The Congo Crisis in 1960 followed the Cold War and many of the tensions from it, and it was speculated that these Cold War tensions would arise again in Africa. The United Nations was quick to pursue the Security Council to send peacekeepers to the Congo to ensure a smooth transition as an independent state. Spooner’s article “Just West of Neutral” argues how Prime Minister Diefenbaker’s government pursued a policy that acknowledge the importance of achieving Western objectives in Congo while also avoiding Cold war views of some NATO allies. One of the main issues this article raises is Canada’s place in this matter and how it functioned as a member of the United Nations, NATO, and now ONUC. Earlier events such as the Suez Crisis gave a strong public opinion by Canadians that Canada should act as peacekeepers during the Congo crisis. Spooner …show more content…
This was part of how Diefenbaker’s Congo policy was shaped, by its growing importance of maintaining positive relations with new UN members. Spooner explains how Canada’s Congo policy sought to prevent the Soviet Union from “gaining foothold in Africa, averting open conflict between two superpowers, reaffirming respect for sovereignty and self-determination of nations, mitigating friction between Belgium and UN, and garnering influence amongst Afro-Asian states”(308). During the Congo Crisis one of the main standards for the ONUC was that peacekeeping had to remain neutral and objective. This begged a larger question of which states would be considered to be apart of this peacekeeping mission. One of the main arguments for Canada being a suitable choice to act as peacekeepers was their ability to speak both English and French. This meant that they could communicate with UN troops, and French speaking Belgians and Congolese