Cuito Cuanavale
Cuito Cuanavale is a town in the African country of Angola, and the site of a famous and significant battle during the late 1980s in the Cold War.
Background[edit]
Angola is a country in Southern Africa, which was formerly a Portuguese colony. In April 1974, Portugal's authoritarian dictatorship under Antonio de Oliveira Salazar, known as the "Estado Novo" (New State), was overthrown by a left-wing junta. The new Portuguese government expressed sentiments supportive of granting independence to its colonial possessions, namely East Timor, Angola, Mozambique, Macau, Goa, Cape Verde, São Tomé and Principe, and Guinea-Bissau. While hopes for East Timor being granted independence were thwarted by an Indonesian invasion, Angola received its independence. A civil war in Angola began, however, after independence was achieved. The forces of the pro-Socialist MPLA, largely supported by the Angolan people, were in control of the government. Led by Jonas Savimbi, rebel combatants formed a group known as UNITA, with the backing of the United States and apartheid South Africa. This armed paramilitary force fought against the MPLA government, in addition to countryside peasants and poor people who supported it. The United States, alongside apartheid South Africa, provided weapons and monetary support for UNITA and Jonas Savimbi, which led to an upsurge in killings in the region by UNITA. When UNITA was funded by the United States government during the administration of Ronald Reagan, they were used by South Africa as a force to murder members of SWAPO, and to participate in violence against civilians sympathetic to SWAPO in South West Africa.
In the 1980s, the South West African People's Organization began fighting against the apartheid South African government for the independence of South West Africa (now Namibia). South West Africa was being occupied by the South African government, which imposed the racist policy of apartheid on it as well. Meanwhile, apartheid South Africa was contemplating an annexation of newly-independent Angola, a la East Timor and the Western Sahara. South Africa decided to move their military north into Angola for the purpose of annexing it and assimilating it into apartheid South Africa. The Angolan population was largely opposed to this, and mostly supported the efforts of the socialist MPLA government, though Savimbi was supportive of South Africa.
[edit]
In 1987, the South African Defence Forces (SADF) entered the Angolan town of Cuito Cuanavale, planning to declare UNITA sovereignty over Angola. By this point, apartheid South Africa basically had complete control over UNITA and used them as an armed force against all of its enemies; UNITA was basically an appendage of the apartheid South Africa régime. UNITA had South Africa's full support, and the SADF were ready to conquer the strategically located town (it was very close to South West Africa, Zambia, making it significant in battles).
As SADF and UNITA forces entered the town, Cuban MIGs flew over the town and SWAPO forces drove the army back into Namibia. The Cuban forces began constructing military bases in Angola, and by 1988 had fully driven the South African forces back into Namibia. This sent a message to the South African forces in South West Africa (Namibia), and proved that Cuba could indeed, if they desired, drive South African forces out of South West Africa, assisting the SWAPO in their struggle. The Cubans, without any aid from the Soviet Union or its other allies, had successfully defeated a large military backed by a world superpower, rumored to have been conducting tests with nuclear weapons. This was considered a heroic victory by Castro and Nelson Mandela. It is considered by many to be an impetus for the downfall of the apartheid policy in South Africa.