23 May 2008
Former French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing has presided over a military parade last Monday in Calvi, northern Corsica, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Kolwezi.
Kolwezi is considered the most important French feat of arms when in May 1978, some 600 paratroopers managed to protect 2,000 French and Belgian civilians from thousands of rebels in Zaire in Africa.
When the 2e REP, an elite paratroopers unit of the French Foreign Legion, launched the operation "Bonite" and managed to bring the town of Kolwezi back to peace with efficiency, they also set an example for future generations who still celebrate their success.
M. Giscard d'Estaing, who was president at the time of the operations in 1978, was surrounded by 14 of the soldiers who had taken part in operation Bonite when he placed a spray of flowers on Calvi's war memorial in commemoration of the five French soldiers who died in the military intervention.
