Congo Crisis · War Crimes & Atrocities
The Congo Crisis was marked by atrocities on every side. The national army massacred Luba civilians in South Kasai; the political murder of Patrice Lumumba was carried out with foreign complicity; the Simba rebels massacred perceived enemies and hostages; government forces and white mercenaries answered with brutal reprisals; and Belgian colonial rule had left a legacy of extraordinary violence. Civilians, as ever, bore the brunt.
3,000+
deaths
Victims: Luba (Baluba) civilians of South Kasai(Estimates of the number of Luba civilians killed by the national army's offensive run into the thousands; Hammarskjöld's advisers described the killings as bordering on genocide.)
3+
deaths
Victims: Patrice Lumumba and two aides(Three men — Lumumba and his companions Maurice Mpolo and Joseph Okito — were shot; their bodies were later dismembered and dissolved in acid.)
20,000+
deaths
Victims: Perceived enemies, educated Congolese, and hostages(The Simbas are estimated to have killed tens of thousands of perceived class and political enemies in the areas they controlled; dozens of white hostages were shot at Stanleyville as Operation Dragon Rouge began.)
10,000+
deaths
Victims: Suspected Simba sympathisers and civilians of the east(The reprisals by government troops and white mercenaries against suspected rebels and their communities killed many thousands; precise figures are unknown.)