Battle of Kolwezi Memorial

Memorial to the 1978 paratrooper operation that retook the city from Katangan rebels

The Battle of Kolwezi was a key moment in Cold War-era central Africa: the FNLC rebellion against Mobutu's Zaire, the brief seizure of the city, the massacre of expatriate workers in the European quarter, and the international airdrop that retook the town. A simple stone memorial in the city centre lists the names of the dead, and the church and several private memorials in the old European quarter mark the houses where families were killed.

The events are still raw in local memory and frequently discussed. The book Operation Léopard by Pierre Sergent and the various documentaries about the battle are good background.

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A story
On 19 May 1978, French Foreign Legion paratroopers of the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment jumped onto Kolwezi to rescue more than 2,000 Western expatriates being held by Katangan FNLC rebels who had taken the city. The operation — code-named Léopard — recovered most of the hostages, though several hundred Belgians, French and Congolese had been killed in the days before; it was the most significant French combat parachute drop since Indochina.

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