Word: mobutu
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...mineral-rich Shaba region (formerly Katanga province) into a knee-deep quagmire last week. The downpour further obscured the mysterious war being waged between about 2,000 invaders from neighboring Angola (TIME, March 28) and the forces of Zaïre's autocratic President Mobutu Sese Seko. After launching a few pinprick air raids, Mobutu's Army Chief of Staff Bumba Moaso Djogi claimed that the intruders were in retreat, "abandoning thousands of corpses" behind them...
...invaders-exiled followers of the late Katangese separatist Moïse Tshombe-have consolidated their hold on much of the border region of southwestern Zaïre. By week's end the insurgents were reported to be in control of the town of Mutshatsha, a staging area for Mobutu's forces some 70 miles from Zaïre's rich copper belt. Officials denied it, but speculation mounted that the town had indeed fallen, cabled TIME Correspondent Erik Amfitheatrof when the government suddenly cancelled a flight there for journalists...
...case, Mobutu's army, sapped by desertions and flagging morale, has done little to dislodge the rebels. Facing shortages of aviation fuel, trained pilots and transports, Zaïre's forces are hard put to supply the 3,000 government troops now in Shaba, nearly 1,000 miles from the capital in Kinshasa...
...firm evidence of Cuban involvement. But there is speculation that the Katangese-who are purportedly led by General Nathaniel Nbumba, the former Katangese police commissioner-may have been trained by Cubans in Angola. Almost certainly, the Angolans and their Cuban allies tolerated or approved the invasion plans. Mobutu, insisting that the rebels are "led by Cubans," appealed for an emergency airlift of arms and ammunition from the U.S. to stop them...
Washington had already dispatched $1.2 million worth of parachutes, spare aircraft parts and uniforms to Kinshasa. But the Carter Administration postponed action on Mobutu's request in the hope that diplomatic efforts might halt the fighting. After talks with U.S. officials, Nigerian External Affairs Commissioner Joseph Garba pledged that his country would act as go-between. Other black African nations share Nigeria's concern that the fighting could turn into a full-blown...