Shaba II

Part of the Shaba Invasions and the Cold War

Location of Shaba in Zaire.

Date	May 11-June 1978
Location	Shaba, Zaire
Result	Zairian victory; mutual end of support for other nations' rebel groups

Belligerents

Front for the National Liberation of the Congo (FNLC)
Supported by

Angola
Cuba (alleged)
Soviet Union (alleged)

Commanders and leaders

Mobutu Sese Seko

Guy Méry

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing

Leo Tindemans

John Charles Stetson

Nathaniel Mbumba

Casualties and losses

Zaire:
Military: 14 killed, 8 wounded
Civilian: 500 killed
France:
11 killed, 20 wounded
Belgium
1 killed
European civilians: 120 killed
United States
1 aircraft slightly damaged
1 crewman wounded.

Katanga
250 killed, 160 captured

Front for the National Liberation of the Congo (FNLC)
Supported by

Shaba II 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.

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

The U.S. and Cuba coaxed Angola and Zaire into negotiations leading to a non-aggression pact. This ended support for insurgencies in each other's respective countries. Zaire temporarily cutoff support to the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC), the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA), and 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, the first military cooperation between the two nations since the Vietnam War.U.S. Air Force elements involved included a Combat Control Team (air traffic controllers) of the 435th Tactical Airlift Wing, the 445th Military Airlift Wing, and other airlift wings.

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