The Confederation of Tribal Associations of Katanga (, or CONAKAT) was one of the main political parties in the

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964. Colo ...

and was led by the pro-Western regionalist

Moïse Tshombe Moïse Kapenda Tshombe (sometimes written Tshombé) (10 November 1919 – 29 June 1969) was a Congolese businessman and politician. He served as the president of the secessionist State of Katanga from 1960 to 1963 and as prime minister of the D ...

and his interior minister,

Godefroid Munongo Godefroid Munongo Mwenda M'Siri (1925–1992) was a Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congolese politician. He was a minister and briefly interim president, in 1961. It has been claimed he was involved in ethnic cleansing and in the assassination ...

. It became the ruling party of the

State of Katanga The State of Katanga; sw, Inchi Ya Katanga) also sometimes denoted as the Republic of Katanga, was a breakaway state that proclaimed its independence from Congo-Léopoldville on 11 July 1960 under Moise Tshombe, leader of the local ''Co ...

whose declaration of independence sparked the

Congo Crisis The Congo Crisis (french: Crise congolaise, link=no) was a period of political upheaval and conflict between 1960 and 1965 in the Republic of the Congo (today the Democratic Republic of the Congo). The crisis began almost immediately after ...

History

Formation

The ''Confédération des associations tribales du Katanga'' was formed in November 1958 by Tshombe, Munongo, Dominique Diur, and others in response to the developing sociopolitical situation in

Katanga Province Katanga was one of the four large provinces created in the Belgian Congo in 1914. It was one of the eleven provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between 1966 and 2015, when it was split into the Tanganyika Province, Tanganyika, Hau ...

. At the time, immigrants from other parts of the Congo, notably Lulua and Baluba people of

Kasai Province Kasai or Kasaï may refer to: Places Congo * Congo-Kasaï, one of the four large provinces of Belgian Congo * Kasaï District, in the Kasai-Occidental province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo * Kasai Province, one of the provinces ...

, made up 38% of Katanga's population. The "authentic Katangese" referred to them disparagingly as "strangers". The first president of CONAKAT was Munongo, who was quickly forced to cede leadership to Tshombe due to his work in the civil service.The Congo from Leopold to Kabila
Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, 2002, , accessed February 2009 The CONAKAT ran in the national elections of 1959 on a regionalist program (including the demand for Katanga's self-government and preferential tax treatment). The party won only 8 of the 137 Congolese parliament seats in 1959. On July 11, 1960, just under a fortnight after Congolese independence, CONAKAT president Tshombe declared the independence of the

and the beginning of the

State of Katanga

CONAKAT became the dominant ruling party of the

as it held 58 of the 64 seats in the National Assembly and the majority of cabinet positions. The party ruled Katanga until 1963 when it was forced to surrender in the face of overwhelming UN and Congolese opposition.

Following the surrender

In 1965 following the re-annexation of Katanga into the Democratic Republic of Congo Tshombe became Prime Minister of the Congo and Munongo became Minister of the Interior. In the 1965 general election CONAKAT came second, receiving more than 178 thousand votes, 7.2% of the total vote. The party gained 9 seats in the National Assembly and was allied with the nationwide

CONACO Conaco, LLC is the television production firm owned by entertainer Conan O'Brien. The name is a portmanteau of the words ''"Conan"'' and ''"Co"'', an abbreviation of company. It has produced programs primarily for NBCUniversal and WarnerMedia ...

alliance led by Prime Minister Tshombe. The alliance won 80 seats but despite this Évariste Kimba, a former CONAKAT member but now

Congolese Democratic Front The Congolese Democratic Front (french: Front démocratique congolais, FDC) was a political party in Moyen-Congo. The party was founded by Emmanuel Dadet after he left the Congolese Progressive Party The Congolese Progressive Party (french: Parti ...

leader, was appointed Prime Minister.

Joseph Mobutu Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga (; born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu; 14 October 1930 – 7 September 1997) was a Congolese politician and military officer who was the president of Zaire from 1965 to 1997 (known as the Democratic Republic o ...

seized power in a coup in November 1965 and would transform the Congo into a one-party state under his

Popular Movement of the Revolution The Popular Movement of the Revolution (french: Mouvement Populaire de la Révolution, abbr. MPR) was the ruling political party in Zaire (known for part of its existence as the Democratic Republic of the Congo). For most of its existence, it wa ...

which forcibly dissolved CONAKAT along with every other political party.

Citations

References

*{{cite book, last = Heraclides, first = Alexis, title = The Self-determination of Minorities in International Politics, publisher = Routledge, date = 2012, url = https://books.google.com/books?id=XyX7yw17YTAC, isbn = 9781136290268 Political parties established in the 1950s Defunct political parties in the Democratic Republic of the Congo History of Katanga Anti-communist parties Belgian Congo