Last modified: 2000-01-07 by antonio martins
Keywords: congo | zaire | shaba | katanga | secessionist | copper | saltire (brown) | saltires: 3 |
Links: FOTW homepage |
search |
disclaimer and copyright |
write us |
mirrors
The province, then known as Katanga, attempted secession from in
1960, only a few days after Belgian Congo became independent. The
rebel government was put down after a war lasting three years. The
state of Katanga had its own flag. More recently, unrest seems to
have been aimed at gaining limited autonomy within Zaire. Autonomy
was declared in December 1993, but the government in Kinshasa gave
no response. The bid for autonomy was led by the Union of Independent
Federalists and Republicans (UFERI).
Jan Oskar Engene
All four arms of the crosses are the same length; these
crosses are supposed to represent ingots
and those were (crudely) symmetrical. From the dozens of
representations of the Katangese flag I've seen, none have
had crosses with one arm longer. The crosses are usually,
if not always depicted upright. I have been researching Congo and Katanga for some time
for an upcoming book and during this research I’ve gone
through numerous photos and documents showing the flag
or arms of Katanga, and I've also seen a couple of
preserved flags. Hence my knowledge on this subject.
Leif Hellström, 19 Apr 1999
I think the Katanga crosses should be red, although one sometimes
one sees them in copper brown. The proportions are 2:3.
Harald Müller, 10 May 1996
The couped saltires in the flag of Katanga were intended to represent
copper bars. Katanga is the copper belt of Southern Africa.
William M. Grimes-Wyatt, 09 May 1996
They are a kind of money. In central Africa, from Congo down to
Zambia and Zimbabwe, copper has been cast into cross-shaped bars for
trade. Those Katanga (or Baluba) crosses came up in various sizes,
from a couple of centimetres to nearly half a metre in diameter.
Harald Müller, 10 May 1996
Description: White field with a light green stripe from upper hoist to
lower fly, charged with a red disc topped with a red “crest”. Below the
symbol, gold letters "PM".
Occurrence: Flag used during a military parade in the Katanga independent
state.
Source: TV-documentary Rhodes nostalgie. The documentary tells the story
of the Jewish community of the island of Rhodes.
Most of them emigrated to Belgian Congo before
WWII and settled in Katanga. Those who remained in Rhodes died in Auschwitz.
Accuracy: Medium. The flag was very clearly depicted by the TV-documentary
but my rendition of the emblem may be approximate.
Meaning: I don't know. PM could stand for Police Militaire
(Military Police). Who can say more?
Comment: During the same documentary, the independent
Kasai flag was also shown during a political meeting.
Ivan Sache, 08 Oct 1997