercenaries and Rwandan Hutu militiamen were not enough to make up for

9480-555: Is the state organisation responsible for defending the Democratic Republic of the Congo . The FARDC was rebuilt patchily as part of the peace process which followed the end of the Second Congo War in July 2003. The majority of FARDC members are land forces, but it also has a small air force and an even smaller navy. In 2010–2011 the three services may have numbered between 144,000 and 159,000 personnel. In addition, there

9717-469: Is understaffed, underequipped, and generally unable to accomplish its mission. It is organised into three battalions assigned to Mbandaka , Kisangani , and Kamina , but only the battalion at Kamina is adequately staffed; the others are little more than skeleton" units. The poor state of discipline of the Congolese forces became apparent again in 1990. Foreign military assistance to Zaire ceased following

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9954-445: The Association Générale des Baluba du Katanga (BALUBAKAT), a political party which represented the Luba people of the area and rebelled against Katangese authority. Some prominent BALUBAKAT politicians allied themselves with the Stanleyville government. On October 17, 1960, neutral zones were created in the region under a temporary agreement with the United Nations. In theory the region was controlled by ONUC contingents, but in reality

10191-477: The Battle of Mogadishu . The UN mission to Bosnia faced worldwide ridicule for its indecisive and confused mission in the face of ethnic cleansing. In 1994, the UN Assistance Mission for Rwanda failed to intervene in the Rwandan genocide amidst indecision in the Security Council. From the late 1990s to the early 2000s, international interventions authorized by the UN took a wider variety of forms. The United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 authorised

10428-416: The Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul in Élisabethville . On August 2, 1961, Cyrille Adoula was appointed to replace Lumumba as prime minister of the Congo. He began a far more aggressive policy of ending Katanga's secession than the interim Congolese government, and Belgium continued to pressure the Katangese authorities to begin negotiations. Young suggested that "from this point onward, Katanga fought

10665-449: The College of Commissioners-General , a technocratic government of university graduates. In early January 1961, ANC units loyal to Lumumba invaded northern Katanga to support a revolt of Baluba tribesmen against Tshombe's secessionist regime. On 23 January 1961, Kasa-Vubu promoted Mobutu to major-general; De Witte argues that this was a political move, "aimed to strengthen the army, the president's sole support, and Mobutu's position within

10902-400: The Congo Crisis . Lieutenant General Émile Janssens , the Force Publique commander, wrote during a meeting of soldiers that 'Before independence=After Independence', pouring cold water on the soldiers' desires for an immediate raise in their status. Historian Louis-François Vanderstraeten says that on the morning of 8 July 1960, following a night during which all control had been lost over

11139-512: The De Beers diamond company for disrupting smuggling operations in Angola. Efforts began to formalize the presence of exiled gendarmes in Angola. In March 1968, the Fédération Nationale Congolaise was created to represent Katangese in exile. In June 1969, the Congolese National Liberation Front (FLNC) was founded. They were given further military training and in May 1971, many gendarmes began formally receiving compensation for fighting. Mbumba negotiated better conditions, training, and salaries for

11376-473: The East African Campaign during World War II. At independence on 30 June 1960, the army suffered from a dramatic deficit of trained leaders, particularly in the officer corps. This was because the Force Publique had always only been officered by Belgian or other expatriate whites. The Belgian Government made no effort to train Congolese commissioned officers until the very end of the colonial period, and in 1958, only 23 African cadets had been admitted even to

11613-426: The First Congo War , supporting a rebellion against Mobutu. In February 1997, 2,000 to 3,000 were airlifted to Kigali and driven to Goma and Bukavu . Their fighting contributed heavily towards the capture of Kisangani and "sped up" the rebellion. Historian Gérard Prunier concludes that the Tigres played a "decisive role in the war." In May 1997 Mobutu was overthrown and replaced by Laurent-Désiré Kabila . After

11850-407: The Force Publique on July 5. This mutiny signaled the beginning of a large revolt and attacks on white people in the Congo. In response, Belgium sent troops into the region to maintain order and protect their commercial interests, without the permission of the Congolese state. Largely in response to Belgian interference, on July 11, the Katanga Province announced its secession from the Republic of

12087-401: The Four Power Declaration on General Security which aimed for the creation "at the earliest possible date of a general international organization". This was the first public announcement that a new international organization was being contemplated to replace the League of Nations. The Tehran Conference followed shortly afterwards at which Roosevelt, Churchill and Joseph Stalin , the leader of

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12324-539: The Front for Congolese National Liberation , occupied Zaire's southeastern Katanga Province , then known as Shaba, in March 1977, facing little resistance from the FAZ. This invasion is sometimes known as Shaba I . Mobutu had to request assistance, which was provided by Morocco in the form of regular troops who routed the MPLA and their Cuban advisors out of Katanga. Also important were Egyptian pilots who flew Zaire's Mirage 5 combat aircraft. The humiliation of this episode led to civil unrest in Zaire in early 1978, which

12561-433: The Group of 77 under the leadership of Algeria, which briefly became a dominant power at the UN. On 10 November 1975, a bloc comprising the Soviet Union and Third World nations passed a resolution , over strenuous American and Israeli opposition, declaring Zionism to be a form of racism . The resolution was repealed on 16 December 1991, shortly after the end of the Cold War. With an increasing Third World presence and

12798-413: The ICJ Statute , which forms an integral part of the UN Charter, and non-members may also become parties. The ICJ's rulings are binding upon parties and, along with its advisory opinions, serve as sources of international law . The court is composed of 15 judges appointed to nine-year terms by the General Assembly. Every sitting judge must be from a different nation. The Economic and Social Council (or

13035-411: The IISS Military Balance, the FAZ included 14 infantry battalions, seven "Guard" battalions, and seven other infantry battalions variously designated as "parachute" (or possibly "commando"; probably the units of the parachute brigade originally formed in 1968). There were also an armoured car regiment and a mechanised infantry battalion. Organisationally, the army was made up of the parachute division and

13272-423: The Intercontinental Hotel and had presidential list cell-phone numbers. None spoke French or Lingala, but all spoke Kinyarwanda, Swahili, and, quite often, English." On being asked by Belgian journalist Colette Braeckman what was the actual army command structure apart from himself, Kabila answered 'We are not going to expose ourselves and risk being destroyed by showing ourselves openly... . We are careful so that

13509-460: The International Red Cross to evacuate 950 gendarmes and around 650 of their dependents to Zambia . Schramme and Mobutu objected, and the plan did not go forward. Though the ANC continued fighting, around 900 gendarmes gave up their arms and crossed into Rwanda. At the end of the mutinies, the gendarmes agreed to a cease-fire proposed by Organisation of African Unity Secretary General Diallo Telli under which they could gain amnesty by returning to

13746-553: The Katanga Gendarmerie which were part of Moise Tshombe 's regime (totalling about 10,000), and the Stanleyville dissident ANC loyal to Antoine Gizenga (numbering about 8,000). In August 1960, due to the rejection of requests for UN assistance to suppress the South Kasai and Katanga revolts, Lumumba's government decided to request Soviet help. De Witte writes that "Leopoldville asked the Soviet Union for planes, lorries, arms, and equipment...Shortly afterwards, on 22 or 23 August, about 1,000 soldiers left for Kasai." On 26–27 August,

13983-404: The NATO -led Kosovo Force beginning in 1999. The UN mission in the Sierra Leone Civil War was supplemented by a British military intervention . The invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 was overseen by NATO. In 2003, the United States invaded Iraq despite failing to pass a UN Security Council resolution for authorization, prompting a new round of questioning of the UN's effectiveness. Under

14220-510: The Paris Peace Conference . The League of Nations was approved and started operations, but the United States never joined. On 10 January 1920, the League of Nations formally came into being when the Covenant of the League of Nations , ratified by 42 nations in 1919, took effect. The League Council acted as an executive body directing the Assembly's business. It began with four permanent members—the United Kingdom , France , Italy , and Japan . After some limited successes and failures during

14457-404: The Rassemblement Démocratique pour le Rwanda , who launched repeated attacks into Rwanda. Rwanda eventually backed Laurent-Désiré Kabila and his quickly-organised Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (AFDL) in invading Zaire, aiming to stop the attacks on Rwanda in the process of toppling Mobutu's government. When the militias rebelled, backed by Rwanda, the FAZ, weakened as

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14694-484: The Rwandan force which had landed in Bas-Congo and the rebel forces south-west of Kinshasa and eventually halted the rebel and Rwandan offensive in the east of the DRC. These successes contributed to the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement which was signed in July 1999. Following the Lusaka Agreement, in mid-August 1999 President Kabila issued a decree dividing the country into eight military regions. The first military region, Congolese state television reported, would consist of

14931-446: The United Nations Operation in the Congo (ONUC) during the Battle of Kabalo in April 1961. ONUC then initiated efforts to remove foreign mercenaries from the Gendarmerie, and launched Operation Rum Punch to arrest them in August 1961. They came into conflict with ONUC three times afterwards, in Operation Morthor (September 1961), Operation UNOKAT (December 1961), and Operation Grandslam (December 1962). Operation Grandslam marked

15168-621: The United States Army , and the resulting "Greene Plan", the pattern of bilaterally agreed military assistance to various Congolese military components, instead of a single unified effort, was already taking shape. In early 1964, a new crisis broke out as Congolese rebels calling themselves " Simba " (Swahili for "Lion") rebelled against the government. They were led by Pierre Mulele , Gaston Soumialot and Christophe Gbenye who were former members of Gizenga's Parti Solidaire Africain (PSA). The rebellion affected Kivu and Eastern (Orientale) provinces. By August they had captured Stanleyville and set up

15405-459: The White House in December 1941 for the Arcadia Conference . Roosevelt is considered a founder of the UN, and coined the term United Nations to describe the Allied countries . Churchill accepted it, noting its use by Lord Byron . The text of the Declaration by United Nations was drafted on 29 December 1941, by Roosevelt, Churchill, and Harry Hopkins . It incorporated Soviet suggestions but included no role for France. One major change from

15642-446: The World Bank Group , the World Health Organization , the World Food Programme , UNESCO , and UNICEF . Additionally, non-governmental organizations may be granted consultative status with the Economic and Social Council and other agencies. The UN's chief administrative officer is the secretary-general , currently António Guterres , who is a Portuguese politician and diplomat. He began his first five-year term on 1 January 2017 and

15879-406: The secretary-general , who is assisted by the deputy secretary-general . The Secretariat's duties include providing information and facilities needed by UN bodies for their meetings and carrying out tasks as directed by the Security Council, the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, and other UN bodies. The secretary-general acts as the spokesperson and leader of the UN. The position

16116-483: The "United Nations Force in the Congo will not be a party to or in any way intervene in or be used to influence the outcome of any internal conflict, constitutional or otherwise." Frustrated, Lumumba appealed to Eastern Bloc nations for military assistance, resulting in his conflict with Joseph Kasa-Vubu and ultimately his removal from power in September and eventual murder in January 1961. In response to Lumumba's removal, his political allies gathered in Stanleyville in

16353-419: The 12th Brigade in Bukavu. The declaration of the 10th Brigade's commander, former DSP officer Jean-Pierre Ondekane , on 2 August 1998 that he no longer recognised Kabila as the state's president was one of the factors in the beginning of the Second Congo War . According to Jane's , the FAC performed poorly throughout the Second Congo War and "demonstrated little skill or recognisable military doctrine". At

16590-510: The 140 mercenaries and 2,000 gendarmes under his command to prepare a final defence of Kolwezi. His efforts, undermined by the force's low morale and indiscipline, were further hampered by an influx of refugees. Tshombe ordered the Katangese garrison of Baudouinville to surrender to besieging UN and ANC forces. Instead, they and most of the population deserted the city while a handful of gendarmes near Kongolo laid down their arms to Nigerian and Malaysian soldiers. On 14 January, Indian troops found

16827-568: The 1920s, the League proved ineffective in the 1930s, as it failed to act against the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1933. Forty nations voted for Japan to withdraw from Manchuria but Japan voted against it and walked out of the League instead of withdrawing from Manchuria. It also failed to act against the Second Italo-Ethiopian War , after the appeal for international intervention by Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I at Geneva in 1936 went with no avail, including when calls for economic sanctions against Italy failed. Italy and other nations left

17064-493: The 1st Groupement at Kananga , with one guard battalion, two infantry battalions, and a gendarmerie battalion attached, and the 2nd Groupement ( Kinshasa ), the 3rd Groupement ( Kisangani ), the 4th Groupement ( Lubumbashi ), the 5th Groupement ( Bukavu ), the 6th Groupement ( Mbandaka ), and the 7th Groupement ( Boma ). Each was about the size of a brigade, and commanded by aging generals who have had no military training, and often not much positive experience, since they were NCOs in

17301-532: The 25,000-member FAZ ground forces consisted of one infantry division (with three infantry brigades); one airborne brigade (with three parachute battalions and one support battalion); one special forces (commando/counterinsurgency) brigade; the Special Presidential Division ; one independent armoured brigade; and two independent infantry brigades (each with three infantry battalions, one support battalion). These units were deployed throughout

17538-545: The ANC seized Bakwanga , Albert Kalonji's capital in South Kasai, without serious resistance and, according to de Witte, "in the next two days it temporarily put an end to the secession of Kasai." At this point, the Library of Congress Country Study for the Congo says, that on 5 September 1960: "Kasavubu also appointed Mobutu as head of the ANC. Joseph Ileo was chosen as the new prime minister and began trying to form

17775-402: The ANC to launch an offensive, but the Katangese forces repulsed them with a bombardment. U Thant replaced Hammarskjöld as UN Secretary-General, and declared his support for the expulsion of the remaining mercenaries in the Katangese Gendarmerie. Security Council Resolution 169 was passed on November 24, 1961, affirming that the United Nations would "take vigorous action, including the use of

18012-556: The ANC. At least 6,000 additional ex-gendarmes were integrated into the police force of the new province of South Katanga. With support from Belgium and the United States, the gendarmes made steady progress in recapturing territory in late 1964. By 1965 they were deployed in mopping-up operations. The use of mercenaries bothered President Kasa-Vubu, which created divisions with the commander of the ANC, Joseph-Désiré Mobutu , who appreciated their effectiveness. Kasa-Vubu also developed

18249-511: The ANC. Those who integrated suffered threats and violence, and were given lower ranks. An estimated 7,000 returned to civilian life, and a further 8,000 escaped disarmament. Of the 8,000, some found work in security, and thousands of others were reported to be roaming "in the bush in South Katanga". Many could not return to their homes, and were considered outcasts. Meanwhile, the Congolese government seized documents revealing that Tshombe

18486-473: The ANC; Colonel Joseph-Désiré Mobutu as chief of staff; and the Belgian, Colonel Henniquiau, as chief advisor to the ANC". Thus General Janssens was dismissed. Both Lundula and Mobutu were former sergeants of the Force Publique . On 8–9 July 1960, the soldiers were invited to appoint black officers, and "command of the army passed securely into the hands of former sergeants," as the soldiers in general chose

18723-788: The Africanisation of the army. There was a Force Publique mutiny at Camp Massart, in Elizabethville, on 9 July 1960; five or seven Europeans were killed. The army revolt and resulting rumours caused severe panic across the country, and Belgium despatched troops and the naval Task Group 218.2 to protect its citizens. Belgian troops intervened in Elisabethville and Luluabourg (10 July), Matadi (11 July), Leopoldville (13 July) and elsewhere. There were immediate suspicions that Belgium planned to re-seize their former colony whilst doing so. Large numbers of Belgian colonists fled

18960-636: The Atlantic Charter was the addition of a provision for religious freedom , which Stalin approved after Roosevelt insisted. Roosevelt's idea of the " Four Powers ", refers to the four major Allied countries, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and China , emerged in the Declaration by the United Nations. On New Year's Day 1942, Roosevelt, Churchill, the Soviet Union's former Foreign Minister Maxim Litvinov , and

19197-577: The Baluba leaders stated that they aimed to do everything within their power to weaken the Katangese government and disrupt the Katangese Gendarmerie's offensive potential. On 21 February 1961 the UN Security Council passed a resolution permitting ONUC to use military force as a last resort to prevent civil war. As the Congo was already more-or-less in a state of civil war, the resolution gave ONUC significant latitude to act. It also called for

19434-565: The Belgian Army. The operation also did not extend to all military centers in Katanga. Thus, many foreign officers, particularly the highly committed "ultras" were able to avoid deportation. Further mercenary forces arrived in Katanga after the operation. British, Rhodesian, and South African fighters enlisted mostly for money and adventure, while the French mercenaries were regarded by UN officials as politically extreme. Colonel Norbert Muké ,

19671-644: The Belgian Force Publique.' By the late 1970s the number of groupements reached nine, one per administrative region. The parachute division (Division des Troupes Aéroportées Renforcées de Choc, DITRAC) operated semi-independently from the rest of the army. In July 1972 a number of the aging generals commanding the groupements were retired. Général d'armée Louis Bobozo , and Generaux de Corps d'Armée Nyamaseko Mata Bokongo, Nzoigba Yeu Ngoli, Muke Massaku , Ingila Grima, Itambo Kambala Wa Mukina, Tshinyama Mpemba, and General de Division Yossa Yi Ayira,

19908-562: The Charter by the five permanent members of the Security Council : the United States, the United Kingdom, France, the Soviet Union and China — and by a majority of the other 46 nations. The first meetings of the General Assembly , with 51 nations represented, and the Security Council took place in London beginning in January 1946. Debates began at once, covering topical issues such as

20145-666: The Chinese Premier T. V. Soong signed the " Declaration by United Nations ", and the next day the representatives of twenty-two other nations added their signatures. During the war, the United Nations became the official term for the Allies. In order to join, countries had to sign the Declaration and declare war on the Axis powers . The October 1943 Moscow Conference resulted in the Moscow Declarations , including

20382-538: The Congo coup d'état . Although Mobutu succeeded in taking power, his position was soon threatened by the Stanleyville mutinies , also known as the Mercenaries' Mutinies, which were eventually suppressed. As a general rule, since that time, the armed forces have not intervened in politics as a body, rather being tossed and turned as ambitious men have shaken the country. In reality, the larger problem has been

20619-516: The Congo under the leadership of Moise Tshombe . The state also represented Belgian mining interests. The State of Katanga began establishing the agencies necessary for a state to function independently, with a constitution and ministers. Patrice Lumumba called for United Nations intervention to end various secession movements in the country. The UN "called upon" Belgium to leave the Congo in Resolution 143 adopted on July 14 that also authorized

20856-757: The Congo, most notably the Stanleyville mutinies in 1966 and 1967. After 1967, around 2,500 gendarmes were present in Angola, where they were reorganized as the Congolese National Liberation Front (FLNC) and fought in the Angolan War of Independence on the side of the Portuguese government against the Angolan nationalist movements of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and National Union for

21093-610: The Congo-Rhodesia border region would go into Rhodesian communities to barter for food and sometimes raid and steal supplies. Since most of the local Rhodesian residents were Lunda, many of the Lunda Katangese avoided the ANC security operations by simply disguising themselves in the indigenous communities. Tshombe's Katangese government had enjoyed close relations with the administrators of Portuguese Angola, particularly since both were opposed to communism. Nevertheless,

21330-439: The Congo. The mercenaries were expelled from Africa and returned to Europe. A brief diversionary raid was executed by Denard from November 1 to 5, 1967. Called "Operation Luciver", ex-gendarmes crossed from Angola to Katanga and occupied Kisenge and Mutshatsha before being defeated by the ANC. In the Congo, reprisal raids against former gendarmes then occurred; the ANC killed several of their leaders. "We cannot by any means support

21567-485: The Congolese forces to allow them "to meet fully their tasks". Lumumba demanded that Belgium remove its troops immediately, threatening to seek help from the Soviet Union if they did not leave within two days. The UN reacted quickly and established the United Nations Operation in the Congo (ONUC). The first UN troops arrived the next day but there was instant disagreement between Lumumba and the UN over

21804-413: The Congolese government and began to gradually withdraw from Katanga. The state still had support from several Belgian politicians, such as René Clemens , the author of Katanga's constitution, and George Thyssens , who had drafted the Katangese declaration of independence and continued to serve as an important adviser. Additionally, companies such as Union Minière du Haut Katanga maintained relations with

22041-462: The Congolese government. By April 1964 an additional 3,000–4,000 Katangese had crossed into Angola and joined the gendarmes, and Tshombe was directing the re-mobilization of the force. However, that year two leftist rebellions overtook the Congolese government; one in the Kwilu region and another in the east, waged by the " Simbas ." With the ANC lacking cohesion, Adoula's government was unable to handle

22278-481: The ECOSOC) assists the General Assembly in promoting international economic and social co-operation and development. It was established to serve as the UN's primary forum for global issues and is the largest and most complex UN body. The ECOSOC's functions include gathering data, conducting studies and advising and making recommendations to member states. Its work is carried out primarily by subsidiary bodies focused on

22515-490: The European mercenaries, the Gendarmerie moved additional troops to Élisabethville and began stockpiling weapons in private homes and offices for a defence. On September 13, 1961, ONUC launched Operation Morthor , a second attempt to expel remaining Belgians, without consulting any Western powers. The forces seized various outposts around Élisabethville, and attempted to arrest Tshombe. The operation quickly turned violent after

22752-487: The FAZ had to put down. The poor performance of Zaire's military during Shaba I gave evidence of chronic weaknesses. One problem was that some of the Zairian soldiers in the area had not received pay for extended periods. Senior officers often kept the money intended for the soldiers, typifying a generally disreputable and inept senior leadership in the FAZ. As a result, many soldiers simply deserted rather than fight. Others stayed with their units but were ineffective. During

22989-685: The FAZ's lack of fighting spirit. After the war, elements of the Mobutu-loyal FAZ managed to retreat into northern Congo, and from there into Sudan while attempting to escape the AFDL. Allying themselves with the Sudanese government which was fighting its own civil war at the time, these FAZ troops were destroyed by the Sudan People's Liberation Army during Operation Thunderbolt near Yei in March 1997. When Kabila took power in 1997,

23226-610: The FLNC was largely defeated by May 27. After the invasion failed, the FLNC lost Angola's support, and promptly collapsed. Some former gendarmes were incorporated into the Angolan army, where they were occasionally deployed militarily. Various groups were formed to succeed the FLNC, including the FAPAK, the MCS, and the FLNC II. The factions were divided by their goals. The Tigres were involved in

23463-549: The Gendarmerie had 7,000 members. The army was largely organized, led, and trained by Belgians who were former Force Publique officers; the first commander of the Gendarmerie was Jean-Marie Crèvecoeur , appointed on July 13. The majority of soldiers were Katangese. The forces were first called the "Katangese Armed Forces" in November 1960. Katanga also seized most of the assets of the Force Publique's air service, providing

23700-586: The Gendarmerie to be a criminal organization for the remainder of his rule. After the trial, all the gendarmes were referred to as 'mercenaries' by Congolese press. Tshombe's plans to use the remaining gendarmes and mercenaries to stage a rebellion were disrupted by the hijacking of his plane in June and ultimate detention in Algiers . A second wave of mutinies broke out on July 5, 1967, in Bukavu and Kisangani after it

23937-608: The Gendarmerie was reinforced with additional mercenaries, munitions, and aircraft. As tensions rose, gendarmes harassed UN officials and murdered an ONUC officer. Skirmishes occurred in early December, and the Gendarmerie began isolating ONUC detachments around Élisabethville via a series of large roadblocks. On 5 December 1961, ONUC launched Operation Unokat , aimed at ensuring freedom of movement for ONUC personnel. Reinforced by additional troops and aircraft, UN forces quickly secured Élisabethville and destroyed four Katangese planes. Approximately 80 gendarmes were killed and 250 wounded in

24174-535: The Gendarmerie, as the Central Intelligence Agency feared that "Katanga forces are likely to resort to guerrilla type operations and could severely harass UN forces for some time" if the situation was not resolved peacefully. It was suggested that the gendarmes could be integrated into the ANC, but Tshombe resisted such efforts, complicating negotiations. Tshombe stalled, drawing out negotiations until October 1962, when ONUC intelligence indicated

24411-479: The Gendarmerie. Writing in 1988, Michael Schatzberg said the full details of the coup had yet to emerge. Meitho, writing many years later, says the officers were accused of trying to raise Mobutu's secrétaire particulier , Colonel Omba Pene Djunga, from Kasai, to power. In late 1975, Mobutu, in a bid to install a pro- Kinshasa government in Angola and thwart the Marxist Popular Movement for

24648-735: The Gendarmes were preparing for war. "There would have been no fighting at all [in Katanga] if the Katangese Gendarmerie had not made it unavoidable by indulging in senseless firing for several days." Statement by Secretary-General Thant before the UN Security Council on 31 December concerning ONUC's actions in Katanga On 24 December 1962, Katangese forces in Élisabethville attacked ONUC troops with small arms fire and shot down an unarmed ONUC helicopter. Firing continued over

24885-420: The General Assembly by its six main committees: As well as by the following two committees: The Security Council is charged with maintaining peace and security among nations. While other organs of the UN can only make recommendations to member states, the Security Council has the power to make binding decisions that member states have agreed to carry out, under the terms of Charter Article 25. The decisions of

25122-561: The Katangese Air Force's single remaining Fouga to strafe and bomb ONUC positions. Gendarmes led by European officers besieged an Irish detachment in Jadotville and defeated UN relief efforts. Supporters of Katanga then began a propaganda campaign accusing ONUC of various human rights violations, and there were reports of UN attacks on civilian institutions. As Hammarskjöld flew to Ndola to meet with Tshombe and negotiate

25359-604: The Katangese forces in the Congo were still serving in the ANC in standalone units. About 1,000 mercenaries and 3,000 former gendarmes were deployed in South Kivu and Kisangani (formerly Stanleyville), tasked with suppressing the remaining Simba rebels. They were militarily effective, but retained significant political distance from Mobutu's new regime and had tense relations with the regular ANC units. In July 1966 roughly 3,000 gendarmes and 240 mercenaries, upset about irregular pay, rebelled in Kisangani . Led by Tshipola, since made

25596-409: The Katangese government announced that it would begin an offensive to eliminate the Baluba opposition in northern Katanga. Approximately 5,000 troops were earmarked for the operation, which focused on a northward offensive from Lubudi . At the same time, they were to recapture the town of Manono , secure the area south of it, and launch attacks on Kabalo from Albertville to the east and Kongolo to

25833-455: The Katangese government increased recruitment efforts. Three Fouga trainer aircraft were also acquired. In August, most of the Belgian officers returned to Belgium, and mercenaries began training many of the soldiers. From its formation the force struggled with divisions between various white and black commanders. Belgian officers also protested the recruitment of Frenchmen. Though South Africa officially denied Katangese requests for arms, there

26070-544: The Katangese to dispel mercenaries from its forces led ONUC to begin Operation Rum Punch in late August 1961 to peacefully arrest foreign members of the Gendarmerie. The operation was conducted successfully without violence, and by its end 81 foreign personnel of the Katangese Gendarmerie had been arrested in Katanga and brought to Kamina base to await deportation. Most of the remaining Belgian mercenaries reported to their consulate in Élisabethville. In addition to

26307-402: The Katangese, Belgium organized hundreds of Europeans to fight with Katanga as mercenaries. At the same time the United Nations attempted to suppress foreign support to the Gendarmerie; 338 mercenaries and 443 political advisers were expelled from the region by August. That same month, war veterans were first honored by the Katangese government. Dead soldiers were also remembered in ceremonies at

26544-786: The League. When war broke out in 1939 , the League effectively closed down. The first step towards the establishment of the United Nations was the Inter-Allied Conference in London that led to the Declaration of St James's Palace on 12 June 1941. By August 1941, American President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had drafted the Atlantic Charter ; which defined goals for

26781-620: The Liberation of Angola (MPLA)'s drive for power, deployed FAZ armoured cars, paratroopers, and three infantry battalions to Angola in support of the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA). On 10 November 1975, an anti-Communist force made up of 1,500 FNLA fighters, 100 Portuguese Angolan soldiers, and two FAZ battalions passed near the city of Quifangondo, only 30 kilometres (19 mi) north of Luanda , at dawn on 10 November. The force, supported by South African aircraft and three 140 mm artillery pieces, marched in

27018-617: The Ministry of Defence, Italians were supporting the Air Force, Americans were assisting with transport and communications, Israelis with airborne forces training, and there were British advisors with the engineers. In 1972 the state-sponsored political organisation, the Mouvement Populaire de la Révolution (MPR), resolved at a party congress to form activist cells in each military unit. The decision caused consternation among

27255-575: The Portuguese were initially overwhelmed by the large number of gendarmes and mercenaries that arrived under Schramme. As the Congolese government had given backing to the National Liberation Front of Angola , a nationalist anti-colonial rebel group, the Portuguese concluded that the gendarmes could serve as a counterweight to nationalist agitation and accommodated them in Luso . As more gendarmes gathered in Angola in late 1963, additional camps were established at Cazambo, Cazage, Lutai, and Lunguebungo. Mindful of

27492-735: The RCD-Goma received the Land Force commander's position (Sylvain Buki) and the MLC the navy ( Dieudonne Amuli Bahigwa ). Three military regional commanders were nominated by the former Kinshasa government, two commanders each by the RCD-Goma and the MLC, and one region commander each by the RCD-K/ML and RCD-N. However these appointments were announced for Kabila's Forces armées congolaises (FAC), not

27729-510: The Shaba Wars. The Katanga Province had been renamed Shaba Province during the rule of Mobutu, when the Congo was known as Zaire . Shaba I began on March 8, 1977, when ex-gendarmes invaded the province. Western nations came to the aid of Mobutu, and the invasion was crushed by May 26, 1977. On May 11, 1978, a second invasion, known as Shaba II began. About 3,000 to 4,000 FLNC members were involved. Western nations again supported Mobutu, and

27966-563: The Soviet Union, and the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement on 27 July 1953. On 29 November 1947, the General Assembly approved resolution 181 , a proposal to partition Palestine into two state, with Jerusalem placed under a special international regime. The plan failed and a civil war broke out in Palestine, that led to the creation of the state of Israel afterward. Two years later, Ralph Bunche ,

28203-580: The Soviet Union, before all the issues were resolved. By 1 March 1945, 21 additional states had signed the Declaration by the United Nations. After months of planning, the UN Conference on International Organization opened in San Francisco on 25 April 1945. It was attended by 50 nations' governments and a number of non-governmental organizations. The delegations of the Big Four chaired

28440-649: The Soviet Union, met and discussed the idea of a post-war international organization. The new international organisation was formulated and negotiated amongst the delegations from the Allied Big Four at the Dumbarton Oaks Conference from 21 September to 7 October 1944. They agreed on proposals for the aims, structure and functioning of the new organization. It took the conference at Yalta in February 1945, and further negotiations with

28677-681: The Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). When the war ended in 1975, they fought in the Angolan Civil War against the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA). The FLNC was involved in the Shaba I and II attempted invasions of Katanga. Split into factions after the war, the tigres emerged and played a decisive role in the First Congo War . There has since been little gendarme presence, but they have emerged as

28914-404: The UN and Katanga rapidly deteriorated in early September, and Katangese forces were placed on alert. Growing frustrated with Katanga's lack of cooperation and its continued employ of mercenaries, several ONUC officials planned a more forceful operation to establish their authority in Katanga. With the ultras in command and with its African members fearing their own disarmament in addition to that of

29151-554: The UN authorized a US-led coalition that repulsed Iraq's invasion of Kuwait . Brian Urquhart , the under-secretary-general of the UN from 1971 to 1985, later described the hopes raised by these successes as a "false renaissance" for the organization, given the more troubled missions that followed. Beginning in the last decades of the Cold War , critics of the UN condemned the organization for perceived mismanagement and corruption. In 1984, American President Ronald Reagan withdrew

29388-412: The UN established the United Nations Operation in the Congo (or UNOC), the largest military force of its early decades, to bring order to Katanga , restoring it to the control of the Democratic Republic of the Congo by 11 May 1964. While travelling to meet rebel leader Moise Tshombe during the conflict, Dag Hammarskjöld , often named as one of the UN's most effective secretaries-general, died in

29625-624: The UN had 51 member states ; as of 2024 , it has 193 sovereign states , nearly all of the world's recognized sovereign states. The UN's mission to preserve world peace was complicated in its initial decades due in part to Cold War tensions that existed between the United States and Soviet Union and their respective allies. Its mission has included the provision of primarily unarmed military observers and lightly armed troops charged with primarily monitoring, reporting and confidence-building roles. UN membership grew significantly following

29862-488: The UN itself and operate with almost complete independence from it". These include specialized agencies, research and training institutions, programmes and funds and other UN entities. All organizations in the UN system obey the Noblemaire principle , which calls for salaries that will attract and retain citizens of countries where compensation is highest, and which ensures equal pay for work of equal value regardless of

30099-529: The UN's focus on promoting development, peacekeeping, human rights and global security. The Sustainable Development Goals (or SDGs) were launched in 2015 to succeed the Millennium Development Goals. In addition to addressing global challenges, the UN has sought to improve its accountability and democratic legitimacy by engaging more with civil society and fostering a global constituency. In an effort to enhance transparency, in 2016

30336-465: The UN's primary mandate was peacekeeping , the division between the United States and the Soviet Union often paralysed the organization; generally allowing it to intervene only in conflicts distant from the Cold War . Two notable exceptions were a Security Council resolution on 7 July 1950 authorizing a US-led coalition to repel the North Korean invasion of South Korea , passed in the absence of

30573-527: The UN, 16 of them from Africa. On 25 October 1971, with opposition from the United States, but with the support of many Third World nations, the People's Republic of China was given the Chinese seat on the Security Council in place of the Republic of China (also known as Taiwan). The vote was widely seen as a sign of waning American influence in the organization. Third World nations organized themselves into

30810-594: The United Nations and the Congolese Government on the operation of the Force was agreed by 27 July. On 9 August, Albert Kalonji proclaimed the independence of South Kasai . During the crucial period of July–August 1960, Mobutu built up "his" national army by channeling foreign aid to units loyal to him, by exiling unreliable units to remote areas, and by absorbing or dispersing rival armies. He tied individual officers to him by controlling their promotion and

31047-580: The United Nations can establish various specialized agencies to fulfill its duties. Specialized agencies are autonomous organizations working with the United Nations and each other through the coordinating machinery of the Economic and Social Council. Each was integrated into the UN system through an agreement with the UN under UN Charter article 57. There are fifteen specialized agencies, which perform functions as diverse as facilitating international travel, preventing and addressing pandemics, and promoting economic development. The United Nations system includes

31284-472: The United Nations troops. Following assurances that contingents of the Force would arrive in sufficient numbers, the Belgian authorities agreed to withdraw all their forces from the Leopoldville area by 23 July. The last Belgian troops left the country by 23 July, as United Nations forces continued to deploy throughout the Congo. The build of ONUC continued, its strength increasing to over 8,000 by 25 July and to over 11,000 by 31 July 1960. A basic agreement between

31521-421: The United States' funding from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (or UNESCO) over allegations of mismanagement, followed by the United Kingdom and Singapore. Boutros Boutros-Ghali , the secretary-general from 1992 to 1996, initiated a reform of the Secretariat, somewhat reducing the size of the organisation. His successor, Kofi Annan , initiated further management reforms in

31758-436: The United States, and the UN has other offices in Geneva , Nairobi , Vienna , and The Hague , where the International Court of Justice is headquartered at the Peace Palace . The UN was established after World War II with the aim of preventing future world wars , and succeeded the League of Nations , which was characterized as being ineffective. On 25 April 1945, 50 nations assembled in San Francisco , California, for

31995-520: The actual capability of the armed forces at the time. Apart from privileged formations such as the Presidential Division and the 31st Airborne Brigade, most units were poorly trained, divided and so badly paid that they regularly resorted to looting. What operational abilities the armed forces had were gradually destroyed by politicisation of the forces, tribalisation, and division of the forces, included purges of suspectedly disloyal groups, intended to allow Mobutu to divide and rule. All this occurred against

32232-436: The airstrip in the town but were promptly arrested by the ONUC troops. Katangese forces moving by land attacked ONUC soldiers and fought with BALUBAKAT militia. The next day they sent an armed ferry up the river to seize the town, but ONUC forces destroyed it with a mortar, inflicting heavy casualties. The ONUC garrison played no further role in the fighting after 8 April. The Katangese made numerous attempts to enter Kabalo during

32469-403: The anti-Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army are also present. The legal standing of the FARDC was laid down in the Transitional Constitution, articles 118 and 188. This was then superseded by provisions in the 2006 Constitution, articles 187 to 192. Law 04/023 of 12 November 2004 establishes the General Organisation of Defence and the Armed Forces. In mid-2010, the Congolese Parliament was debating

32706-413: The army." United Nations Security Council Resolution 161 of 21 February 1961, called for the withdrawal of Belgian officers from command positions in the ANC, and the training of new Congolese officers with UN help. ONUC made a number of attempts to retrain the ANC from August 1960 to June 1963, often been set back by political changes. By March 1963 however, after the visit of Colonel Michael Greene of

32943-402: The arrests, two Sikorsky helicopters, three Aloutte helicopters, three Dakotas , four Doves , and two Herons of the Katangese Air Force were seized. The Belgian government agreed facilitate the repatriation of its nationals serving in the Gendarmerie, but in practice was only able to order the former Force Publique officers to return to Belgium under threat of losing their official ranks in

33180-400: The arrival of mercenary units (seemingly including the hurriedly formed 5th Mechanised Brigade) at Stanleyville which was quickly captured. It took until the end of the year to completely put down the remaining areas of rebellion during " Operation South ". After five years of turbulence, in 1965 Mobutu used his position as ANC Chief of Staff to seize power in the 1965 Democratic Republic of

33417-510: The assembly gathers at annual sessions at the General Assembly Hall , but emergency sessions can be summoned. The assembly is led by a president , elected by the member states on a rotating regional basis, and 21 vice-presidents. The first session convened on 10 January 1946 in the Methodist Central Hall in London and comprised representatives of 51 nations. When the General Assembly decides on seminal questions such as those on peace and security, admission of new members and budgetary matters,

33654-447: The background of increasing deterioration of state structures under the kleptocratic Mobutu regime. Much of the origins of the recent conflict in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo stems from the turmoil following the Rwandan genocide of 1994, which then led to the Great Lakes refugee crisis . Within the largest refugee camps, beginning in Goma in Nord-Kivu, were Rwandan Hutu fighters, who were eventually organised into

33891-412: The basis of the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations , the UN and its agencies are immune from the laws of the countries where they operate, safeguarding the UN's impartiality with regard to host and member countries. Below the six organs are, in the words of the author Linda Fasulo, "an amazing collection of entities and organizations, some of which are actually older than

34128-470: The body's former headquarters in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands , making it the only principal organ not based in New York City. The ICJ's main function is adjudicating disputes among nations. Examples of issues they have heard include war crimes, violations of state sovereignty and ethnic cleansing. The court can also be called upon by other UN organs to provide advisory opinions on matters of international law. All UN member states are parties to

34365-436: The camps had become dedicated training facilities. Mercenaries traveled from Katanga to Angola via Rhodesia to relay messages between Tshombe, the gendarmes, and the mercenaries, with logistical support from Southern Rhodesia . From exile, Tshombe continued to plot his return to power in Katanga by use of the mercenaries and ex-gendarmes. He made entreaties to leftist Congolese dissidents in Brazzaville, causing consternation in

34602-438: The century prior to the UN's creation, several international organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross were formed to ensure protection and assistance for victims of armed conflict and strife. During World War I , several major leaders, especially U.S. President Woodrow Wilson , advocated for a world body to guarantee peace. The winners of the war, the Allies , met to decide on formal peace terms at

34839-492: The city and looted the local bank. They were attacked by Swedish and Ghanaian troops two or three kilometers northeast of Kamina the following day, and defeated. The Katangese Gendamerie conducted a disorganised withdrawal to two camps southeast of the locale. The Swedes successfully took several gendarmerie camps and began working to stabilise the situation. Late that night a company of Indian Rajputana Rifles encountered entrenched gendarmes and mercenaries along Jadotville Road and

35076-458: The colony to the government of Belgium as the Belgian Congo . It remained under the command of a Belgian officer corps through to the independence of the colony in 1960. Throughout 1916 and 1917, the Force Publique saw combat in Cameroun , and successfully invaded and conquered areas of German East Africa , notably present day Rwanda , during World War I. Elements of the Force Publique were also used to form Belgian colonial units that fought in

35313-459: The conflict. On 8 January, Tshombe reappeared in Élisabethville. The same day Prime Minister Adoula received a letter from the chiefs of the most prominent Kantangese tribes pledging allegiance to the Congolese government and calling for Tshombe's arrest. Thant expressed interest in negotiating with Tshombe, saying "If we could convince [Tshombe] that there is no more room for maneuvering and bargaining, and no one to bargain with, he would surrender and

35550-474: The council are known as United Nations Security Council resolutions . The Security Council is made up of fifteen member states: five permanent members (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) and ten non-permanent members (currently Algeria , Ecuador , Guyana , Japan , Malta , Mozambique , the Republic of Korea , Sierra Leone , Slovenia and Switzerland ). The five permanent members hold veto power over UN resolutions, allowing

35787-462: The country instead of keeping them close to Kinshasa, as had previously been the case. The Kamanyola Division , at the time considered the army's best formation, and considered the president's own, was assigned permanently to Shaba . In addition to these changes, the army's strength was reduced by 25 percent. Also, Zaire's allies provided a large influx of military equipment, and Belgian, French, and American advisers assisted in rebuilding and retraining

36024-444: The country was renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo and so the name of the national army changed once again, to the Forces armées congolaises (FAC). Tanzania sent six hundred military advisors to train Kabila's new army in May 1997. (Prunier says that the instructors were still at the Kitona base when the Second Congo War broke out, and had to be quickly returned to Tanzania. Prunier said "South African aircraft carried out

36261-430: The country, with the main concentrations in Shaba Region (approximately half the force). The Kamanyola Division, consisting of three infantry brigades operated generally in western Shaba Region; the 21st Infantry Brigade was located in Lubumbashi ; the 13th Infantry Brigade was deployed throughout eastern Shaba; and at least one battalion of the 31st Airborne Brigade stayed at Kamina . The other main concentration of forces

36498-437: The country. At the same time, on 11 July, Moise Tshombe declared the independence of Katanga Province in the south-east, closely backed by remaining Belgian administrators and soldiers. On 14 July 1960, in response to requests by Prime Minister Lumumba, the UN Security Council adopted United Nations Security Council Resolution 143 . This called upon Belgium to remove its troops and for the UN to provide military assistance to

36735-526: The creation of the United Nations Operation in the Congo (ONUC), a multinational peacekeeping force aimed at helping "the Congolese government restore and maintain the political independence and territorial integrity of the Congo." By the end of July, 8,400 UN troops had been deployed to the Congo. Dag Hammarskjöld , the Secretary-General of the United Nations , and Ralph Bunche , his special representative , believed that engaging in Katanga would result in fighting, and refused to allow peacekeepers to enter

36972-431: The departure of many mercenary commanders, and the increasing strength of Mobutu. The gendarmes were instead deployed by the Portuguese government in the Eastern Military Zone, where they were led by Nathaniel Mbumba and fought the Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (MPLA) and União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola (UNITA) during the Angolan War of Independence . The Portuguese had high respect for

37209-401: The eastern Congo and declared a rival regime to the central government in Léopoldville . “During the entire month of August, a veritable race against the clock took place with the objective, for Tshombe and his advisers, of building a more or less efficient Katangan gendarmery before the eventual withdrawal of the Belgian troops.”— Belgian historian Jules Gérard-Libois In order to develop

37446-420: The eighth secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon , the UN intervened with peacekeepers in crises such as the War in Darfur in Sudan and the Kivu conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and sent observers and chemical weapons inspectors to the Syrian Civil War . In 2013, an internal review of UN actions in the final battles of the Sri Lankan Civil War in 2009 concluded that the organization had suffered

37683-405: The employee's nationality. In practice, the International Civil Service Commission , which governs the conditions of UN personnel, takes reference to the highest-paying national civil service. Staff salaries are subject to an internal tax that is administered by the UN organizations. The General Assembly is the primary deliberative assembly of the UN. Composed of all UN member states ,

37920-424: The end of the Cold War and Mobutu deliberately allowed the military's condition to deteriorate so that it did not threaten his hold on power. Protesting low wages and lack of pay, paratroopers began looting Kinshasa in September 1991 and were only stopped after intervention by French ('Operation Baumier') and Belgian ('Operation Blue Beam') forces. In 1993, according to the Library of Congress Country Studies ,

38157-510: The end of the Katangese secession in January 1963. After the dissolution of the secessionist state, many gendarmes returned to civilian life or were integrated into the Congolese Army. However, around 8,000 refused to do so, and many of these kept their arms and roamed North Rhodesia , Angola and Katanga. Many crossed the Congo border into Angola (then a Portuguese colony) where Portuguese colonial authorities assisted and trained them. They were involved in several mutinies and attempted invasions of

38394-424: The establishing of a new " Province of Lualaba " that extended throughout the region. The ONUC contingents were completely surprised by the takeover in Manono. Tshombe and his government accused ONUC of collaborating with the Stanleyville regime and declared that they would no longer respect the neutral zone. By late January groups of Baluba were launching attacks on railways. UN officials appealed for them to stop, but

38631-416: The evacuation after a personal conversation between President Mkapa and not-yet-president Thabo Mbeki. Command over the armed forces in the first few months of Kabila's rule was vague. Gérard Prunier writes that "there was no minister of defence, no known chief of staff, and no ranks; all officers were Cuban-style 'commanders' called 'Ignace', 'Bosco', Jonathan', or 'James', who occupied connecting suites at

38868-423: The exploits of the native Katangese gendarmes were widely celebrated, though some soldiers became disgruntled over the fact that they did not control the army like the foreign personnel. A formal agreement between Katanga and the UN ensured the exchange of prisoners and forced ONUC to relinquish some of its positions in Élisabethville. With his government threatened by the UN's failure, Adoula ordered two battalions of

39105-437: The face of threats from the US to withhold its UN dues. Though the UN Charter had been written primarily to prevent aggression by one nation against another, in the early 1990s the UN faced several simultaneous, serious crises within Somalia, Haiti, Mozambique, and the nations that previously made up Yugoslavia. The UN mission in Somalia was widely viewed as a failure after the United States' withdrawal following casualties in

39342-445: The failure of UN mediation in conflicts in the Middle East , Vietnam , and Kashmir , the UN increasingly shifted its attention to its secondary goals of economic development and cultural exchange. By the 1970s, the UN budget for social and economic development was far greater than its peacekeeping budget. After the Cold War, the UN saw a radical expansion in its peacekeeping duties, taking on more missions in five years than it had in

39579-499: The far side of the river, occupying Jadotville. Muké attempted to organise a defence of the town, but Katangese forces were in disarray, completely caught off-guard by the UN troops' advance. UN forces briefly stayed in Jadotville to regroup before advancing on Kolwezi, Sakania, and Dilolo . Between 31 December 1962 and 4 January 1963, international opinion rallied in favour of the ONUC. Belgium and France strongly urged Tshombe to accept Thant's Plan for National Reconciliation and resolve

39816-510: The fighting. Military pressure applied by the operation forced Tshombe to agree to negotiate with Adoula. Tshombe signed the Kitona Declaration on 21 December 1961, agreeing that Katanga was part of the Congo, and announcing plans to re-integrate the state with the Congo. Even as negotiations were in progress, the Gendarmerie continued to skirmish with the ANC. Throughout the year, the ANC made continuous inroads in North Katanga. The United States began increasing efforts in retraining or reorganizing

40053-476: The five principal organs are located at the main UN Headquarters in New York City, while the International Court of Justice is seated in The Hague . Most other major agencies are based in the UN offices at Geneva , Vienna , and Nairobi , and additional UN institutions are located throughout the world. The six official languages of the UN, used in intergovernmental meetings and documents, are Arabic , Chinese , English , French , Russian and Spanish . On

40290-446: The flow of money for payrolls. Researchers working from the 1990s have concluded that money was directly funnelled to the army by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency , the United Nations , and Belgium . Despite this, by September 1960, following the four-way division of the country, there were four separate armed forces: Mobotu's ANC itself, numbering about 12,000, the South Kasai Constabulary loyal to Albert Kalonji (3,000 or less),

40527-471: The following days, but were bogged down by heavy resistance from Baluba militia. On 11 April Katangese troops withdrew from the area to focus their operations further south. The captured mercenaries were interrogated by UN officials, and revealed to ONUC the extent to which Katanga had been recruiting mercenaries in southern Africa; and that recruiting stations were present in both the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland and South Africa. Following questioning,

40764-437: The following days. After conversation with UN officials, Tshombe made an initial promise to end the fighting, but he subsequently ordered the Katangese Air Force to raid ONUC positions. Radio intercepts also revealed to the UN that Muké had ordered the air force to bomb the Élisabethville airport on the night of 29 December. With the failure to enact a ceasefire, Major General Dewan Prem Chand of India convinced Thant to authorise

41001-410: The following: The "laborious" discussions which then followed were later retrospectively given the label of an "extraordinary ministerial council." Gérard-Libois writes that "...the special meeting of the council of ministers took steps for the immediate Africanisation of the officer corps and named Victor Lundula , who was born in Kasai and was burgomaster of Jadotville , as Commander-in-Chief of

41238-479: The force. Despite these improvements, a second invasion by the former Katangan gendarmerie, known as Shaba II in May–June 1978, was only dispersed with the despatch of the French 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment and a battalion of the Belgian Paracommando Regiment . Kamanyola Division units collapsed almost immediately. French units fought the Battle of Kolwezi to recapture the town from the FLNC. The U.S. provided logistical assistance. In July 1975, according to

41475-409: The gendarmerie would collapse." Tshombe soon expressed his willingness to negotiate after being briefly detained and released, but warned that any advance on Kolwezi would result in the enactment of a scorched earth policy. Tshombe fled to Northern Rhodesia on a Rhodesian Air Force plane, and managed to reach Kolwezi, the only significant location that remained under Katangese control. On 12 January

41712-433: The gendarmes' abilities— they were called Fiéis or "the faithful". However, historian Pedro Aires Oliveira notes that the gendarmes cared more about fighting the Democratic Republic of the Congo than participating in the Angolan war and as a result were closely watched by the Portuguese authorities. 1,130 ex-gendarmes were deployed at Gafaria, and a further 1,555 at Camissombo. Some of the gendarmes were also given bounties by

41949-461: The immediate departure of all foreign military personnel and mercenaries from the country, though the use of force was not authorised to carry out the measure. Therefore, force could only be used to remove foreign soldiers and mercenaries if it was justified under the reasoning that such action would be necessary to prevent civil war. By February 1961 the Gendarmerie was composed of around 8,600 soldiers—8,000 Katangese and 600 Europeans. On 11 February,

42186-420: The installation's facilities. Further sorties resulted in the destruction of seven Katangese aircraft, though the Katangese Air Force managed to evacuate several planes to Portuguese Angola . The Air Force remained grounded for the rest of the operation. At midday an ONUC formation advanced down the Kipushi road to sever the Katangese lines to Rhodesia. Gendarmes were well positioned in wooded heights overlooking

42423-509: The insurrections. These gendarmes, expecting to reignite the secession, were surprised by their new task and only took orders directly from Tshombe. Some of the units also clashed with one another, due to rivalries between Katangese and mercenary officers. A couple thousand remained in Angola. Tsombe's government also recruited former gendarmes in Jadotville and Élisabethville, who reenlisted primarily to regain their pay. These forces formed their own units which were then tendentiously integrated into

42660-420: The insurrections. Tshombe was invited to return to the Congo to assist in negotiating a political solution, and in July 1964 he was installed as Prime Minister with the hope that he could reach an agreement with the rebels and that his presence would ensure no new secession attempts in Katanga. Immediately after becoming Prime Minister, Tshombe recalled some of the gendarmes in Angola back to the Congo to suppress

42897-498: The intentions of their subordinates were deeply embarrassed by the violence, which troubled Western powers who had supported the UN. Realising that the UN was in a precarious situation, Katangese leaders encouraged the Gendarmerie to increase its efforts and the conflict intensified over the following days. Strengthened with weapons provided by Rhodesia, the gendarmes launched mortar and sniper assaults on ONUC troops in Élisabethville, attacked ONUC garrisons throughout Katanga, and deployed

43134-588: The international ramifications of harbouring an armed group, the Portuguese portrayed the gendarmes and mercenaries as "refugees". While most of the standard personnel lived in squalor and lacked basic necessities, the officers were kept in hotel rooms paid for by Tshombe. Many were not paid while in exile. A new command structure was established for the Gendarmerie in Angola under Major Ferdinand Tshipola with Antoine Mwambu as chief of staff. Four groups operated autonomously under their own mercenary commanders. Schramme completely rejected Tshipola's authority. By 1964, two of

43371-401: The inventory has traditionally varied, depending on a unit's priority and the presence or absence of foreign advisers and technicians. A considerable portion of military equipment is not operational, primarily as a result of shortages of spare parts, poor maintenance, and theft. For example, the tanks of the 1st Armoured Brigade often have a nonoperational rate approaching 70 to 80 percent. After

43608-399: The largest gathering of world leaders in history, and it culminated in the adoption by all member states of the Millennium Development Goals (or MDGs), a commitment to achieve international development in areas such as poverty reduction , gender equality and public health . Progress towards these goals, which were to be met by 2015, was ultimately uneven. The 2005 World Summit reaffirmed

43845-410: The last having been commander of the Kamina base, were all retired on 25 July 1972. Taking over as military commander-in-chief, now titled Captain General, was newly promoted General de Division Bumba Moaso , former commander of the parachute division. A large number of countries supported the FAZ in the early 1970s. Three hundred Belgian personnel were serving as staff officers and advisors throughout

44082-427: The last intact bridge into Kolwezi. After a brief fight with gendarmes and mercenaries they secured it and crossed over, stopping at the city outskirts to await further instruction. At a final meeting with his mercenary commanders, Tshombe ordered all remaining Katangese armed forces to withdraw to Portuguese Angola. Mercenary Jean Schramme was appointed to be commander of an army in exile, while mercenary Jeremiah Puren

44319-470: The later FARDC. However, troop deployment on the ground did not change substantially until the year afterward. On 24 January 2004, a decree created the Structure Militaire d'Intégration (SMI, Military Integration Structure). Together with the SMI, CONADER also was designated to manage the combined tronc commun DDR element and military reform programme. The first post-Sun City military law appears to have been passed on 12 November 2004, which formally created

44556-481: The logistic network but also are expensive. The most important factor that negatively affects maintenance is the low and irregular pay that soldiers receive, resulting in the theft and sale of spare parts and even basic equipment to supplement their meager salaries. When not stealing spare parts and equipment, maintenance personnel often spend the better part of their duty day looking for other ways to profit. American maintenance teams working in Zaire found that providing

44793-442: The mercenaries were transferred to Léopoldville before being deported from the Congo to Brazzaville . The capture of the mercenaries was given a great deal of public attention and indicated that British nationals had been working in Katanga's employ. Due to the action of the ONUC garrison, Kabalo remained the only major town in northern Katanga not controlled by the Katangese Gendarmerie at the conclusion of their offensive. Though ONUC

45030-399: The mercenaries, with the assistance of other ANC troops, were making headway against the Simba rebellion. Fearing defeat, the rebels started taking hostages of the local white population in areas under their control. These hostages were rescued in Belgian airdrops (Operations Dragon Rouge and Dragon Noir ) over Stanleyville and Paulis airlifted by U.S. aircraft. The operation coincided with

45267-442: The mid-1990s that "[m]ajor acts of violence, such as the killings that followed the "Kasongo uprising" in Bandundu Region in 1978, the killings of diamond miners in Kasai-Oriental Region in 1979, and, more recently, the massacre of students in Lubumbashi in 1990, continued to intimidate the population." The authors of the Library of Congress Country Study on Zaire commented in 1992–93 that: "The maintenance status of equipment in

45504-453: The military attaché of Zaïre in Paris, the military attache in Brussels, a paracommando battalion commander, and several others. The regime alleged these officers and others (including Mobutu's secrétaire particulier ) had plotted the assassination of Mobutu, high treason, and disclosure of military secrets, among other offences. The alleged coup was investigated by a revolutionary commission headed by Boyenge Mosambay Singa, at that time head of

45741-419: The military secondary school. The highest rank available to Congolese was adjutant , which only four soldiers achieved before independence. Though 14 Congolese cadets were enrolled in the Royal Military Academy in Brussels in May, they were not scheduled to graduate as second lieutenants until 1963. Ill-advised actions by Belgian officers led to an enlisted ranks' rebellion on 5 July 1960, which helped spark

45978-402: The misuse and sometimes abuse of the military and police by political and ethnic leaders. On 16 May 1968 a parachute brigade of two regiments (each of three battalions) was formed which eventually was to grow in size to a full division. The country was renamed Zaire in 1971 and the army was consequently designated the Forces Armées Zaïroises (FAZ). In 1971 the army's force consisted of

46215-506: The months following the Shaba invasion, Mobutu sought solutions to the military problems that had contributed to the army's dismal performance. He implemented sweeping reforms of the command structure, including wholesale firings of high-ranking officers. He merged the military general staff with his own presidential staff and appointed himself chief of staff again, in addition to the positions of minister of defence and supreme commander that he already held. He also redeployed his forces throughout

46452-407: The most-educated and highest-ranked Congolese army soldiers as their new officers. Most of the Belgian officers were retained as advisors to the new Congolese hierarchy, and calm returned to the two main garrisons at Leopoldville and Thysville . The Force Publique was renamed the Armée nationale congolaise (ANC), or Congolese National Armed Forces. However, in Katanga Belgian officers resisted

46689-420: The new force's mandate . Because the Congolese army had been in disarray since the mutiny, Lumumba wanted to use the UN troops to subdue Katanga by force. Lumumba became extremely frustrated with the UN's unwillingness to use force against Tshombe and his secession. He cancelled a scheduled meeting with Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld on 14 August and wrote a series of angry letters instead. To Hammarskjöld,

46926-512: The new national Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo (FARDC). Included in this law was article 45, which recognised the incorporation of a number of armed groups into the FARDC, including the former government army Forces Armées Congolaises (FAC), ex-FAZ personnel also known as former President Mobutu's 'les tigres', the RCD-Goma, RCD-ML, RCD-N, MLC, the Mai-Mai, as well as other government-determined military and paramilitary groups. United Nations The United Nations ( UN )

47163-420: The north. The Katangese Gendarmerie subsequently launched operations Banquise, Mambo, and Lotus against the BALUBAKAT rebels. In March the army seized Manono. The Gendarmerie then shifted their focus to Kabalo, where they chiefly intended to secure the railway. The town was garrisoned by two companies of an Ethiopian battalion serving with ONUC. On 7 April a Katangese plane carrying 30 mercenaries landed to secure

47400-462: The officer corps, as the army had been apolitical (and even anti-political) since before independence. On 11 June 1975 several military officers were arrested in what became known as the coup monté et manqué. Amongst those arrested were Générals Daniel Katsuva wa Katsuvira, Land Forces Chief of Staff, Utshudi Wembolenga, Commandant of the 2nd Military Region at Kalemie ; Fallu Sumbu, Military Attaché of Zaïre in Washington, Colonel Mudiayi wa Mudiayi,

47637-495: The operation the UN was able to confirm that Portuguese Angola, South Africa, and Northern Rhodesia had assisted the Katangese in arming their air force. After the defeat of the State of Katanga, plans to disarm or integrate the gendarmes were made. On 8 February 1963, General Muké and several of his officers pledged their allegiance to President Kasa-Vubu. However, of the estimated 14,000–17,000 gendarmes, only 3,500 registered for integration, and only around 2,000–3,000 became part of

47874-402: The organization are five principal organs established by the UN Charter: the General Assembly , the Security Council , the Economic and Social Council , the International Court of Justice and the UN Secretariat . A sixth principal organ, the Trusteeship Council , suspended its operations on 1 November 1994 upon the independence of Palau ; the last remaining UN trustee territory. Four of

48111-435: The organization held its first public debate between candidates for secretary-general. On 1 January 2017, Portuguese diplomat António Guterres , who had previously served as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees , became the ninth secretary-general. Guterres has highlighted several key goals for his administration, including an emphasis on diplomacy for preventing conflicts, more effective peacekeeping efforts, and streamlining

48348-411: The organization to be more responsive and versatile to international needs. On 13 June 2019, the UN signed a Strategic Partnership Framework with the World Economic Forum in order to "jointly accelerate" the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development . The United Nations is part of the broader UN System, which includes an extensive network of institutions and entities. Central to

48585-399: The outbreak of the war in 1998 the Army was ineffective and the DRC Government was forced to rely on assistance from Angola , Chad , Namibia and Zimbabwe . As well as providing expeditionary forces , these countries unsuccessfully attempted to retrain the DRC Army. North Korea and Tanzania also provided assistance with training. During the first year of the war the Allied forces defeated

48822-643: The peacekeeping units were too weak to exercise authority. Because the rebellion threatened Katanga's communications, partially-trained soldiers and policemen were dispatched in units of around 60 people to the region to exert Katangese control. The inexperienced troops often resorted to pillaging and burning settlements. Political scientist Crawford Young suggested that the tactics were intentional and represented "little more than terrorization carried out by indiscriminate reprisals against whole regions." On 7 January 1961 troops from Stanleyville occupied Manono in northern Katanga. Accompanying BALUBAKAT leaders declared

49059-417: The plenary meetings. Previously, Churchill had urged Roosevelt to restore France to its status of a major power after the liberation of Paris in August 1944. The drafting of the Charter of the United Nations was completed over the following two months, and it was signed on 26 June 1945 by the representatives of the 50 countries. The UN officially came into existence on 24 October 1945, upon ratification of

49296-429: The post, but over the years it has become accepted that the position shall be held for one or two terms of five years. The current secretary-general is António Guterres of Portugal, who replaced Ban Ki-moon in 2017. The International Court of Justice (or ICJ), sometimes known as the World Court, is the primary judicial organ of the UN. It is the successor to the Permanent Court of International Justice and occupies

49533-400: The post-war world. At the subsequent meeting of the Inter-Allied Council in London on 24 September 1941, the eight governments in exile of countries under Axis occupation , together with the Soviet Union and representatives of the Free French Forces , unanimously adopted adherence to the common principles of policy set forth by Britain and the United States. Roosevelt and Churchill met at

49770-440: The presence of Russian troops in Iranian Azerbaijan and British forces in Greece . British diplomat Gladwyn Jebb served as interim secretary-general. The General Assembly selected New York City as the site for the headquarters of the UN. Construction began on 14 September 1948 and the facility was completed on 9 October 1952. The Norwegian Foreign Minister, Trygve Lie , was the first elected UN secretary-general . Though

50007-406: The previous four decades. Between 1988 and 2000, the number of adopted Security Council resolutions more than doubled, and the peacekeeping budget increased by more than tenfold. The UN negotiated an end to the Salvadoran Civil War , launched a successful peacekeeping mission in Namibia , and oversaw democratic elections in post- apartheid South Africa and post- Khmer Rouge Cambodia. In 1991,

50244-418: The region. In reality, Katanga at the time had an ill-trained fighting force, mainly made up of dozens of Belgian officers. United Nations Security Council Resolution 146 , passed on August 9, supplemented Resolution 143 and stated that "the entry of the United Nations Force into the province of Katanga is necessary for the full implementation of the present resolution". However, the resolution also mandated that

50481-442: The requisite measure of force, if necessary," to remove all "foreign military and paramilitary personnel and political advisers not under the United Nations Command, and mercenaries". "Certainly every reasonable step should be taken to prevent the gendarmerie from becoming a lawless and undisciplined military organization." — United States Officer in Charge of U.N. Congo Affairs Charles S. Whitehouse Throughout October and November

50718-551: The route, but following heavy mortar bombardment they surrendered with little opposition. Other ONUC forces seized the town of Kipushi without facing any resistance. Tshombe ordered a determined resistance to ONUC, and threatened to blow up bridges and dams if the operation was not halted within 24 hours. In Kamina , the gendarmes had expected an attack on 30 December, but when one failed to occur they began to drink beer and fire flares at random, possibly to boost morale. Rogue bands of gendarmes subsequently conducted random raids around

50955-408: The secession of Katanga was an internal Congolese matter and the UN was forbidden to intervene by Article 2 of the United Nations Charter . Disagreements over what the UN force could and could not do continued throughout its deployment. A total of 3,500 troops for ONUC had arrived in the Congo by 20 July 1960. The first contingent of Belgian forces had left Leopoldville on 16 July upon the arrival of

51192-422: The seven groupements. In addition to these units, a tank battalion was reported to have formed by 1979. In January 1979 General de Division Mosambaye Singa Boyenge was named as both military region commander and Region Commissioner for Shaba. In 1984, a militarised police force, the Civil Guard , was formed. It was eventually commanded by Général d'armée Kpama Baramoto Kata . Thomas Turner wrote in

51429-412: The soldiers in the early 1970s. In February 1971 they were formally made part of the Portuguese irregular forces . By 1974 there were an estimated 2,400 gendarmes in 16 companies. During the Angolan Civil War (from 1975 to 2002), the FLNC, composed of ex-gendarmes called the " Tigres ", fought on the side of the MPLA against the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA). The FLNC was then involved in

51666-461: The soldiers, numerous ministers arrived at Camp Leopold with the aim of calming the situation. Both Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba and President Joseph Kasa-Vubu eventually arrived, and the soldiers listened to Kasa-Vubu "religiously." After his speech, Kasa-Vubu and the ministers present retired into the camp canteen to hear a delegation from the soldiers. Vanderstraeten says that, according to Joseph Ileo , their demands ( revendications ) included

51903-434: The state. Despite these interactions, the Belgian government gradually adopted a strategy of privately pressuring the Katangese to accept reintegration. Such efforts largely failed. Under pressure from the United States and United Nations, Belgium removed many of its forces from the region between August and September 1961. However, many officers remained, without official Belgian endorsement, or became mercenaries. To support

52140-514: The true masters of the army are not known. It is strategic. Please, let us drop the matter.' Kabila's new Forces armées congolaises were riven with internal tensions. The new FAC had Banyamulenge fighters from South Kivu, kadogo child soldiers from various eastern tribes, such as Thierry Nindaga, Safari Rwekoze, etc... [the mostly] Lunda Katangese Tigers of the former FNLC , and former FAZ personnel. Mixing these disparate and formerly warring elements together led to mutiny. On 23 February 1998,

52377-420: The two Kivu provinces, Orientale Province would form the second region, and Maniema and Kasai-Oriental provinces the third. Katanga and Équateur would fall under the fourth and fifth regions, respectively, while Kasai-Occidental and Bandundu would form the sixth region. Kinshasa and Bas-Congo would form the seventh and eighth regions, respectively. In November 1999 the Government attempted to form

52614-427: The war in 2002–2003. The December 2002 Global and All-Inclusive Agreement devoted Chapter VII to the armed forces. It stipulated that the armed forces chief of staff, and the chiefs of the army, air force, and navy were not to come from the same warring faction. The new "national, restructured and integrated" army would be made up from Kabila's government forces (the FAC), the RCD, and the MLC. Also stipulated in VII(b)

52851-469: The war, the Tigres were largely incorporated into the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo . The concept of the Tigres has emerged in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as a symbolic force representing secessionist thinking. Source: Small arms Machine guns Arm%C3%A9e Nationale Congolaise The Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ( French : Forces armées de la république démocratique du Congo [FARDC])

53088-416: The widespread decolonization in the 1960s. Since then, 80 former colonies have gained independence, including 11 trust territories that had been monitored by the Trusteeship Council . By the 1970s, the UN's budget for economic and social development programmes vastly exceeded its spending on peacekeeping . After the end of the Cold War in 1991, the UN shifted and expanded its field operations, undertaking

53325-404: The world stage. The office has evolved into a dual role of an administrator of the UN organization and a diplomat and mediator addressing disputes between member states and finding consensus to global issues . The secretary-general is appointed by the General Assembly, after being recommended by the Security Council, where the permanent members have veto power. There are no specific criteria for

53562-500: The world that the Katanga's secession is ended." He offered to return to Élisabethville to oversee the implementation of Thant's proposal for reunification if Prime Minister Adoula granted amnesty to himself and his government. At a press conference, Adoula accepted Tshombe's proposition and announced that what remained of the Katangese Gendarmerie would be integrated into the ANC. Total statistics on Katangese Gendarmerie and mercenary casualties from Operation Grandslam are unknown. Following

53799-487: Was able to retain control of the locale, it lacked the ability to patrol the surrounding area to intervene in further conflicts. Having been defeated, Katangese forces began punitive attacks on Baluba villages, opposed only by poorly armed bands of Baluba. In the resulting conflict both belligerents committed numerous atrocities. During the dissolution of the Lumumba Government , the Belgian government determined that their interests could be protected through negotiations with

54036-431: Was an important factor behind the FAC's poor performance, with soldiers frequently going unpaid and unfed while the Government purchased advanced weaponry which could not be operated or maintained. The defeats in 2000 are believed to have been the cause of President Kabila's assassination in January 2001. Following the assassination, Joseph Kabila assumed the presidency and was eventually successful in negotiating an end to

54273-425: Was announced on 19 August 2003 as the first move in military reform, superimposed on top of the various groups of fighters, government and former rebels. Negotiations had been ongoing since June 2003. Kabila was able to name the armed forces chief of staff, Lieutenant General Liwanga Mata , who previously served as navy chief of staff under Laurent Kabila. Kabila was able to name the air force commander ( John Numbi ),

54510-455: Was in and around Kinshasa: the 31st Airborne Brigade was deployed at N'djili Airport on the outskirts of the capital; the Special Presidential Division (DSP) resided adjacent to the presidential compound; and the 1st Armoured Brigade was at Mbanza-Ngungu (in Bas-Congo , approximately 120 kilometres (75 mi) southwest of Kinshasa). Finally the 41st Commando Brigade was at Kisangani . This superficially impressive list of units overstates

54747-603: Was maintaining contact with foreign mercenaries. Fearing arrest and claiming political persecution, he fled to Paris, France, in June 1963, eventually settling in Madrid, Spain. From there he developed plans with his gendarmerie commanders for a return to power, further complicating the central government's efforts to absorb the force. United Nations efforts at reconciliation were ended as ONUC focused on withdrawing its own forces from Katanga in December 1963. The ANC began raiding pro-secession communities, as gendarmes continued to roam Northern Rhodesia, Angola and Katanga. The gendarmes in

54984-436: Was ordered to evacuate what remained of the Katangese Air Force, along with necessary military equipment and the Katangese treasury. This was accomplished via air and railway. Rhodesian operatives assisted in smuggling the gold reserves out of the country. The last of Schramme's mercenaries and gendarmes were evacuated on 25 January. On 15 January, Tshombe sent a formal message to Thant, "I am ready to proclaim immediately before

55221-405: Was paid by the Belgian government under a technical assistance programme. There were also 30–40 officers of the Belgian Land Component officially on loan to the Katangese government who either held commands in the gendarmerie, staffed the Katangese Ministry of Defence, or served as advisers. Between 50 and 100 mercenaries of various nationalities were initially present, but over the course of 1961

55458-447: Was re-elected on 8 June 2021. The organization is financed by assessed and voluntary contributions from its member states. The UN, its officers, and its agencies have won multiple Nobel Peace Prizes , although other evaluations of its effectiveness have been contentious. Some commentators believe the organization to be a leader in peace and human development, while others have criticized it for ineffectiveness, bias, and corruption . In

55695-411: Was revealed that the ANC planned to disband its mercenary units. The mutinies were led by European mercenaries. An estimated 600 former gendarmes led by Schramme were present in Kisangani during the mutiny. Under pressure from the ANC, Schramme was forced to evacuate the city with 300 mercenaries and a few thousand gendarmes. They reached Bukavu, and a secessionist state was declared. A plan was proposed by

55932-474: Was suppressed in September with the assistance of units led by mercenary Bob Denard and Schramme. Following this, several ex-gendarmes—including members of the Katangese police—fled to Angola. In March 1967 Mobutu convened a military tribunal to try the ex-gendarmes responsible for the mutiny. Tshombe was also tried in absentia . The tribunal sentenced Tshombe to death and criminalized the Katangese Gendarmerie retrospectively as an "irregular army". Mobutu held

56169-571: Was that the RCD -N, RCD-ML, and the Mai-Mai would become part of the new armed forces. An intermediate mechanism for physical identification of the soldiers, and their origin, date of enrolment, and unit was also called for (VII(c)). It also provided for the creation of a Conseil Superieur de la Defense (Superior Defence Council) which would declare states of siege or war and give advice on security sector reform, disarmament/demobilization, and national defence policy. A decision on which factions were to name chiefs of staff and military regional commanders

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