The RLI was formed in February 1961 as a light infantry battalion made up exclusively of white recruits. After first seeing action in September 1961 on the Northern Rhodesian border with Katanga, it relocated to Cranborne Barracks, Salisbury the following year and remained there as part of the Southern Rhodesian Army after the Federation dissolved on 31 December 1963. Violent political intimidation of black Rhodesians by two rival communist revolutionary parties, the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) and Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), necessitated a specially trained counter-insurgency unit, and the RLI was accordingly reformed into a commando regiment during 1964 and 1965 under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Walls.