South African air attacks on Angolan villages and towns have continued since the major invasion in June 1980.
A communique issued by the Angolan Defence Ministry on 4 September said that since 25 July 1980, South African forces had been making incursions into Angola in small units by helicopter with the aim of killing defenceless villagers in the border areas of Cunene Province.
A mission sent by the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) to Angola at the end of July 1980 to evaluate the damage caused by the aggression of the SA forces completed its tour of the affected areas in early August. Speaking to reporters on the eve of his departure, one of the members of the mission, the Togolese Minister for Foreign Affairs and Co-operation, Anani Akakpo, said that he had been able to tour the provinces of Huila and Cunene. He said the OAU mission had established that the South African attacks were aimed at destroying Angola's social and economic structures. The OAU mission included the Nigerian and Algerian Ambassadors to the People's Republic of Angola. It is to submit a report of its findings to the OAU General Secretariat and to the United Nations.
A delegation from the International Commission of Inquiry into the Crimes of the Racist and Apartheid Regimes in Southern Africa also visited Angola from 6–13 August 1980 to investigate SA aggression. The mission heard witnesses at the central military hospital in Luanda, visited sites of attacks in the Lubango and Mocamedes areas, and examined the remains of aircraft shot down in the June–July 1980 invasion.
The International Commission of Inquiry is due to hold a second plenary session on the aggression against Angola, in January 1981.
Over the three month period August to October 1980, the provinces of Cunene and Cuando Cubango came under particular attack. A communique issued by the Angolan Embassy in Paris on 21 October 1980 said that during that period, the South African forces carried out 165 reconnaissance flights, 22 air bombardments, and laid mines on roads in these regions. They also made 23 landings of helicopter troops.
South African troops also launched an attack into Angola in October 1980 to coincide with the arrival of a United Nations team in Pretoria for talks with the South African government over a settlement in Namibia. The UN mission was a final effort to resolve the issue and avoid the growing pressure from many African states for the imposition of sanctions against South Africa. There has been increasing international impatience with South Africa's delaying tactics over the implementation of the UN Plan in Namibia.
South African forces claimed to have killed 28 SWAPO guerillas and Angolan troops during the raid.
