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Decades of post-colonial chaos

"Veni, Vidi, Vici, numquam reliquit - ego adduxit inimici mei !"

economy. These represented the first planks of the economic infrastructure of the

postwar American Lebensraum. "

"American Imperialism." 156
Wikipedia
*****
Belgian Congo (1960)

“ In the months leading up to independence, the Congolese elected a president, Joseph

Kasavubu, prime minister, Patrice Lumumba, a senate and assembly, and similar bodies
in the Congo's numerous provinces. The Eisenhower administration had high hopes that

the Republic of the Congo would form a stable, pro-Western, central government. Those
hopes vanished in a matter of days as the newly independent nation descended into
chaos.

***
Reports from Lawrence Devlin, the CIA Chief of Station in Leopoldville (Kinshasa),

described the situation in the Congo as a classic communist takeover. The reports,
coupled with the arrival of Soviet bloc technicians and matériel, convinced members of
the national security team that Lumumba had to be removed. A flurry of U.S. diplomatic

activity in support of unseating Lumumba ensued. Plans were also developed to
assassinate Lumumba if necessary. On September 5, Kasavubu dismissed Lumumba

from the government.

***
Support for the Congo continued unabated during the Johnson administration. U.S.
military assistance increased dramatically in response to the fall of Stanleyville

(Kisangani) to rebel forces on August 4, 1964. Planes provided by the Department of
Defense, flown by pilots supplied by the Central Intelligence Agency, augmented the
CNA's efforts against an increasingly robust rebel insurgency, which received support

from neighboring African nations, the Soviet bloc and Chinese Communists.

***
Despite periodic uprisings and unrest, Mobutu ruled the Congo (renamed Zaire in 1971)
until the mid-1990s. Viewed as mercurial and occasionally irrational, Mobutu

nonetheless proved to be a staunch ally against Communist encroachment in Africa. As
such, he received extensive U.S. financial, matériel, and political support, which increased