Page "Troika (triumvirate)" Paragraph 5

In the early 1960s, following independence from Belgium, a complicated civil war broke out in Congo.

Amongst the fighting forces, there was one side supported by the United States, another by the Soviet Union, and a third trying to secede.

On top of it all, the UN Secretary General of the time, Dag Hammarskjöld, wanted to establish a UN presence.

Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, believing the Secretary-General to be a US puppet, proposed that the Secretary-General be replaced with a troika, with one member selected by the West, one from the Communist bloc, and one from the non-aligned ( neutral ) states.

He was unable to gather enough support, as the Non-Aligned states refused to back the scheme.