Ireland The United Nations And The Congo

Now available in paperback! In 1961, Irish UN peacekeepers went into combat in the Congolese province of Katanga. It was the Irish Defense Forces' first experience of active service since 1923. Irish diplomat Conor Cruise O'Brien headed the UN mission in Katanga. Former chief of staff of the defense forces, Lt.Gen. Sean MacEoin, was in overall command of UN troops in the Congo. When Irish units suffered casualties and men were taken prisoner as the fighting in Katanga continued, the crisis facing Taoiseach Sean Lemass became the most delicate and dangerous chapter in Ireland's foreign relations since 1945. Based on a first-hand account of the fighting by an Irish cavalry officer, previously unseen UN archives, and the papers of UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold, this book covers 18 critical months, from July 1960 to December 1961, which almost tore the UN apart and which brought the realities of UN membership to Ireland. This book is an Irish diplomatic and military perspective on a defining moment in the history of the United Nations, the Cold War, and modern Africa. Author Commandant (ret.) Art Magennis served with the Irish Defence Forces from 1940 to 1979. He undertook two tours of duty in Congo and was second-in-command of the 35th Battalion's Armoured Car Group in Elisabethville, Katanga, in 1961. [Subject: History, Military History, United Nations, Irish Studies, African Studies]

The Irish soldier has never been a stranger to fighting the enemy with the odds stacked against him. The notion of charging into adversity has been a cherished part of Ireland’s military history. In September 1961, another chapter should have been written into the annals, but it is a tale that lay shrouded in dust for years. The men of A Company, Thirty-Fifth Irish Infantry Battalion, arrived in the Congo as a United Nations contingent to help keep the peace. For many it would be their first trip outside their native shores. Some of the troops were teenage boys, their army-issue hobnailed boots still unbroken. They had never heard a shot fired in anger. Others were experienced professional soldiers but were still not prepared for the action that was to take place. Led by Commandant Pat Quinlan, A Company found themselves tasked with protecting the European population at Jadotville, a small mining town in the southern Congolese province of Katanga. It fell to A Company to protect those who would later turn against them. On September 13th, 1961, the bright morning air of Jadotville was shattered by the sound of automatic gunfire. The men of A Company found their morning mass parade interrupted, and within minutes they went from holding rosaries to rifles as they entered the world of combat. This was to be no Srebrenica; though cut off and surrounded, the men of Jadotville held their ground and fought. This is their story.

This revealing book is based on the personal reminiscences of Irish Army veterans who served with the UN peacekeeping forces in the Congo from 1960 to 1964. In addition to tracking down foot soldiers, retired battalion commanders and journalists who covered the Congo, the author has also spoken to Belgians who were part of the pre-independence administration in the huge African colony, Swedish soldiers who played key roles as interpreters for Irish Army units, a Congolese clergyman and a Congolese journalist from Kinshasa. The book also takes a refreshing and controversial look at the Congo in the immediate wake of independence in mid-1960, after almost a century of Belgian rule. Here, published for the first time, are secret dossiers and previously unpublished photographs of military and civilian life in the newly independent Congo, which challenges the received understanding of such events as the Niemba massacre and the fighting to end the secession of Katanga, including the battle of Jadotville. The Irish Army in the Congo provides fascinating background to the development of UN peacekeeping missions around the world. This was the first major overseas mission in which Irish troops had ever been involved and the personal accounts gathered for this book shed valuable light on this chapter of Irish military history.

July 1960: The newly independent Congo is hit by the secession of its mineral rich-province Katanga, led by Moïse Tshombe and backed by Belgium and Britain. June 1961: Dr Conor Cruise O'Brien arrives in Katanga as Special Representative of United Nations Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld, his task (under a UN resolution) to arrest and repatriate the mercenaries and foreign interests propping up Tshombe. The consequences of this mission will prove fateful for all parties. This is the story of how a brilliant Irish diplomat found himself in Africa amid one of history's maelstroms. O'Brien reconstructs the complex, tragic, sometimes comic events of a drama in which he found himself controversially at centre stage. The result is history from the inside: a valuable study of 'the game of nations', and of the UN's unique functioning and malfunctioning.

This is a lively account of the first 15 years of Ireland's UN membership, by a former Irish diplomat who worked with prominent figures of the period.

The UN and Intra-State Conflict: Problematising the Normative Connection * Rethinking the UN Through Intra-State Peacekeeping: the Analytical Framework * The UN's Role in Historical Context: Impact of Structural Tensions and Thresholds * UN Peacekeeping in Intra-State Conflicts: Evolution of the Normative Basis * The UN in the Congo Conflict: ONUC * The UN On the Cyprus Conflict: UNFICYP * The UN in the Angola Conflict: UNAVEM * The UN in the Cambodia Conflict: UNTAC * Reflections on International Normative Change.