Self-styled President of secessionist Katanga, Moise Tshombe, announced at a press conference in Elizabethville August 9 that he would no longer oppose the entry of United Nations forces into the province but laid down conditions on which he would agree to the troops moving in.

In the presence of Mr Godefroid Munongo, Katanga Minister of the Interior and Mr Kalonji, leader of the breakaway group of Mr. Lumumba's Congo National Movement in Kasai, Mr Tshombe stated the following conditions which he had cabled to the U.N. Secretary-General Mr Hammarskjoeld: 1. U.N. troops must not be from a communist country or a country with communist affiliations. 2. The U.N. must reaffirm its policy of non-intervention in the affairs of the area. 3. Roads into katanga must be jointly guarded by U.N. and Katanga troops. 4. The U.N. must not object to any person being prohibited from entering Katanga. 5. Entry of goods and people must remain in the hands of the Katanga authorities. 6. The United Nations must not supply transport for officials of the Central Congolese Government to travel to Katanga. 7. The United Nations must not interfere with operations of the Katanga police. 8. Arms now in the hands of the Katanga army must remain under the control of the Katanaga authorities.

Earlier, Mr Kalonji - a leader of the Baluba tribe, the largest in Kasai - proclaimed the independence of the "Etat Miniere". This new state is in the south of Kasai and contains the industrial diamond mines of the Industrial Forestry and Mineral Company of the Congo (La Forminiere).