Front for the National Liberation of the Congo

The Front for the National Liberation of the Congo (FNLC, Front National pour la Libération du Congo) was a rebel group that fought against the government of Mobutu Sese Seko in Zaire in the 1970s. The FNLC's invasions of Shaba, Zaire in 1977 and 1978 sparked two international wars, Shaba I and Shaba II, further complicating the Angolan Civil War.

Shaba I
Fifteen hundred members of the FNLC, including a small group of former Katangan gendarmes, invaded Shaba, Zaire from eastern Angola on 7 March 1977. The FNLC wanted to overthrow Mobutu. They quickly captured Kolwezi, Zaire's economic heartland, 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 army to beat back the FNLC with air cover from Egyptian pilots flying French Mirage fighter aircraft. The Franco-Egyptian-Moroccan force pushed the last of the militants, along with a number of refugees, into Angola and Zambia by April.