Issue Date: May 21, 1977
Zaire:Army Recaptures Shaba Towns
The Zairian army, backed by Moroccan troops, retook two towns that had been captured by secessionist rebels who had invaded ShabaProvince in early March. [See 1977 African Affairs: Zaire Army Advances on Shaba Rebels; Other Developments]
The agricultural town of Sanikosa on the railway linking Shaba and Angola was retaken May 7 after "bitter fighting," and the nearby town of Kasaji was retaken May 11 after having been abandoned by the rebels without a fight, according to government reports.
Zairian and Moroccan troops had suffered heavy casualties May 1 in an ambush at the village of Musungi, according to Western sources May 3, but the encounter did not appear to have halted the advance against the rebels. Government and Moroccan forces had gone on the offensive with the recapture of Mutshatsha April 25.
A group of 50 Egyptian pilots and mechanics arrived in Kinshasa May 2, following an announcement of aid the day before by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. Sadat had said that he was sending the aid to President Mobutu Sese Seko because the Shaba invasion was "a direct measure against the Sudan and against the sources of the Nile." According to analysts, Sadat was concerned over the number of hostile states, most of them allied to the U.S.S.R., which surrounded Egypt and Sudan, which controlled the source of the NileRiver. It was the first time since he had taken office that Sadat had intervened militarily in African affairs and it apparently reflected his concern over increasing Soviet influence in the continent. (Mobutu had charged that the Shaba invasion had been backed by the Soviet Union and Cuba.) [See 1977 Middle East: Egyptian-Libyan Tensions Heighten; 1977 Middle East: U.S., Egypt Hold Talks in Washington]
A "suicide striking force" from Uganda left Entebbe airport April 28 for Kolwezi, the Zairian army headquarters in Shaba, according to a Uganda radio announcement. Ugandan President Idi Amin Dada had flown to Zaire that day for more consultations with Mobutu, the announcement said. Amin had pledged help to Mobutu during a visit to Zaire the week before. [See 1977 African Affairs: Zaire Army Advances on Shaba Rebels; Other Developments]
(The Central African Empire had placed a battalion of troops at Zaire's disposal, according to a Zairian news agency report May 13.)
African nations that rallied to support Mobutu, either orally or with troops and supplies, were influenced not only by the desire to halt the spread of separatist movements in African states but by opposition to foreign intervention in the continent. Senegalese President Leopold Senghor May 3 strongly condemned Soviet and Cuban military intervention in Africa and warned the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. against interfering in African affairs. He made his remarks during a meeting with West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt in Bonn.
Zaire May 2 broke diplomatic relations with East Germany, charging it had supplied arms to the rebels in Shaba. Government press reports April 30 had first made the charges, which East Germany that day had called "inventions." Zairian sources in Paris had said that three East Germans and seven Cubans were among a group of prisoners who had been captured in the fighting at Mutshatsha.
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