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Abstract
In analysing the Shaba wars of 1977–78, in which Angola-based Katangese rebels invaded and destabilised Zaire, this article analyses the complex interaction between local forces, national states and the wider Cold War in Africa. As well as a case study of the National Front for the Liberation of Congo (FLNC) which carried out these invasions, the article seeks to provide new understanding of the ways in which both contemporaneous Cold War protagonists and subsequent historians have often failed to understand the underlying motivations of local forces which fought in conflicts that existed in problematic relationship to the wider Cold War.
Notes
122 Amnesty International, ‘Les violations des droits de l'homme au Zaïre’ (London/Brussels, 1980), 69.
121 Rudolf Schmidt, ‘Zaïre after the 1978 Shaba Crisis’, Aussenpolitik, 30, no. 1 (1979): 88–99, 92.
120 Symba interview.
119 Agence Zaire Presse (AZAP - Kinshasa), Angola-Zaïre. Les retrouvailles, Kinshasa, 19 August 1978, 14.
118 George, Cuban Intervention in Angola, 136.
117 ‘Le Zaïre apres Kolwezi’, 13 September 1978, MAE DAM Box 16, Zaire, 1975–78, 1.
116 ‘Next Steps in Zaire’, Zbigniew Brzezinski to the President, 26 May 1978, in JCL, Zbigniew Brzezinski collection, Special Coordination Committee (SCC) meetings, Box 28, 1–2.
115 NAUK FCO/99/162 – ‘Cuba/Zaire Shaba Invasion’, 1978, A.G. Munro (EAD), 20 June 1978, ‘Zaire: After the Shaba Invasion’, item 40.
114 ‘Situation au Shaba’, French Embassy Kinshasa to DAM, 1 June 1978, in MAE DAM Box 24, Zaire, 1975–78, ‘Situation militaire, octobre-1977-novembre 1978’.
113 Untitled telex report, White House Situation Room, 22 May 1978, in JCL Database Documents.
112 Gleijeses, ‘Truth or Credibility’, 87–90.
111 Memorandum of Conversation, Department of Commerce Industry and Trade Administration, 30 May 1978, in JCL Database Documents, 1.
110 ‘Cuban Assistance to the Katangese’, Rick Inderfurth to Zbigniew Brzezinski, 2 June 1978, in JCL Database Documents.
109 ‘Cuban Involvement with the Shaba Problem’, CIA Director Adm. Stansfield Turner to Jody Powell (Presidential Press Secretary), 24 May 1978, in JCL Database Documents, 1.
108 For example, a CIA report compiled in the wake of Shaba II asserted that ‘The Katangans were not a significant threat until 1975 when they were reequipped and reorganized by Cuban advisers’, and that the Cubans ‘…had established guerrilla training bases for the ex-Katangan gendarmes in the Angolan towns of Cozambo [sic], Luacano, Nova Chaves, Chicapa, Mariege, Chiluage’. ‘Evidence of Cuban Involvement in Training FNLC Forces’, 28 May 1978, CIA FOIA ERR, ESDN: CIA-RDP81B00401R002100020010-9.
107 Gleijeses, ‘Truth or Credibility’, 91.
106 ‘Countering the communists’, Time Magazine, 5 June 1978.
105 Granma (Havana), 19 June 1978, quoted in Gleijeses, ‘Truth or Credibility’, 91.
104 ‘No Cubans in Zaire Raid’, International Herald Tribune, 20 May 1978; Gleijeses, ‘Truth or Credibility’, 86.
103 Le Monde, 18 June 1978, quoted in Gleijeses, ‘Truth or Credibility’, 86.
102 NAUK, FCO/99/162, ‘Cuba/Zaire Shaba Invasion, 1978’, FCO to Lusaka Embassy, 19 May 1978, item 21.
101 NAUK FCO/99/162 – ‘Cuba/Zaire Shaba Invasion’, 1978, Parliamentary Statement briefing, 22 May 1978, item 27.
100 NAUK FCO/31/2289, ‘Zaire Shaba Invasion’, 1978, Paris Embassy (Henderson) to FCO, ‘Shaba’, 19 May 1978, item 172.
99 NAUK FCO/31/2289, ‘Zaire Shaba Invasion’, 1978, Brussels Embassy to FCO, ‘Shaba: French Military Action’, 19 May 1978, item 163.
98 Confirmed in numerous testimonies and in a Belgian military intelligence report: ‘Ops Red Bean’, R. Zaïre/36.210, 24 May 1978, Appendix 4, BAA CDH, Shaba II.
97 Gen. Yves Gras, ‘L'opération Kolwezi’, Mondes et Cultures, 45, 4, 8 November 1985, 691–702.
96 NAUK FCO/99/162 – ‘Cuba/Zaire Shaba Invasion’, 1978, FCO to UK Embassy Lusaka, 19 May 1978, item 21.
95 The White House, memo, 4.35 am, 18 May 1978, and Chronology, in National Security Affairs 6, Brzezinski Material, Box 87, Zaire, 1979–81, in JCL.
94 Westad, Global Cold War, pp. 282–3.
93 Charles Lourtie, ‘Kolwezi mai 1978: la seconde guerre du Shaba’, Tam Tam Ommegang, 31 (2006): 15–28.
92 Pierre Yambuya, Zaïre: l'abattoir. Un Pilote de Mobutu Parle (Anvers: EPP 1991), 46.
91 ‘Attitude des rebelles à Kolwezi entre le 13 et le 19 mai 1978’, Note No, 335/78, 22 May 1978, BAH CDH, Shaba II.
90 ‘Paris troops find bodies of 44 Europeans in Zaire’, International Herald Tribune, 20 May 1978.
89 ‘Zaire: Military Situation Report’, in ‘National Intelligence Daily Cable’, 17 May 1978, CIA FOIA ERR, ESDN: CIA-RDP79T00975A030700010010-9.
88 ‘Situation of the Foreigners in Kolwezi’, French Embassy in Kinshasa to DAM, 16 May 1978, in MAE DAM Box 29, Zaire 1975–78. The accuracy of these reports is perhaps less significant herein than their impact on western governments.
87 ‘Assassinat de Belges’, French Embassy Kinshasa to DAM, 15 May 1978, in MAE DAM Box 29, Zaire 1975–78, ‘Français Morts et disparus’.
86 NAUK FCO/31/2288 – ‘Zaire Shaba Invasion’ 1978, EAD ‘Briefing Note for Cabinet’, 17 May 1978, item 85.
85 NAUK FCO/99/162 – ‘Cuba/Zaire Shaba Invasion’, 1978, Paris Embassy to FCO, 17 May 1978, item 18.
84 Anonymous interview (EK) with former FLNC commander, Kinshasa, 19 May 2012.
83 Gleijeses. ‘Truth or Credibility’, 100.
82 This detention was confirmed by an eyewitness, Prof Justin Mulangu of the University of Luanda: interview (EK), Brussels, July 1999.
81 NAUK FCO/99/162 – ‘Cuba/Zaire Shaba Invasion’, 1978, British Embassy Luanda to FCO, 17 May 1978.
80 NAUK FCO/99/162 – ‘Cuba/Zaire Shaba Invasion’, 1978, UK Embassy Washington to FCO, 18 May 1978, item 20.
79 Gleijeses, ‘Truth or Credibility’, 97.
78 George, Cuban Intervention in Angola, 133.
77 ‘Zaire: Military Situation Report’, in ‘National Intelligence Daily Cable’, 17 May 1978, CIA FOIA ERR, ESDN: CIA-RDP79T00975A030700010010-9.
76 ‘Zaire: Military Situation Report’, in ‘National Intelligence Daily Cable’, 17 May 1978, CIA FOIA ERR, ESDN: CIA-RDP79T00975A030700010010-9.
75 United Nations Press Communication, Weekly review no.20 19–25 May 1978, in MAE DAM Box 21–3, Zaire 1975–78, 15.
74 ‘Zaire: New Katangan Attacks’, in ‘National Intelligence Daily Cable’, 15 May 1978, CIA FOIA ERR, ESDN: CIA-RDP79T00975A030700010006-4.
73 NAUK FCO/31/2287, Zaire – Shaba Invasion, 1978, A.G. Munro, ‘Shaba: Present Situation’, 15 May 1978, item 22.
72 Odom, Shaba II, 1992, pp. 31–32; ‘ Zaïre – Angola – Katangese’, note No. 315/78, 23 February 1978, BAA CDH, Shaba documents.
71 The effectiveness of the Zambia path of entry was widely noted by contemporaneous diplomatic sources, for example NAUK FCO/99/162 – ‘Cuba/Zaire Shaba Invasion’, 1978, Paris embassy to FCO, 17 May 1978, item 3.
70 ‘Echec d'une infiltration Katangaise’, French Embassy in Kinshasa to DAM, 30 March 1978, in MAE DAM Box 24, Zaire, 1975–78, ‘Situation militaire, octobre 1977–novembre 1978’.
69 ‘Climat de désorganisation accentuée au département de la défense nationale et à l'Etat-major général’, Note No. 325/78, 4 April 1978: BAA CDH, Shaba II.
68 Nguza was released in July 1978 and re-appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in March 1979, before going into exile in April 1981.
67 Nguza Karl-i-Bond, Mobutu ou l'Incarnation du Mal Zaïrois (Rex Collings, London, 1982), 47.
66 ‘Refugies du Shaba en Angola’, French Embassy Lusaka to French Embassy Kinshasa, 22 July 1977, in MAE CAD, Box 45, Ambassade Kinshasa-Shaba correspondence, 1973–78, I-134.
65 ‘Zaire’, 29 March 1978, in MAE DAM Box 16, Zaire, 1975–78, 2.
64 Gleijeses, ‘Truth or Credibility’, 81.
63 ‘Zaire’, 29 March 1978, MAE DAM Box 16, Zaire, 1975–78, 2.
62 Young and Turner, Rise and Decline, 206.
61 Young and Turner, Rise and Decline, 205.
60 Mobutu to Carter, 23 July 1977, in White House Central File, CO 177, Executive, 20 Jan 1977–20 Jan 1981, Jimmy Carter Library (hereafter JCL), Atlanta GA.
59 Le Soir, 14 June 1977.
58 Le Soir (Brussels), 27 April 1977; New York Times, 28 April 1977; see also Gleijeses, ‘Truth or Credibility’, 79.
57 ‘Naissance du FLNC’, 10.
56 FLNC, Decision No, 1, 01/cab/pdt/75), 19 September 1975 (Mushitu archives).
55 Interview (EK) with Robert Yav, Lubumbashi, 28 February 2006.
54 ‘Gendarmes Katangais’, French Embassy in Kinshasa to DAM, 14 November 1977, in MAE DAM, Box 27–2, Zaire 1975–78, ‘Evolution de la situation militaire, fevrier - avril 1977’.
53 ‘Situation au Shaba: Les évènements de 1977 et la situation au début de 1978’, French Embassy Kinshasa to DAM, 1 June 1978, in MAE DAM Box 24, Zaire, 1975–78, ‘Situation militaire, octobre 1977–novembre 1978’.
52 National Sovereign Conference, ‘Commission into Killings and Violation of Human Rights’, Part II (Kinshasa, 1992), 89.
51 The figure of 9240 is given in FLNC, Mini-historique des ex-gendarmes katangais du Congo-Kinshasa, Luanda, 1998, p. 14. This figure is supported by Belgian intelligence reports: BAA CDH, Shaba I, bulletins dated 9 September and 19 September 1977.
50 Young & Turner, Rise and Decline, 257.
49 ‘Zaïre: Situation militaire au Shaba’, 24 May 1977, No. 373/77, BAA CDH, Shaba I.
48 Salongo (Kinshasa) 26 April 1977, quoted in Gleijeses, ‘Truth or Credibility’, 78.
47 Gleijeses, ‘Truth or Credibility’, 78; NAUK FCO/31/2115, ‘Shaba Invasion, 1977’, Kinshasa Embassy to FCO, 25 April 1977: a British official commented: ‘This interview smells strongly of a put-up job.’
46 NAUK FCO/31/2115, ‘Shaba Invasion, 1977’, Rabat Embassy to FCO, 20 April 1977, item 211; Morocco Ministry of Foreign Affairs communiqué, Rabat, 27 April 1977.
45 NAUK FCO/31/2115, ‘Shaba Invasion, 1977’, ‘French Assistance to Zaire’, C.M. James, British Embassy Paris to P.R.A. Mansfield, FCO, 24 April 1977, item 234a.
44 NAUK FCO/31/2117, ‘Shaba Invasion, 1977’, P.R.A. Mansfield (FCO) to C.M. James, Paris Embassy, ‘French Views on Africa’, 10 May 1977, item 284.
43 UK National Archives (hereafter NAUK) FCO/31/2116, ‘Shaba Invasion, 1977’, Meeting at Luanda airport, 17 April 1977, item 261.
42 ‘La France et La Zaire’, French Embassy Brussels to DAM, 25 March 1977, in MAE DAM, Box 25–4, Réactions des pays étrangèrs, sauf ‘l Afrique’, 2.
41 Very Secret Message, No. 314/206, 2 May 1977, BAA CDH, Shaba I. Gizenga was expelled from France in April 1977, undoubtedly because of Shaba I.
40 ‘Belgian analysis of the Zairian situation ‘, response, French Embassy Lusaka to DAM, 24 March 1977, in MAE DAM Box 25–4, Réactions des pays étrangèrs, sauf ‘l Afrique’, 1–2.
39 ‘Zaire’, London COREU to all COREU, 17 April 1977, in MAE DAM, Box 25–2, ‘Réunions internationales’, 2.
38 ‘Resume of a Meeting between Nigerian Foreign Minister Garba and Secretary Vance on March 21 [1977]’, in MAE DAM, Box 25–1, ‘Aide et mediation étrangère, mars-juin 1977’, ‘Nigeria’.
37 ‘The FLNC Speaks’, Africa (May 1977), 25; IPS, ‘Congolese FLNC Leader Explains Goals’, 8 April 1977.
36 Department of State, Bulletin, 18 April 1977, 361, quoted in Gleijeses, ‘Truth or Credibility’, 76.
35 Gleijeses, ‘Truth or Credibility’, 95.
34 Gleijeses, ‘Truth or Credibility’, 77. Young and Turner suggest that Bumba's failure to support his accusations with evidence led in part to his removal: Rise and Decline, 265.
33 Mobutu to President of OAU Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, 2 April 1977, reprinted in French Embassy Kinshasa to DAM, 7 April 1977, Ministere des Affaires Etrangéres, Direction des Affaires Africanies et Malgaches, La Courneuve archives (hereafter MAE DAM) Box 25–2, ‘Réunions internationales’.
32 The wildest rumours during this period suggested the presence of ca. 200 nuclear warheads in Angolan hands! Manuscript note for Chiefs of Staff of Defence and Foreign Affairs, 17 March 1977, BAA CDH, Shaba I documents.
31 US Embassy Kinshasa to US Secretary of State, 16 March 1977, quoted in Gleijeses, ‘Truth or Credibility’, 76.
30 A supposedly official FLNC document giving details of the operational plan (FLNC, Directives pour l'opération de l'Ouest du Katanga suivant la ligne Kaniama-Kolwezi, 4 April 1977), is reproduced in Zaire's official account of Shaba I: Departement de la Defense Nationale, État-Major General des Forces Armees Zaïroises (DDNEMG) Mobutu et la guerre de quatre-vingts jours (Tournai, 1978), 343.
29 Deogratias Symba states that Kabila arrived in Luanda on the day that Shaba I commenced: interview (EK), 8 March 2008.
28 Interview (EK) with Jean-Baptiste Kibwe, Brussels, 23 August 2001.
27 Letter, Mbumba to Jean-Delphin Muland, 13 July 1977 (Mayele archives).
26 Jean-Pierre Sonck, ‘L'étrange destin de la Gendarmerie Katangaise’ Part 2, Fire, 16, Sept – Oct 1994, 22–27.
25 Interview, Emile Ilunga, Kinshasa, 18 September 2009.
24 Gleijeses, ‘Truth or Credibility’, 94–95.
23 Memo, Risquet to Neto, n.d. but received February 1978, cited in Gleijeses, ‘Truth or Credibility’, 73–74.
22 Gleijeses, ‘Truth or Credibility’, 73.
21 Gleijeses, ‘Truth or Credibility’.
20 For Cuban and Soviet links: interview with Robert Yav, Lubumbashi, 28 February 2006 (EK); Shaba I documents, Belgian Army Archives, Evere, Centre de Documentation Historique (hereafter BAA CDH).
19 Edward George, Cuban Intervention in Angola, 1965–1991: From Che Guevara to Cuito Cuanavale (Abingdon: Routledge, 2005), 116–117.
18 Young and Turner state that ‘ …Katanga gendarmerie units, which had been brought into alliance with the MPLA in January 1975… helped blunt the Zairian offensive’: Rise and Decline, 254. More specifically, Gleijeses reports that Quifangondo was successfully defended on 10 November 1975 by ‘…850 FAPLA, 200 Katangans, 88 Cubans, and Yuri, the Soviet adviser’, Conflicting Missions, 311.
17 John Stockwell, In Search of Enemies: A CIA Story (London: Deutsch, 1978), 157.
16 Gleijeses, Conflicting Missions, 269; Fernando Andresen Guimarăes, Origins of the Angolan Civil War: Foreign Intervention and Domestic Political Conflict (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2001), 111.
15 The essential terms of the Cossa Accords are not disputed, but no physical copy exists. The date of 17 December 1974 is provided in a semi-official history of the FLNC: Cartel D'Union Nationale Congolais FLNC-MNC/L (Nathanaël Mbumba), ‘Naissance du FLNC’, (Guinea-Bissau), 31 May 1981, 6.
14 Interview, Antonio Coutinho, Lisbon, 15 July 2008.
13 Interview, Deogratias Symba, Lubumbashi, 1 June 2008.
12 Materials for this period are available in the Portuguese national archives, for example: IANTT PIDE/DGS SC CI(2) UI 7494 Processo No. 7477, Pasta 1: ‘Commando das Operacoes Especiais (COE), Frente de Libertaçao Naçional Congaleza’.
11 The best single study of the Angolan liberation wars remains John A. Marcum, The Angolan Revolution: Exile Politics and Guerrilla Warfare (1962–1976) (Cambridge MA: MIT Press, 1978).
10 See Benoît Verhaegen, Rebellions au Congo (Brussels: Centre de Recherche et d'Information Socio-Politiques, 1966). More recently, see Benoit Verhaegen, Jean Omasombo, Edwine Simons and Françoise Verhaegen, Mulele et la révolution populaire au Kwilu (République Démocratique du Congo) (Paris: L'Harmattan, 2006); and Erik Kennes, Essai biographique sur Laurent Désiré Kabila (Paris: L'Harmattan, 2003).
9 A book-length history of the Katangese gendarmes, co-authored by Miles Larmer and Erik Kennes, will be published in late 2013 or early 2014.
8 See for example Martin Rupiya (ed.), Evolutions and Revolutions: A Contemporary History of Militaries in Southern Africa (Pretoria: Institute of Security Studies, 2005), available online at: http://www.iss.co.za/pubs/Books/Evol_Revol Oct 2005/Contents.htm.
7 Mobutu was eventually removed from power in 1997 by an alliance of external powers including Angola (but after Cuban military withdrawal) and Congolese/Zairian opposition forces including the FLNC, after the withdrawal of US support.
6 Piero Gleijeses, ‘Truth or Credibility: Castro, Carter, and the Invasions of Shaba’, International History Review, 18 (1996): 70–103. See also his Conflicting Missions: Havana, Washington, and Africa, 1959–1976 (Chapel Hill NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2002).
5 Despite their importance, the Shaba wars remain a poorly understood event, something this article aims to address. See Thomas Odom, Shaba II: The French and Belgian Intervention in Zaire in 1978, Combat Studies Institute, US Army Command and General Staff College (Fort Leavenworth KS, 1993); Jean-Claude Willame, ‘La seconde guerre du Shaba’, Geneve-Afrique, 16 (1978): 87–89; and Young & Turner, Rise and Decline, 255–258.
4 Wm. Roger Louis & Ronald Robinson, ‘The Imperialism of Decolonization’, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 22 (1994): 462–511.
3 This is a well established factor in studies of Congo/Zaire. See for example Crawford Young and Thomas Turner, The Rise and Decline of the Zairian State (Madison WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1985), 363–373.
2 Odd Arne Westad, The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions and the Makings of our Times (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005). See also the groundbreaking work on southern Africa in Sue Onslow (ed.), Cold War in Southern Africa: White Power, Black Liberation (Abingdon: Routledge, 2009).
1 The author would like to express gratitude to Dr Erik Kennes, who has kindly made available some archival and interview sources (marked by ‘EK’ in relevant footnotes) which have been used in this article, and to Nathaniel Kinsey-Powell, who generously provided archival material. Any errors of fact or interpretation are of course the author's responsibility.