An administrator checking rumors of the subversion was attacked 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from Ekombe, with several deaths and injuries on both sides.

The people of the Lomela River basin left their villages and gathered in a desert location, refusing to obey the Belgians.

[3] Some have said the rebellion was caused by the fetishist Ikay, but another view is that the problem came from the intermediaries of the companies and the administration who organized commerce and collected taxes in each village, and threatened the authority of the local leaders.

The intermediaries were sometimes oppressive, threatening the villagers with force unless they worked with copal and abandoned their traditional customs.

[4] In 1928 the military showed their strength in the Lomela, Kole and Dimbelenge territories of Sankuru district.

[8] On 14 August 1962 Kasaï was divided into five new provinces: Lomami, Luluabourg, Sankuru, Sud-Kasaï and Unité Kasaïenne.