Cuito Cuanavale and the Pursuit of the African Revolution
After the 23 March 1988 reversals at Cuito Cuanavale, apartheid South Africa began talks that culminated in the 22 December 1988 Tripartite Agreements between Angola, Cuba and apartheid South Africa. For the Angolans, who had been fighting continuously since 1961, the war and diplomacy were focused not only on the limited question of the apartheid South African Defence Force (SADF) withdrawal from Angola, but also on ending apartheid destabilisation of the region and on the independence for Namibia.
The talks and the contentions about the independence of Namibia was an attempt by the United States to win at the conference table what apartheid had lost in battle. In reality, apartheid South Africa had to negotiate a capitulation or to surrender openly. The siege of Cuito Cuanavale ended after the apartheid SADF agreed to withdraw from Namibia. For Cuban leader, Fidel Castro, “We have come a long way … The bases for a political solution already exist, and progress is being made. Therefore, there is a real possibility of finding a just dignified and honourable solution for all those concerned, which includes the security of Angola and independence of Namibia” (Sechaba, November 1988).
On 10 November 1988, following a press conference of the General Staff of Angola, wherein Lieutenant-General Antonio dos Santos Franca Ndalu, Chief of the People’s Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (FAPLA), declared
