Angola's Woes - Part IX

Continued from Part VIII

The Chaotic 80s

In March 1988, representatives of Angola, Cuba and the USA held a meeting in Luanda, at which Angola and Cuba presented a peace plan, which included a new proposal for the evacuation of Cuban forces from southern Angola. In April, South African forces sustained a serious defeat at Cuito Cuanarale by the combined Cuban and FAPLA forces whose newly acquired Russian anti-aircraft artillery denied South Africa its former superiority in the air. Following the changes on the military front, in May 1988 Cuba and Angola held talks with South Africa in London, with the USA as mediator. Modest progress was made in the talks. Later in May, at a meeting in Lisbon, the USA and the USSR discussed an outline peace plan for Angola, involving the withdrawal of both the Cuban and South African troops from Angola within one year. During this time, the security situation worsened considerably. UNITA and South Africa were intensifying their offensive in order to precipitate a peace agreement by Angola.

Meanwhile, Cuba was reported to have increased its military forces from 35,000 to 50,000 troops. In July, Discussions were held between representatives of the governments of Angola, Cuba, South Africa and the USA and this resulted in a mutually agreed 'statement of principle'. The provisions of which included the termination of US support for UNITA, South African assent to independence for Namibia on terms and conditions acceptable to the UN and the simultaneous withdrawal of Cuban and South African troops from Angola.

To be continued...