DOCUMENT QUESTION : SECESSION of KATANGA : Possible Questions

DOCUMENT QUESTION : SECESSION OF KATANGA : possible questions

1)  What circumstances led to the secession of Katanga / Why did Katanga secede ?

·  The Congo was created and ruled by Belgium from the 1880s until 1960. Belgium joined many tribal lands together and forced different tribes to live as part of one state.

·  The Province of Katanga was joined to the Congo from France in 1891. It was the richest part of the Congo and had lots of Copper, Diamonds, Ivory and Uranium.

·  The Africans had no say in the running of their country and there were no secondary schools so that they could not educate themselves to become leaders and challenge the rule of Belgium.

·  In the 1950s the native people began to turn against Belgian Rule as they saw other countries in Africa win Independence.

·  New Parties and Leaders grew popular but although they did not want to be ruled by Belgium they did not agree on how the Congo should be run after the Belgians left. EXPLAIN – LUMAMBA – THE MNC – NOT TRIBAL – KEEP CONGO UNITED – ONE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT v TSCHOME – CONOKAT – HOME RULE FOR KATANGA – FEDERAL GOVERNMENT – ALLOW RICHES OF KATANGA TO BE USED MAINLY FOR PEOPLE OF KATANGA ( see notes )

·  The Belgians promised local elections – violence broke out – a war in South Kasai between tribes – the Belgians were afraid of getting sucked into an all out war – agree to talks in Brussels to discuss Independence. ( December 1959)

·  Lumamba and Tschombe were invited – they argued over whether the Congo should be ruled by a centralised government or a federal government ( see notes )

·  The Belgians decided to hold elections for a Parliament to rule the Congo and announced they would leave after these elections to be held in May.

·  The elections took place and the results were that people voted for many different parties. The MNC won the most seats ( 33 out of 137) but in Katanga Tschombe’s Conokat did very well. It could not be said that all the people of the Congo had voted for one type of government. A coalition government of 12 parties was formed with Lumamba as Prime Minister.

·  Tschombe did not want Katanga and the mineral riches it had to be controlled by a central government. Belgium was also worried that a central government in the Congo run by Lumamba would take away the right of Belgian mining companies to profit from the mines. They wanted a pro-Belgian government that would look after the interests of the Belgian mining companies.

·  A few days after Independence the new Congo army started to mutiny against the leadership of the Belgian officers since there were hardly any Congolese officers. They also wanted better pay. They started to attack white settlers from Belgium and intense violence broke out throughout the Congo.

·  Lumamba tried to get control of the situation but the attacks continued. Belgium asked to be allowed to send its troops in but Lumamba refused. The Belgians sent in their troops anyway and Lumamba declared that the two countries were now at war.

·  Tschombe saw this chaos as a good excuse and opportunity to break away from the rest of the Congo. He was supported by the Belgians who hoped this would protect their mining interests and weaken the government of Lumamba.

·  They sent in troops to train a new Katnagan army and to help set up a new government in Elizabethville.

2)  Why did the UN go in and what difficulties did they face ?

·  Talk about the divisions in the Congo leading up to Independence

·  Talk about the violence breaking out after Independence

·  Talk about Belgium helping Katanga to secede and why Katanga wanted to secede and why Belgium wanted to help them

·  Then - most other countries in the world were against the secession. Outside of Africa many countries feared that if Katanga were allowed to secede then other African countries might break up leading to massive civil wars. African countries saw it as an attempt by Belgium to control the Congo even after it had become Independent. Some countries like Britain supported the secession and thought Belgium was just trying to protect its people and stop the chaos.

·  The US told Lumamba to ask the UN for help. They could send troops to keep order in the Congo and replace the Belgian troops there.

·  UN resolution 143 ( July 14th) told the Belgians to withdraw and gave the UN secretary general ( Hammarskjold) the power to send in peacekeeping troops. However they were to do nothing about the secession of Katanga – this was to be worked out between the Congo and Katanga themselves.

·  Troops arrived and came mainly from other African countries and Sweden and Ireland.

·  Lumamba wanted the Belgian troops to leave more quickly and for the UN to go into Katanga to end the secession. The UN did not want to be seen to tell any side what to do. But each side wanted the UN to act for them.

·  Things got even more complicated when Lumamba turned to the Soviet Union for help. The Congo then became part of the Cold war Conflict as the US became worried about communist expansion and the supply of Uranium. This made thing more difficult for the UN as the Soviets started to supply the Congo with weapons and supplies while the Belgians supported the Katangans.

·  Things got more complicated again when another Province South Kasai also seceded. Lumamba then invaded South Kasai but it went badly wrong.

·  The Americans thought Lumamba was dangerous and might turn the Congo communist so they arranged to have him killed with the help of Mobutu and Kasavubu who did not like the way Lumamba had turned to the Russians. The UN did nothing to stop it when Mobutu used his control of the army to take power from Mobutu.

·  Lumamba had lot of followers and they set up a new government in Stnaleyville. There were now four governments on the old Congo ( see notes ) and they were all supported by different outside countries. This made it very hard for the UN to keep control and order.

·  After the murder of Mobutu ( see notes) many native people in the Congo turned against the UN because they did nothing to stop it.

·  The US decided that they wanted a strong pro-US government in the Congo and that the Soviets were gaining influence because the US and the UN had done nothing about Katanga and were seen as supporting the Belgians.

·  The UN now urged all Belgian troops to leave Katanga – RESOLUTION 161 – Feb 1961 – but the Belgian troops would not leave and Tshombe did not want them to go.

·  Peace talks were help but neither side could agree. ( March – May 1961) A new Congo government was elected in August 1961 and took over from Mobutus military rule – they demanded that the UN push all foreign supporters of the secession from Katanga.

·  Hammerskjold did not want to involve the UN in starting fighting. He was killed in September 1961 on a flight to the Congo that may have been shot down.

·  After this the Katnagan army started attacking the UN until they deceided they would have to us force to force foreign troops out of Katanga and bring about peace. UN RESOLUTION 169 – November 1961 gave the UN the power to do this.

·  They took control quickly with Operation Grandslam – December 1961 and had to stay in control of Katanga and the Congo until 1964 when they hoped the Congo army would be strong enough to take control.

Difficulties summary – divisions – violence – different demands – peace keeping mission – didn’t want to take sides – Turn to Soviets – worries Americans – becomes part of Cold War conflict – US interferes and gets rid of Lumamba – turns people against the UN – 4 different governments in the old Congo getting support from different foreign powers - Pressure from the US to work to end the secession – get a pro-US government – refusal of Belgians to leave – attacks

3)  Role of Mobutu Sese Seko - add in these points to notes on Mobutu

·  He was a supporter of Independence who was a follower of Lumamba.

·  After the violence broke out in the army after Independence Lumamba appointed him Chief of Staff of the army.

·  He turned against Lumamba when he worked with the Soviets. He took power from Lumamba in a military coup a few months after Independence in 1960. He made himself the ruler if the Congo as a military dictator – no elections or elected leader. He played a key rol in the plan to have Lumamba sent to Katanga to be killed.

·  He gave up the rule of the Congo after new elections were held in August 1961.

·  When the UN left in 1964 violence broke out again and a tribe called the Simbas rebelled and set up a new government. Tshombe returned to lead the new united Congo due to his contacts with foreign fighters but the violence continued.

Then the rest of the notes

4)  What was the impact of the secession of Katanga ?

See notes

Violence and instability - tribal divisions break out

Foreign interference – Belgium

The UN gets involved – pressured to do different things by all sides - becomes a massive international incident when it becomes part of the Cold War – see above for why – all these foreign countries wanted access to mineral riches – spread or containment of communism

Led to murder of Lumamba and

UN changes policy – new US line

Attacks on UN

1 million died in troubles between 1960 and 1964

The bitterness of this time led to more fighting when the UN left and this led to Mobutu taking charge in a military coup that made him a dictator.