Cuito Cuanavale In Perspective

IN light of the recent remarks of former president Sam Nujoma about the battle at Cuito Cuanavale, it is time to perhaps set the historical record straight.

At a dinner with Russian President Medvedev on June 25, Nujoma is reported to have boasted about how the colonial forces were routed by Swapo at Cuito Cuanavale.Well, this is Nujoma’s version, but the facts say something else. In the book on the life of Fidel Castro [Fidel Castro (with Ignacio Ramonet), My Life (2007), Penguin Books, p. 329], the ex-Cuban president stated that the battle at Cuito Cuanavale involved – on the side of the anti-colonial forces – 40 000 Cuban soldiers, 30 000 Angolan troops and 3000 Swapo fighters.So, if Swapo only made up 4 per cent of the total number of anti-colonial fighters, how could Nujoma have been an important figure in the planning of this battle? In any case, the primary aim of that battle was to save Angola! If anyone should be credited with successes at the battle for Cuito Cuanavale and consequently Namibia’s independence, it is really Fidel Castro and the Cuban volunteers.The fact is that the battle at Cuito Cuanavale ended in a military stalemate because it was mainly Unita fighters who died on the side of the colonial forces. How come the Americans decided at the last moment not to intervene on the side of the colonial forces? Why did Swapo not follow the colonial forces into Namibia after the battle at Cuito Cuanavale? How come they stopped at the Angolan border? So many unanswered questions.Another fact is that Namibia only gained a narrow political independence at the negotiation table. This is hardly what would be expected for a victorious force. Most importantly, how come these negotiations did not deliver economic independence but saddled us with the same economic inequality that existed during colonialism? Because the ‘victory’ on the battle field of Cuito Cuanavale was not what Nujoma presents it to have been.We should remember the words of a real African revolutionary, Amilcar Cabral, who always cautioned: Tell no lies, claim no easy victories!D. AluteniKatutura