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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | South Africa's war of destabilisation |
Author: | Cammack, D. |
Year: | 1990 |
Periodical: | South African Review - SARS |
Issue: | 5 |
Pages: | 191-208 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | South Africa Southern Africa |
Subjects: | foreign policy military intervention |
Abstract: | Destabilization refers to the most aggressive aspects of regional policy adopted by the Botha government of South Africa during the late 1970s and 1980s. The implementation of this policy can be divided into six phases. The first ran from 1978 until mid-1980, from Botha's assumption of power until the creation of the SADCC. The second phase ran until the end of 1981. The more aggressive third phase ended in February 1984, when South Africa and Angola signed the Lusaka Agreement, with the Nkomati Accord being signed shortly thereafter. After a short phase of 'public relations peace', the fifth phase coincided with Reagan's reelection as US president in early 1985. This period came to an end when South African troops in Angola, near Cuito Cuanavale, were trapped by a combined force of Cuban-Angolan troops. The rejection of further Angolan excursions voiced by the liberal Afrikaner community has forced South Africa to enter negotiations. Major weapons in Pretoria's destabilization armoury have been the SADCC countries' transport dependence on South Africa and South Africa's support for dissident groups in neighbouring States: the LLA (Lesotho Liberation Army) in Lesotho, 'Super Zapu' in Zimbabwe, the MNR (Mozambique National Resistance) in Mozambique, the UNITA in Angola and the Mashala gang in Zambia. The cost to the region of South Africa's destabilization has been enormous, both in economic and human terms. Ref., notes. |