Calueque is a town next to a dam and pumping station of the same name on the Kunene River in the Kunene Province of southern

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

. The water project is linked to

Ruacana Ruacana is a town in Omusati Region, northern Namibia and the district capital of the Ruacana Constituency, Ruacana electoral constituency. It is located on the border with Angola on the river Cunene River, Kunene. The town is known for the pictur ...

, away in

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

, where the

Ruacana Power Station The Ruacana Hydroelectric Power Station is a hydroelectric power plant near Ruacana in northwest Namibia, close to the Angolan border. Commissioned in 1978, it is by far the largest power station in Namibia. Its operator is NamPower, the Namibia ...

is. This dam is one of the last landmarks along the Kunene River, prior to the Kunene becoming a border feature between Angola and Namibia. A pipeline and canal extends across the border into

, supplying towns as far away as

Oshakati Oshakati is a town in northern Namibia. It is the regional capital of the Oshana Region and one of Namibia's largest places. Oshakati was founded in July 1966 and proclaimed a town in 1992. The town was used as a base of operations by the S ...

Ovamboland Ovamboland, also referred to as Owamboland, was a Bantustan in South West Africa (present-day Namibia), intended by the apartheid government to be a self-governing homeland for the Ovambo people. The term originally referred to the parts ...

with water. The dam was completed in 1976. However, due to the onset of the

Angolan civil war The Angolan Civil War ( pt, Guerra Civil Angolana) was a civil war in Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with interludes, until 2002. The war immediately began after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975. The war was ...

following independence, the full master plan for the scheme was not realised by the

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

n and

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

governments.

Angolan Civil War

The area was of considerable strategic importance, providing the pretext for the initial 1975

n military intervention in the

Angolan Civil War The Angolan Civil War ( pt, Guerra Civil Angolana) was a civil war in Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with interludes, until 2002. The war immediately began after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975. The war was ...

when staff at the facility were threatened by guerrillas. Full intervention through

Operation Savannah Operation Savanna (or Operation Savannah) was the first insertion of SOE trained Free French paratroops into German-occupied France during World War II. This SOE mission, requested by the Air Ministry, was to ambush and kill as many pilots as ...

followed shortly afterwards. Throughout the Angolan Civil war Calueque remained continuously occupied by South African forces. In 1988, during the

Battle of Cuito Cuanavale The Battle of Cuito Cuanavale was fought intermittently between 14 August 1987 and 23 March 1988, south and east of the town of Cuito Cuanavale, Angola, by the People's Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (FAPLA) and advisors and sold ...

, the

Cubans Cubans ( es, Cubanos) are people born in Cuba and people with Cuban citizenship. Cuba is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic, religious and national backgrounds. Racial and ethnic groups Census The population of Cuba wa ...

opened a second front against the South Africans and launched a massive ground offensive in the direction of Calueque. The area to the north of the dam became the scene of bloody fighting which proved to be a turning point in the war. On 27 June 1988, the South Africans retreated across the dam to South-West Africa and the same day

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

MiG-23 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-23; NATO reporting name: Flogger) is a variable-geometry fighter aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau in the Soviet Union. It is a third-generati ...

fighters attacked the facilities. The first wave of aircraft bombed the bridge and sluice gates, killing South African soldiers in the process. Another wave bombed the pump and generator, while a third destroyed the pipeline to Ovamboland. Significantly, one of the last bombs hit the position of South African soldiers nearby who had exited their

Buffel The Buffel (English: ''Buffalo'') is an infantry mobility vehicle used by the South African Defence Force during the South African Border War. The Buffel was also used as an armoured fighting vehicle and proved itself in this role. It replaced ...

troop carrier to watch the events unfold. The dam and pipelines were considerably damaged, rendering the scheme inoperable. Whilst the Calueque Dam and bridge were neglected since the bombing of 1988, the Angolan Government in April 2012 signed a US$225million contract for the rehabilitation of the dam wall, the construction of two hydro plants, a new channel and 21 irrigation pivots. The project was awarded to

Mota-Engil Mota-Engil is a Portuguese group in the sectors of civil construction, public works, port operations, waste, water, and logistics. The chairman of the board of directors is António Mota and Gonçalo Moura Martins is the company's CEO. Jorge Co ...

and Lyon and is scheduled to take 25 months.

References

External links

Calueque Dam Bomb DamageRuacana Power Station page at Namibia Power official website
{{coord, 17, 16, 57, S, 14, 32, 5, E, type:city(3000)_region:AO, display=title Dams in Angola Populated places in Cunene Province Angola–South Africa relations Portugal–South Africa relations