Word: swapo
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...flurry of hope for a negotiated cease-fire was shattered in Geneva last month when a United Nations conference on Namibia's future broke down. Reason: South Africa refused to risk an independent government led by the Marxist-oriented South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO). Since then, the South African army claims that its counterinsurgency campaign has gained the upper hand. But not even the most optimistic South African officer sees any real end to the no-win war. Johannesburg Bureau Chief Marsh Clark and TIME's Peter Hawthorne visited the war zone near Namibia...
...drive to "win the hearts and minds" of the Namibian people. The claim is a sardonic reminder of Viet Nam, and, indeed, the parallels in this war do not stop there. The 20,000 troops of the South African Defense Force (SADF) vastly outnumber the 8,000-odd SWAPO guerrillas. The SWAPO forces, armed with Soviet-made rifles and light artillery, are no match for the mechanized, often airborne South African troops. And, like the Cambodia-based Viet Cong a decade ago, SWAPO conducts its raids from sanctuaries-this time in neighboring Angola...
...conducted mostly in sporadic, hit-and-run raids by both sides, is focused on the northern area of Ovamboland. This flat bush country near the Angolan border offers SWAPO good cover and a minimum of geographical obstacles. In other sectors, the current rainy season and swollen rivers have slowed down both sides. The rains wash away SWAPO supply routes. At a camp in the Caprivi Strip, one South African company commander complained: "I've got a patrol out there that is cut off by three rivers that flooded last night. I'm going to have to extract them...
...miles of the long Angolan border. Thus it is exceedingly difficult for South African troops to distinguish enemy guerrillas from the local populace. Yet on paper, the South Africans seem to have the war under control. Their claimed "kill ratio" over the past two years: a phenomenal 3,343 SWAPO dead compared with 72 South Africans. Such lopsided figures are vigorously disputed by SWAPO...
...heavily fortified base at Rundu, .50-cal. machine guns were aimed across the Okavango River. They were trained on a deserted, war-torn Angolan village on the other side. Both SWAPO guerrillas and villagers had long since retreated into the bush, out of range of South African fire...