Angola's Woes - Part VII

Continued from Part VI

The Chaotic 80s

In a sudden change of course, South Africa proposed to withdraw its troops in exchange for Angola's restraining the activities of SWAPO guerrillas in January 1984. The Lusaka Accord was formulated and by the terms of this proposal South Africa was to withdraw from Angola, whose government was to control the activities of SWAPO. The agreement was conditional (i.e. the withdrawal of the Cubans as a quid pro quo for South African withdrawal from Angola and the creation of an independent Namibia) on South Africa's proceeding towards independence in accordance with the UN Security Resolution 435.

Following the Lusaka Accord, the US policy towards Angola was that the Angolan government must be weakened sufficiently in order to force the withdrawal of the Cubans. This view prevailed over the view that Angola's legitimate security needs were better served by a resolution of the Namibian issue. As stipulated by the Lusaka Accord, South Africa withdrew its troops from Angola in April 1985, only to have a unit of its special forces captured in the following month while engaged in operations against petroleum installations in Cabinda. 'Hot-pursuit' operations into Angola were resumed in June 1985 and this continued until August 1988.

To be continued...