African Activist Archive

The newsletter reports on a South African raid on Gaborone, Botswana on June 14 and its aftermath. The newsletter reports that South Africa alleged that eight of the people killed were activists for the African National Congress (ANC) deeply involved in military training, logistics, intelligence and transport, while the rest were unfortunate accidents. Among those killed was a six-year old boy who the SADF gunned down as they stormed his uncle's house. The newsletter reports that South Africa Foreign Minister Pik Botha had presented his Botswana counterpart with a list of ANC "terrorists" in Botswana, and most had left Botswana before the raid. The newsletter quotes Allister Sparks. The newsletter discusses an attempt by South African commandos to sabotage U.S.-operated oil facilities in the Cabinda region of northern Angola. • Who was killed? • The Ground Rumbles before the Shaking starts • Why Did South Africa Do It? • A. Pretext • 1. It was said by the Security Branch that Gaborone was ANC's operations and training center for the urban and rural Transvaal as well as for its suicide squads. • 2. Gaborone ANC was responsible for the attempted assassination of two coloured MPs in the Western Cape. It had to be avenged. • 3. Infiltration from Botswana was reaching alarming proportions. • B. The real reasons • 1. To prove to South Africa's whites that the government has control over an internal situation which is out of hand. • 2. To prove that South Africa is a regional super-power. • 3. To drive a wedge between the Botswana people, their government and the South African liberation movements, particularly ANC. • Aftershocks, Dust-Settling and New Desertscape • What Is to Be Done?

African Activist Archive

Southern Africa International Affairs Report

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