Following a warning issued by the South African State Security Council on 20 December saying that Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique, Angola, Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Swaziland were aiding the ANC and 'would have a heavy price to pay', the apartheid regime has adopted a more belligerent posture in the region and there has been a significant increase in aggression against Southern African countries.
The State Security Council statement came in the context of an intensified armed struggle inside South Africa and indications from both the ANC and SWAPO that the liberation struggle would be sustained at a higher level in 1986. The apartheid regime expressed particular concern about six landmine explosions which resulted from ANC guerilla operations in the Northern Transvaal between November and January.
In November last year the SADF accused the Zimbabwean government of allowing ANC guerillas to cross the border into South Africa to lay landmines. This was denied by both the ANC and the government of Zimbabwe. Nevertheless, the South African Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pik Botha, warned that unless the Zimbabwean government took steps against the ANC the SADF would mount raids across the border.
In January the apartheid regime announced that it was planning to build a high-voltage electrified fence along the Zimbabwean border. A ten-mile stretch of fence already exists, but the current is to be increased from 4,000 to 20,000 volts and the fence greatly extended. The South African regime also moved large numbers of troops into the Northern Transvaal and stepped up its programme of arming farmers and deploying troops on farms.
In response, the Zimbabwean government placed its armed forces on alert and stated that it would defend its territory 'at all costs'.
Between July and September last year, the Mozambican army, aided by Zimbabwean troops, captured a number of bases of the South African surrogate force, the MNR.
The authorities uncovered a large quantity of documents providing evidence of continued South African support for the MNR after the signing of the Nkomati bilateral security accord in March 1984. In terms of the Nkomati Accord, Pretoria undertook to cease supplying, training and deploying the MNR. Receiving no satisfactory explanations from the South African regime as to its violation of the Nkomati agreement, Mozambique withdrew from the joint security commission -responsible for implementing the Accord.
In mid-November the Angolan defence force disclosed that a force of 20,000 South African troops was massing on the Namibian border. A month later, two battalions of SADF troops were reported to have invaded the Angolan province of Cunene, occupying the ruined border towns of Cuamato and Calueque. The occupation followed other incidents of aggression, including the capture of two Angolan soldiers and the shooting down by a Mirage fighter of an Angolan transport aircraft on a food supply run.
By the end of December, the Angolan authorities estimated that four battalions of SADF troops were occupying Cunene. A fifth battalion of the surrogate UNITA force was also being deployed. Regular reconnaissance flights were being carried out by the SA Air Force. The SADF declined to comment on these reports, stating only that military units had carried out a short 'follow-up operation against SWAPO insurgents' in the first week of January. In mid-January, the Angolan defence force issued a detailed report of South African aggression over the previous weeks which concluded that the pattern of attacks followed that of previous mobilisations which marked 'the beginning of offensives against our troops and population'. President dos Santos stated that South African troops had penetrated 150 km into Cunene province.
Threats were made against Botswana following a landmine attack near the Botswana border in the first week of January. The South African regime informed Botswana that it 'reserved its right' to 'take appropriate measures' in response, although the Botswana government firmly denied any involvement in the incident.
At the end of December, South African troops were accused by the government of Swaziland of crossing the border and entering villages to threaten the inhabitants with reprisals should they support ANC guerillas. Swaziland was included in the list of countries accused by the State Security Council in December of 'harbouring terrorists'. This was the first time Swaziland has been publicly accused of such activities since it secretly signed a bilateral security pact with Pretoria in 1982.
On 20 December last year South African commandos killed six South African refugees and three Lesotho nationals in a night raid on the Lesotho capital, Maseru. Seven of the victims were massacred at a Christmas party, the other two were gunned down at their home in front of their one year old daughter. The SADF denied any responsibility and blamed the attack on its surrogate group, the Lesotho Liberation Army (LLA). The LLA carried out a number of attacks in the months preceding the Maseru raid, and an LLA member captured in October revealed details of his training in South Africa.
On 1 January the South African regime imposed a blockade on Lesotho. This rapidly caused severe shortages of food, essential goods and fuel, and the government appealed for international assistance.
The immediate cause of the blockade was reported to be the Lesotho government's refusal to agree to a 'bilateral security mechanism' with Pretoria. While the government refused to agree to a separate commission, it agreed that security measures could be discussed through an existing liaison committee. This did not halt the blockade however, and tension within Lesotho's political structures and the armed forces began to mount. After a series of incidents in which troops surrounded government buildings, the government of Chief Leabua Jonathan was replaced on 20 January by a military council headed by the chief of the Para-Military Force, Major-General Justin Lekhanya. The blockade was then partially lifted and the South African Deputy Director-General of Foreign Affairs, Neil van Heerden, arrived in Maseru for talks.
