as a means to mobilize white Rhodesian support for his government as it came under increasing pressure from the white supremacist Rhodesian Front (RF) party for failing to contain black nationalism within the federation. Welensky stayed in regular communication with Tshombe, though they did not meet in person until late September 1961. In September United Nations troops launched Operation Morthor, bringing them into conflict with Katangese forces. Though Welensky had abided by previous instructions from Macmillan to refrain from troop deployments, the British High Commissioner gave him permission this time, and Welensky moved ground troops and most of the RRAF to the frontier. United Nations Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld, hoping to negotiate a solution to Katanga's secession, agreed to meet Tshombe at Ndola. However, Hammarskjöld's plane was shot down from Rhodesian territory close to Ndola in November 1961, and he was killed. Welensky was subsequently blamed for the accident throughout the communist and Afro-Asian world, becoming a hated figure and a lingering symbol of colonialism. Other UN officials reached a ceasefire agreement with Tshombe in Ndola, and Macmillan thanked Welensky for facilitating the meeting. The British government ultimately decided to support the concept of a unified Congo and rallied against Katanga's secession. Welensky thought the decision was cynical and displayed weakness in the British Empire. Welensky's attitude towards Katanga and the Congo would strain relations between the federation and the British until its dissolution. When UN troops initiated military action against Katanga in December 1962, Tshombe fled to Salsibury and met with Welensky and vowed to continue the secession. Nevertheless, the Katangese government surrendered in January 1963. Territorial and federal elections With new constitutions in place for the territories, elections were held throughout 1961–62, with Welensky's UFP being beaten in each one. In Nyasaland, the African nationalist Malawi Congress Party won a huge majority and Banda set about lobbying the British Government for the break-up of the federation and the independence of Nyasaland as Malawi. In Northern Rhodesia, neither the UFP nor the two African nationalist parties held a majority, but the African nationalists united to push for independence. Welensky hoped to get a display of confidence in federation, so he dissolved parliament in mid-1962 and held elections. While his party won a huge victory, it did so because it was completely unopposed. Neither the recently formed RF nor the African nationalist parties bothered to contest it. In Southern Rhodesia,