During the 1970s, Zambia began providing sanctuary for a number of revolutionary and militant political movements dedicated to overthrowing colonial and white minority rule elsewhere on the African continent. Guerrilla armies based in exile in Zambia included the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) and the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA). These movements ultimately embroiled the ZDF in their own internal power struggles as well as direct clashes with foreign troops carrying out preemptive strikes. In 1968, the ZDF skirmished with Portuguese troops which had pursued a number of Angolan or Mozambican insurgents into Zambia. In September 1975, Zambian troops became locked in a firefight with insurgents of the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA). The ZDF killed eleven ZANLA insurgents and later expelled that movement from Zambian soil. A year later, nearly two thousand disaffected PLAN insurgents in Zambia launched a mutiny which became known as the "Shipanga Affair". The army was forced to marshal several battalions to subdue the dissidents.
During the 1970s Zambia began providing sanctuary for a number of revolutionary and militant political movements dedicated to overthrowing colonial and white minority rule elsewhere on the African continent Guerrilla armies based in exile in Zambia included the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) and the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) These movements ultimately embroiled the ZDF in their own internal power struggles as well as direct clashes with foreign troops carrying out preemptive strikes In 1968 the ZDF skirmished with Portuguese troops which had pursued a number of Angolan or Mozambican insurgents into Zambia In September 1975 Zambian troops became locked in a firefight with insurgents of the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) The ZDF killed eleven ZANLA insurgents and later expelled that movement from Zambian soil A year later nearly two thousand disaffected PLAN insurgents in Zambia launched a mutiny which became known as the "Shipanga Affair" The army was forced to marshal several battalions to subdue the dissidents