Word: copper
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Arbitrary Borders. Initially, Mobutu's Western supporters shied away from getting bogged down in another Congolese war. Belgium, France and the U.S. sent token military supplies last month-and hoped the threat would just go away. It did not. The Katangese occupied much of the copper-rich Shaba area without opposition. Mobutu's big break came a fortnight ago when Morocco's King Hassan II, whose army is still fighting leftist guerrillas in the former colony of Spanish Sahara, decided that the time had come to bail out a friend. Egypt's President Sadat was also...
...announced that King Hassan II of Morocco had agreed to rush about 1,500 troops to support government forces in the mineral-rich southeastern district. The Moroccans-with Washington's apparent blessing -were expected to join the effort to defend Kolwezi (pop. 150,000), the center of the copper-mining industry that provides Zaïre with more than 60% of its foreign exchange. Zaïre also disclosed that another African country, possibly Egypt, would also send troops. Uganda and the Sudan have promised supplies, France promised air support and China began airlifting 30 tons...
KINSHASA, ZAIRE-Invading Katangian forces in Zaire's Shaba province are about 50 miles west of Kilwezi, a major copper mining center, and have made no new moves in the last few days. Reports indicate that the Katangian troops are trying to set up a civil administration in the occupied territories...
...week's end the Angola-backed rebels were less than 50 miles from Kolwezi, where the Belgian-run Gecamines Co. extracts more than half of Zaïre's vital copper. U.S. construction workers on a $500 million power line were airlifted out.* Should Kolwezi fall, Mobutu's government would be hard pressed to survive. French officials are said to have begun talks with anti-Mobutu rebels in Paris-presumably in an effort to reach a compromise...
FRANCE government-run press, flopped badly in managing Zaïre's economy. Sinking millions into costly prestige projects when world copper prices peaked in early 1974, he led the nation to the edge of bankruptcy. Zaïre's copper travels 43 days from Shaba mines to Congo River ports on rickety Victorian-era railways and barges reminiscent of the African Queen. Swollen prices of bread, rice and other staples have led to widespread discontent...