Word: rebels
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...European hostages still held by the Simbas in the Buta area north of Stanleyville, life had not been too bad. Although they had been bypassed by the mercenary-led columns that had cleared most of the rest of the northeast Congo, their captors had treated them well. The rebel commander ordered his Simbas not to molest them, and many of the Europeans still lived in their own houses. Some, after giving their word of honor that they would return to Buta, were permitted brief visits to government-held towns. The commander even allowed one Belgian nun to go on home...
Final Drive. But all the while, one chilling fact was predominant: the Simbas were keeping the whites as blood hostages against the inevitable mercenary march. "I don't want to make you martyrs," Rebel Chief Christophe Gben ye confided to them in April, "but if the Congolese army attacks Buta, I'm going to send you to heaven like arrows...
...constitution forbids military officers from holding office. "First," cried Caamaño, "the revolution's goal must be fulfilled. After that we can talk about elections." To some Americans this sounded like a rerun of Fidel Castro's old tapes-and the scenes in the rebel-held area of downtown Santo Domingo did little to dispel the impression. When OAS cars arrived outside Caamaño's headquarters, hostile crowds closed around them chanting, "With or without the OAS, we will win!" At a rally in the rebel area, he shouted to a crowd...
...Tshombe government did its best to keep them on earth. Messages were passed back and forth via hostages on leave from Buta. Belgian emissaries negotiated frantically with rebel leaders in the nearby Central African Republic. As the final drive got under way, Congolese B-26s papered the rebel area with leaflets offering the Simbas their lives if they would only lay down their arms "and surrender all hostages." In a final effort to save them, Mercenary
Alvim called on both loyalists and rebels to "demonstrate democratic and humanitarian understanding by finding a dignified formula for the re-establishment of a lasting peace." That was obviously a long way off, but to underscore his message, General Alvim sent a battalion of Brazilian infantrymen to secure Santo Domingo's bullet-pocked National Palace on the fringe of the rebel zone. From the first days of the civil war, the palace had been held by Imbert's loyalists, who beat off rebel attacks. Now Alvim wanted the shooting to cease. As the OAS troops marched...