Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977–1980, Volume XVII, Part 2, Sub-Saharan Africa

105. Memorandum From Secretary of State Vance to President Carter¹

Washington, May 20, 1978

1. Shaba Operations: By early afternoon our time, 10 Americans have been reported by our Consulate in Lubumbashi as having been rescued from Kolwezi (one of them wounded, the other nine in good condition).² We have unconfirmed reports that two Americans have been killed. The other American out of the total of 13 who were in Kolwezi is still unaccounted for.³

Belgian forces were airdropped into Kolwezi early this morning. The French report that friendly forces have control of all parts of town, that they had found almost all houses looted, and that about 60 European bodies have now been discovered. French military casualties are one killed and 15 missing with around 200 enemy killed.⁴

The Katangans are reportedly retreating toward Zambia en route to Angola in a truck convoy with an unknown number of expatriate hostages. We instructed our Embassy in Brussels to contact Angolan Ambassador Almeida there with a request that the Angolan Government take urgent measures to assure the hostages’ safety should they arrive in Angola. Almeida said he would relay the message to Luanda.⁵ (The Angolans had told us earlier this week that they would permit transit of evacuees from Shaba.)

[Omitted here are items unrelated to Central Africa.]

1. Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Subject File, Box 20, Evening Reports (State) 5/78. Secret. Carter initialed the memorandum.
2. In telegram 521 from Lubumbashi, May 20, the Consulate reported on the status of the U.S. citizens in Kolwezi. (National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D780213–0256)
3. In telegram 5140 from Kinshasa, May 22, the Embassy reported that one U.S. citizen had been killed and the others were all safe. (National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D780215–0085)
4. In telegram 5086 from Kinshasa, May 20, the Embassy reported on the military situation in Kolwezi at 1000Z on May 20, including the discovery of European bodies and an update on French military casualties. (National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D780213–0144)
5. In telegram 9784 from Brussels, the Embassy reported that the Political Officer had met with Almeida, who promised to relay the message to Neto. (National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D780215–0863)