United Nations troops seized the mining town of Kolwezi, extinguishing the last organized resistance of Katanga's secessionist government. The province's attempted breakaway, backed by mining interests eager to control its copper and cobalt wealth, had destabilized the newly independent Congo since 1960 and contributed to the killing of Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba.
Katanga's secession began almost immediately after Congolese independence in June 1960, led by provincial leader Moise Tshombe with quiet backing from Belgian mining conglomerate Union Minière, which depended on Katanga's vast copper and cobalt deposits. The province's wealth made it the economic engine of the entire Congo, and its loss threatened to bankrupt the fragile central government in Léopoldville.
The United Nations, invoking an unprecedented mandate to use force in the name of preserving Congolese unity, launched a series of military operations against Tshombe's gendarmerie and European mercenaries. Fighting was often chaotic and brutal, and the crisis claimed the life of UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld, killed in a 1961 plane crash en route to ceasefire talks.
By early 1963, UN forces backed by Ethiopian, Indian, and Swedish troops pushed into Katanga's interior. The fall of Kolwezi on March 2 finally broke organized resistance, and Tshombe fled into exile — though he would return, improbably, as the Congo's own prime minister just over a year later. The episode remains a foundational case study in the perils and limits of UN peacekeeping.