Moïse Tshombe
 Moïse Tshombe    (businessman, politician) | |
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| Born | 10 November 1919 |
| Died | 29 June 1969 (Age 49) |
Moïse Kapenda Tshombe 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 Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1964 to 1965.
Moïse Tshombe was born to an aristocratic Lunda family and ran several businesses in Katanga Province before becoming involved in politics, co-founding the pro-Western, anti-communist CONAKAT party in 1958 and advocating for autonomy for Katanga. Following the Republic of the Congo-Léopoldville's accession to independence in June 1960, Tshombe became president of the autonomous province, and soon came into conflict with the central government's prime minister, Patrice Lumumba. Accusing Lumumba of communist sympathies, Tshombe declared Katanga's independence as the breakaway State of Katanga, becoming a major actor of the Congo Crisis. Following Lumumba's overthrow and execution by Tshombe's supporters in 1961, the United Nations Operation in the Congo suppressed the Katanga rebellion in 1963, forcing Tshombe into exile.
The following year, he was made prime minister of the country as part of a new coalition government against the Simba rebellion by Lumumba's supporters. In 1965, he founded the CONACO alliance, which comfortably won the March and April general elections. However, he was dismissed as Prime Minister in October of that year, being replaced by Évariste Kimba. Following the November 1965 coup which ended the Congo Crisis, he was charged with treason and was forced into exile again. He died four years later.[1]
References
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