[4] Following Operation Grandslam, the soldiers of Katanga's official military, the Katangese Gendarmerie, were supposed to be disarmed or integrated into the Armée Nationale Congolaise.

Considering them an asset, the Portuguese colonial authorities organized the gendarmes in Angola into "refugee" camps which were factually rebel training facilities.

[15] In 1964, Tshombe became Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and promptly used the exiled gendarmes to combat the Simba rebellion.

[16] However, Tshombe was ousted from power in 1965; soon after, Mobutu Sese Seko seized control in the Congo, eventually renaming the country to "Zaire".

The FLNC then organized a local militia and attempted to expand its holdings, but was again defeated due to an international intervention.

[25] On 23 May 2010, authorities apprehended 7 separatists belonging to CPK on charges of planning an attack on the Vangu military camp.

[27] On 11 January 2011, FARDC recaptured the towns of Bendera, Wimbi, Kabimba, and Lunga, previously controlled by FDLR.

[28] On 5 February 2011, Katangese separatists seized control of the Luano airport in Lubumbashi but were forced out of the area by members of the FARDC and the local police.

[citation needed] On the night of 11 July 2011, the anniversary of the secession of the State of Katanga in 1960, suspected CORAK militants attacked the Kimbembe military base, killing an unspecified number of people.

[29] On 9 September 2011, rebel leader Gédéon Kyungu Mutanga managed to escape the Kassapa prison where he was detained.

These two militias primarily operate in the Mitwaba, Manono and Pweto localities of Katanga Province; an area that has been nicknamed the "Triangle of Death' as a result of the conflict.

[31] On 27 December 2011, trials of CORAK militants began at the Lubumbashi garrison military court; the defendants were accused of desertion and insurrection, among other charges.

The accused included militants arrested during the February 2011 Luano airport attack and the Kassapa prison break.

[32] On 21 December 2012, two insurgents and one government soldier were killed when rebels clashed with security forces outside Lubumbashi International Airport.

[33] On 23 March 2013, between 300 and 350 Kata Katanga militia launched an unsuccessful attack on Lubumbashi, later fleeing into a United Nations compound to surrender; a total of 245 militants were detained.

[34][35] In August 2013, the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, MONUSCO, rescued 82 children, some as young as eight, who had been forcibly recruited into Katanga militias as child soldiers.

[4] On 5 April 2014, FDLR guerrillas pillaged a number of villages and ambushed cargo trucks on Route Nationale 5, near Kabulo in Kalemie territory.

[47] On 4 November 2014, Bakata Katanga fighters ambushed two vehicles belonging to Upemba National Park rangers, taking four people hostage and seizing four rifles.

The governor of the Haut-Katanga Province stated that the surrender was part of a series of negotiations seeking to end insecurity in Katanga and that the militiamen would enter a demobilization and rehabilitation program.

At this point, Haut-Katanga Province's council of ministers still considered his militia a significant threat, though the level of violence in the region had generally decreased.

[62] In May, the group attacked a FARDC battalion at Lutandula in the Lufira Biosphere Reserve, killing one soldier and a National Service agent as well as capturing some loot before retreating.

[63] On 15 August, ten people were killed in Kilwa, Pweto Territory, during a disputed incident; the FARDC claimed that it had repelled a separatist raid, but locals stated that the soldiers had shot civilians of the Mbidi sect due to mistaking them for insurgents.

[66] Soon after, Eddy Kapend -commander of the local 22nd military region- called on the separatist rebels to surrender, threatening that he was increasing FARDC operations in response to the recent attacks.