ABSTRACT
The province of Katanga, situated at a considerable distance from Leopoldville (Kinshasa), the capital, was inhabited at the time by only 13 per cent of the total population of the country. The three largest indigenous ethnic groups were the Baluba, the Lunda and the Bayeke, followed by smaller groups, such as the Basonge, Bahemba, Batabwe and Tshokwe. More than a third of Katanga's, population in the late 1950s was not comprised of indigenous Katangese, but of immigrants from the adjacent province of Kasai, who were for the most part Lulua and Kasai Baluba (related to, but not the same as the Katanga Baluba). Conakat (Confederation des associations tribales du Katanga), the separatist party, was formed in November 1958, precisely as a reaction to the rising number of immigrants from Kasai - disparagingly labelled 'strangers' - who were generally more industrious and politically active in their new milieu than the 'authentic Katangese'. (Fedeka, the resourceful association of the immigrants, was in fact banned by the Belgians.) The following factors led to the creation of Conakat:3
1. The sheer presence of the 'strangers', who amounted to 38 per cent of Katanga's population, comprising half the population of the large urban centres.
