The FLNC originated as the Katangese Gendarmerie, the military of the secessionist State of Katanga during the Congo Crisis. After the defeat of the Katanga Secession, many of the black Katanga troops were forced into exile in Portuguese Angola in the mid-1960s. Led by Nathaniel Mbumba, they fought for the Portuguese colonial power during the Angolan War of Independence and eventually formed the FLNC in 1967. After the defeat of the Portuguese in 1974, they joined the victorious MPLA.