CONGO: The Embassy Firefight

In Léopoldville one long, hot day last week, the simmering conflict between the U.N. Command and Congolese Military Strongman Colonel Joseph Mobutu finally reached a showdown.

In the morning, as two big crocodiles yawned lazily on the nearby riverbank, Congolese Interior Commissioner José Nussbaumer strode into the Ghanaian embassy and ordered Chargé d'Affaires Nathaniel Welbeck to leave the country that afternoon on a Sabena plane. "I'm not at home to you!" screamed Welbeck, waving a red and white fetish stick in indignation. "Get out and stay out!" Already on his way to the...

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