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A Weekly Digest
of
African Affairs
n
MOZAMBIQUE
AN The South
African commandoes ar
rived about 2 a.m. on the
, morning of January 30 in
Matola, an industrial
suburb of the Mozam
bican capital . Maputo.
Their targets were three
houses, residences for
South African refugees af
filiated with the African
National Congress
(ANC). The death toll was
twelve, according to ANC
and Mozambique govern
ment . reports, including
eleven refugees and one
Portuguese citizen (an
electric ' company
employee). Several of the
attacking troops were also
killed.
As Mozambican forces
responded to news of the
attack, the commando
unit was evacuated by
helicopter, leaving one of
their dead behind. The
three houses were
destroyed, and, according
to the South African
military, captured
weapons and documents
were taken to South
Africa.
The tactic was not new:
Refugees from Zimbabwe
in Mozambique and Zam
bia, and from Namibia in
Angola, have seen hun
dreds die in raids by South
African or Rhodesian
forces on account of the
wars in Zimbabwe and
Namibia, from 1976 on.
But for over a year
Mozambique has
celebrated the relative
peace that came from the
settlement in Zimbabwe
and this" is the first time
that South Africa has
openly crossed the border
in retaliation for guerrilla
actions by the ANC inside
that country.
The implied threat in
the attack, that future ac
tions could be far less
selective dad strike hard at
is ah ominous portent J vr
Mozambique and other
neighboring states that
may be targets as South
Africa strikes back against
guerrilla attacks. This arti
cle looks at reactions to
the Matola attack.
Back On The
Hot Spot
AN Several facts are
still obscure about ; the
raid, particularly, how the
commandoes arrived in an
armored personnel . car
rier, implying that they
may have driven from the
border. Others think the
unit may have infiltrated
in over a period of time,
among the many South
Africans who work in the
ports of Matola and
Maputo.
Certainly it is clear that
they were well-informed
on the location of the
houses. These were not of
fices, as implied by the
South African claim to
have destroyed "planning
and control head
quarters,' but residences.
Foreign diplomats who
visited the houses reported
seeing at least six bodies,
some with ears cut off by
the killers.
South African Com
mander in Chief Constant
Viljoen issued a communi
que claiming Maputo had
been used as a
"springboard fpr terror
against South Africa,"
citing in particular the raid
last June against coal-to- ,
oil conversion plants car
ried out by ANC guer
rillas. At that time South
African authorities sought
to lay the blame on ANC
officials resident in
Maputo, but no raid
followed. And in the last
eight months, the number
of reported guerrilla ac
tions in South Africa has
been low.
Observers are therefore
asking why the retaliation
has come at this particular
time. Some point to the
just-broken-off negotia
tions on Namibia, sug
gesting that Pretoria
perhaps no longer feels the
need to present a con
ciliatory image to the
West. Others note that the
action came days after
Prime Minister P.W.
Botha s announced a
general election and1
speculate that the South
African leader may be try
ing to project a hard-line
image for right-wing
voters. The Washington
Post drew attention to the
fact that the raid came on
ly two days after new U.S.
Secretary of State Alex
ander Haig spoke of the
danger of "rampant inter
national terrorism."
Whatever the. reasoning
for the timing, the cross
border attack has drawn
sharp denunciation from
.African and other Third
World countries. ANC
Secretary-General Alfred
Nzo issued a statement
condemning what he term
ed "a criminal act of ban
ditry" and a "stepped-up
: onslaught" aimed at
"destabilizing indepen
dent states in the region."
Mozambique, for its part,
reaffirmed both its right
to accept refugees and its
"support for the people of
South Africa under the
leadership of the ANC in
their struggle against apar
theid. "
Particularly noteworthy
among the statements of
support from other coun
tries was that by Zim
babwe Prime Minister
Robert Mugabe, who
pledged to step up im
plementation of the
defense pact recently sign
ed with Mozambique.
Mugabe also referred to
an overall strategy of
South Africa to destabilize
the frontline, states, citing
attacks on Angola, sup
port for a coup attempt in
Zambia, border raids
against Botswana and
training of dissidents in
Zimbabwe and Mozambi
que. Within South Africa the
raid was backed both by
pro-government commen
tators and by the white op
position Progressive
Federal Party. But reac
tion among blacks was
sharply different. ' Chief
Gatsha Buthelezi, often
attacked by .other blacks ;
T6thlffiiclal- toW UHW.&'
government's
"homeland" system, told
a rally of 16,000 in Soweto
that "even those who are
for peaceful change could
not rejoice at the death of
their kith and kin in the
ANC."
Bishop Desmond Tutu,
Secretary-General of the
South African Council of
Churches, said that if the
ANC should launch an in
cursion into South Africa,
the bulk of blacks would
certainly support them.
He also attacked the
English-language press for
biased reporting and
noted that they often -referred
to the South
African Defense Forces as
"our boys on the border."
Many blacks, Tutu
countered, saw those on
the other side as "our
boys on the border."
Unlike attacks in
Mozambique between
1976 and 1979, in which
South African aircraft oc
casionally joined with
Rhodesian forces to hit
economically vital targets
in Mozambique, this raid
carefully avoided such
sites. It is unlikely that the
Pretoria government
wants to damage seriously
the ports of Matola and
Maputo, which carry a
heavy volume of South
African trade. Plans are
curren
new
minal
capable of loading 3,00u
tons an hour, which will
serve . to export South
African, coal. .
Pretoria is . not,
however, showing similar
.restraint elsewhere in
Mozambique, where it has
taken over from 1 the
Rhodesian regime as the
patron of anti-government
guerrillas of the
"Resistance." The group,
which had its origin
among Portuguese settlers
and Africans who had
served in the . Portuguese
colonial army was sup
plied by Rhodesia and
coordinated its attacks
with that country's forces
until the end of 1979. To
the original core,
Resistance recruited addi
tional Mozambicans,
some deserters from the
army of the ruling
FRELIMO Party, and
many among Mozambican
migrant . workers in
neighboring countries.
Members of the group
captured by Mozambique
in recent years have
described, for example,
being arrested in South
Africa and channeled by
the South African police
to camps of the Rhodesian
Special Branch for train
ing. While observers agree
that the group poses no
major, political or military
threat to the government
of Samora Machel, it does
have the capacity to cause
considerable disruption,
paticularly in Manica and
Sofala provinces in central
Mozambique. There, for
example, in June,
Resistance units destroyed
a bridge near Save, which
was not repaired until
December, just before the
rainy season would have
made the major north
south route impassable.
Alsb in late, 1980, they
briefly cut the long
distance power lines from
the Cahora Bassa
hydroelectric scheme, in
terrupting power to South
Africa.
The major camps inside
Mozambique were
destroyed by the Mozam
bican army in 1979 and
1980, and Mozambique
and Zimbabwe have coor
dinated military efforts
against them. But the ,
Resistance, with abundant
funds and logistical sup
port from South Africa,
continues to attack
civilian targets in many
areas, and a step-up of
this destabilization effort
remains a threat available
to South Africa.
v. .
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- Boxing Great's
NEW YORK-Jack Dempsey takes a poke at Muhammed AH during the first Thurman Award Dinner of the Association for the
Help of Retarded Children. The award, a tribute to the late Thurman Munson in recognition of his interest in mentally retarded,
was presented to Dempsey, All, Billy Martin, , Bill Bradley, Ralph Kiner, Cliff Robertson, Ethel Kennedy and Munson's widow,
Diana.
UP! Photo
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