collective identity as well as feeding ethnic conflict, as did the Belgian colonial policy of formalising a "kingship", in the style of their neighbors, for the Lulua. The tensions of the late colonial period finally culminated it what has been called the "Lulua--Baluba War", as communal violence exploded on 11 October 1959. The Lulua–Baluba War During the Congo crisis at independence, there were violent conflicts with other ethnic groups, especially in the area of Kananga/Luluabourg's large self identified Lulua community. In the late 19th century, Baluba demographic pressures drove Lulua groups into what became the Belgian colonial area of Luluabourg, later Kananga. From the 1920s, Baluba farmers from South Kasi began relocating again into more fertile Lulua lands in Kananga. Following the Second World War, Belgium began to grant some limited forms of local self-government to the Congolese. At the same time, educated Lulua, concerned by the relative political power of the Luba/Baluba ruling classes led by Sylvian Mangole Kalamba, formed an ethnic educational and political group called The Lulua Brothers (Lulua Freres) to pressure the colonial authorities. In December 1957, Baluba candidates won a number of municipal elections in Luluabourg, raising fears from Lulua elites that they were being displaced. Mobilizing politically around their Lulua identity, Lulua leaders swept the 1960 legislative elections for the provincial parliament. The Lulua led administration then proposed a plan to evict 100,000 ethnic Baluba farmers back to South Kasai. Ethnic based riots broke out in response on 11 October and escalated. This violence fed into already brewing political split between Lumumba's Congo nationalist MNC versus regionalists Albert Kalonji from Kasai and Moise Tshombe, president of Katanga Province, was a precipitant of the South Kasai secession of the Congo Crisis. In Lulua territories, central government troops and United Nation peacekeepers were rushed in to quell violence. These areas became the frontline for government forces, sandwiched as it was between both the South Kasai and the Katanga secessionist states. When order was finally reestablished in the Lulua majority area in February 1962, some 3000 to 7000 were dead in both communal violence and military action. The Congo Crisis would burn on until November 1966. Arts Lulua arts are highly prized in the international collectors market. Lulua carved wood figures are identified with distinctive and extensive portrayal of scarification patterns (despite the fact that Lulua scarification traditions largely died out in the 19th century). Carved figures