The Front-line States & the Liberation of Southern Africa

SINCE TIME IMMEMORIAL, it has been the unabated desire of African leaders operating within a variety of exigencies in their own countries to find an ideology that can stress the shared identity of African peoples while seeking to mobilize and unify the entire continent. Indeed, in the ferment of nationalist struggles of the 1950's, African leaders once again found themselves saying identical things in varying ways and soon the mythos of Pan-Africanism was embraced. In 1963, the Organization of African Unity (OAU) was established which is the precursor of the African Union (AU) whose Pan-African Parliament has its seat in Midrand, South Africa. Basically, Pan-Africanism is a worldwide movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all indigenous and diasporan ethnic groups of African descent and has often taken the shape of social, cultural and political movements. However, what is often overlooked is that Pan-Africanism has also taken on a military character and this is best exemplified by the Front-line States during the liberation of Southern Africa. In this article, I will look at the military character of Front-line States and highlight the role played by Zambia in general and the Zambia Army in particular, in the liberation of Southern African.

In the 1960s, more than 17 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa including Zambia had gained their independence. However, after the euphoria of the 60s, in the years that followed, the central strategic feature of Southern Africa was dominated by the existence of two diametrically opposed political, economic and security groupings. One group comprised Apartheid South Africa and its Homeland satellite system which sought vehemently to form the so-called Constellation of Southern African States (CONSAS). Opposing the establishment of CONSAS was the diplomatic coalition of independent Southern African Front-line States consisting of Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zambia formed in 1976 to crisis-manage the Rhodesia-Zimbabwe war. Doubtlessly, the liberation of Zimbabwe was critical as an independent Zimbabwe would become the sixth Front-line State in 1980 and turn the tides of the liberation struggle. It would further strengthen the Front-line states enough for them to establish the Southern African Development Co-ordination Conference (SADCC) the precursor of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

Meanwhile, by 1980, the P W Botha-Milan National Security State Management System had replaced Balthazar Johannes Vorster and the notorious General Hendrik van den Bergh. Botha and his aides instigated a strategic policy based on armed power in order to reverse the grounds gained by Pan-Africanism and the Front-line States. In line with this policy, General Magnus Malan quickly employed the strategy of Counter Revolutionary Warfare in order to destabilize and blunt SADCC while simultaneously striking at the African National Congress (ANC) and its host nations. General Malan's strategy was simple and mainly involved using of proxy forces such as the MNR in Mozambique, UNITA in Angola, the Lesotho Liberation Army, Mushala in Zambia and various Zimbabwean dissidents.

During this period, Zambia played host not only to the ANC but to several other African Nationalist Organisations from Front-line States, including the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) and the Mozambique African National Congress and the Movement for the Popular Liberation of Angola (MPLA). As a result, Zambia was a target for acrimony especially from Rhodesia and South Africa. For example, from December 1977 to March 1978, the 2nd Battalion the Zambia Regiment was deployed in Fera-now Luangwa District covering Kavalamanja School. During their deployment the Unit was involved in two major battles, the first being at Kayemba on 15th December 1977 were Corporal Chisopa was killed in Action. Later between February and March 1978, C-Company was attacked by helicopters and jets that opened fire on the camp at Chikumbi killing the Officer Commanding Captain Kalima. Moreover, as the Zambian soldiers gallantry fought off the attacks, many civilians were also caught in the crossfire while many others were internally displaced.

Among the crucial tasks that the Zambia Army performed during this period included: military training and tactical movements of freedom fighters; receiving, resettling and protecting refugees from Zimbabwe and South Africa (at Chikumbi for example); and providing military bases and guiding freedom fighters at crossing points such as Feira. The Zambia Army also provided transit point for arms, ammunition and other food supplies and by the end of the 1960s alone, Zambia had hosted more than 20,000 combatants, based in different camps around Lusaka.

Eventually, after 1990, thanks to the contribution of Zambia and what can be termed as a military form of Pan-Africanism, the whole of Southern Africa was finally liberated proving that countries and peoples in the region had to coexist and cooperate in order to prosper and could not survive with one half racist and the other half free.