Warnings were given during March by representatives of the Angolan government and armed forces, of a substantial new South African military build-up along the northern Namibian border, apparently in preparation for a major new offensive against the People's Republic of Angola. Based on their experience of previous years, the Angolan representatives suggested that incursions could be expected to escalate around June 1982, when the advent of dry season conditions would facilitate the movement of South African ground forces.
The warnings coincided with the announcement by the SADF of a raid in Mocamedes province, southwestern Angola, in which 201 Namibians were reported to have been killed at Cambeno, 34 km from the Namibian border. While the site was described by South Africa as a guerilla base, it appears to have been a transit centre for refugees, similar to those attacked in the course of the May 1978 Kassinga raid and massacre. Attacks into Mocamedes province, overflown in preceding weeks by a growing number of South African reconnaissance flights, mark a further geographical extension of South African aggression against Angola.
MILITARY BRIEFING
There have in fact been a number of fresh developments in the pattern of South African attacks against Angola since the end of 1981. South Africa has extended its operations northwards out of the 50,000 square kilometre zone of Kunene province which its forces have occupied and controlled since the 'Operation Protea' invasion of August 1981.
These new developments include: * reconnaissance flights over the provinces of Mocamedes, Huila and Kuando Kubango * reconnaissance flights and bombing raids into the eastern province of Moxico * attempts to extend operations by UNITA forces northwards out of Kuando Kubango province into Moxico province * long range sabotage missions by special units, notably the attack on the Petrangol state oil refinery in Luanda on 30 November 1981.
Lieutenant-Colonel NGONGO, of the Angolan Ministry of Defence, visited London in March to brief a conference organised by the British Anti-Apartheid Movement and sponsored by the UN Special Committee against Apartheid. He provided detailed information on the current military situation in southern Angola.
THE OCCUPATION OF KUNENE
Lt.Col. Ngongo confirmed that South African forces continued to occupy and control approximately 50,000 sq.km. of Kunene province, seven months after the launch of Operation Protea. The South Africans had not established any form of administration in the area, but were 'creating misery', he said. 160,000 people had been displaced from their homes and forced to flee northwards, while those remaining in the occupied zone were being bribed with food to persuade them to turn informer against the Angolan armed forces. Shops had been set up in some areas by the South Africans for this purpose.
AGGRESSION EXTENDED
Recent operations by South African forces north of the controlled zone had included high altitude reconnaissance flights over Cahama and Lubango; reconnaissance flights over Porto Alexandre and Moçâmedes, Mulondo and Cuvelai, Lt.Col. Ngongo said. Reconnaissance flights had also been intensified into Kuando Kubango province in the southeast, notably over the capital Menongue, Cuito Cuanavale and Mavinga. In the province of Moxico, north of Kuando Kubango and bordering on Zambia, the locality of Ninga, more than 400 km inside Angola, has been bombed while Cangombe had been overflown for reconnaissance purposes. Zambian air space has been violated in the course of these attacks.
MILITARY BUILD-UP
In a statement reinforcing Lt.Col. Ngongo's briefing and issued through its embassy in France on 16 March, the Angolan government warned of South African preparations for 'a further large-scale offensive'. 'Reliable sources emanating from Pretoria' had indicated that 10,000 black troops, officered by British, Portuguese, American and other foreign mercenaries, were being prepared for extensive military operations against several important Angolan towns including Luanda, strategic economic targets, and the country's top leadership.
ATTACK ON CAMBENO
The SA Department of Foreign Affairs made advance arrangements for nearly 50 accredited overseas journalists, normally based in South Africa, to visit Namibia over the period in which a South African attack at Cambeno in south-western Angola was announced. The raid, which was alleged by Pretoria to have killed 201 SWAPO guerillas at 'a new forward base' established in connection with guerilla incursions into Kaokoland and Damaramland, received considerable coverage in the Namibian, South African and overseas press. According to the SADF it marked their most westerly incursion into Angola to date.
The raid, which was supported by airborne fire from the SA Air Force, was carried out by two heliborne assault platoons, reportedly totaling 45 men, drawn from 32 Battalion (the 'Buffalo' Battalion). This elite Battalion, believed to be substantially comprised of dissident Angolans and overseas mercenaries, commanded by white South African officers, has been operating inside Angola in an increasingly overt way since its existence and character were exposed at the beginning of 1981. It was heavily involved in Operation Protea, notably the occupation of Xangongo. The attack on Cambeno also involved a South African mortar group, who bombed the target area from adjacent high ground, and several 'stopper groups' used to block all escape routes from the battle zone.
A number of South African and Namibian journalists were flown into Angola to view the scene of the attack on 15 March, 48 hours after the raid. They were briefed on the spot by the chief of the SWA Territory Forces, General Charles Lloyd, and other SA army officers. The journalists were not able to view all of the 201 SWAPO members allegedly killed and they reported that the tented settlement or camp, located in a remote mountainous region, contained no trenches or fortifications and no permanent buildings of any kind.
In a statement issued on 19 March, the Angolan authorities said that South African forces had also attacked Iona, 47 km from the Namibian border and, like Cambeno, situated in Moçâmedes province. Those attacked and killed were Namibian refugees, the statement said, and included women and children. A scenario had been prepared for the press by leaving only male bodies on view at the site, dressing these in previously prepared uniforms, and transporting in quantities of arms and ammunition.
PRISONERS OF WAR
Following a pattern familiar from other South African-inspired accounts of military operations against SWAPO and into Angola, no prisoners were reported as having been taken during the raid on Cambeno.
Previous issues of FOCUS have drawn attention to the many unanswered questions surrounding the fate of prisoners of war taken by South African forces in Angola and other front line states, and of the many Namibians themselves who 'disappear' following capture by the army or police. The (estimated) 118 SWAPO members captured at Kassinga in Angola during the South African raid of May 1978 are approaching the end of their fourth year of incommunicado detention without charge, at Hardap Dam detention camp near Mariental. The International Committee of the Red Cross, which has been able to visit the Kassinga detainees on a number of occasions, was also allowed access during October-November 1981 to a total of 85 Angolan prisoners, 10 of them seriously wounded, captured during Operation Protea and other SADF missions and held in Namibia.
South African journalists who in November 1981 accompanied the SADF on 'Operation Daisy' to attack Chitequeta in Angola (claimed by South Africa as SWAPO's regional headquarters) later reported seeing captured and wounded SWAPO guerillas, at least some of whom were flown back to Namibia (Oshakati military hospital, for example) for treatment and interrogation.
STATISTICS OF AGGRESSION
During 1981, the Angolan authorities recorded the following South African military operations against their country:- * 95 ground operations * 74 concentrations of men and materials * 1651 reconnaissance flights * 161 bombing raids and strafing attacks * 64 landings of heliported troops — a total of 2,045 military attacks.
