Katanga Province

Katanga (1971-1997 Shaba ) is a province of the Democratic Republic of Congo capital Lubumbashi.

Geography

The province is located in the southeast of the country, bordered to the north west, the provinces of Kasai - Occidental and Kasai - Oriental, in the north- east by the provinces of Maniema and Sud- Kivu to the south by Zambia, on the west by Angola and on the east by Lake Tanganyika (Tanzania ).

Government

Since 24 February 2007 Moïse Katumbi Chapwe is the first democratically elected Governor of the province of Katanga. He has introduced a minimum wage of $ 100 a month.

Population

The main ethnic groups are the youwill of Katanga in the northwest and in the middle, the Hemba in the north, the Tabwa in the Northeast, the Lunda in the west, and the Bemba and Lala in the southeast.

Territorial outline

Katanga is further divided into the districts of Tanganyika, Upper Lomami, Upper Katanga, Kolwezi and Lualaba, which in turn are divided into separate territories.

History

To the old story see Msidis Empire, the history of the 1960-63 de facto independent state of Katanga ( State).

1891, the areas of Katanga from the Belgian Congo Free State of the Compagnie du Katanga and 1900 the Comité Spécial du Katanga were entrusted and were managed entirely separately from the rest of the Congo. It was not until 1910 Katanga was an autonomous territory of the Belgian Congo. 1933, the province lost its autonomy and was named after its capital in Elizabethville (French ) or Elisabethstad ( Dutch), today renamed Lubumbashi.

1960, when the decolonization of the Belgian Congo was underway, Moïse Tshombe proclaimed the independence of Katanga. The UN attempted through negotiations Katanga to move to return, occupied in 1963, the then Elizabethville and ended the independence by military means. Katanga was first divided into three provinces, but reunited in 1966.

In the same year 1966, the mining company Union Minière du Haut Katanga was nationalized under the name of Gécamines. 1971 Katanga was renamed Shaba. During the 1970s rebellions of the Zairean central power could be suppressed only with foreign military aid, for example, in 1978, when on 13 May at the so-called Shaba invasion 4,000 rebels the most important mining town of the province, occupied Kolwezi. Finally, only through massive support by the United States of America, Belgium and France succeeded the paratroopers of the French Foreign Legion to retake the city, with 700 Africans and 280 Europeans were killed. French Foreign Legionnaires (2e régiment étranger de parachutistes ) liberated while in the Battle of Kolwezi on May 19, 1978, more than 2,000 European hostages from the hands of rebels.

After Mobutu Sese Seko went into exile in 1997, the province took back to the previous name of Katanga.

Mineral resources

Katanga has rich mineral deposits of copper, cobalt ( approximately at Kolwezi ) and uranium (see also: Copperbelt ). This resulted after the independence of the Congo by Belgium to significant political conflicts, which became known as Congo - Congo turmoil or crisis. In the course of this crisis, which sought to mediate UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold died in a suspicious plane crash today during a peace mission.

Planned, never implemented resolution

With the adoption of a new constitution in May 2005, a reorganization of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Katanga are doing should be divided into four new provinces:

  • Upper Katanga, with its capital Lubumbashi, from the same district
  • Upper Lomami with capital Kamina, from the same district
  • Lualaba Kolwezi with the capital, from the districts and Lualaba Kolwezi
  • Tanganyika, with its capital Kalemie, from the same district

After the appointment of the management change was previously postponed several times, President Joseph Kabila made ​​this completely reversed in January 2011. This Katanga will continue to exist in its current form.

Film

  • China in the Congo. Documentation, Germany, 2008, 29 min Director: Wiltrud Kremer, Production: SWR, arte, first broadcast 27 January 2009 Summary of arte
Luba people Lunda people Tanganyika District Msiri History of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Bandundu Province Bas-Congo
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