The Confederation of Tribal Associations of Katanga ( fr. Confédération des associations tribales du Katanga , CONAKAT ) is a Congolese and Katangan political party of the 1950s and 1960s. Founded by Moise Tshombe and Godfroy Munongo . Served from the standpoint of right - wing pro - Western anti - communism and Katanga separatism . Was ruling in the State of Katanga . She played an active role in the Congolese crisis . In Mobutu mode , it is included in the one-party MPR system.
| Confederation of Katanga Tribal Associations fr Confédération des associations tribales du Katanga , CONAKAT | |
|---|---|
| Leader | Moiz Tshombe |
| Founding date | 1958 |
| Date of dissolution | 1965 |
| Headquarters | Elizabethville  Katanga |
| Ideology | Katanga separatism , right-wing nationalism , anti-communism |
| Allies and blocks | Belgium ; UMHK ; CONACO |
| Seats in the lower chamber | 8 (election 1960 ), 9 (election 1965 ) |
| Seats in the upper chamber | 7 (election 1960) |
Content
Build and Platform
The CONACAT party was created in November 1958 [1] as the third political force of the Belgian Congo , after the left-wing National Movement Patrice Lumumba and the center-right Alliance of Baghong Joseph Kasavub . The initiators of the creation were Moise Tshombe and Godfroy Munongo .
Behind Lumumba and his National Congo Movement became a narrow layer of leftist intelligentsia with European education and experience of the colonial civil service. For President Joseph Kasavubu with his ABACO alliance - the Bakongo tribal aristocracy and the big bourgeoisie. For businessman Moise Tshombe, the owner of the richest province of Katanga , there was a separatist gang, organized into the CONAKAT party by the local mafia Godfroy Munongo, who came from the royal family [2] .
The first chairman of CONACAT was Munongo, who soon ceded this post to Tshombe, since he himself was in the civil service [3] . A prominent role in the party was also played by journalist Evarist Kimba , lawyer and economist Jean-Baptiste Kibwe , composer Joseph Kivele .
CONAKAT acted primarily as the separatist movement Katanga. The main slogans concerned the maximum autonomy and self-government of the province, the preservation of the natural resources of Katanga for its population. At the same time, the party held right anti - communist positions. CONAKAT harshly criticized Lumumba as a “communist”, demanded that relations with Belgium be maintained, and kept the pro-Western course. The party maintained close ties with the Belgian mining corporation UMHK [4] .
Right strength of the Congolese crisis
In the elections in the spring of 1960 , shortly before the decolonization of the Belgian Congo , less than 105,000 voters voted for CONACAT - 5.8% [5] . This gave the party only 8 of 137 mandates in the National Assembly and 7 of 84 in the Senate. CONACAT achieved much greater success in Katanga - all the deputies and senators of the party were elected from there. The largest number of mandates — 25 out of 70 — was received by CONAKAT in the provincial assembly. But even in Katanga, as evidenced by the results, the dominance of CONAKAT was not unequivocal - the BALUBAKAT party , which was not based on regionalism, but on balub ethnic nationalism, made strong competition.
After the independence of the Congo was declared on June 30, 1960, CONAKAT was in tough opposition to the government of Patrice Lumumba. Already on July 11, 1960, Tshombe announced the separation of the independent Katanga from the Republic of the Congo [6] . In the State, Katanga Chombe occupied the post of President, Munongo - Minister of the Interior, Kimba - Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kibwe - Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance [7] . All of them were accused of organizing the murder of Lumumba, committed in Katanga on January 17, 1961 .
CONAKAT controlled power in Katanga until 1963 , when the province rejoined the Congo as a result of the Katanga war .
The CONAKAT party acted as the most right-wing and pro-Western force in the Congolese conflict . Tshombe as Prime Minister of the Congo and Munongo as Minister of the Interior actively participated in the suppression of the Simba Uprising .
In the elections in the spring of 1965 (Tshombe at that time was the head of the Congolese government, not the Katangan one), CONAKAT took second place, receiving more than 178,000 votes - 7.2%, 9 seats in the National Assembly. CONAKAT acted in alliance with the national party CONACO , led by Prime Minister Tshombe.
Elimination and continuation of the tradition
After the removal of Tshombe and the coming to power of Mobutu in the fall of 1965, representatives of CONAKAT, above all Munongo, remained in Katanga for some time. Soon, however, the regime unleashed brutal repression against Tshombe's supporters [8] . CONAKAT activities have been suppressed.
In 1967 a one-party system of the Popular Revolutionary Movement ( MPR ) was established in the Congo. CONAKAT was forcibly included in MPR.
The political tradition of CONAKAT in modern DRC continues - in a peculiar way - the May-May Kata Katanga movement, which puts forward slogans in the spirit of “Katanga riches for Katangians!” [6]
Notes
- ↑ Rene Lemarchand. Political Awakening in the Belgian Congo / Praeger (June 14, 1982).
- ↑ Protests in Congo suppressed by mobile phone revenues
- ↑ Mwami Godefroid Munongo Shyombeka we Shalo. Mwenda vi
- ↑ Central Africa: British Documents on the End of Empire. Series B, Vol. 9. Part 1 Closer Association 1945-1958. Stationery Office Books (11 Nov. 2005).
- ↑ DRC: 1960 National Assembly results
- ↑ 1 2 Forty years old safari in Shaba
- ↑ L'Etat du Katanga (11 juillet 1960 - 14 janvier 1963)
- ↑ L'odyssée des Tigres Katangais Neopr (Inaccessible link) . The appeal date is March 11, 2017. Archived March 4, 2015.