Angola South African Intervention
South Africa's interest in Angolan affairs began during
the
Portuguese colonial period, especially after 1966 when the
insurgency spread to the east. South Africa's military and
intelligence services cooperated closely with those of
Portugal.
South Africa and Portugal opened a joint command center in
Cuito
Cuanavale in southeast Angola in 1968, and from there
South African
troops participated in actions against Angolan nationalist
guerrillas as well as against southern Angola-based
guerrillas of
the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO), the
Namibian
group fighting for independence from South African rule.
The collapse of Portugal's empire and the prospect of
black
rule in Angola (and Mozambique) caused enormous concern in
Pretoria. Especially troubling to the South African
government was
the leftist orientation of several of these nationalist
movements.
Thus, in August 1975 South African military forces came to
the aid
of the FNLA-UNITA alliance and occupied the Ruacaná
hydroelectric
complex and other installations on the Cunene River. On
October 23,
a force of 300 South African troops, assisted by about
3,000 South
African-trained Angolans, invaded Angola. They advanced
rapidly
north for nearly 1,000 kilometers and came within 100
kilometers of
Luanda. This force was later increased to as many as
10,000, but
most of these troops were Angolans under South Africa's
military
command.
The South African invasion had several international
consequences. It prompted a massive increase in the flow
of Soviet
military supplies to the MPLA and caused Cuba to send
thousands of
men to Angola in defense of the government. Moreover,
because the
United States was supporting the same factions as the
South African
regime, the United States involvement drew harsh criticism
from the
international community. Furthermore, many African
countries that
until then had opposed the MPLA, including Nigeria,
Tanzania,
Ghana, and Sudan, reversed themselves and recognized the
MPLA
government.
Data as of February 1989
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