and covert US arms assistance was reportedly received as well. In 1977, UNITA initiated a series of guerrilla raids on urban areas in Angola. rebellion that UNITA supported, however, was crushed Even so, the guerrillas gained control of an extensive area in southern Angola. The following year a government offensive against the guerrillas failed to dislodge them from the areas they controlled. Sympathetic to South Africa and vice versa, UNITA allowed South African forces to maintain bases in its territory for raids against nationalist guerrillas in Namibia, also known as South West Africa By the early 1980s, UNITA guerrillas had extended their control ta central and southeast Angola. This was the area of the Ovimbundu tribe of which UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi is a member. Political and military matters in Africa are often determined along tribal lines. The guerrillas won the support of Great Britain, France, the United States, Saudi Arabia, and a number of African nations, while the MPLA continued to be backed by the Soviet Union and Cuba. The protracted warfare destroyed much of Angola economy and displaced one sixth of its people, who were forced to become refugees in neighboring Zaire, Zambia, and the Congo Over the past few years there have been offensives. or drives, if one prefers. by all the parties involved in Angola. The South African Defense Force, which in 1975, 1977, 1979, and 1980 had entered Angola, again crossed the Namibian border in August 1981 to strike at SWAPO bases in Angola. SWAPO is the black movement which seeks independence for Namibia.
South African aircraft destroyed radar stations and Soviet missile sites, and three task forces of motorized troops drove over 90 miles into Angola Towns were taken; some 1, 000 guerrillas and government troops were killed. Substantial quantities of Soviet tanks, weapons, and other equipment were captured Teo South Africans died in the drive.