Operation Shamrock

“PRCN-0006-06-07: Operation Shamrock-object of which was to capture the Baluba tribesmen injured in the Niemba Ambush from Manono Hospital”

The day after the Ambush, an Irish patrol from B Company were tasked with patrolling the Manono-Niemba road. Approximately 20km from Manono they intercepted a truck moving south from the ambush area. The truck contained 10 wounded Baluba who were being taken to hospital. According to Capt. Condron’s (B Company) patrol report, the tribesmen denied that any UN troops were involved in the ambush but said that it was a ‘Gendarmie patrol’ who had attacked them. No further information was given and they were allowed to proceed. Later, at a conference at Battalion Headquarters, it was decided once the Balubas were medically well enough to move that a party would remove them from Manono and give them into the custody of the Katangese Government for trial. An air operation was decided upon and the codename ‘Operation Shamrock’ was given.

Comdt. Beckett (B Company) remained in Manono in order to maintain contact with the hospital. He received updates periodically and sent reports in Irish to Battalion HQ. On 30 November 1960 Comdt. Beckett sent the following message to HQ: “Tá na n-eanullamh an nead a fhágaint”, indicating that the tribesmen were now able to be moved. The operation was due to take place at first light on December 2nd. Comdt. Barry, who had spent 4 months in Manono was chosen to command the party who were tasked with taking the Balubas from hospital. Along with those from B Company who made up the party, Comdt. Barry asked that Battalion Headquarters have some representation in the group as well as someone from A Company, where the victims of the ambush had been from. Comdt. Beckett had arranged with a Belgian Doctor that the bed cards of the wounded would be marked with a red ‘X’. Because the wounded might have spread across 5 wards, it was decided to seek reinforcements so that the group could split into 5 raiding groups and the wards could be searched simultaneously. Maj. Edge suggested that his Nigerian troops participate in the raid. It was decided that some Nigerian troops stationed in Niemba would accompany the party. The Moroccan troops were to secure the airstrip until the party had returned with the prisoners and the plane had taken off for Albertville.      

 

 

“DOPS-TEMP-4886-004: Layout of Area of Operations – Manono Hospital”

The raiding groups entered the hospital and searched their designated wards. Seven out of the ten Balubas were located and removed from the hospital. The party returned to the airstrip without incident and took off for Albertville. Here, they waited at the old town airstrip for the police of the local administration who arrived and took custody of the prisoners. Two of the wounded taken from the hospital who, at the time of capture stated that they were not part of the ambush, were later released. The other five prisoners were Michel Kabeke, Alexis Mukalayi, Stanislas Mwamba, Mufabule Banza, and Kamatshala Senga. They stood accused of three charges, (1) of being ‘perpetrators or co-perpetrators in a crime the object of which was to bring devastation, massacre or pillage’, (2) ‘having killed nine UN soldiers with premeditation and attempted to kill two UN soldiers’, and (3) having ‘carried arms, plainly or hidden, in an insurrectional movement’. The five accused denied having personally delivered any wounds or blows to the victims but acknowledged that they were part of the group who on 8 November 1960 lay armed in ambush near the barricades erected near the demobilised bridge on the Luweyeye River. The Court declared that it was not established that the accused had been directly involved in the criminal offence of bringing devastation, massacre and pillage. They also declared that it was established in the minds of the five accused the ‘the crime of murder and the attempt to murder, without premeditation, as well as the offence of carrying arms in an insurrectional movement’. Following the trial, the accused were sentenced at the Elizabethville District Court Penal Sitting, Open Court of Monday 13 November 1963 as follows:

 

M. Kabeke – three years capital penal servitude

 

A. Mukalayi – two years capital penal servitude

 

S. Mwamba – three years capital penal servitude

 

M. Banza – two years capital penal servitude

 

K. Senga – two years capital penal servitude


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