airport? TONY HODGES reports direct from other British and American journalists who flew to the costal city of Benguela 400 miles north of South African-occupied Namibia, saw South African soldiers manning armoured cars in the city.
Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) against the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA).
On 5 December a joint column of South African, UNITA and FNLA troops marched into Benguela and Lobito, Angola's largest port, 20 miles north of Benguela. MPLA soldiers who had held the cities since mid-August fled northwards to the port of Novo Redondo, 300 miles south of Luanda. The South African-UNITA-FNLA column, reportedly wellequipped with armoured cars, has now captured Novo Redondo too. The MPLA claims however, to retain control of the next city up the coast, Porto Amboim, 55 miles further north.
HIT AND RUN
South African troops first entered Angolan territory in early August. Mr Pieter Botha, the South African Defence Minister, admitted on 9 September that the South African army had crossed over the border from Namibia and proceeded about 10 miles into Angola to take control of the Ruacana Falls hydro-electric scheme on the Cunene River. Power from the Ruacana Falls is expected to satisfy nearly all of Namibia's energy needs shortly after the first three of its 80 MW turbines go into operation in 1977.
The South African Government has also admitted that its troops have staged hit-andrun missions into Angola to attack freedom fighters of the South West African Peoples Organisation (SWAPO). In mid-October, South Africa announced that its troops had crossed the border and killed 13 SWAPO militants. Again on 16 November, the South Afric- understand Portuguese and spoke English Defence Ministry said that its forces AS Can had killed 10 SWAPO militants in the border operational area' on the Namibian-Angolan DENIALS The South African Government has repeat•edly denied, however, that its forces have become involved in the Angolan civil war. On 24 October, for example, the South African Defence Ministry denied accusations levelled by the MPLA that South African troops had advanced 150 miles into Angola towards the city of Sa da Bandeira. In response to recent eyewitness reports of South African troop activity deep inside Angolan territory, the South African Foreign Minister Hilgard Muller categorically stated on 23 November in an Paulo', local commander of the FNLA, in Chitado, southern Angola. Picture proof: Major-General Jack Dutton (left), of the South African Army, 'advising' Lieutenant
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soldiers at Benguela