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Witness of History...
After having issued a stamp ( Y&Tn°351, 20c, current series, fauna ) in 1959, the Belgian Congo has became an independant republic on the 30th of june 1960, before being called Zaïre from the 21st of october 1971 on, one year after the election of Mobutu as the president.
On the 11th of july 1960, Moïse Tchombé, helped by the Belgians, has proclamed himself president of the Katanga (south of the future Zaïre), independant until the 15th of january 1963. Not recognized, the Katanga will go back to Congo.
51 stamps of the Belgian Congo and of the Congo have received a Katanga overprint. 30 stamps have been issued in 1963 for the Katanga itself. (These figures are given without counting cases of varieties.)
We nowadays know that the Zaïre has changed its name again: the Democratic Republic of Congo has issued its first stamps in 1998.
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