The Congo Crisis, 1960 CRISIS BACKGROUND GUIDE Vancouver Model United Nations The Twentieth Annual Session | January 29–31, 2021 Dear Delegates, William Tsai Secretary-General My name is Annushka Agarwal, and I am delighted to be directing the Historical Crisis Committee at this year’s iteration of VMUN, alongside your chair, Alec Yang, and crisis staff, Logan Higgins. For some context on me, I am currently in Grade 11 at West Point Grey Academy, and my interests include reading Russian literature, finding good math Vivian Gu puns, and contemplating the possibility of socialist utopia. Director-General This year, the HCC will be tackling the Congo Crisis of 1960, a period of post- Derek Wu independence conflict in the modern-day Democratic Republic of the Congo. Prior to Chief of Staff 1960, the Congo was subject to the brutal repression of Belgian colonial rule, and consequently, continues to suffer from numerous sociocultural and economic divisions. Tyler Rosenzweig Independence was undoubtedly a necessity for the Congolese nation, but it also requires Director of Logistics politicians to navigate the uncharted territory of state building and decolonization in a way that is hindered by rampant instability and a lack of legitimacy around government institutions. While the Congo’s history is perhaps not the most well-known, it is in essence composed of the same story as every other postcolonial state: victimization, Joyce Chen emancipation, and hopefully, political reincarnation. USG General Assemblies Given that this is an advanced committee with a relatively complex topic, delegates will Ethan Jasny benefit from ensuring they have a reasonable knowledge of the political landscape of this USG Specialized Agencies time period, both from reading this backgrounder and ideally from consulting external sources as well. If there are any questions, queries, or quagmires, I am more than happy to Vivian Liang help, and can be emailed at [email protected]. Alec, Logan, and I are genuinely looking USG Conference forward to meeting you all and seeing you delve into the fascinating and multidimensional politics of 1960s Congo. Jonah Ezekiel USG Finance Sincerely, Laura Choi Annushka Agarwal USG Communications HCC Director Armaan Jaffer USG Delegate Affairs Mia Tsao USG Delegate Affairs Position Paper Policy What is a Position Paper? A position paper is a brief overview of a country’s stance on the topics being discussed by a particular committee. Though there is no specific format the position paper must follow, it should include a description of your positions your country holds on the issues on the agenda, relevant actions that your country has taken, and potential solutions that your country would support. At Vancouver Model United Nations, delegates should write a position paper for each of the committee’s topics. Each position paper should not exceed one page, and should all be combined into a single document per delegate. For the Historical Crisis Committee, position papers are mandatory, especially for a delegate to be considered for an award. Formatting Position papers should: — Include the name of the delegate, his/her country, and the committee — Be in a standard font (e.g. Times New Roman) with a 12-point font size and 1-inch document margins — Not include illustrations, diagrams, decorations, national symbols, watermarks, or page borders — Include citations and a bibliography, in any format, giving due credit to the sources used in research (not included in the 1-page limit) Due Dates and Submission Procedure Position papers for this committee must be submitted by midnight on January 22nd, 2021. Once your position paper is complete, please save the file as your last name, your first name and send it as an attachment in an email, to your committee’s email address, with the subject heading as your last name, your first name — Position Paper. Please do not add any other attachments to the email or write anything else in the body. Both your position papers should be combined into a single PDF or Word document file; position papers submitted in another format will not be accepted. Each position paper will be manually reviewed and considered for the Best Position Paper award. The email address for this committee is [email protected]. The Congo Crisis, 1960 ................................................................................................................................ 3 Overview ..................................................................................................................................................................3 Timeline ...................................................................................................................................................................4 Historical Analysis .................................................................................................................................................5 Early European Contact and Colonization (1482-1885) ..............................................................................5 Congo Free State (1885-1908) ..........................................................................................................................6 Belgian Rule (1908-1960) ..................................................................................................................................8 Growth of the Independence Movement (1950s) ...................................................................................... 10 Current Situation ................................................................................................................................................ 11 Politics .............................................................................................................................................................. 11 Economy .......................................................................................................................................................... 15 Foreign Participation...................................................................................................................................... 16 Initiating Crisis .................................................................................................................................................... 17 Portfolio Overviews ............................................................................................................................................ 18 Joseph Kasavubu ............................................................................................................................................. 18 Patrice Lumumba ........................................................................................................................................... 19 Antoine Gizenga ............................................................................................................................................. 19 Joseph-Désiré Mobutu ................................................................................................................................... 19 Justin Marie Bomboko ................................................................................................................................... 20 Maurice Mpolo ................................................................................................................................................ 20 Pierre Mulele ................................................................................................................................................... 20 Albert Kalonji .................................................................................................................................................. 20 Moïse Tshombe ............................................................................................................................................... 21 Jason Sendwe ................................................................................................................................................... 21 Cyrille Adoula ................................................................................................................................................. 21 Daniel Kanza ................................................................................................................................................... 21 General Victor Lundula ................................................................................................................................. 22 Joseph Malula .................................................................................................................................................. 22 Paul Gillet ........................................................................................................................................................ 22 Vancouver Model United Nations 2021 1 Andrei Gromyko ............................................................................................................................................. 23 Clare H. Timberlake ....................................................................................................................................... 23 Jean van den Bosch ......................................................................................................................................... 24 Carl von Horn ................................................................................................................................................