Katanga stamp – The-Philatelist

This stamp imagines a daring paratrooper assault carried out the Congo Army. Well the army had a paratroop division, so that could happen. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The world was filled with stories of foreigners fighting in the Congo. Belgium, the UN, mercenaries with various backing, and even Che Guevara. Yet here we have the Congo Army fighting for itself pulling off a dangerous airborne assault. The opposite of reality.

Todays stamp is issue A113, a 9 Franc stamp issued by the Democratic Republic of the Congo on July 5, 1965. It was a five stamp issue in various denominations on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of independence. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents. This stamp set also exists imperforate, raising the value to $17.50.

Belgium had administered the colony with local Askari soldiers operating with mostly Belgian officers. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/10/10/belgian-congo-1942-can-colonials-rely-on-askari-soldiers-when-the-home-country-is-occupied/ . The function was civil defence with the additional tasks of forcing labor contracts. To do this last function, they carried chicotes, a whip made from the hide of a hippopotamus. Not a promising basis for a professional army. Only in the final years of colonial status were a few locals taken for more advanced military training. The intention was that Belgian officers would be seconded to the Congo Army until further notice. 5 days after independence the troops themselves announced that was not acceptable and mutineed. The troops rioted in the major cities specifically targeting whites. Soon copper rich Katanga declared itself independent and Belgian paratroopers landed to support that and protect it’s nationals. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/07/13/katanga-1961-mining-out-the-chaos/ .

The United Nations intervened on the side of the Congo army. The government was trying to get control of the looting army. They appointed locals as generals that had previously served as corporals and sergeants in the previous Askari force, The tide was against the Congo. The Prime Minister was arrested and turned over to “independent” Katanga where he was beaten, shot by a firing squad, and his corpse dissolved in acid. Dag Hamirgold, the UN secretary, was killed in a plane crash trying to get negotiations going.

All this quickly proved tiresome. Che Guevara found the local freedom fighters unhelpful and untrustworthy and moved on. Congo then agreed to take Katanga leader Moise Tshombe as Prime Minister to get Katanga back and restore Belgian support. A few months after this stamp, Congo General and former Askari corporal Mobutu declared himself President and Tshombe was off into exile.

I mentioned lack of training and effective leadership plagued the early days of the Congo Army. This line of thinking lead to lots of dubious aid to Congo. At the time of this stamp, Begians were training the Army. The British were training Army engineers. Italy was training the combat arm of the air force. The USA was training the Air Force’s transport command. Most relevant to this stamp, Israelis were training the Army’s Parachute Division. The parachute division was most important to the central government as most army units listened only if at all to local provincial leadership.

Discarded C47, jump off only while still on ground. Lesson of the day!

Tshombe tried to come back to Congo in 1968 despite having been tried and sentenced to death for treason. His executive jet was hijacked by French spy Francis Bodenan of SDECE. He ended up in Algeria where he died of “heart failure”. Europe was now supporting Mabuto. Meanwhile the Army is desperately in need of more foreign aid so it can become a force for good and achieve…… So it goes.

Well my drink is empty. Wait, up in the sky, is that the Congo Parachute Division. Oh no… Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

Mineral wealth in a small part of Congo was three quarters of the economy. So when chaos decends after independence a few want to free themselves of that. Not easy to do. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Aesthetically this stamp has a lot to recommend it. There was a feeling at the time that the whole independence of Katanga was a front for Belgian mining interest. So this stamp and a few others take on this by directly showing the native black arts in which locals took pride. Others show natives working and fighting for a better life. One could make the argument that all this flies in the face of reality. But stamp issues are about putting a places best self forward. Katanga’s stamp issues did that well.

Todays stamp is issue A1, a 1.5 Franc stamp issued by Katanga on March 1, 1961. It was part of a 14 stamp issue in various denominations that depict the artistry of the native wood carvers. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether it is mint or used and what ever denomination the particular stamp is.

Katanga is a province of the formally Belgian Congo. It contains Belgium developed mining operations of copper, zinc, and uranium. The operations of the lucrative mines required much Belgian expertise and the province contained thousands of Belgian expatriates. The revenue from the mines were profitable for Belgium and provided 75 percent of the colony’s budget.

There were a lot of hard feelings at the time of independence. The first prime minister went out of his way to insult the Belgian King publicly during independence ceremonies. This set forth chaos directed at looting any foreign wealth in the country. The looting and even attacks on Belgian citizens had tacit government approval. Responding to this a rival Congolese politician named Moise Tshombe declared Katanga independent from Congo. Congo’s first prime minister was removed from office, taken to Katanga, beaten, killed, and his corps burned in acid until all that remained were a few teeth. Katanga quickly hired white South African and Rhodesian mercenaries to chase off the looting Congo army. The mercenaries were supplemented by a Belgian parachute regiment. The Belgian mining company paid Tshombe 25 million dollars into his personal account from money due the Congo government.

World opinion was just not going to tolerate this. Tshombe’s name was synonymous with sellout in Africa. The United Nations refused to recognize Katanga and even authorized military force to bring Katanga back into Congo. The UN forces sent in were at first not willing to attack. UN Secretary General Dag Hammerjold flew to nearby Northern Rhodesia to conduct negotiations but his plane crashed in mysterious circumstances.

In late 1962, the UN forces finally attacked Katanga after the Belgian army left and succeeded in conquering it. There is a sense of who conquered who though. Tshombe was named Prime Minister of all of Congo and a few of his white mercenary units were incorporated into the army of Congo.

A year later there was a coup and Tshombe went into exile in Spain. He was tried in absentia for treason and sentenced to death. Spain refused to extradite. In 1967, Tshombe attempted to return to Congo on a chartered business jet. A spy from French Intelligence hijacked the plane to Algiers where Tshombe died of “heart failure” at 49.

The mines were nationalized in 1966. The Belgian mining concern ordered their employees back to Belgium. Congo attempted to order them to give a years notice before leaving. A deal was eventually struck but the output of the mines has now dropped to less than 10 percent of previous output. This is entirely due to mismanagement rather than depletion of the resources. Over the years there have been various schemes to get the mines producing again, most recently with aid from China. So far no luck.

Well my drink is empty and I may have a few more while I contemplate how the disaster could have been avoided. There is no doubt that the chaos and destruction in Congo lengthened white rule in Southern Africa. At the same time, virtually all the black leaders ended up cruel corrupt fools. No one to toast. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.