Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Military Intervention and the Myth of Collective Security: the Case of Zaïre

1989; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 27; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1017/s0022278x00000501

1469-7777

Michael G. Schatzberg,

Peacebuilding and International Security

Zaïre has been open to external penetration from its earliest days as the Congo Independent State of King Léopold II, but unlike most other weak and vulnerable African states it has experienced repeated military interventions. When President Mobutu Sese Seko addressed the U.N. General Assembly in October 1973 he formally thanked the world organisation for preserving his country during the early 1960s: If a small minority of member countries of this organisation had refused to participate in the Congo operation, at the time, the vast majority had, however, spontaneously put troops at its disposition or intervened in favour of this operation. This permitted the maintenance of peace, unity, and the integrity of the national territory.