Political Background
The crash happened in the last years of South Africa's apartheid government. South Africa at the time funded a large number of rebel organizations in neighboring countries to avoid having countries hostile to South Africa's political system, but more importantly to prevent the spread of communism into neighboring countries. The country was under heavy sanctions due to the international community's pressure to abolish apartheid. South Africa was also known for an elaborate security apparatus that was highly effective in its work against terrorist and military threats. The South African Airways Flight 295 crash that happened a year later is suspected by conspiracy theorists to have been caused by a fire caused by weapons being smuggled into the country, although any evidence to support this has never been found.
Read more about this topic: 1986 Mozambican Tupolev Tu-134 Crash
Famous quotes containing the words political and/or background:
“We assume that politicians are without honor. We read their statements trying to crack the code. The scandals of their politics: not so much that men in high places lie, only that they do so with such indifference, so endlessly, still expecting to be believed. We are accustomed to the contempt inherent in the political lie.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)
“They were more than hostile. In the first place, I was a south Georgian and I was looked upon as a fiscal conservative, and the Atlanta newspapers quite erroneously, because they didn’t know anything about me or my background here in Plains, decided that I was also a racial conservative.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)