Maquis of Fizi
Maquis of Fizi | |||||||||
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| 1967–1986 | |||||||||
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Flag | |||||||||
| Anthem: "La Lutte" | |||||||||
Approximate map of control by Kabila's Maquis of Fizi from 1967-1986 | |||||||||
| Status | Breakaway partisan republic | ||||||||
| Capital | Fizi | ||||||||
| Largest city | Baraka | ||||||||
| Official languages | Swahili | ||||||||
| Common languages | Ibembe | ||||||||
| Ethnic groups | Mostly Bembe, some Banyarwanda and 1% foreign born populations of unknown origin | ||||||||
| Religion | None (secular state) | ||||||||
| Demonym(s) | Fizian | ||||||||
| Government | Marxist–Leninist one-party presidential socialist partisan republic | ||||||||
| President | |||||||||
• 1967–1986 | Laurent-Désiré Kabila | ||||||||
| Legislature | None (rule by decree in its last years, previously functioned as a Party-state) | ||||||||
| Historical era | Cold War | ||||||||
• Republic declared | 24 October 1967 | ||||||||
• Joins Zaïre | 1 July 1986 | ||||||||
| Area | |||||||||
| 1967 | 15,786 km2 (6,095 sq mi) | ||||||||
| Population | |||||||||
• 1967 | 250,000 | ||||||||
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The Maquis of Fizi was a breakaway state in the Maquis movement in what comprises parts of the modern territory of Fizi that broke off from Zaïre and existed from 1967 until 1986. Besides the contemporary Territory of Fizi, at its peak it also went as far as Kabambara in the west and Mwenga in the north.
The territory was created after the failures of the Simba rebellion as a revolutionary redoubt by Laurent-Désiré Kabila with a contingent of a couple thousand men. Although it was completely unrecognized internationally, it enjoyed some aid and assistance from Maoist China as it adopted policies similar to Maoist doctrine. It dissolved in 1986 when its weapon supplies ran thin, informants and spies caused chaos in government and the territory began to run out of resources to extract. Kabila escaped all the way to Uganda, being found there in the tail-end of the 1980s, eventually leading a Ugandan-backed revolt against the Zairian government.