Most administrative functions remained the responsibility of the former provincial government, which had difficulties coexisting with Gizenga's new centralised authority. Still, it had more popular support than either the College of Commissioners-General or Tshombe's government. Despite the military power it possessed, the Stanleyville government never established an extensive administrative structure, functioning in the manner of a government in exile. The central government almost immediately imposed an effective supply blockade along the Congo River.
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On 12 December 1960, Gizenga declared his new government, the Free Republic of the Congo, based in Orientale Province, the legitimate ruling authority in the Congo. Thomas Kanza, Lumumba's appointed delegate to the United Nations, switched allegiances and acted as a representative for Gizenga abroad. On 27 November, the deposed prime minister escaped from his house and made his way towards Stanleyville to join Gizenga, but he was arrested five days later and imprisoned at the army camp in Thysville. Īlso in November, the United Nations General Assembly voted to recognise a delegation assembled by Kasa-Vubu and Mobutu, definitively ending Lumumba's hopes of a legal return to power. The army's cohesion was primarily due to the soldiers' admiration and respect for Lundula and their attraction to Lumumba's nationalist ideals. On 26 November Lundula organised a military parade in Stanleyville involving almost all of the military units in Orientale. Gizenga's military strength in Orientale Province rapidly increased, and his army amassed to be 6,000-strong. He and troops loyal to him pledged allegiance to Gizenga. General Victor Lundula, Lumumba's army commander who had been arrested by Mobutu, escaped custody in Léopoldville and made his way to Stanleyville. Mpolo and Okito were arrested and brought back to the capital while Mbuyi and Mujanay were killed in the Charlesville region. Of these, only Kashamura, Gbenye, and Mulele succeeded. Other nationalists attempted to join him, including Joseph Mbuyi, Maurice Mpolo, Anicet Kashamura, Christophe Gbenye, Pierre Mulele (former ministers in Lumumba's government), Joseph Okito (vice president of the Senate), and Barthélemy Mujanay (governor of the Central Bank of the Congo). Īntoine Gizenga, Lumumba's deputy prime minister, left for Stanleyville (modern-day Kisangani) on 13 November to form his own government. By October, supporters of the prime minister were convinced that few of their goals could be achieved through the new government. Two days later, Lumumba was placed under house arrest. The government was paralyzed by the political battle that ensued, and on 14 September, Colonel Joseph-Désiré Mobutu announced a takeover in Léopoldville (modern-day Kinshasa) and the installation of his own administration.
On 5 September, President Joseph Kasa-Vubu dismissed Lumumba from his post. The United Nations (UN) organised a peacekeeping operation and sent troops to the Congo. Katanga and South Kasai subsequently seceded from the central government. In spite of Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba's efforts to calm the troops, the situation worsened. However, the domestic situation quickly devolved as the army mutinied, beginning the Congo Crisis. On 30 June 1960, the Belgian Congo became independent as the Republic of the Congo. The rival government was not fully reintegrated into the Republic of the Congo until Gizenga was arrested in January 1962. Still, Gizenga distanced himself from the central administration and rebuilt his own political and military power. He returned to the office of deputy under the new prime minister, Cyrille Adoula. In August, negotiations between the two governments resulted in Gizenga agreeing to stand down. Gizenga quickly amassed military strength and, by February 1961, had occupied vast portions of Congolese territory. Under Lumumba's deputy, Antoine Gizenga, leftists organised in Stanleyville (modern-day Kisangani) and in December declared their own government to be the legal successor to the prime minister's administration. The Free Republic of the Congo ( French: République Libre du 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.įollowing Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba's deposition in September 1960 in the midst of the Congo Crisis, many of his supporters became disillusioned with the government in Léopoldville (modern-day Kinshasa).
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