1960
The Congo Crisis
The CMB's Congo liners carried evacuees away, but the armed action at Matadi was naval, not merchant.
All conflicts › The Congo Crisis
No vessel from this period is yet in the database by name.
After Congolese independence on 30 June 1960 and the Force Publique mutiny, a headlong exodus of Europeans began. On 11 July 1960 the Belgian Navy evacuated white civilians from the port of Matadi, after which Belgian ships shelled the town, killing at least nineteen civilians. The main evacuation of Belgian nationals went by air, with Sabena and supported by a US air task force. Compagnie Maritime Belge's Congo liners ran the Antwerp-Matadi service and carried evacuees, but the documented armed action at Matadi was naval, not merchant. Later Congolese emergencies – the 1964 Stanleyville crisis, Kolwezi in 1978 – were resolved by air and land operations, not by Belgian merchant shipping.
No Belgian merchant or fishing vessels from this conflict are known by name.
Where to find more
CMB corporate history and the Congo Boats collections; DTIC, United Nations Peacekeeping in the Congo 1960-1964; ARSOF History, “1960 Congo Rescue”; the Belgian State Archives' colonial holdings.