State of Katanga
The State of Katanga, also known as the Republic of Katanga, was a breakaway state that proclaimed its independence from Congo-Léopoldville on 11 July 1960 under Moïse Tshombe, leader of the local Confédération des associations tribales du Katanga political party. The new Katangese state did not enjoy full support throughout the province and was constantly plagued by ethnic strife in its northernmost region. It was dissolved in 1963 following an invasion by United Nations Operation in the Congo forces, and reintegrated with the rest of the country as Katanga Province.
The Katangese secession was carried out with the support of Union Minière du Haut Katanga, a mining company with concession rights in the region, and a large contingent of Belgian military advisers. The Katanga Gendarmerie, an army raised by the Tshombe government, was initially organised and trained by Belgium's military and consisted of Belgian soldiers as well as mercenaries from Northern Rhodesia and elsewhere. There was a similarly organized Katangese Air Force.
Although the rebellion was conceived as an opposition to Patrice Lumumba's central government, it continued even after the democratically elected prime minister was violently overthrown, leading to Lumumba's own kidnapping and murder inside the breakaway state. After Operation Grandslam, the rebels either scattered or surrendered to United Nations forces in 1963.
Congo Crisis
Initial secession
In 1906, the Union Minière du Haut-Katanga company was founded and was granted the exclusive rights to mine copper in Katanga. The principal shareholders in the Union Minière du Haut-Katanga were Comité Spécial du Katanga, the Société Générale de Belgique and the British Tanganyika Concessions. In turn, the largest shareholder in the Comité Spécial de Katanga was the Belgian state. Katanga was a center of mining with uranium, tin and copper all being extracted from the earth. The wealth drawn by the mining industry had attracted about 32,000 Belgian settlers to Katanga by the 1950s, making it into the province of the Belgian Congo with the largest number of Belgian settlers. As 33.7% of the revenue of the Congo came from the sale of the copper mined in Katanga, ownership of the company was an important consideration for the leaders of the Congolese Independence movement while the Belgian government was most reluctant to give up its share in the UMHK, and did not finally do so until 1967. In January 1959, it was announced that Belgium would grant independence to the Congo in June 1960. Starting in March 1960, the UMHK began to financially support CONAKAT and bribed the party leader, Moïse Tshombe, into advocating policies that were favorable to the company.Economically, the Katanga province of the Belgian Congo was closely linked to the autonomous Central African Federation that united the British colonies of Northern Rhodesia, Nyasaland, and Southern Rhodesia. Via gerrymandering, much of the black population of the Central African Federation was in effect disfranchised and the Federation was dominated by the white population. In the run-up to the Congolese independence, the leaders of the white Belgian settlers in Katanga were in close contact with the leaders of the white settlers in the Central African Federation, discussing a plan under which Katanga would break away from the Congo once independence was granted, and then join the Central African Federation. In March 1960, Etienne Harford, the Belgian consul in Salisbury told Sir Roy Welensky, the prime minister of the Federation, that the Belgian government wanted a "political association" of Katanga with the federation after independence. The same month in an interview with Rene McColl, a journalist from The Daily Express newspaper, Welensky stated that he fully expected Katanga to break away from the Congo and join the Federation.
When the Belgian Congo received independence from Belgium on 30 June 1960, it was already wracked by ethnic factionalism and political tension. A coalition of CONAKAT politicians and Belgian settlers had made an attempt shortly before that date to issue their own declaration of independence in Katanga, but the Belgian government opposed their plans. CONAKAT was especially concerned that the emerging Congolese government under prime minister Patrice Lumumba would dismiss its members from their positions in the Katangese provincial government and replace them with his supporters.
On the evening of 11 July, CONAKAT leader Tshombe, accusing the central government of communist leanings and dictatorial rule, announced that Katanga was seceding from the Congo. To assist him, the UMHK gave Tshombe an advance of 1,250 million Belgian francs. Tshombe's first act was to ask the Belgian Prime Minister, Gaston Eyskens, for help. When the newly appointed commander of the Élisabethville military garrison arrived in the city, Katangese authorities immediately detained and expelled him. He flew to Luluabourg and informed Lumumba and President Joseph Kasa-Vubu of the secession. The two decided to fly to Katanga to examine the situation themselves. Katangese Minister of Interior Godefroid Munongo denied them permission to land at the airport and radioed that while Kasa-Vubu could visit Katanga if he wished, Lumumba was not allowed to enter the territory. Infuriated, they both returned to Luluabourg. Tshombe immediately appointed his own commander, a Colonel Norbert Muke of the Force Publique, to form a new military force, the Katanga Gendarmerie. The gendarmerie was staffed with Belgian officers who were, in effect, seconded to Tshombe as military advisers. On 16 July 1960, Eyskens extended de facto recognition to Katanga and on 22 July created the Mission Technique Belge to assist Katanga with arms and advisers.
Tshombe and CONAKAT argued that the secession was the result of indigenous nationalist sentiment. However, the Baluba population of the northern districts of the province were actively opposed to independence, and even the population in the south, while generally more sympathetic to Tshombe, was never directly consulted on the matter. Katanga was also home to a disproportionately large white community of Belgian descent, as well as many Belgian expatriates who had invested heavily in the province. For the most part, Katanga's white residents openly backed the secession. Unlike Lumumba, Tshombe had openly courted them, likely because he believed they possessed much needed technical skills, and their exodus would prove catastrophic to the Katangese economy.
Within the Belgian government, King Baudouin was very supportive of Katanga and used all the power of the court to pressure the government into extending diplomatic recognition to Katanga. The Foreign Minister, Pierre Wigny, knowing that the United States was opposed to breaking up the Congo, was against recognizing Katanga. Wigny feared a repeat of the Suez Crisis of 1956 when Britain, France and Israel were all humiliated when the United States opposed their attack on Egypt with the Congo playing the role of Egypt and Belgium the role of the nations that attacked Egypt. For the same reasons, the Belgian representative at NATO, André de Staercke, was opposed to a venture that was likely to anger the United States. Henri Crener, the Belgian consul in Élisabethville, was a fierce supporter of Katanga. Harold Charles d'Aspremont Lynden, the right-hand man to Eyskens and his most influential adviser, was likewise an adamant supporter of Katanga, seeing a chance for Belgium to hold onto the most valuable part of the Congo. Between the pressure from his Foreign Minister to not recognize Katanga vs. the pressure from the King to recognize Katanga, Eyskens was left torn and confused. Though unwilling to recognize Katanga out of the fear of the American reaction, the prime minister did accede to pressure from Baudouin and d'Aspremont Lynden to support Katanga.
Within a week of Katanga's unilateral declaration of independence, Lumumba sent a telegram to the Secretary-General of the UN, insisting that something be done about "Belgium's military aggression" in his country and its overt backing of Katangese secession. Lumumba requested "urgent military assistance" due to his government's inability to maintain order in the massive country. Among UN member states, sentiments towards Katanga were generally mixed. Britain and France remained neutral, the latter quietly hostile towards the very idea of peacekeeping in Congo. The British initially provided general assistance to the UN troops who were eventually dispatched, but refused to cooperate with subsequent efforts to deal with Tshombe's rebellious regime.
Portugal and the Union of South Africa were openly hostile towards the operation from its conception, and maintained consistent opposition against any interference with the Katanga state. Portugal permitted arms and mercenaries to enter Katanga from the Portuguese colony of Angola. Likewise, South Africa allowed mercenaries to be recruited within South Africa for Katanga and allowed both arms and European mercenaries to go to Katanga. Welensky wanted to intervene militarily to bring Katanga into the Central African Federation, but was unable to do so as the Federation had only a small army of 3,270 men at a time when black nationalist unrest was increasing all over the federation. However, Welensky allowed Katanga to continue its copper exports via federation railroads, permitted arms to be smuggled into Katanga, and allowed the Katangese to recruit white mercenaries within the federation who came mostly from Southern Rhodesia. In addition, the Federation's authorities generally allowed free passage of white mercenaries from South Africa, France and Belgium into Katanga. The town of Ndola in Northern Rhodesia was the principal base for the mercenaries that went into Katanga. In a letter to the Foreign Secretary Lord Home, Welensky wrote he was "unwilling to stand by idly and watch Mr. Tshombe destroyed...if he is in danger of being destroyed by Afro-Asian pressures masquerading as United Nations operations, I shall do everything within my power to assist in his survival".
Gérard-Libois writes: '..during the entire month of August, a..race against the clock took place with the objective of building a more or less efficient Katangese gendarmery before the eventual withdrawal of the Belgian troops. The commander of the new gendarmery, Major Crèvecoeur, called for former officers of the Force Publique who had left the Congo after the July troubles or were in Katanga.' The numbers of the new force were originally fixed at 1,500 volunteers from 16 to 21 years of age recruited from 'safe' ethnic groups. Almost all the aircraft of the Force Publique had been transferred to Kamina, then requisitioned by Katanga.