Battle of Cuito Cuanavale - Aftermath

Aftermath

In the aftermath of Cuito Cuanavale on the eve of the first round of peace talks in two years Castro ordered Cuban, FAPLA and SWAPO units under General Cintras Frías opened a second front to the west at Calueque (Lubango) with a force of 40,000 Cuban troops and a 30,000 of Angolan forces, and with support from MiG-23 fighter bombers. The first South African resistance was encountered near Calueque on 15 March, followed by three months of bloody clashes as the Cubans slowly progressed towards the Namibian border.

On 9 March 1988, the Angolans, now joined by the Cubans, entered into the first round of US-brokered peace negotiations. On 3 May 1988 the South Africans returned to the peace negotiations which they had abandoned two years before.

On 26 May, the chief of the SADF announced that heavily armed Cuban and SWAPO forces had moved south within 60 km (37 mi) of the Namibian border. The remaining SADF forces at Cuito Cuanavale Combat Group 20 was left in place to construct minefields and carry out deception operations in order to prevent a FAPLA offensive. A number of skirmishes occurred while the SADF forces were disengaging, most notably Operation Hilti/Excite. In response to this 32 Battalion inserted an intelligence team under the command of Capt. Herman Mulder, who set up a tactical HQ at Ruacana, supporting two teams doing reconnaissance south-each of Techipa along the Devangulu Mountains; with the second team operating in the Handa Rotunda area. After gathering the required intelligence Operation Hilti/Excite was initiated on 13 June with the deployment of one company from 61 Mechanised Infantry Battalion Group at Dongue, 25 km (16 mi) south-west of Xangongo. An attack was also launched against Ongiva by 32 Battalion. G5 and G2 artillery pieces were provided to 61 Mechanized Battalion and they engaged the Cuban 50th Division based at Ongiva. A fierce skirmish took place at Cuamato and 201 Battalion lost one vehicle but held the town on 24 June 1988. Operation Displace was launched and became the last significant hot engagement of the entire war at Techipa on 26 June. A running fire fight happened when a platoon from 32 Battalion was engaged in an action that took place over a 20 km (12 mi) distance. On 27 June 61 Mechanised Infantry Battalion engaged a Cuban tank squadron before they crossed the Cunene River back into Namibia. Cuban MiG-23s bombed Calueque Dam, causing the last South African loss of life in the conflict when they killed 10 soldiers from 8 SAI. Two MiG-23s were damaged by ground fire. On 8 June 1988, hoping to send a strong message to the Cubans that they would respond to any movement into South-West Africa the South African government called up 140,000 men of the reserves (Citizen Force). This was known as Operation Desert Fox and it consisted of 81 Armoured Brigade, which positioned itself on 30 July 1988 just south of Ruacana, tasked with the responsibility of neutralizing the very aggressive Cuban 50th Brigade if need be. The signing of the formal peace treaty at Ruacana on 22 August 1988 meant that Operation Desert Fox could be aborted.

By the end of May, Cuba had two divisions in south-western Angola. By June, they constructed two forward airbases at Cahama and Xangongo with which Cuban air power could be projected into Namibia. All of southern Angola was covered by a radar network and SA-8 air defence ending South African air superiority.

In June 1988, the Cubans prepared to advance on Calueque starting from Xangongo and Tchipa. In case of serious South African counterattacks, they were prepared to destroy the Ruacana reservoirs and transformers and attack South African bases in Namibia. The offensive started from Xangongo on June 23 immediately clashing with the SADF en route to Cuamato. An SADF screening force encountered the Cuban advance in a firefight resulting in the withdrawal of the SADF force and the decision of the FAPLA-Cubans to return to their base. On 26 June the SADF conducted Operation Excite to test Cuban forces in the area. The SADF sent up decoys to provoke SAM sites into revealing their positions and shelled Tchipa with long-range artillery effectively destroying the Cuban's ability to utilize their own artillery. A series of firefights ensued with SADF tanks launching a spoiling attack on the initial gathering armor forces then withdrawing fearing being overwhelmed by Cuban reinforcements.

Cuban MiGs carried out the attacks on the SADF positions around the Calueque dam, 11 km (6.8 mi) north of the Namibian border, also damaging the bridge and hydroelectric installations. The major force of the Cubans, still on the way, never saw action and returned to Tchipa. With the withdrawal of the SADF into Namibia an 27 June the hostilities ceased.

The South Africans, impressed by the suddenness and scale of the Cuban advance and believing that a major battle "involved serious risks" withdrew. For their part the Cubans were shocked at the heavy casualties they had suffered and put their troops on alert to expect a strong South African response. Five days later Pretoria ordered Combat Group 20 which was still operational east of Cuito Cuanavale to scale back to avoid any more casualties, effectively withdrawing from all fighting, and a SADF division was deployed in defence of Namibia's northern border.

At the bargaining table the South Africans agreed to withdraw from Angola by 1 September 1988 and to the implementation of Resolution 435 for Southwest Africa on 1 November, leading to the independence of Namibia. This agreement was based on intelligence that indicated the Soviet Union would no longer sustain surrogate forces in the Third World, and that Cuba was starting to take strain from the mounting casualties. The Cubans in return would pull troops out of Angola by 1 July 1991. A peace accord, mediated by Chester Crocker, was finally signed on 22 December 1988 in New York.

Nelson Mandela considered the FAPLA-Cuban success at Cuito and in Lubango a turning point in the Angolan civil war as well as in the struggle for Namibian independence. The battle at Cuito, raging for 6 months, was the biggest battle on African soil since World War II".

Claims of victory in this battle have been made from all sides, depending on the military, political or moral point of view. According to veteran reporter Max du Preez, the SADF "fared a lot better than the Cubans expected or were later prepared to admit."

The war cost an estimated half a million lives and devastated Angola's infrastructure until the conflict finally ended after Savimbi was shot by government forces in 2002.

The Battle of Cuito Cuanavale is commemorated in several countries in Southern Africa. The 20th anniversary in 2008 was especially celebrated in Namibia.