Shaba II

Historical military conflict

Shaba II

Part of the Shaba Invasions and the Cold War
| Date| 11 May – June 1978

|

Location|

Shaba, Zaire

Result|  Zairian victory; mutual end of support for other nations' rebel groups
Belligerents

* Zaire
* France
* Belgium
* Morocco
* United States

|  FNLC
Commanders and leaders

* Mobutu Sese Seko
* Guy Méry
* Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
* Leo Tindemans
* Abdelkader Loubaris
* John C. Stetson

|  Nathaniel Mbumba
Casualties and losses
Zaire:
14 killed
8 wounded[1]
Civilians:
500 killed
France:[1]
11 killed
20 wounded
Belgium:[1]
1 killed
Morocco:[1]
1 paratrooper killed
European civilians:
120 killed[1]
United States:[1]
1 aircraft slightly damaged
1 crewman wounded|  Katanga:[1]
~250 killed - 400 killed
160 captured

* v
* t
* e

Conflicts in DR Congo

* Background

* Colonization
* Congo Free State
* Atrocities
* Belgian Congo
* during WWII
* 1944 Kivu uprising
* Léopoldville riots

* v
* t
* e

Congo Crisis

* Force Publique mutinies
* Secession crisis

* Katanga
* South Kasai
* Invasion
* Congo-Stanleyville

* UN intervention

* Rum Punch
* Niemba ambush
* Battle of Kabalo
* Jadotville
* UNOKAT
* Camp Massart
* Grandslam
* Kindu atrocity
* Port Francqui incident

* Kanyarwanda War
* Kwilu rebellion
* Simba rebellion

* Dragon Rouge
* Dragon Noir
* White Giant
* Violettes Imperiales
* South

Other major events

* Dissolution of the Lumumba Government
* Torture and killing of Lumumba
* Death of Dag Hammarskjöld

Shaba Invasions

* Shaba I
* Shaba II

* Battle of Kolwezi

* Non-aggression pact of 1979

First Congo War

* Background

* Shaba Invasions
* Second Sudanese Civil War
* War in Uganda (1986–1994)
* 1991 Zaire unrest
* Burundian Civil War
* Rwandan Civil War
* Assassination of Habyarimana
* Rwandan genocide
* Great Lakes refugee crisis

* * *

* War

* Formation of the AFDL
* Massacres of Hutus
* Thunderbolt
* Lubumbashi
* Kinsangani
* Overthrow of Mobutu
* Ascension of Laurent Kabila

Second Congo War

* Operation Kitona
* Lusaka Ceasefire
* Gbadolite Agreement
* Sun City Agreement
* Six-Day War
* Assassination of Laurent-Désiré Kabila
* Kisangani massacre
* Effacer le tableau
* Bogoro massacre
* Pretoria Accord
* MONUSCO
* ICC investigation

* v
* t
* e

Ituri conflict

* Bogoro
* Artemis
* North Night Final
* Marabho
* Ndjala
* October 2020 offensive
* Boga and Tchabi
* Plaine Savo
* Nyamamba and Mbogi

Response
UN 1484

* v
* t
* e

Kivu conflict

* Lemera
* Kasika
* Makobola
* Makombo
* 2008 Nord-Kivu
* 2009 Eastern Congo
* M23 rebellion
* 2014 North Kivu
* 2017 CNPSC offensive
* Uvira
* Oicha
* Virunga
* Kipupu
* Kangbayi
* Lisasa
* Tingwe
* 2021–2024 attacks
* Mwenda
* Bulongo
* Maimoya
* Kasanzi
* Kagogo ambush
* M23 offensive
* Anti-MONUSCO protests
* Kishishe
* 1st Kitshanga
* 2nd Kitshanga
* Masambo
* Otomabere
* 2022 North Kivu
* Kasindi
* Makugwe
* Mukondi
* Kirindera

Other

* Lord's Resistance Army insurgency
* Katanga insurgency
* Allied Democratic Forces insurgency
* Operation Shujaa
* Dongo conflict
* 2011 coup d'etat attempt
* Batwa–Luba clashes
* 2013 Kinshasa attacks
* Kamwina Nsapu rebellion
* Western DR Congo clashes
* Child soldiers in the 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.[2]

## Foreign involvement

[edit]

The Mobutist government appealed for foreign assistance and French and Belgian military intervention beat back the invasion, just as in 1977.[3]

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.[3]

The U.S. worked with France in repelling the invaders in the first military co-operation between the two since the Vietnam War.[2][dubious - discuss] 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.[4]

## Battle of Kolwezi

[edit]

Main article: 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.[5]

## Conclusion

[edit]

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 105-kilometre-long (65 mi) border with Angola, and Mobutu ordered them to shoot on sight.[6]

## See also

[edit]

* Angolan Civil War
* Cuban intervention in Angola
* Shaba I

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e f g Ministère de la Défense. ""OPÉRATION LÉOPARD" Une intervention humanitaire Kolwezi 17 mai-16 juin 1978" (PDF). Collection « Mémoire et Citoyenneté » n° 37. Defense.gouv.fr. p. 8. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
2. ^ a b Widstrand, Carl Gösta, Timothy M. Shaw, and Douglas George Anglin. Canada, Scandinavia, and Southern Africa, 1978. Page 130.
3. ^ a b George, Edward. The Cuban Intervention in Angola, 1965-1991: From Che Guevara to Cuito Cuanavale, 2005. Page 136.
4. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 September 2011. Retrieved 13 December 2011.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
5. ^ NDAYWELE NZIEM, ISIDORE, Histoire Générale du Congo, p.757 see https://books.google.com/books?id=U47B0mwVU_4C&dq=pierre+yambuya+flnc&pg=PA757
6. ^ Inside Kolwezi: Toll of Terror, 5 June 1978. Time magazine

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Shaba II.

* Shaba II: The French and Belgian Intervention in Zaire in 1978

* v
* t
* e

Conflicts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

* Colonization
* Congo Free State
* Atrocities
* Belgian Congo

Pre-1960|

* Congo–Arab war
* Batetela rebellion
* Battle of Rejaf
* East African campaign (World War I)
* Belgian Congo in World War II
* Masisi-Lubutu revolt
* Léopoldville riots

Congo Crisis
(1960–1965)|

* Force Publique mutinies
* Secession crisis
* Katanga
* South Kasai
* Invasion
* Congo-Stanleyville
* Dissolution of the Lumumba Government
* Torture and killing of Lumumba
* Death of Dag Hammarskjöld
* UN intervention
* Rum Punch
* Niemba ambush
* Battle of Kabalo
* Jadotville
* UNOKAT
* Camp Massart
* Grandslam
* Kindu atrocity
* Port Francqui incident
* Kanyarwanda War
* Kwilu rebellion
* Simba rebellion
* Dragon Rouge
* 1965 coup d'état

1966–1995|

* Stanleyville mutinies
* Shaba invasions
* Shaba I
* Shaba II
* Battle of Kolwezi
* 1991 Zaire unrest

First Congo War
(1996–1997)|

* Formation of the AFDL
* Massacres of Hutus
* AFD insurgency (1996–99)
* Kichwamba massacre
* Operation Thunderbolt
* Overthrow of Mobutu
* Ascension of Laurent Kabila

Second Congo War
(1998–2003)|

* Operation Kitona
* Ituri conflict
* Bogoro massacre
* Six-Day War
* Assassination of Kabila
* Kisangani massacre
* Effacer le tableau
* ICC investigation

Post-2003 conflicts|

| Ituri conflict
(Post-2003)|

* Operation Artemis
* Operation North Night Final
* Plaine Savo massacre

|

Kivu conflict
(2004–present)|

* 2008 Nord-Kivu campaign
* 2009 Eastern Congo offensive
* 2014 North Kivu offensive
* 2017 CNPSC offensive
* Uvira clashes
* Kipupu massacre

| AFD insurgency
(Post-2007)|

* Beni massacre
* 2017 Semuliki attack
* Nationwide attacks
* 2020
* 2021–24
* Operation Shujaa

|

M23 conflict|

* M23 rebellion
* M23 offensive (2022–24)

|

Others|

* Dongo conflict
* 2011 coup attempt
* Batwa–Luba clashes
* 2013 Kinshasa attacks
* 2014 Mutarule attack
* Kamwina Nsapu rebellion
* 2018 Yumbi massacre
* Western DR Congo clashes

|

Perennial conflicts|

* Katanga insurgency (1963–present)
* Lord's Resistance Army insurgency (1987–present)

Overview /
related topics|

* Child soldiers
* Mining industry
* Conflict resources
* Sexual violence
* during the Congo Wars
* Belgian colonialism
* Democratic Republic of the Congo–Rwanda relations
* tensions since 2022
* MONUSCO
* Rwandan genocide

Authority control databases: National |

* United States
* Israel

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