To Katanga and Back - A UN Case History

July 1960: The newly independent Congo is hit by the secession of its mineral rich-province Katanga, led by Moïse Tshombe and backed by Belgium and Britain.

June 1961: Dr Conor Cruise O''Brien arrives in Katanga as Special Representative of United Nations Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld, his task (under a UN resolution) to arrest and repatriate the mercenaries and foreign interests propping up Tshombe. The consequences of this mission will prove fateful for all parties.

This is the story of how a brilliant Irish diplomat found himself in Africa amid one of history''s maelstroms. O''Brien reconstructs the complex, tragic, sometimes comic events of a drama in which he found himself controversially at centre stage. The result is history from the inside: a valuable study of ''the game of nations'', and of the UN''s unique functioning and malfunctioning.