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A@W Great Lakes Conflagration Text.Indd Also by Tom Cooper in the Africa@War series: Great Lakes Holocaust: The First CONTENTS Congo War 1996–1997 (Volume XIII) Co-published in 2013 by: Abbreviations 2 Helion & Company Limited 26 Willow Road Solihull Chapter One Background 3 West Midlands Chapter Two Military Forces of the Congolese Government B91 1UE England and Its Allies 5 Tel. 0121 705 3393 Chapter Three Military Forces of Rwanda and Its Allies 16 Fax 0121 711 4075 Chapter Four Operation Kitona 23 email: [email protected] website: www.helion.co.uk Chapter Five Operation Musako, Banyamulenge Mutiny 33 Chapter Six Arms Races and Political Manoeuvring 42 and Chapter Seven Kinshasa’s New Strategy 51 30° South Publishers (Pty) Ltd. Chapter Eight Conclusion 59 16 Ivy Road Pinetown 3610 South Africa Bibliography 64 email: [email protected] Acknowledgments 64 website: www.30degreessouth.co.za Text © Tom Cooper, 2013 Colour profiles / artwork © Tom Cooper & Ugo Crisponi Maps and unit insignia © Tamara Zeller & Pia Dworzak Photos © as individually credited Tunisia Morocco Designed & typeset by SA Publishing Algeria Libya Western Egypt Services ([email protected]) Sahara Cover design by Kerrrin Cocks Mauritania Printed for Helion & Co by Henry Ling Mali Niger Eritrea Senegal Sudan Ltd., Dorchester, Dorset and for Chad The Gambia 30° South Publishers by Pinetown Burkina Faso Djibouti Printers, Durban, South Africa Guinea Bissau Guinea Nigeria Côte Central South Ethiopia Sierra Leone D’Ivoire African Ghana Ghana Sudan SA ISBN 978-1-920143-84-8 Liberia Republic Cameroon Benin Togo UK ISBN 978-1-909384-66-8 Somalia Equatorial Uganda Guinea Kenya Gabon Democratic Republic Rwanda British Library Cataloguing-in- Congo of the Burundi Publication Data Congo Tanzania A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Angola Malawi All rights reserved. No part of this Zambia publication may be reproduced, stored, Zimbabwe Mozambique manipulated in any retrieval system, Namibia Botswana or transmitted in any mechanical, Madagascar electronic form or by any other means, Swaziland without the prior written authority of the Lesotho South publishers, except for short extracts Africa in media reviews. Any person who engages in any unauthorized activity in relation to this publication shall be liable to criminal prosecution and claims for civil and criminal damages. Front cover: The performance of Hawk Mk 60s can be regarded as the symbol Note: In order to simplify the use of this book, all names, locations and geographic of the much unrecognized and often designations are as provided in The Times World Atlas, or other traditionally accepted belittled Zimbabwean military success major sources of reference, as of the time of described events. Correspondingly, the in the DRC. Although the AFZ never term ‘Congo’ designates the area of the former Belgian colony of the Congo Free deployed more than four of these light State, granted independence as the Democratic Republic of the Congo in June 1960 strikers to the Democratic Republic and in use until 1971 when the country was renamed Republic of Zaire, which, in of the Congo during the war, their turn, reverted to Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1997, and which remains in presence and effectiveness in combat use today. As such, Congo is not to be mistaken for the former French colony of proved crucial to the outcome of every Middle Congo (Moyen Congo), officially named the Republic of the Congo on its major battle. Photo BAe independence in August 1960, also known as Congo-Brazzaville. AFRICA@WAR VOLUME XIV: GREAT LAKES CONFLAGRATION—THE SECOND CONGO WAR, 1998–2003 Abbreviations AA anti-aircraft FNLA Frente Nacional de Libertacao de Angola AAA anti-aircraft artillery (National Front for the Liberation of Angola, AB Agusta-Bell (Italian–American helicopter armed group opposing Portuguese rule in manufacturers) Angola 1960–75, later fighting against AdA Armée de l’Air (French Air Force) the MPLA government in 1970s/80s) ADCC Air Defence Consultants Corporation (Israeli FNLC Front National pour la Libération du Congo commercial military enterprise) (National Front for the Liberation of the ADF Allied Democratic Forces/Front (armed Congo, insurgent organization in Zaire/ opposition group in Uganda since 1990s) Congo, 1990s) AFB Air Force Base AFDL Alliance des Forces Démocratiques pour la GCI ground controlled interception Libération du Congo (Alliance of Democratic GP general purpose (bomb) Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire, Rwandan-supported insurgent organization in IAI Israeli Aircraft Industries (since 2006 Israeli Zaire, 1996–97) Aerospace Industries) AFZ Air Force of Zimbabwe IAP international airport An Antonov (the design bureau led by Oleg Antonov) ICRC International Committee of the Red Cross ANC Armée Nationale Congolaise (Congolese National Army, IDF Israeli Defence Forces 1960–71) IFF identification friend or foe ANR Agence Nationale de Renseignements (National Il Ilyushin (the design bureau led by Sergey Intelligence Agency, DRC) Vladimirovich Ilyushin, also known ANT Armée Nationale Tchadienne (Chadian National Army) as OKB-39) APC armoured personnel carrier IP instructor pilot AT-14 Spriggan ASCC, codename for Vikhr, Soviet-/Russian-made IR infrared, electromagnetic radiation, longer than ATGM deepest red light sensed as heat ATGM anti-tank guided missile LRA Lord’s Resistance Army (armed opposition group in BAC British Aircraft Corporation Uganda) BAe British Aerospace MAGRIVI Mutuelle des Agriculteurs des Virunga (Famers’ Society of CAP combat air patrol Virunga) CASA Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (Spanish aircraft MANPADS Man-Portable Air Defence System(s) (light surface-to- manufacturer) air missile system that can be carried and deployed in CBU cluster bomb unit combat by a single soldier CIA Central Intelligence Agency (USA) MBT main battle tank C-in-C commander-in-chief MHz megahertz, millions of cycles per second c/n construction number Mi Mil (Soviet/Russian helicopter designer and CO commanding officer manufacturer) MiG Mikoyan i Gurevich (the design bureau led by DRC Democratic Republic of Congo Artyom Ivanovich Mikoyan and Mikhail DSP Division Présidentiel Special (Special Presidential Iosifovich Gurevich, also known as OKB-155 Division, FAZ) or MMZ ‘Zenit’) MILAN Missile d’infanterie léger antichar (French- made ECM electronic countermeasures ATGM) ELINT electronic intelligence MLC Movement for the Liberation of Congo (armed ENI Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi (Italian state-owned opposition group in central DRC, late 1990s) petroleum company) MNC-K Mouvement National Congolais/Minoritaire–Kalonji EO Executive Outcomes (South African commercial (Congolese National Movement/Minority–Kalonji, military enterprise) insurgent organization in Zaire/Congo, 1990s) MNC-L Mouvement National Congolais/Minoritaire–Lumumba FAA Forças Armadas Angolanas (Angolan military, since 1992) (Congolese National Movemement–Lumumba, FAC Forces Armées Congolaises (Congolese Armed Forces, insurgent organization in Zaire/Congo, 1990s) since 1997) MoD ministry of defence FANA Força Aérea Nacional (Angolan Air Force, since 1992) MPLA Movimento Popular de Libertaçâo de Angola FAR Forces Armées Rwandaise (Rwandan Armed Forces, (People’s Movement for the Liberation of 1962–94) Angola, leftist anti-colonial movement in FARDC Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo Angola during the 1960s and 1970s; later ruling (Armed Forces of the DRC, since July 2003, party of Angola) formerly FAC) MPR Mouvement Populaire de la Révoultion FAZ Forces Armées Zaïroise (Zairian Army, 1971–1996) (Popular Movement of the Revolution, FAZA Force Aérienne Zaïroise (Zairian Air Force, 1971–96) Mobutu’s political party) FDD Forces pour la Défense de la Démocratie (Forces for the Defence of Democracy, armed opposition group in NAF Namibian Air Force (formerly the Namibian Burundi, 1990s/2000s) Defence Force/Air Wing) FDLR Forces Dmocratiques de Libération du Rwanda (Democratic Nav/attack used for navigation and to aim weapons Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda) against surface targets FIM-92A US-made MANPADS (full designation FIM-92A NCO non-commissioned officer Stinger) NDF/AW Namibian Defence Force/Air Wing 2 CHAPTER ONE: BACKGROUND NL Namibiese Lugmag (Afrikaans for the unofficial MANPADS designation often used for Namibian Air Force SA-16 Gimlet ASCC, codename for 9M313 Igla-1, Soviet in everyday communication) MANPADS NRA National Resistance Army (insurgent SAM surface-to-air missile organization in Uganda, 1981–85) SADC Southern African Development Community SAM surface-to-air missile OAU Organization of African Unity SARM Service d’Action et de Renseignement OCU operational conversion unit Militaire (Zairian Military Intelligence Bureau) ORBAT order of battle SNIP Service National d’Intelligence et Protection (National Service for Intelligence and PMC private military company Protection, top Zairian intelligence agency) PRP People’s Revolutionary Party (insurgent organization Su Sukhoi (the design bureau led by Pavel in Zaire, 1980s) Ossipowich Sukhoi, also known as OKB-51) RCD Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie TAM Tbilisi Aerospace Manufacturing (Georgian (insurgent organization in DRC, 1998–2003) aircraft manufacturing company) RPA Rwandan Patriotic Army (military wing of the TASA Tbilisi Aircraft State Association (Georgian RPF, 1987–94, and official designation of the aircraft manufacturing company) Rwandan military, 1994–2002) RDF Rwanda Defence Forces (official designation UNHCR UN High Commissioner
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