The Irish soldiers thought they were in the Congo as peacekeepers and a large part of what they did was in fact pacific – guarding refugee camps and the UN mission. But the UN’s role was expanded in March 1961, on foot of a Security Council resolution demanding the withdrawal of all foreign officers and mercenaries from the Congo. Since these mercenaries were the hard core of the secessionist forces in Katanga, this was an implicit mandate for conflict with them and the well-armed native militias they led.
