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Operation Merlyn
Operation Merlyn (aka The Nine Day War) was a military operation by the South African Defence Force (SADF), South West African Territorial Force (SWATF) and South West African Police (SWAPOL) during the South African Border War and Angolan Civil War in April 1989. The aim of the operation was to prevent the incursion of PLAN (SWAPO) insurgents into South West Africa/Namibia from bases in Angola. These incursions were in violation of a ceasefire which came into effect on 1 April 1989 via the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 435 and the Tripartite Accord. Initially, these PLAN incursions were tackled by South West African police units and eventually by SADF and SWATF units, released to assist the police having been confined to their bases by the peace agreements. These incursions and the conflict that occurred ended after hastily arranged talks resulted in the Mount Etjo Declaration and an eventual ceasefire. Background On 22 December 1988, at the Uni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South African Border War
The South African Border War, also known as the Namibian War of Independence, and sometimes denoted in South Africa as the Angolan Bush War, was a largely asymmetric conflict that occurred in Namibia (then South West Africa), Zambia, and Angola from 26 August 1966 to 21 March 1990. It was fought between the South African Defence Force (SADF) and the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN), an armed wing of the South West African People's Organisation (SWAPO). The South African Border War resulted in some of the largest battles on the African continent since World War II and was closely intertwined with the Angolan Civil War. Following several years of unsuccessful petitioning through the United Nations and the International Court of Justice for Namibian independence from South Africa, SWAPO formed the PLAN in 1962 with material assistance from the Soviet Union, China, and sympathetic African states such as Tanzania, Ghana, and Algeria. Fighting broke out between PLAN and th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
MPLA
The People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola ( pt, Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola, abbr. MPLA), for some years called the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola – Labour Party (), is an Angolan left-wing, social democratic political party. The MPLA fought against the Portuguese army in the Angolan War of Independence from 1961 to 1974, and defeated the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) in the Angolan Civil War. The party has ruled Angola since the country's independence from Portugal in 1975, being the ''de facto'' government throughout the civil war and continuing to rule afterwards. Formation On 10 December 1956, in Estado Novo-ruled Portuguese Angola, the underground Angolan Communist Party (PCA) merged with the Party of the United Struggle for Africans in Angola (PLUA) to form the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola, with Viriato da Cruz, the president of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations. It is the world's largest and most familiar international organization. The UN is headquarters of the United Nations, headquartered on extraterritoriality, international territory in New York City, and has other main offices in United Nations Office at Geneva, Geneva, United Nations Office at Nairobi, Nairobi, United Nations Office at Vienna, Vienna, and Peace Palace, The Hague (home to the International Court of Justice). The UN was established after World War II with Dumbarton Oaks Conference, the aim of preventing future world wars, succeeding the League of Nations, which was characterized as ineffective. On 25 April 1945, 50 governments met in San Francisco for United Nations Conference ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louis Pienaar
Louis Alexander Pienaar (23 June 1926 – 5 November 2012) was a South African lawyer and diplomat. He was the last white Administrator of South-West Africa, from 1985 through Namibian independence in 1990. Pienaar later served as a minister in F W de Klerk's government until 1993. He married Isabel Maud van Niekerk on 11 December 1954. Diplomat In the early 1980s, Louis Pienaar was assigned to Paris as South Africa's ambassador to France. Namibia On 1 July 1985, Pienaar was appointed by the National Party government to be Administrator-General (AG) of South-West Africa, a territory that the United Nations Security Council called Namibia and which UNSC Resolution 435 of 1978 declared was being administered illegally by South Africa. Two years after AG Pienaar's appointment, when prospects for Namibian independence seemed to be improving, UN Commissioner for Namibia (UNCN) Bernt Carlsson, was appointed. Upon South Africa's relinquishing control of Namibia, Commissioner Carlsson' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martti Ahtisaari
Martti Oiva Kalevi Ahtisaari (; born 23 June 1937) is a Finnish politician, the tenth president of Finland (1994–2000), a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and a United Nations diplomat and mediator noted for his international peace work. Ahtisaari was a United Nations special envoy for Kosovo, charged with organizing the Kosovo status process negotiations, aimed at resolving a long-running dispute in Kosovo, which later declared its independence from Serbia in 2008. In October 2008, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for his important efforts, on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts". The Nobel statement said that Ahtisaari had played a prominent role in resolving serious and long-lasting conflicts, including ones in Namibia, Aceh (Indonesia), [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SADF Merlyn Forces Emblem 1989 South West Africa
The South African Defence Force (SADF) (Afrikaans: ''Suid-Afrikaanse Weermag'') comprised the armed forces of South Africa from 1957 until 1994. Shortly before the state reconstituted itself as a republic in 1961, the former Union Defence Force was officially succeeded by the SADF, which was established by the Defence Act (No. 44) of 1957. The SADF, in turn, was superseded by the South African National Defence Force in 1994. Mission and structure The SADF was organised to perform a dual mission: to counter possible insurgency in all forms, and to maintain a conventional military arm which could defend the republic's borders, making retaliatory strikes as necessary. As the military expanded during the 1970s, the SADF general staff was organised into six sections—finance, intelligence, logistics, operations, personnel, and planning; uniquely, the South African Medical Service (SAMS) was made co-equal with the South African Army, the South African Navy and the South African A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
63 Mechanised Battalion Group
63 Mechanised Battalion Group was a unit of the South African Infantry Corps; although it was classed as mechanized infantry, it was a combined arms force consisting of infantry, armour and artillery. Together with 61 Mechanised Battalion Group and 62 Mechanised Battalion Group, these units made up 60 Brigade encompassing battlegroup principles. Insignia A chain border on a black shield, three lightning bolts, two swords and the number 63. History Origins 63 Mechanised Battalion Group was part of 60 Brigade, based at Lohatla Army Battle School and was formed in 1988 mainly from the operational battalion of 8 South African Infantry Battalion and Ratel 90 Squadrons from 1 Special Service Battalion. Support companies of anti-tank, assault pioneers (sapper), mortars and their logistical team were also transferred from 1 South African Infantry Battalion in October 1988 to 8 South African Infantry Battalion for integration during a brigade level exercise at Lohatla Army Battle Scho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
8 South African Infantry Battalion
8 South African Infantry Battalion is a mechanized infantry unit of the South African Army. The battalion is equipped with Ratel Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFV) used for fast transport and combat mobility across rough ground. Support weapons for mechanized infantry are also provided with motorized transport, or are built directly into these IFVs, in order to keep pace with the IFVs in combat. The battalion was raised at Upington in the Northern Cape in 1973 as part of the South African Infantry Corps, and since the change in structure, has been assigned to the Infantry Formation. 8 SAI continues to train for conventional warfare and forms part of the annual brigade-level Lohatla Army Battle School exercise. Training includes IFV-mounted and dismounted fire-and-move drills, and integration with Engineers, Armour, Artillery and Air Force elements. History Activation The unit was established at Upington in the Northern Cape in October 1973 and received its first batch of n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
62 Mechanised Battalion Group
62 Mechanised Infantry Battalion Group was a unit of the South African Army (SADF); although it was classed as mechanized infantry, it was a combined arms force consisting of a Mechanised Infantry Battalion forming the core of the group, Main Battle Tank Squadron, Armoured Car Squadron, Air-defence Battery, Engineer Squadron, Artillery Battery, specialists i.e. EW, MAOT, etc. and all the supporting staff and functions required for such a force. History 4 South African Infantry Battalion was transformed from a Motorised Infantry Battalion to a Mechanised Infantry Battalion in the early 1980s. The name 62 Mechanised Battalion Group was used to indicate when the unit was grouped with the other elements allocated to the battalion for conventional warfare, but was never formally approved as the unit name. This grouping only took place when the unit deployed for operational purposes as a mechanised force. Operation Moduler Designated Combat Group Charlie – Commandant Leon Marias. * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
4 South African Infantry Battalion
4 South African Infantry Battalion (also known as 4 SAI) is a motorised infantry unit of the South African Army. History Pretoria Origins 4 SAI was established on 1 January 1962, at Voortrekkerhoogte in Pretoria, but within a month was moved to Middelburg, South Africa. First troops began training in April 1962 and became an operational motorised unit in 1969. From motorised to mechanised Infantry By 1976 infantry operations transformed drastically when the Ratel Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) was introduced for the first time and in November the first Ratel course was presented at 1 SAI. In 1982, 4 SAI converted to a mechanised infantry battalion mainly consisting of Ratel-20 IFVs. Similar to 1 SAI, 4 SAI's mechanised leaders followed the same training route all students attended the course until the Section Leaders Phase had been completed. Section Leaders were then awarded their Lance Corporal stripes and then placed with regular rifle companies. The rest of the future ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
61 Mechanised Infantry Battalion Group
61 Mechanised Battalion Group was a unit of the South African Infantry Corps; although it was classed as mechanized infantry, it was a combined arms force consisting of infantry, armour and artillery. History Combat Group Juliet General Constand Viljoen, Chief of the Army, formulated a plan in 1978 to introduce a mechanized combat group to Ovamboland in the then South West Africa, to conduct operations against SWAPO. Combat Group Juliet was then formed under the command of Commandant Frank Bestbier. Operation Reindeer The Battle Group first saw action in Operation Reindeer in early May 1978, launching an attack on SWAPO’s Western Front headquarters and logistics base, at Chetequera, 15 km north of the South West African border, with a mechanized assault force. This attack formed part of Operation Reindeer during which paratroopers attacked a separate target at Cassinga, some 300 km into Angola. After Operation Reindeer it was decided to establish a permanent conven ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
37 Battalion (SWATF)
102 Battalion (pronounced as ''one-o-two Battalion'') was a quick-reaction unit of the South West African Territorial Force. The battalion lost 36 men. History Origin This unit was formed in 1976 as the Kaokoland Company with 4 men. In 1978 limited recruitment of military personnel commenced and low level defensive operations in the form of patrols are undertaken. The first confirmed infiltration of SWAPO happens in 1979 and the need to establish a more offensive force is recognized and in 1980 recruitment intensifies as does training of the recruits. Renaming The South West Africa Territory Force SWATF renumbered battalion numbers according to their geographical positioning on the border. The prefix 10 pertained to battalions operation to the west of the Kavango River, 20 to the Kavango or central region and 70 to the eastern region. Under this system in 1981 the unit's name is changed from Kaokoland Company 37BATTALION to 102 Battalion (January 1981) and it is placed under t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
