Zairian troops with a beret-wearing Moroccan military advisor
Date
8 March – 26 May 1977 (2 months, 2 weeks and 4 days)
Location
Shaba Province, Zaire
Result
Zairian victory
FNLC expelled from Shaba
Belligerents
Zaire
Morocco
Egypt
France
Belgium
Supported by:
United States[1]
China[2]
Saudi Arabia[3]
Sudan[2]
Nigeria[4][5]
Congolese National Liberation Front (FNLC)
Commanders and leaders
Mobutu Sese Seko Mampa Ngakwe Salamay Anwar El-Sadat Abdelkader Loubaris[6] Hamidou Laanigri[7] Ahmed Dlimi[8][9] Leo Tindemans Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
Nathaniel Mbumba
Strength
Zaire: 3,000-4,000[10] Morocco: 1,300[1]–1,500 paratroopers Egypt: 50 Pilots and Technicians[11] France: 20-65 soldiers[1] Belgium: 80 soldiers[1]
1,600–3,000 FNLC fighters
Casualties and losses
Morocco: 8 killed[6]
unknown
v
t
e
Conflicts in DR Congo
Background
Colonization
Congo Free State
Atrocities
Belgian Congo
during WWII
1944 Kivu uprising
Léopoldville riots
v
t
e
Congo Crisis
Force Publique mutinies
Secession crisis
Katanga
South Kasai
Invasion
Congo-Stanleyville
UN intervention
Rum Punch
Niemba ambush
Battle of Kabalo
Jadotville
UNOKAT
Camp Massart
Grandslam
Kindu atrocity
Port Francqui incident
Kanyarwanda War
Kwilu rebellion
Simba rebellion
Dragon Rouge
Dragon Noir
White Giant
Violettes Imperiales
South
Other major events
Dissolution of the Lumumba Government
Torture and killing of Lumumba
Death of Dag Hammarskjöld
Shaba Invasions
Shaba I
Shaba II
Battle of Kolwezi
Non-aggression pact of 1979
First Congo War
Background
Shaba Invasions
Second Sudanese Civil War
War in Uganda (1986–1994)
1991 Zaire unrest
Burundian Civil War
Rwandan Civil War
Assassination of Habyarimana
Rwandan genocide
Great Lakes refugee crisis
War
Formation of the AFDL
Massacres of Hutus
Operation Thunderbolt
Battle of Kisangani (1997) [fr]
Overthrow of Mobutu
Ascension of Laurent Kabila
Second Congo War
Operation Kitona
Lusaka Ceasefire
Gbadolite Agreement
Sun City Agreement
Six-Day War
Assassination of Laurent-Désiré Kabila
Kisangani massacre
Effacer le tableau
Bogoro massacre
Pretoria Accord
MONUSCO
ICC investigation
v
t
e
Ituri conflict
Bogoro
Artemis
North Night Final
Marabho
Ndjala
Plaine Savo
Nyamamba and Mbogi
Response
UN 1484
v
t
e
Kivu conflict
Lemera massacre
Kasika massacre
Makobola massacre
Makombo massacre
2008 Nord-Kivu campaign
2009 Eastern Congo offensive
M23 rebellion (2012–13)
2014 North Kivu offensive
2017 CNPSC offensive
Uvira clashes
Oicha
Virunga
Kipupu massacre
Kangbayi
Kagogo ambush
M23 offensive (2022–23)
Anti-MONUSCO protests
Kishishe massacre
1st Kitshanga
2nd Kitshanga
Masambo attack
Otomabere attack
August 2022 attacks
Kasindi church bombing
Makugwe massacre
Mukondi massacre
Other
Lord's Resistance Army insurgency
Katanga insurgency
Allied Democratic Forces insurgency
Dongo conflict
2011 coup d'etat attempt
Batwa–Luba clashes
2013 Kinshasa attacks
Kamwina Nsapu rebellion
Western DR Congo clashes
Child soldiers in the Congo
Katanga Province, renamed by Mobutu in 1972 as Shaba Province because of its copper wealth
Shaba I was a conflict in Zaire's Shaba (Katanga) Province lasting from 8 March to 26 May 1977. The conflict began when the Front for the National Liberation of the Congo (FNLC), a group of about 2,000 Katangan Congolese soldiers who were veterans of the Congo Crisis, the Angolan War of Independence, and the Angolan Civil War, crossed the border into Shaba from Angola. The FNLC made quick progress through the region because of the sympathizing locals and the disorganization of the Zairian military (Forces Armées Zaïroises, or FAZ). Travelling east from Zaire's border with Angola, the rebels reached Mutshatsha, a small town near the key mining town of Kolwezi.
Zairian President Mobutu Sese Seko accused Angola, East Germany,[12] Cuba and the Soviet Union of sponsoring the rebels. Motivated by anticommunism and by economic interests, both the Western Bloc and China sent assistance to support the Mobutu regime. The most significant intervention, orchestrated by the Safari Club, featured a French airlift of Moroccan troops into the war zone. The intervention turned the tide of the conflict.[13] US President Jimmy Carter approved the shipment of supplies to Zaire but refused to send weapons or troops and maintained that there was no evidence of Cuban involvement.
The FAZ terrorized the population of the province during and after the war. Bombing and other acts of violence led 50,000 to 70,000 refugees to flee into Angola and Zambia. Journalists were prevented from entering the province, and several were arrested. However, Mobutu won a public relations victory and ensured continuing economic assistance from governments, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and a group of private lenders led by Citibank.
The FAZ and outside powers clashed again with insurgents in a 1978 conflict, Shaba II.
^ abcdBerman, Eric G.; Sams, Katie E. (2000). Peacekeeping In Africa : Capabilities And Culpabilities. Geneva: United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research. ISBN 978-92-9045-133-4. Berman and Sams cite the lower number.
^ abA Little Help from His Friends Time, 04/25/1977, Vol. 109 Issue 17, p.57
^Cite error: The named reference Odom25 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"Nigeria to Move, At U.S. Request, In Zaire Dispute", Washington Post, 23 March 1977, p. A1; accessed via ProQuest.
^"Nigeria Appeals on Arms", New York Times, 24 March 1977, p. A7; accessed via ProQuest.
^ abLe Sahara occidental, enjeu maghrébin,page 304
^Driss Bennani. "Exclusif. Portrait-enquête. Laânigri. Un destin marocain (Son ascension, sa chute…)". Telquel. No. 239. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
^Cite error: The named reference LAT17April was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Robin Wright, "Moroccan Army Chief Visits Area of Fighting in Zaire", Washington Post, 15 April 1977; accessed via ProQuest.
^Katangan Gendarmes Archived 2013-10-04 at the Wayback Machine Leigh Ingram-Seal
^Ogunbadejo, "Conflict in Africa" (1979), p. 227.
^Zaire Says East Germany Supplies Arms to Rebels - New York Times, 1 May 1977. Retrieved on 8 April 2017.
^Chris Cook and John Stevenson. The Routledge Companion to World History Since 1914, 2005. Pages 321-322.
ShabaI was a conflict in Zaire's Shaba (Katanga) Province lasting from 8 March to 26 May 1977. The conflict began when the Front for the National Liberation...
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Shaba II was 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...
rebels based in Angola launched two invasions—ShabaI and Shaba II—into the Katanga Province (renamed "Shaba" in 1972). The rebels were driven out with military...
country and repulsed the rebels, ending ShabaI. The rebels attacked Zaire again, in greater numbers, in the Shaba II invasion of 1978. The governments of...
throughout the war that included dogfighting and ground attacks. During the ShabaI crisis in Zaire on 1977, Egyptian Air Force provided 50 pilots and technicians...
continued as ongoing insurgency Batwa–Luba clashes (2013–2018) Shaba invasions (ShabaI 1977, Shaba II 1978) Lord's Resistance Army insurgency (1987–present)...
Administration had accepted Cuba's insistence on its non-involvement in ShabaI, and therefore did not stand with Mobutu, the U.S. government now accused...
1970s. He fought in the ShabaI conflict, and came to prominence during the Shaba II war. He distinguished himself during the Shaba wars through his discipline...
intervened decisively in the 1977 conflict known as ShabaI to save Zaire's regime. After Shaba II, Morocco was part of the Inter-African Force deployed...
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expedition was a fiasco with far-reaching repercussions, most notably the ShabaI and Shaba II invasions, both of which China opposed. China sent military aid...
outside of Kolwezi there is the static inverter plant of the HVDC Inga-Shaba. The population is approximately 573,000. Before the creation of Lualaba...
based in the Angolan People's Republic, launched the ShabaI and II invasions into the southeast Shaba region. These rebels were driven out with the aid...
made their official debut on November 25, 2022 with their first single ShabaShaba. YGIG aims to represent the Filipino female groups in the international...
Safari Club's first action came in March–April 1977, in response to the ShabaI conflict in Zaire after a call for support was made in the interest of...
1960–ongoing Katanga insurgency March 8, 1977 – May 26, 1977 ShabaI May 11, 1978 – June 1978 Shaba II 1987–ongoing Lord's Resistance Army insurgency 1996–ongoing...
National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA). The FLNC was involved in the ShabaI and II attempted invasions of Katanga. Split into factions after the war...
continued since the end of the Crisis. In the 1970s, two conflicts, known as ShabaI and II, led by the Front National pour la Libération du Congo (FNLC), attempted...
Province, then known as Shaba, in March 1977, facing little resistance from the FAZ. This invasion is sometimes known as ShabaI. Mobutu had to request...
intervened decisively in the 1977 conflict known as ShabaI to save Zaire's regime. After Shaba II, Morocco was part of the Inter-African Force deployed...
Civil War Six-Day War Nigerian Civil War War of Attrition October War ShabaI Egyptian–Libyan War 1986 Egyptian conscripts riot 1999 East Timorese crisis...
Zaire, who defeated Angolan-backed insurgents in conflicts known as ShabaI and Shaba II. His administration also generally refrained from criticizing human...
British King's African Rifles (KAR) in 1914 where he fought in World War I during East African campaign in Tanganyika before being honorably discharged...
Global Information
Mobutu Sese Seko
Anwar El-Sadat
Abdelkader Loubaris[6]
Leo Tindemans
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
Nathaniel Mbumba
