ABSTRACT
Congo was a Belgian colony for many years, during which time its mineral wealth was controlled by Belgian, British, and American consortia. By mid-1959 it became evident that Congo's independence from Belgium was imminent, but the election of Patrice Lumumba as Congo's Prime Minister and Congo's independence on June 30, 1960 seemingly took the West by surprise. Congo is estimated to hold 80 percent of the world's coltan reserves, and at the time it held the largest known deposits of uranium. There were other mineral reserves of immense economic value in Congo, which made walking away from Congo even more difficult. As early as the late 1950s, both the USSR and the PRC had commenced courting left-leaning regimes in the African continent, but kept a low profile when dealing with leftist Congolese politicians. The mineral riches of Congo, coupled with the unstable political situation, centered Congo on the cross-hair of international communism.
