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Kamanyola Division
The Kamanyola Division was an infantry division of the Forces Armées Zaïroises, the armed forces of Zaire, in 1974–97. History The Division was formed in 1974 and trained by North Korea. It was named after a June 1964 incident in the eastern town of Kamanyola. Troops led personally by Mobutu secured a strategic bridge near the town of Kamanyola. In 1993 it consisted of the 11th Infantry Brigade, the 12th Infantry Brigade, and the 14th Infantry Brigade. After the Shaba I incursion, the division, at the time considered the army's best formation, and considered the president's own, was assigned permanently to Shaba. Zairian senior military officials, dissatisfied by the North Korean efforts, even asked in December 1975 that the U.S. to take over the Kamanyola Division, saying that "the North Koreans had left the Kamanyola poorly trained and without spares for the equipment they had provided." (1976KINSHASA00091_b) As part of a second invasion by the former Katangan gendarme ...
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Shaba I
Shaba I was a conflict in Zaire's Shaba (Katanga) Province lasting from March 8 to May 26, 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, 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 ...
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Shaba II
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 from the Congolese National Liberation Front (FNLC), a Katangese separatist militia, crossed the border from Angola into Zaire in an attempt to achieve the province's secession from the Zairian regime of Mobutu Sese Seko. The FNLC captured the important mining town of Kolwezi.Widstrand, Carl Gösta, Timothy M. Shaw, and Douglas George Anglin. ''Canada, Scandinavia, and Southern Africa'', 1978. Page 130. Foreign involvement The Mobutist government appealed for foreign assistance and French and Belgian military intervention beat back the invasion, just as in 1977.George, Edward. ''The Cuban Intervention in Angola, 1965-1991: From Che Guevara to Cuito Cuanavale'', 2005. Page 136. The US and Cuba coerced Angola and Zaire into negotiations leading to a non-aggression pact. That ended support for insurgencies in each other's countrie ...
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Forces Armées Zaïroises
The Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: Forces armées de la république démocratique du Congo ARDC is the state organisation responsible for defending the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The FARDC was rebuilt patchily as part of the peace process which followed the end of the Second Congo War in July 2003. The majority of FARDC members are land forces, but it also has a small air force and an even smaller navy. In 2010–2011 the three services may have numbered between 144,000 and 159,000 personnel. In addition, there is a presidential force called the Republican Guard, but it and the Congolese National Police (PNC) are not part of the Armed Forces. The government in the capital city Kinshasa, the United Nations, the European Union, and bilateral partners which include Angola, South Africa, and Belgium are attempting to create a viable force with the ability to provide the Democratic Republic of Congo with stability and security. However, thi ...
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Zaire
Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, by area, the third-largest country in Africa (after Sudan and Algeria), and the 11th-largest country in the world. With a population of over 23 million inhabitants, Zaire was the most-populous officially Francophone country in Africa, as well as one of the most populous in Africa. The country was a one-party totalitarian military dictatorship, run by Mobutu Sese Seko and his ruling Popular Movement of the Revolution party. Zaire was established following Mobutu's seizure of power in a military coup in 1965, following five years of political upheaval following independence from Belgium known as the Congo Crisis. Zaire had a strongly centralist constitution, and foreign assets were nationalized. The period is sometimes referre ...
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North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and Tumen rivers, and South Korea to the south at the Korean Demilitarized Zone. North Korea's border with South Korea is a disputed border as both countries claim the entirety of the Korean Peninsula. The country's western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eastern border is defined by the Sea of Japan. North Korea, like its southern counterpart, claims to be the legitimate government of the entire peninsula and adjacent islands. Pyongyang is the capital and largest city. In 1910, Korea was annexed by the Empire of Japan. In 1945, after the Japanese surrender at the end of World War II, Korea was divided into two zones along the 38th parallel, with the north occupied by the Soviet Union and the south occupied by the U ...
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Katanga Province
Katanga was one of the four large provinces created in the Belgian Congo in 1914. It was one of the eleven provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between 1966 and 2015, when it was split into the Tanganyika, Haut-Lomami, Lualaba, and Haut-Katanga provinces. Between 1971 and 1997 (during the rule of Mobutu Sese Seko when Congo was known as Zaire), its official name was Shaba Province. Katanga's area encompassed . Farming and ranching are carried out on the Katanga Plateau. The eastern part of the province is considered to be a rich mining region, which supplies cobalt, copper, tin, radium, uranium, and diamonds. The region's former capital, Lubumbashi, is the second-largest city in the Congo. History Copper mining in Katanga dates back over 1,000 years, and mines in the region were producing standard-sized ingots of copper for international transport by the end of the 10th century CE. In the 1890s, the province was beleaguered from the south by Cecil Rhod ...
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2e Régiment étranger De Parachutistes
The 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (french: 2e Régiment étranger de parachutistes, 2e REP) is the only airborne regiment of the Foreign Legion in the French Army. It is one of the four infantry regiments of the 11th Parachute Brigade and part of the spearhead of the French rapid reaction force. Since the regiment's arrival from Algeria in 1967, it has been stationed at Camp Raffalli near the town of Calvi on the island of Corsica, south of mainland France. The regiment is also equipped with Véhicule de l'Avant Blindé (VAB). History Descended from the 2nd Foreign Parachute Battalion which served in Indochina, it fought in Algeria, and more recently in Kolwezi (Zaïre) during the Battle of Kolwezi in 1978.https://www.defense.gouv.fr/terre/l-armee-de-terre/le-niveau-divisionnaire/3e-division/2e-regiment-etranger-de-parachutistes2/historique Having participated in all French exterior operations since 1970, the regiment has operated in Chad, Lebanon, and the former Yugoslavia ...
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Paracommando Brigade (Belgium)
The Special Operations Regiment is an elite fighting force in the Belgian Land Component, consisting of two paracommando battalions, the Special Forces Group and a support unit of the Communication & Informationsystems Group (CIS). Known until 2003 as the Para-Commando Brigade, and later as the Light Brigade. On 3 July 2018, the Light Brigade transformed into the Special Operations Regiment. History During the Second World War, parachutist and commando units were founded in Great Britain. In 1942, the first Belgian commandos started training to serve in the No. 10 (Inter-Allied) Commando. Also that year, some Belgian soldiers underwent parachute training. These paras served in the Belgian 5th Special Air Service which was under the command of the famous Eddy Blondeel. Both units executed numerous raids and important missions. In 1952, these parachutist and commando units were brought together in a Para-Commando Regiment. Later, an antitank company, a field artillery battery an ...
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Battle Of Kolwezi
The Battle of Kolwezi was an airborne operation by French and Belgian airborne forces that took place in May 1978 in Zaire during the Shaba II invasion of Zaire by the Front for the National Liberation of the Congo (FLNC). It aimed at rescuing European and Zairean hostages held by FLNC rebels after they conquered the city of Kolwezi. The operation succeeded with the liberation of the hostages and light military casualties. Context Situation of Kolwezi The city of Kolwezi is situated in the ore-rich region of Shaba (now Lualaba), in the South-East of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). In 1978, the city held 100,000 inhabitants in a 40 km² urban area, with city quarters, separated by hills. It is a strategic spot, as it lies on important roads and railroad lines that link Lubumbashi to Dilolo. There is an airport from the center of the city. Hostage taking by rebels In March 1978, a meeting took place between Algerian and Angolan officials and mili ...
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Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of Geopolitics, geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term ''Cold war (term), cold war'' is used because there was no large-scale fighting directly between the two superpowers, but they each supported major regional conflicts known as proxy wars. The conflict was based around the ideological and geopolitical struggle for global influence by these two superpowers, following their temporary Allies of World War II, alliance and victory against Nazi Germany and Empire of Japan, Imperial Japan in 1945. Aside from the Nuclear arms race, nuclear arsenal development and conventional military deployment, the struggle for dominance was expressed via indirect means such as psychological warfare, propaganda campaigns, Cold War espionage, espionage, far-reaching Economic sanctions, embargoes, rivalry at sports events, and technolog ...
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Library Of Congress Country Studies
The Country Studies are works published by the Federal Research Division of the United States Library of Congress, freely available for use by researchers. No copyright is claimed on them. Therefore, they have been dedicated to the public domain and can be copied freely, though not all the pictures used therein are in the public domain. The Country Studies Series presents a description and analysis of the historical setting and the social, economic, political, and national security systems and institutions of countries throughout the world. The series examines the interrelationships of those systems and the ways they are shaped by cultural factors. The books represent the analysis of the authors and should not be construed as an expression of an official United States Government position, policy, or decision. The authors have sought to adhere to accepted standards of scholarly objectivity. Online information contained in the online Country Studies is not copyrighted and thus is a ...
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Military Of Zaire
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct military uniform. It may consist of one or more military branches such as an army, navy, air force, space force, marines, or coast guard. The main task of the military is usually defined as defence of the state and its interests against external armed threats. In broad usage, the terms ''armed forces'' and ''military'' are often treated as synonymous, although in technical usage a distinction is sometimes made in which a country's armed forces may include both its military and other paramilitary forces. There are various forms of irregular military forces, not belonging to a recognized state; though they share many attributes with regular military forces, they are less often referred to as simply ''military''. A nation's military may ...
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