shaba ii was a brief conflict fought in the zairean province of shaba (now katanga) in 1978. the conflict broke out on 11 may 1978 after 6,500 rebels from the congolese national liberation front (fnlc), a katangese separatist militia, crossed the border from angola into zaire in an attempt to achieve the province's secession from the zairian regime of mobutu sese seko. the fnlc captured the important mining town of kolwezi.