Cuba and Southern African Liberation
The unknown story
Isaac Saney
2012-12-11, Issue
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http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/85677
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One of the greatest military victories in African history, conducted jointly
by Angolan and Cuban troops in 1987-1988 in the Angolan town of Cuito
Cuanavale, is little known in global history
Cuba's direct, extensive, critical and decisive role in the struggle against
the apartheid regime in South Africa is little known in the West. As 2012
marches into 2013, we are in the midst of the 25th anniversary of a series
of military engagements that profoundly altered the history of southern
Africa. In 1987-1988, a decisive series of battles occurred around the
southeastern Angolan town of Cuito Cuanavale. When it occurred, these
battles were the largest military engagements in Africa since the North
African battles of the Second World War. Arrayed on one side were the armed
forces of Cuba, Angola and the South West African People's Organization
(SWAPO), on the other, the South African Defense Forces, military units of
the Union for the Total National Independence of Angola (UNITA - the South
African proxy organization) and the South African Territorial Forces of
Namibia (then still illegally occupied by Pretoria).
Cuito Cuanavale is marginalized in the west, frequently ignored, almost as
if it had never occurred. However, the overarching significance of the
battle cannot be erased. It was a critical turning point in the struggle
against apartheid. From November 1987 to March 1988, the South African armed
forces repeatedly tried and failed to capture Cuito Cuanavale. In southern
Africa, the battle has attained legendary status. It is considered THE
debacle of apartheid: a defeat of the South African armed forces that
altered the balance of power in the region and heralded the demise of racist
rule in South Africa.
Cuito Cuanavale decisively thwarted Pretoria's objective of establishing
regional hegemony (a strategy which was vital to defending and preserving
apartheid), directly led to the independence of Namibia and accelerated the
dismantling of apartheid. The battle is often referred to as the African
Stalingrad of apartheid. Cuba's contribution was crucial as it provided the
essential reinforcements, material and planning.
CUITO CUANAVALE: AFRICAN STALINGRAD
In July 1987, the FAPLA, the Angolan armed forces, launched an offensive
against UNITA, the apartheid state's surrogate. The Cubans objected to this
military operation because it would create the opportunity for a South
African invasion, which is what transpired. The South Africans invaded,
stopped and threw back the Angolan forces. After terrible human and material
losses, the Angolans were forced into a headlong retreat to the town and
strategic military base of Cuito Cuanavale.
As the fighting became centred on Cuito Cuanavale, the Angolan Armed forces
were placed in an extremely precarious situation, with its most elite
formations facing annihilation. Indeed, Angola faced an existential threat.
If Cuito Cuanavale fell to South Africa then the rest of the country would
be at the mercy of the invaders. Angolan General Antonio dos Santos
underscored the overarching significance of the town's defence stating that
if they [the South Africans] won at Cuito Cuanavale, the road would be open
to the north of Angola.'
Determined to transform its initial military success into a fatal blow
against an independent Angola, Pretoria committed its best troops and most
sophisticated military hardware to the capture of Cuito Cuanavale. As the
situation of the besieged Angolan troops became critical, Havana was asked
by the Angolan government to intervene. On 15 November 1987 Cuba decided to
reinforce its forces by sending fresh detachments, arms and equipment,
including tanks, artillery, anti-aircraft weapons and aircraft. Eventually
Cuban troop strength would rise to more than 50, 000. It must be emphasized
that for a small country such as Cuba the deployment of 50,000 troops would
be the equivalent of the U.S. deploying more than a million soldiers, or
Canada more than one hundred thousand.
CUBA'S VITAL ROLE
The Cuban commitment was immense. Fidel Castro stated that the Cuban
Revolution had 'put its own existence at stake, it risked a huge battle
against one of the strongest powers located in the area of the Third World,
against one of the richest powers, with significant industrial and
technological development, armed to the teeth, at such a great distance from
our small country and with our own resources, our own arms. We even ran the
risk of weakening our defenses, and we did so. We used our ships and ours
alone, and we used our equipment to change the relationship of forces, which
made success possible in that battle. We put everything at stake in that
action...'
The Cuban government viewed preventing the fall of Cuito Cuanavale as
imperative. A South African victory would have meant not only the capture of
the town and the destruction of the best Angolan military formations, but,
quite possibly, the end of Angola's existence as an independent country. The
Cuban revolutionary leadership also decided to go further than the defence
of Cuito Cuanavale. They decided to deploy the necessary forces and employ a
plan that would both put an end once and for all to South African aggression
against Angola and deliver a decisive blow against the racist state. The
successful defence of Cuito Cuanavale would be the prelude to a grand and
far reaching strategy that would transform the balance of power in the
region.
South Africa's efforts to seize Cuito Cuanavale were stymied by the Cubans
and Angolans. With the South Africans preoccupied at Cuito Cuanavale, the
Cubans achieved a strategic coup by carrying-out an outflanking maneuver. To
the west of Cuito Cuanavale and along the Angolan/Namibian border, Havana
deployed 40,000 Cuban troops, supported by 30,000 Angolan and 3,000 SWAPO
troops. Pretoria had become so focused on seizing Cuito Cuanavale that they
had left themselves exposed to a major military counterstroke.
The Cubans, together with Angolan and SWAPO forces advanced toward Namibia.
This advance exposed the insecurity and vulnerability of the South African
troops in northern Namibia. Such was this vulnerability that a senior South
African officer said, 'Had the Cubans attacked [Namibia] they would have
over-run the place. We could not have stopped them.' This was further
compounded by South African debacles at the end of June 1988 at Caluque and
Tchipia, where the South Africans suffered serious defeats, which were
described by a South African newspaper as 'a crushing humiliation.' Cuba
also achieved air supremacy. Facing the new powerful force assembled in
southern Angola and having lost control of the skies, the South Africans
withdrew from Angola.
This defeat on the ground forced South Africa to the negotiating table,
resulting in Namibian independence and dramatically hastening the end of
apartheid. The regional balance of power had been fundamentally transformed.
The respected scholar Victoria Brittan observed that Cuito Cuanavale became
'a symbol across the continent that apartheid and its army were no longer
invincible.' In a July 1991 speech delivered in Havana, Nelson Mandela
underscored Cuito Cuanavale's and Cuba's vital role:
'The Cuban people hold a special place in the hearts of the people of
Africa. The Cuban internationalists have made a contribution to African
independence, freedom and justice unparalleled for its principled and
selfless character. We in Africa are used to being victims of countries
wanting to carve up our territory or subvert our sovereignty. It is
unparalleled in African history to have another people rise to the defense
of one of us. The defeat of the apartheid army was an inspiration to the
struggling people in South Africa!
Without the defeat of Cuito Cuanavale our organizations would not have been
unbanned! The defeat of the racist army at Cuito Cuanavale has made it
possible for me to be here today! Cuito Cuanavale was a milestone in the
history of the struggle for southern African liberation!'
In 1994, Mandela further declared: 'If today all South Africans enjoy the
rights of democracy; if they are able at last to address the grinding
poverty of a system that denied them even the most basic amenities of life,
it is also because of Cuba's selfless support for the struggle to free all
of South Africa's people and the countries of our region from the inhumane
and destructive system of apartheid. For that, we thank the Cuban people
from the bottom of our heart.'
SOUTH AFRICA'S WAR OF TERROR
The 1987-88 military reversal in Angola constituted a mortal blow to the
apartheid regime. The battle of Cuito Cuanavale ended its dream (nightmare
for the region's peoples) of establishing hegemony in southern Africa as a
means by which to extend the life of the racist regime. Toward this end,
Pretoria had militarized the South Africa state, fashioning it into the
sword to defend the racist system and wage a regional war of terror.
From 1975 to 1988, the South Africa armed forces embarked on a campaign of
massive destabilization of the region. The war of destabilization wrought a
terrible toll. The financial and human cost can not only be measured in
direct damage and deaths but also in the premature deaths and projected
economic loss caused by destruction of infrastructure, agriculture and power
networks. While, it is very difficult to estimate the economic cost and
damage, it was undoubtedly enormous. One study calculates that up to 1988,
the total economic cost for the Frontline States was calculated to be in
excess of $US 45 billion: for example, Angola: $US 22 billion; Mozambique:
$US 12 billion; Zambia: $US 7 billion; Zimbabwe: $US 3 billion.
The loss of life was immense. The South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation
Commission underscored that 'the number of people killed inside the borders
of the country in the course of the liberation struggle was considerably
lower than those who died outside...the majority of the victims of the South
African's government attempts to maintain itself in power were outside South
Africa. Tens of thousands of people died as a direct or indirect result of
the South African's government aggressive intent towards its neighbours. The
lives and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands others were disrupted by the
systematic targeting of infrastructure in some of the poorest nations in
Africa.'
Between 1981 and 1988, an estimated 1.5 million people were (directly or
indirectly) killed, including 825, 000 children. This was the result of
Pretoria sponsored insurgencies (namely, UNITA in Angola and Renamo in
Mozambique) and direct military actions by the South African armed forces.
South Africa launched numerous bombing raids, armed incursions and
assassinations against surrounding countries. One notorious example was the
4 May 1978 massacre in a camp for Namibian refugees, located in the town of
Kassinga, southwestern Angola, where a South African air and paratrooper
attack killed hundreds of people and, also, took hundreds of prisoners.
Perhaps, the late Julius Nyerere, summed up the situation best when in 1986,
as President of Tanzania, he observed:
'When is war not war? Apparently when it is waged by the stronger against
the weaker as a pre-emptive strike.' When is terrorism not terrorism?
Apparently when it is committed by a more powerful government against those
at home and abroad who are weaker than itself and whom it regards as a
potential threat or even as insufficiently supportive of its own objectives.
Those are the only conclusions one can draw in the light of the current
widespread condemnation of aggression and terrorism, side by side with the
ability of certain nations to attack others with impunity, and to organize
murder, kidnapping and massive destruction with the support of some
permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. South Africa is
such a country.'
AFRICA'S CHILDREN RETURN
The Cuban Revolution's involvement with Angola began in the 1960s when
relations were established with the Movement for the Popular Liberation of
Angola (MPLA). The MPLA was the principal organization in the struggle to
liberate Angola from Portuguese colonialism. In 1975, the Portuguese
withdrew from Angola. However, in order to stop the MPLA from coming to
power, the U.S. government had already been funding various groups, in
particular the Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) led by the
notorious Jonas Savimbi.
In August 1975, South Africa, with the support of Washington, invaded
Angola. This was followed by a much larger invasion in October. On 5
November 1975 in response to a request from the Angolan government, the
Cuban government deployed combat troops in Operation Carlota, named after
the leader of a revolt against slavery that took place in Cuba on 5 November
1843.
Cuban military assistance was decisive in not only stopping the South
African drive to Luanda, the capital but also pushing the South Africans out
of Angola. The defeat of the South African forces was a major development in
the African anti-colonial struggle. The World, a Black South African
newspaper, underscored the significance: 'Black Africa is riding the crest
of a wave generated by the Cuban success in Angola. Black Africa is tasting
the heady wine of the possibility of realizing the dream of "total
liberation.'
Cuban involvement in Southern Africa has been repeatedly dismissed as
surrogate activity for the Soviet Union. This insidious myth has been
unequivocally refuted. John Stockwell, the director of CIA operations in
Angola during and in the immediate aftermath of the 1975 South African
invasion, in his memoir, 'In Search of Enemies: A CIA Story', stated 'we
learned that Cuba had not been ordered into action by the Soviet Union. To
the contrary, the Cuban leaders felt compelled to intervene for their own
ideological reasons.' In his acclaimed book, 'Conflicting Missions: Havana,
Washington and Africa, 1959-76', Piero Gliejeses demonstrated that the Cuban
government - as it had repeatedly asserted - decided to dispatch combat
troops to Angola only after the Angolan government had requested Cuba's
military assistance to repel the South Africans, refuting Washington's
assertion that South African forces intervened in Angola only after the
arrival of the Cuban forces and the Soviet Union had no role in Cuba's
decision and were not even informed prior to deployment. In short, Cuba was
not the puppet of the USSR. Even 'The Economist' magazine (no friend of
Cuba) in a 2002 article, acknowledged that the Cuban government acted on its
'own initiative.'
Cuba is often described as the only foreign country to have gone to Africa
and gone away with nothing but the coffins of its sons and daughters who
died in the struggles to liberate Africa. More than 330,000 Cubans served in
Angola. More than 2, 000 Cubans died in defence of Angolan independence and
right of self-determination. In paying tribute to Cuba's assistance to
African liberation struggles, Amilcar Cabral the celebrated leader of the
anti-colonial and national liberation struggle in Guinea Bissau and Cape
Verde, stated: 'I don't believe in life after death, but if there is, we can
be sure that the souls of our forefathers who were taken away to America to
be slaves are rejoicing today to see their children reunited and working
together to help us be independent and free.'
Cuba's example is a profound challenge to those who believe and argue that
only real politick, national self-interest and the pursuit of power and
wealth are - and can be - the only guides, determinants and sources of
foreign policy.
Cuba's role in Angola illustrates the division between those who fight for
the cause of freedom, liberation and justice, to repel invaders and
colonialists, and those who fight against just causes, those who wage war to
occupy, colonize and oppress.
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Received on Tue Dec 11 2012 - 17:36:54 EST
