60 years on: Why nine peacekeeping Irish soldiers were murdered in the Congo

Far from being a mystery, as the Irish government claimed at the time, the Irish troops were seen by rebels as upholding the colonial interests of Belgium, responsible for mass atrocities in the region, writes Sean O'Riordan

The Niemba ambush in Congo, 1960. The scene at the bridge shortly before the first bodies were recovered. 

Sixty years after the greatest loss of Irish soldiers, on a UN mission in the then Belgian Congo, an expert on insurgencies and terrorism says contrary to Irish government claims at the time, there was no mystery as to why they were attacked.

Dr Edward Burke, director of the Centre for Conflict, Security and Terrorism and Assistant Professor in International Relations at the University of Nottingham, who had a relative who was at Niemba in the days after the attack, has extensively researched the background to the incident and said the soldiers of the Defence Forces had been placed in a precarious political situation in the Congo. There was no peace to keep — and Irish troops were unfortunately seen as upholding the colonial economic interests of Belgium in the region.