Aftermath of the "Mercenaries Revolt"| Mercenaries & Refugees | Congo-Rwanda Border | August 1967 скачать в хорошем качестве

Aftermath of the "Mercenaries Revolt"| Mercenaries & Refugees | Congo-Rwanda Border | August 1967

August 1967. Footage from the border between Congo-Kinshasa and Rwanda where white mercenaries escorted refugees from fighting in the town of Bukavu in Kivu Province. European mercenaries led by the Belgian soldier of fortune, Colonel "Black Jack" Schramme, had, along with Katangan rebels, been involved in fighting against Congolese troops loyal to President Joseph Mobutu (later Mobutu Sese Seko). "Black Jack" Schramme had been on Mobutu's side, the man who the Belgians had backed, but he switched allegiance to Moise Tshombe, when the Katangan secessionist leader's plan to return to the Congo from Spanish exile was frustrated by an airplane hijack. It was called the "Mercernaries Revolt". The Belgians initially supported Tshombe because it weakened Patrice Lumumba whom they so hated. But Belgium, along with the rest of the West, gravitated towards Mobutu who had taken over most of the Congo. Tshombe had outlived his usefulness. Schramme and his men would resist Mobutu's army for some time before being overwhelmed and then fleeing across the border to Rwanda where they were held captive. But at this point in time, the mercenaries were maintaining a tenuous hold over Bakuvu. Despite their issuing an ultimatum to Mobutu to hand over power to Tshombe by August 20th (Tshombe was in detention in Algeria after his airplane had been hijacked over the Mediterranean Sea), general opinion was that they were on the verge of defeat and planning to cross over into neighbouring Rwanda. Anticipating this, the Rwandan government issued the following statement in Paris: "Rwanda will welcome in a humanitarian spirit the black and white refugees coming from the Congo and will close its frontiers to the mercenaries and Katangan troops who have betrayed their people and the incontestable Congolese authority established by General Mobutu." Mobutu himself had issued a counter to the mercenaries ultimatum by giving them 10 days to surrender of "face spectacular punishment." Source of footage: Reuters News Archive. Note: European Mercenaries Asked to Sign A Declaration Never to Come Back To Africa | Rwanda | Nov. 1967    • White Mercenaries Asked to Sign A Declarat...