Shaba II
{{Short description|Historical military conflict}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2023}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict = Shaba II
| date = 11 May – June 1978
| partof = the Shaba Invasions and the Cold War
| casus = |resua I
| image =
| image_size =
| caption =
| result = Zairian victory; mutual end of support for other nations' rebel groups
| combatant1 = {{plainlist|
- {{flag|Zaire}}
- {{flag|France|1974}}
- {{flag|Belgium}}
- {{flag|Morocco}}
- {{flag|United States}}
}}
| combatant2 = {{Flagicon image|FLNC Congo.svg}} FNLC
| commander1 = {{plainlist|
- {{flagicon|Zaire}} Mobutu Sese Seko
- {{flagicon|France|1974}} Guy Méry
- {{flagicon|France|1974}} Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
- {{flagicon|Belgium}} Leo Tindemans
- {{Flagicon|Morocco}} Abdelkader Loubaris
- {{Flagicon|United States}} John C. Stetson
}}
| commander2 = {{Flagicon image|FLNC Congo.svg}} Nathaniel Mbumba
| strength1 =
| strength2 =
| casualties1 = Zaire:
14 killed
8 wounded{{cite web|title="OPÉRATION LÉOPARD" Une intervention humanitaire Kolwezi 17 mai-16 juin 1978|url=http://www.defense.gouv.fr/content/download/100780/978504/file/MC37.pdf|work=Collection « Mémoire et Citoyenneté » n° 37|publisher=Defense.gouv.fr|accessdate=1 April 2014|author=Ministère de la Défense|page=8}}
Civilians:
500 killed
France:
11 killed
20 wounded
Belgium:
1 killed
Morocco:
1 paratrooper killed
European civilians:
120 killed
United States:
1 aircraft slightly damaged
1 crewman wounded
| casualties2 = Katanga:
~250–400 killed
160 captured
}}
{{Campaignbox Conflicts in Congo}}
Shaba II was a brief conflict fought in the Zairean province of Shaba (now Katanga) in 1978. The conflict broke out on 11 May 1978 after 6,500 rebels from the Congolese National Liberation Front (FNLC), a Katangese separatist militia, crossed the border from Angola into Zaire in an attempt to achieve the province's secession from the Zairian regime of Mobutu Sese Seko. The FNLC captured the important mining town of Kolwezi.Widstrand, Carl Gösta, Timothy M. Shaw, and Douglas George Anglin. Canada, Scandinavia, and Southern Africa, 1978. Page 130.
Foreign involvement
The Mobutist government appealed for foreign assistance and French and Belgian military intervention beat back the invasion, just as in 1977.George, Edward. The Cuban Intervention in Angola, 1965-1991: From Che Guevara to Cuito Cuanavale, 2005. Page 136.
The U.S. and Cuba coerced Angola and Zaire into negotiations leading to a non-aggression pact. That ended support for insurgencies in each other's countries. Zaire temporarily cut off support to the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC), the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), and Angola forbade further activity by the Shaba separatists.
The U.S. worked with France in repelling the invaders in the first military co-operation between the two since the Vietnam War.{{dubious|date=September 2019}} U.S. Air Force elements involved included a Combat Control Team (air traffic controllers) of the 435th Tactical Airlift Wing, the 445th Airlift Wing, and other airlift wings.{{cite web |url=http://www.ccshf.org/book/Chapter3.pdf |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2011-12-13 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110912003029/http://www.ccshf.org/book/Chapter3.pdf |archivedate=2011-09-12 }}
Battle of Kolwezi
{{main|Battle of Kolwezi}}
The French Foreign Legion's 2 Foreign Paratroop Regiment had 600 troops, who took back Kolwezi after a seven-day battle and airlifted 2,250 European citizens to Belgium but not before the FNLC had massacred 80 Europeans and 200 Africans. In one instance, the FNLC killed 34 European civilians who had hidden in a room. However, Zairean helicopter pilot Pierre Yambuya claims that many of the civilian deaths were caused by Zairian armed forces, not the FLNC.NDAYWELE NZIEM, ISIDORE, Histoire Générale du Congo, p.757 see https://books.google.com/books?id=U47B0mwVU_4C&dq=pierre+yambuya+flnc&pg=PA757
Conclusion
The FNLC retreated to Zambia and back to Angola, vowing to return. The Zairian armed forces (Forces Armées Zaïroises) forcibly evicted civilians along Shaba's {{convert|65|mi|km|adj=mid|-long|order=flip}} border with Angola, and Mobutu ordered them to shoot on sight.[https://archive.today/20120913214453/http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,916174,00.html Inside Kolwezi: Toll of Terror], 5 June 1978. Time magazine
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category|Shaba II}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070609181927/http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resources/csi/odom2/odom2.asp Shaba II: The French and Belgian Intervention in Zaire in 1978]
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Category:Civil wars in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Category:Wars involving Belgium
Category:Wars involving France
Category:Cold War military history of France
Category:Communism in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Category:Military coups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo