July 1960: The newly independent Congo is hit by the secession of its mineral rich-province Katanga, led by Moise 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 Hammarskjold, 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.
Conor Cruise O'Brien is a distinguished statesman and writer. Over a long and varied career, he has served in the Irish external affairs office; was a member of the Irish delegation to the United Nations (at one point being seconded as a special assistant to UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld); was elected an Irish Labour Party parliamentarian, later serving in the cabinet; ...
Oppenheimer
Old God's Time
Tenet
Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom
Conversations with Friends
Walk the Blue Fields