Congolese National Liberation Front

The Congolese National Liberation Front (French: Front de libération nationale congolaise, FLNC) is a political party. Funded by rebels of Katangese origin, and composing of ex-members of the Katangese Gendarmerie, it was mainly active in Angola and Zaire during the 1970s.

Shaba Province, Zaire.

The FLNC was formed in Angola under the leadership of Nathaniel Mbumba to expel Mobutu Sese Seko, the leader of Zaire. The FLNC is best known for its two attempted invasions of Katanga Province (renamed Shaba) in Zaire in the 1977 and 1978. The incursions, which threatened Mobutu's regime, sparked two international wars, Shaba I and Shaba II, further complicating the Angolan Civil War. From 1991, the FLNC became a member of the political life of Zaire and later of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Foundation
Nathaniel Mbumba, leader of the FLNC, on a 1978 propaganda poster.

The FLNC originated as the Katangese Gendarmerie, the military of the secessionist State of Katanga during the Congo Crisis. After the defeat of the Katanga Secession, many of the black Katanga troops were forced into exile in Portuguese Angola in the mid-1960s. Led by Nathaniel Mbumba,[1] they fought for the Portuguese colonial power during the Angolan War of Independence and formed the FLNC in 1967. After the defeat of the Portuguese in 1974, they joined the victorious MPLA.[2]

The FLNC did not have any political program other than ending Mobutu's grip on Zaire.[3] FLNC troops were said to have been trained by Cuban advisers.[4]

Shaba I
Main article: Shaba I

1,500 members of the FLNC invaded Shaba (new name of the Katanga) from eastern Angola on 7 March 1977. The FLNC wanted to overthrow Mobutu. They quickly captured the city of Kolwezi, Kasaji, and Mutshatsha and defeated Zairian troops without difficulty. Mobutu appealed to William Eteki of Cameroon, Chairman of the Organization of African Unity, for assistance on 2 April. The French government airlifted 1,500 Moroccan troops into Kinshasa on 10 April. This troop force worked in conjunction with the Zairian Armed Forces to beat back the FLNC with air cover from Egyptian pilots flying French-built FAZ Dassault Mirage 5 fighter jets.[5] The Egyptian-Moroccan force pushed the last of the militants, along with a number of refugees, into Angola and Zambia by April.[6][7][8][9]

Shaba II
Main article: Shaba II

During the Shaba II intervention, 4,000 rebels took the city of Kolwezi. Nathaniel Mbumba reportedly lost the control of his troops and they began exactions against European and Zairan civilians.[10][11] Most of the regulars soon retreated. The irregulars were driven back into the Angolan People's Republic after the French Foreign Legion intervention during the Battle of Kolwezi.[12]

Later actions

Mbumba was expelled from the party in 1987.[3] In 1990, Mobutu began a process to restaure the multipartism. The FLNC was legalised in 1991 and its member came back to Zaire. During the First Congo War, the FLNC fought on the side of the Zairian army due to shared opposition to the presence of Rwandan troops in Zaire,[13] but subsequently became favorable to the AFDL rebels led by Laurent-Désiré Kabila.[14] The FLNC joined the opposition under Joseph Kabila's presidency.[15]

See also

Notes
  1. Meditz & Merrill 1993, p. 292.
  2. Meditz & Merrill 1993, p. 56.
  3. Meditz & Merrill 1993, p. 234.
  4. Meditz & Merrill 1993, p. 262.
  5. Meditz & Merrill 1993, p. 292-3.
  6. Schraeder, Peter J. United States Foreign Policy Toward Africa: Incrementalism, Crisis and Change, 199. Pages 87-88.
  7. Constantine Panos Danopoulos and Cynthia Ann Watson. The Political Role of the Military: An International Handbook, 1996. Page 451.
  8. Julius Omozuanvbo Ihonvbere, and John Mukum Mbaku. Political Liberalization and Democratization in Africa: Lessons from Country Experiences, 2003. Page 228.
  9. Tanca, Antonio. Foreign Armed Intervention in Internal Conflict, 1993. Page 169.
  10. Mihamle, Jean David; with Agence France Presse (18 May 2018). "RDC : il y a 40 ans, la France intervenait à Kolwezi". Africanews (in French).
  11. Arseneault, Michel (19 May 2018). "Bataille de Kolwezi (2/3): quand un différend opposait Paris à Bruxelles". Radio France International (in French).
  12. Meditz & Merrill 1993, p. 296.
  13. Reyntjens, Filip (2009). The Great African War. Cambridge University Press. pp. 112–113.
  14. Switzerland: State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) (1 July 1997). "République Démocratique du Congo - Feuilles d'information sur les pays" (in French). Retrieved 19 July 2019.
  15. Agence France Presse (24 August 2018). "Ex-rebel chief held in DRC after 'ultimatum' reports". news24.com.

Further reading
  • Erik Kennes and Miles Larmer, The Katangese Gendarmes and War in Central Africa: Fighting their Way Home, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2016. Pp. 318. $35 (pbk).
  • Official website

References
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