South Africa’s Proxy War in Angola (original) (raw)

2019

Abstract

This chapter presents a case study for how South Africa used UNITA as a proxy to intervene in the tense civil war in Angola to protect itself from communist influence. Pretoria wanted to prevent the African National Congress from taking over South Africa by force and to minimize Soviet influence in the region. UNITA received relatively overt support, operated with a high degree of autonomy, and had highly divergent objectives. Although the international community rhetorically opposed South Africa’s involvement in Angola, the actions of the United States and Western Europe reflected a more tacit approval. Domestically, South Africa’s public was reluctantly supportive but only on the condition that the costs remain low. Considering that most states had already rhetorically condemned Pretoria’s government and its foreign policy in southern Africa, it is interesting that states failed to raise the international costs of South Africa’s indirect intervention in Angola.

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