Word: katangans
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...Deuxième is best remembered for its rescue of 2,500 European civilians trapped when Katangan rebels tried to take over the Zaïre city of Kolwezi in 1978. More than 100 civilians were killed before two daring airdrops brought some 600 paratroopers to engage the rebels in street-by-street fighting that ultimately restored order. The French lost four men in the entire operation. Since Kolwezi, the Deuxième REP has been incorporated into France's equivalent of a Rapid Deployment Force...
...UNlTA's support: It is not true to say that support comes largely from South Africa. After the invasion of Shaba province in Zaïre [which was launched by Katangan exiles from Angolan territory in 1978], independent African countries realized that the Russians and Cubans will not be content with Angola. From that point, we started to get substantial support from some African countries, but they can't say it openly, of course. Second, we are getting substantial support from Arab countries. Obviously I can't say which ones...
...actually a rescue mission for the shaky, uniquely corrupt and autocratic regime of Mobutu Sese Seko in Zaire. Even with the hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid that the U.S. has pumped into Mobutu's army, it broke and ran in the face of a few thousand Katangan rebels, and had to be bailed out by the French and Belgians. Mobutu's latest pronouncement on the subject was his call this week for a "foreign defense force" for the copper mines in Katanga--a euphemism for mercenaries and more bail-outs...
...Lumumba was outspoken in his opposition to such a future for his country. As a result, the Belgians fostered a coup against him, and then promoted secession by Katanga, which contained most of their assets. (The Katangan rebels who took Kolwezi two weeks ago are the remnants and descendants of the losing side in the civil war that followed secession.) United Nations "peacekeeping" forces, with U.S. support, also played a key role in the success of the coup against the Lumumba government, holding government forces in check while allowing Mobutu, then head of the army and considered "safe...
...Cuban troops with Soviet aid helped the MPLA repel the invasions, and stayed in Angola to prevent further incursions by Zaire and South Africa. But Mobutu continues to aid the FNLA, which occasionally conducts raids into Angola. That is the real reason Angola has a sympathetic attitude towards the Katangan rebels--the Katangans serve as a diversion force, a counter to Mobutu's designs through FNLA on Angola...