AHC: Independent Katanga

I think the first step has to be Lumumba winning the power struggle in Leopoldville against Kasavubu and Mobutu [not the easiest outcome to reach, I realize, but Lumumba did have sizable popular support]. If Lumumba carried out his threat to invite communist forces in to put down the rebellion in Katanga, then, without someone to support in Leopoldville, the west might have to choose between backing the separatist forces in Katanga and South Kasai or else conceding the Congo to the Russians.
 
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