Page 12 - Dellano CBA History1

Force (SAAF), attacked a SWAPO base at Ongulumbashe, defeating the
insurgents. In due course the conflict escalated. Members of the South African
(SA) Army assisted the SAP in their efforts to eliminate the SWAPO guerrilla
groups, but by 1973 the security situation in northern SWA had become so
serious, that the SA Army took over the counter-insurgency (COIN) operations.

When Portugal withdrew from Angola in 1975 (the latter became independent
on 11 November 1975), the three liberation movements who had fought the

Portuguese for more than a decade, namely the Movimento Popular de
Libertação de Angola (MPLA), Frente Nacional de Libertação de Angola (FNLA)
and UNITA, henceforth became embroiled in a civil war over control over
Angola, with the FNLA and UNITA pitted against the MPLA (who had formed the
government, and was supported by the Soviet Union and its allies, in particular

Cuba).

Encouraged by the United States of America (USA), South Africa invaded

Angola in October 1975 (Operation Savannah) in support of the FNLA, and in
particular, UNITA.
SADF units reached
the outskirts of
Luanda, the
Angolan capital, but
political
considerations,

including a lack of
continued
diplomatic support
from the USA, then
forced South Africa
to withdraw from

Angola. The MPLA
stayed in power,
and supported
SWAPO in its
struggle for
independence for
Namibia. SWAPO’s
military wing,

PLAN, henceforth
had base facilities
in southern Angola,
and increased its

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