The Belgian Congo: A verdant area spanning the central regions of Africa - giant, somnambulant, beautiful and menacing. In 1960 the Belgian authorities, who had for years ruled the Congo with a stern hand, opted to grant independence to the country"s hugely diverse population. On June 30, 1960, the Congo became independent. Within five days the country had fallen into four squabbling parts - the central government in the old capital of Leopoldville, a rebel movement in the eastern capital of Stanleyville, an independent republic of Kasai in the South West and an independent Katanga in the Southern regions with its capital at Elizabethville. United Nations troops were deployed in a "peace keeping" role and after three wars succeeded in quashing the Katangese coup. But they had hardly finished their task when rebel "sambas" in the Eastern Congo began sweeping across the Congo with the intention of capturing Leopoldville. Supported by the CIA, the central Congolese government recruited mercenaries and fought back. By 1954 the mercenaries had taken Stanleyville and smothered the revolt. In 1966 and 1967 the Katangese revolted and were repressed. On two subsequent occasions, one in 1977 and the other in 1978, Katangese rebels operating from North Angola again attacked Katanga province - now called Shaba. They were defeated.