On 15 January 1967, Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda wrote to the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lieutenant General Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, outlining the results of a policy rethink in Zambia. This reconsideration was based on an acknowledgement that the country was being drawn ever deeper into the war for southern Africa, despite its efforts to stay out.
The letter stated, “…For a long time now there have been a number of violations of Zambia’s territorial sovereignty through incursions by Portuguese troops who, on several occasions have destroyed villages and most recently shot some Zambian citizens near the border with Angola. At the moment, there is what amounts to a hit-and-run war”.
Kaunda continued, “I have yet another running sore on the Southern front – the Rhodesian and South West African minority and racialist regimes pose a continuous threat to our security. On the Eastern front I have the Mozambique problem. Our geographical location coupled with our own determination to do what we can for the freedom fighters in the liberation of their homelands from colonialism and racial oppression has placed us in a position where we must fight a war on three major fronts – West, South and East…This means that Zambia must continue to shoulder this burden.
Kaunda accordingly suggested the following division of labour: “The crisis in Rhodesia and the development in South West Africa consequent upon the United Nations Resolution ter
