| Stanleyville mutinies | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Democratic Republic of the Congo | Armée Nationale Congolaise (ANC) mutineers | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Mobutu Sese Seko Léonard Mulamba | no centralized leadership (first mutiny) Jean Schramme (second mutiny) | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 32,000 troops |
| ||||||
The Stanleyville mutinies, also known as the Mercenaries' mutinies, occurred in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1966 and 1967.
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Amid rumours that the ousted prime minister Moise Tshombe was plotting a comeback from his exile in Spain, some 2,000 of Tshombe's former Katangan gendarmes, led by mercenaries, mutinied in Kisangani (formerly Stanleyville) in July 1966. Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph-Damien Tshatshi, the local military commander, was executed. The mutiny was unsuccessful and was crushed.
Exactly a year after the failure of the first mutiny, another broke out, again in Kisangani, apparently triggered by the news that Tshombe's airplane had been hijacked over the Mediterranean and forced to land in Algiers, where he was held prisoner. Led by a Belgian settler/mercenary named Jean Schramme with fellow mercenaries Bob Denard and Jerry Puren (all 3 had fought for Tshombe in Katanga and the Congo) and involving approximately 100 former Katangan gendarmes and about 1,000 Katangese, the mutineers held their ground against the 32,000-man Armée Nationale Congolaise (ANC – the Congolese National Army) for four months until November 1967, when Schramme and his mercenaries crossed the border into Rwanda and surrendered to the local authorities.
On 4 November 1967, the ANC launched an all-out assault on the mercenaries' positions in Bukavu. [1] After a day of fighting, Schramme, his mercenaries and the Katangans retreated towards the bridge crossing into Rwanda. The next morning the rearguard crossed the bridge. Schramme and his followers were disarmed and interned by the Rwandan authorities.[ citation needed ]
In November 1967 President Joseph-Désiré Mobutu requested that the Rwandan government allow for the extradition of 119 mercenaries. The Rwandan government refused, citing resolutions passed by the Organization of African Unity. In response, Mobutu severed relations between the Congo and Rwanda on 11 January 1968. After several months of talks, the mercenaries departed from Rwanda on 24 April, and relations between Rwanda and the Congo resumed in early 1969. [2]
The Kisangani Mutinies are referenced in the hit single "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" by singer-songwriter Warren Zevon and former Congo mercenary David Lindell. It is also featured in the 1995 film Outbreak. Both the 1966 and 1967 mutinies are featured in the 2011 film Mister Bob .
The earliest known human settlements in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo have been dated back to the Middle Stone Age, approximately 90,000 years ago. The first real states, such as the Kongo, the Lunda, the Luba and Kuba, appeared south of the equatorial forest on the savannah from the 14th century onwards.
The Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo 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.
Moïse Kapenda Tshombe was a Congolese businessman and politician. He served as the president of the secessionist State of Katanga from 1960 to 1963 and as prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1964 to 1965.
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The Free Republic of the Congo, often referred to as Congo-Stanleyville, was a short-lived rival government to the Republic of the Congo (Congo-Léopoldville) based in the eastern Congo and led by Antoine Gizenga.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Kisangani, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Katangese Gendarmerie, officially the Katangese Armed Forces, was the paramilitary force of the unrecognized State of Katanga in Central Africa from 1960 to 1963. The forces were formed upon the secession of Katanga from the Republic of the Congo with help from Belgian soldiers and former officers of the Force Publique. Belgian troops also provided much of the early training for the Gendarmerie, which was mainly composed of Katangese but largely led by Belgians and later European mercenaries.
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Following the Democratic Republic of the Congo's independence in 1960, mercenaries from Europe, North America, and Southern Africa have been recruited to participate in various military conflicts within the country.
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