Katanga Province
Template:Otheruses2 Template:Infobox DRCongo Province
Katanga is a southern province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Between 1971 and 1997, its official name was Shaba Province. Under the new constitution, the province is to be replaced by four smaller provinces by February 2009. Its regional capital is Lubumbashi (formerly Elisabethville in French, Elisabethstad in Dutch). Its area is 518,000 km² (larger than California and 16 times larger than Belgium, its former colonial ruler). Katanga has a population of about 4.1 million. Farming and ranching are carried out on the Katanga Plateau. The eastern part of the province is a rich mining region, which supplies cobalt, copper, tin, radium, uranium, and diamonds. The capital city, Lubumbashi, is the second largest city in the Congo.
In the past, Katanga has struggled significantly for independence from the rest of the country. In 2009, the name will survive only as Haut-Katanga, one of the four new provinces (see Provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo).
History up to independence
Beginning in the seventeenth century, the province was controlled by the Luba Empire and Lunda Kingdom, which spawned a migration of warriors and tribes into neighbouring regions. The Bemba, Kazembe-Lunda, Kanongesha-Lunda and Lozi in Zambia are just some of the people who trace their origins to Katanga.
Msiri's Yeke Kingdom
- Main articles: Msiri and Stairs Expedition
In the mid-nineteenth century, a Nyamwezi trader from Tabora in modern-day Tanzania called Msiri founded the powerful but short-lived Yeke Kingdom. Msiri's home district was called Garanganza, which came to be used for the Yeke Kingdom as well.M'Siri married the daughter of Chief Katanga who protected him against the xenophoby of Chief Mpanda of Basanga.The name 'Katanga' is derived from M'Siri's father-in-law. Msiri's power was based on copper, ivory and slaves, which he traded to both the west coast (Angola) and east coast (Zanzibar) for firearms and gunpowder, enabling him to transform himself within a few years into a warrior-king, conquering the territory between the Kasai and Luapula Rivers, the Zambezi-Congo watershed and Lake Upemba, taking over land and subject tribes from the Luba and Lunda.
In the 1880s King Leopold II of Belgium had with the assistance of British explorer Henry Morton Stanley established the Congo Free State (CFS) north of Katanga and his attention was now drawn, with reports of Katanga's copper wealth and the possibility of gold, to Msiri's kingdom. Msiri tried to stall and play off Leopold's expeditions against those of the latter's European rival Cecil Rhodes, until Leopold sent the Stairs Expedition to raise the Congo Free State's flag, by force if necessary, and it was. Msiri was uncooperative, and was killed by the expedition in December 1891.
Colonial History
Leopold took possession of Katanga and on 15 April 1891 its administration on behalf of the CFS was entrusted to another of Leopold's companies, the Compagnie du Katanga. No effective administration was set up until 19 June 1900, when it was renamed the Comité Spécial du Katanga, an administration separate from that of the CFS.
After the take-over of the CFS by the Belgian government, on 1 September 1910, Katanga was integrated into the Belgian Congo but it retained a large measure of autonomy until 1 October 1933, when part of its Lomami-district was also transferred to the province of Kasaï.
On 1 October 1933, it was renamed the province of Elisabethville (in French; Elisabethstad in Dutch), after its capital (now Lubumbashi).
Once Katanga was firmly under Belgian control, and the mineral resources were heavily exploited by Belgian firms (notably Union Minière du Haut Katanga) and the province was developed much more than the rest of the country. The Belgian mining cartel employed a mixture of contract mercenaries and hired guards to subdue the local population and to ensure transport of minerals and other goods out of the country. The Luba people opposed and often interfered with mining operations, and many were killed in raids on mining operations.
With the high demand of mining workforce in the region many people were brought from neighbouring regions, mostly Luba people from the Kasai area and even workers from Zambia.
Congolese independence and Katangan secession
After Congo was granted independence in June 1960, Katanga became an autonomous province. On 11 July 1960, Katanga broke away from the new Congolese government of Patrice Lumumba, declaring independence under Moise Tshombe leader of the local CONAKAT party. Despite this the new Katangese government did not enjoy the support throughout the province, especially in the northern Baluba areas.
The declaration of independence was made with the support of Belgian business interests and over 6000 Belgian troops. Tshombe was known to be close to the Belgian industrial companies which mined the rich resources of copper, gold and uranium. Katanga was one of the richest and most developed areas of the Congo. Without Katanga, Congo would lose a large part of its mineral assets and consequently government income. The view of the Congolese central government and a large section of international opinion was that this was an attempt to create a Belgian-controlled puppet-state run for the benefit of the mining interests. Paradoxically, not even Belgium officially recognised the new state despite providing it with military assistance.
In September 1960, Prime Minister Lumumba was replaced in a coup d'état. On 17 January 1961, Lumumba was sent to Lubumbashi, capital of Katanga, where he was tortured and executed shortly after arrival. Belgian officers, under Katangan command, were present at the execution.
The UN Security Council met in the wake of Lumumba's death in a highly emotional atmosphere charged with anti-colonial feeling and rhetoric. On 21 February 1961 the Security Council adopted resolution 161, which authorised 'all appropriate measures' to 'prevent the occurrence of civil war in the Congo, including ... the use of force, if necessary, in the last resort'. This resolution demanded the expulsion from the Congo of all Belgian troops and foreign mercenaries, but did not explicitly mandate the UN to conduct offensive operations. This resolution was ultimately interpreted by the local UN forces justify military operations to end the secession of Katanga. Despite this new resolution during the next six months the UN undertook no major military operations instead concentrating on facilitating several rounds of political negotiations.
In June, Tshombe signed a pledge to reunite Katanga with rest of the country however, by August it was clear he had no intention to implement this agreement. In August and September, the UN conducted two operations to arrest and repatriate the mercenaries and political advisors by force. The second operation was resisted by the Katangan Gendarmerie and resulted in casualties on both sides.
Peace negotiations ensued, in the course of which, UN secretary-general Dag Hammarskjöld died in uncertain circumstances in a plane crash near Ndola, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia).
Under UN pressure, Tshombe later agreed to a three-stage plan from the acting Secretary General, U Thant, that would have reunited Katanga with Congo. However, this remained an agreement on paper only.
Urged on by Congo's leader Cyrille Adola, UN forces launched a decisive attack on Katanga in December 1962. The capital, Elisabethville (now Lubumbashi), fell in January 1963, and Tshombe fled to Kolwezi, where he surrendered on January 15, 1963. The Katangan secession was formally ended by the National Conciliation Plan.
Post-Reunification
In 1966, the central government nationalized the Union Minière du Haut Katanga, as Gécamines. In 1971, Katanga was renamed Shaba. Throughout the 1970s, further insurrections like the 1977 Shaba I were put down by the government with help from foreign nations. On May 12, 1978, for example, rebels occupied the city of Kolwezi, the mining centre of the province. Zaire asked the United States, France, and Belgium to restore order. This resulted in 700 African and 170 European victims.
In 1995, the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights considered a complaint entered by the Katanga People's Congress against Zaire alleging that Zaire breached the international law principle of self-determination, embodied in Article 20 of the African Charter of Human and People's Rights, and requesting the Commission to recognise a right of secession for Katanga from Zaire.[1]
The request was rejected, but in consistency with other international jurisprudence, on grounds that "The Commission is obligated to uphold the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Zaire", the Commission hinted that the people of Katanga might have a right to autonomy, as a form of "internal" self-determination.
The province became Katanga again in 1997 after Mobutu Sésé Seko was exiled, as part of the reverting of much of his 'zairisation' of colonial names.
Following the promulgation of the 2006 Constitution, Katanga will be divided into the following provinces:
Government
Moise Katumbi Chapwe, a businessman, is the governor of Katanga province. He took office on 24 February 2007.[2]
Economy
Copper mining is an important part of the economy of Katanga province.[3] Cobalt mining by individual contractors is also prevalent. There are a number of reasons cited for the discrepancy between the vast mineral wealth of the province and the failure of the wealth to increase the overall standard of living.[4] Gecamines is the state owned mining company which has monopoly concessions in the province.
Medical care
The Jason Sendwe Hospital is the largest hospital in the province. It is located in Lubumbashi.
Climate
Katanga has a wet and dry season. Rainfall is about 49 inches per year (120 cm).[5]
Geography
The province forms the Congolese border with Angola and Zambia. The province also borders Tanzania, although Katanga province and Tanzania do not share a land border but the border is within Lake Tanganyika.
Education
University of Lubumbashi is the largest university in the province and one of the largest in the country. The university is located in the northern part of Lubumbashi city. The Faculté Méthodiste de Théologie (FMT) is a Methodist seminary in province which is accredited within the university system.
TESOL, the English Language School of Lubumbashi is a secondary school that serves the expatriate community that was founded in 1987 on the grounds of the now defunct French School.[6]
Transportation
Katanga Province has limited railway service centered around Lubumbashi. Reliability is limited. The area also has an airport called Luano Airport which is located northeast of Lubumbashi.
Media
Katanga province is served by television broadcasts. Radio-Télévision Nationale Congolaise (RTNC) has a transmitter in Lubumbashi that re-transmits the signal from Kinshasha. In 2005, new television broadcasts by Radio Mwangaza began in Lubumbashi.
See also
References
- ^ University of Minnesota Human Rights Library website: Katangese Peoples' Congress v. Zaire, African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, Comm. No. 75/92 (1995). Accessed 1 May 2007.
- ^ Provinces of Congo (Kinshasa)
- ^ COPPER
- ^ THE STATE VS. THE PEOPLE GOVERNANCE, MINING AND THE TRANSITIONAL REGIME IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
- ^ Katanga, or Shaba (province, Democratic Republic of the Congo) - Britannica Online Encyclopedia
- ^ Home
External links
- The United Nations and the Congo
- Katanga; The Untold Story (of U.N. betrayal) 1960s Video about UN Involvement
- Meaning of flag
- WorldStatesmen- Congo (Kinshasa)
- The Bank Notes of Katanga
- Government Katanga
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