SWAPO attacks SAP

The South African Police Force (SAP) stationed in the Caprivi Strip, bordering Zambia, suffered casualties in clashes with 'terrorists'. South West African People's Organisation (SWAPO) guerrillas staged a fierce attack on the South African contingent at the border. SWAPO, led by Sam Nujoma, started military attacks on the SAP and SADF in 1966, hardly a month after the verdict of the World Court, which South Africa won on a technical point. In 1971, a reconstituted World Court reversed its former decision and ruled that South Africa's occupation of South West Africa was illegal and that it should discontinue its administration of the territory. SA rejected the verdict and insisted that South West Africa should move to independence in terms of the policy of separate development, which was vehemently opposed by SWAPO. After years of border warfare, Namibia eventually attained independence in March 1990 under a SWAPO government with Sam Nujoma as president. Sources: Kalley, J.A.; Schoeman, E. & Andor, L.E. (eds)(1999). Southern African Political History: a chronology of key political events from independence to mid-1997, Westport: Greenwood. Liebenberg, B.J. & Spies, S.B. (eds) (1993). South Africa in the 20th Century, Pretoria: Van Schaik Academic, pp. 439 & 540. SAP Image