On Tuesday May 7th Banbury Stamp Society welcomed Gerald Marriner who presented material on the theme ‘The Katanga Story’.
Katanga is a region to the south of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), bordering with Angola and Zambia. Congo gained independence from Belgium in 1960 but Belgium supported a secessionist movement in the Katanga region, which had significant mineral deposits and mining activities: the Uranium for the first atomic bomb came from this region.
Independence for the region was short lived: June 1960 to January 1963 and during this time there were Belgian and UN troops based there. Gerald started with refugee mail which could be sent without postage stamps and carried a red cross cachet. Once a new government was in place, they used a ‘Katanga’ overprint, first on the Belgian Congo stamps, followed in July with Congo independence stamps before issuing its own stamps. We were shown the stamps as well as their usage on covers. As well as internal mail, there was a lot of mail to and from Belgium, and this was often routed through Northern Rhodesia (modern Zambia). Gerald also had a letter from the president, Moise Tshombe. The region came back under control of the DR Congo in 1963 and some of the Katanga overprinted stamps were re-overprinted with ‘Congo’.
Banbury Stamp Society held its AGM on May 21st which marked the end of this season. The next meeting will be on October 8th when Kim Stuckey will display on the Falklands War 1982. The Society meets at 7:30pm at Hanwell Fields Community Centre and is on-line at ‘www.banburystampsociety.co.uk’, or contact John Davies on 01295 255831.