Democratic Republic of Congo) gained independence from Belgium; the UHMK, with Belgian support, wanted to secede Katanga province from the rest of the country. Malloch began working for one of the secessionist leaders, Moise Tshombe, as a pilot. In July 1963, one of the Rhodesian Air Services Douglas DC-3s was shot down over Katanga by UN forces. By January 1963, the effort to secede Katanga had been defeated by UN forces, and their surrender led to the inclusion of the province in the Congo. Moise Tshombe returned from exile in June 1964 and was invited to become Prime Minister of the Congo. Malloch started working for Tshombe again, and between August and November 1964, he flew in support of the mercenary Mike Hoare against the Congolese rebels. Later, in 1967, the Mercenaries Revolt in the Congo was launched with the news that Tshombe had been kidnapped. Malloch flew re-supply missions for Jean "Black Jack" Schramme and his mercenaries from July–November 1967. Biafra In May 1967, Biafra declared independence from Nigeria, which sparked the Nigerian Civil War. Malloch made his first gun-running flight into Biafra to supply the rebels in July 1967; between 1967 and January 1970, he and his company ATA were making nightly weapons flights into Biafra. In 1968, he and the crew of his DC-7 were jailed on landing in Togo with a cargo of 9 tons of Nigerian banknotes. By January 1970, the Biafran rebellion had been defeated and the civil war thus came to an end. The 1970s & 1980s In January 1970 Malloch formed a new company, this one named Afro-Continental Airways (ACA), as a subsidiary of Air Trans Africa. ACA operated an airline service between Salisbury, Rhodesia; Windhoek, South West Africa (now Namibia); and Blantyre, Malawi; flying a Lockheed L-1049G Super Constellation, registered as VP-WAW and formerly owned by Varig Brazilian Airlines. After only a few years the new airline ceased operations and the aircraft was permanently grounded, reportedly becoming a club-house at Charles Prince Airport, Mount Hampden, near Salisbury. Between 1970 and 1980, Air Trans Africa, flying a fleet of Gabonese-registered aircraft, became heavily involved in Rhodesian sanctions-busting operations. In August 1973, the UK's Sunday Times newspaper ran an exposé of Malloch and his legal and illegal operations; this was the first public mention of his callsign "Tango Romeo", which was to become famous. Britain made their third complaint to the UN about