Commemorated with a movie released in 2016 on the Netflix platform, the siege of Jadotville, as well as the history of the Democratic Republic of the Congo since the sixties, is part of an unfortunate series of warlike, tragic, bloodthirsty events and hard for humanity in Contemporary History.We invite you to learn about the Siege of Jadotville: background, battle and consequences .
It is also one of the signs of how colonialism is a phenomenon that humanity has not yet deprived itself of as well, As you might suppose, the traces left by these conflicts remain alive until today in many African countries, which owe, to a large extent, their current situation to this grim past they faced.
If you like these topics, read also:
For another l ado, as in almost all situations of life, daily or not, there is always someone or some people who suffer serious damage from a situation that, in reality, is alien to them, in this case we could say that they were the Swedish and Irish armies.
Today we will talk about what happened in the town of Jadotville to an Irish troop sent by the UN against those called katangueses (it comes from the province of Katanga, where finds Jadotville).
Index of the article
Background of the siege of Jadotville
One of the first aspects that we must take into account in order to understand how this could be done Siege as well as understanding the arrival of foreign forces in the African country is that the Belgian Congo was in the middle of a series of revolts that would lead them to their independence from Belgium .
However, as is often the case in many of the independence or conflict conflicts liberation, not everyone agreed to form a Democratic Republic of the Congo like the present one, but, in addition to this, led by Patrice Lumumba, a State emerged that took the name of one of the provinces of the Congo: State of Katanga .
What was the State of Katanga and why were you interested in being independent? This State was chaired by Moise Tshombe and supervised by Belgium , because this area represented a mining area that, in a nutshell, contained most important riches of the country; This led to the creation of this neo-colonial State being rejected criticized for, in addition to this, being a slave of the capitalist circuit that already dominated Africa until then.
It will be in January of 1961 that the situation becomes even more murky, because Lumumba, leader of democracy emerging Congolese, is tortured and executed , according to some, with the complacency also of Tshombe , exonerated of this act in 2001 by a Belgian commission that reviewed this event.
This generated not only a conflict with the rest of the Congo, but also, in particular, with the people of Kasai province , which also proclaimed itself as independent and acted as a refuge for all those expelled from Katanga.
Don't miss:
Shaka Zulu, the warrior who I change the history of South Africa
That is, the country was immersed in a situation of brutal war and violence that caused the UN forces had to intervene (this is when people like Irish soldiers are sent), as well as power countries, which were, at that time, the US and the USSR.
The battle of Jadotville
The first thing we can say is that the concept of "battle" is totally questionable, because what was suffered was a real siege against some troops whose ultimate aim was to defend to the civil-persons-of the violence increased in the country; thus, company A of the 35th battalion of the Irish forces of the United Nations was sent to handle this work.
What was the problem? The UN decides to carry out a process of attempted restoration and reintegration into the Democratic Republic of the Congo by this province, which implied a series of offensive maneuvers fitted under the name of MORTHOR operation ; Of course, this series of attempted attacks were answered by Katanga's troops, supported by the Belgians.
This tells us about a very interesting situation, because we are facing a conflict that transcends the local and extends to the European, we could, in fact, affirm that a battle is being fought which has as its central element the colonialism in Jadotville (understood as African colonialism in its widest expression).
Learn more:
In a very simplified way the scenario was something like this:
European UN troops, including the Irish battalion made up of 155 soldiers.Purpose: to restore a democratic Republic in the Congo.
Troops of mercenaries and soldiers in favor of Katanga; purpose: to maintain the rupture and/or secession of the province rich in mining production, the main resource obtained by the European neo-colonial powers of the twentieth century from Africa, thus maintaining the neocolonial/capitalist system, which could be understood from the theoretical perspective/proposal of the sociologist I.Wallerstein and his relationship between center (Belgium)-periphery (Katanga).
The tragedy of Company A took place between September 13 and 17, 1961, during the performance of a mass, however, the "surprise" was not badly counterattacked by Irish troops, who quickly and efficiently activated their defensive device and were able to cope with the attack they suffered.
The problem was the number reduced individuals and lack of communication with the central base, so that the support of other Swedish and/or Irish blue helmets could not be given, so the commander, Quinlan, had to give up.
Consequences of the siege of Jadotville
If the majority became prisoners and later exchanged with prisoners from Congo, the siege of Jadotville is one of the cases of attempted erase of history, as the Irish government He never recognized, until 2002, and after the death of many of those who made up that group of soldiers, who were publicly recognized.
It could be said that the siege of Jadotville was also a sign of the brutality of the conflict in the Congo , which ended, as you well know, with the establishment of one of the strongest kleptocracies and dictatorships in the whole world: that of Zaire, chaired by Mobutu Sese Seko.
Finally, we have to say that History can never be erased, even if they affect or not the image that wants to convey a certain political interest, because, History is not to judge whether a fact was good/bad/normal, but truthfully tell the same, that if you can undergo a personal moral judgment s egun each person who reads it.
You may be interested:
Image gallery Siege of Jadotville: background, battle and consequences
Comments
Post a Comment