by Phyllis Johnson
This is the third in four-part series on conflict in central Africa.
Evidence is mounting through the regional intelligence network of member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) that much of the resupply of rebel forces in Angola that has thrown the country back into full-scale war routed through east Africa and Zambia.
This collaboration in military action against a sovereign, elected government in a neighbouring country sets a dangerous precedent in the regional community, where defence alignments have been largely between governments, diplomatic sources say.
It is now emerging that this collaboration with the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita) “forces from Zambian soil has been ongoing for several years, although it has escalated substantially in the past 18 months as a result of disruption of Unita’s supply through the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Tension between the two countries has been stretched until it now threatens Zambia’s internal stability, not because of any action on the part of the Angolan government, but through a number of incidents that occurred in Zambia.
The incidents include:
• the murder of Ronald Penza, in an incident at his home clumsily passed off as an armed robbery, in which police shot all suspects, amid rumours that the former finance minister was trying to expose the activities of colleagues involved in diamond smuggling for Unita.
• the arrest and detention of the chairman of a private airline, Aero Zambia based at Lanseria airport in South Africa, after the airline was named by regional intelligence sources as one of the conduits for Unita’s import /export activity through Zambia using a Hercules C-130 with the call sign 9J AFV (no comparable action was taken against other organisations, locations or individuals mentioned, including cabinet ministers).
• A number of bombs which exploded in the Zambian capital, Lusaka, at the end of February, damaging the Angolan embassy, a block of flats, the city’s water supply and a commercial premises, plus a number of other unexploded bombs which were found near electricity pylons.
Following the bombings, the military was put on alert, patrolling the streets of Lusaka at night, further raising tension in the city.
The most recent addition of this list was the arrest of several journalists working for The Post newspaper. The Post had carried an article regarded by Zambian authorities as a breach of national security, and the deputy speaker of parliament took the unprecedented step of calling on the defence minister to take “appropriate action” against the newspaper.
The article in The Post on 9 March headed “Angola worries Zambia Army, ZAF”, quoted senior military officers as saying Zambia could not withstand a military attack by Angola.
The officers were quoted as divulging details of Zambia’s military strength as “five infantry battalions, two signal squadrons and one unit each of the field artillery, commando, engineering, anti-air artillery,’ armour and reconnaissance armour”, which they added, “does not even constitute one Angolan division.” The officers also cited lack of proficiency in operating the equipment.
This is essentially public information because the military strength of most countries in the world, including Zambia, is published annually in The Military Balance, by the International Institute of Strategic Studies in the UK.
The Zambian army and air force have been significantly weakened through forced retirement of senior officers since President Frederick Chiluba took office after elections eight years ago, due to his concern that senior officers could remain loyal to outgoing President Kenneth Kaunda, who headed the country for 27 years after independence in 1964.
This may now be seen as a serious error in judgement. Zambia had established a very professional command structure and cadre of senior officers in the two decades after independence, through ongoing training, particularly with British assistance.
The army and air force officers of the 1970s and 1980s gained practical experience in defence matters during the period of military threats by minority regimes in the region. Zambia supported liberation movements in neighbouring countries, and played a significant role in their independence through moral and material support.
During the period prior to South Africa’s first multi-party elections in 1994, South African military intelligence established regional supply routes to support its continuing links with Unita, through ports of entry with little security scrutiny, such as the remote port of Nacala in northern Mozambique, the Victoria Falls airport in northern Zimbabwe transited largely by tourist, and Kassama and copperbelt airports in Zambia.
Some of these routes have remained in use. The nearest infrastructure large enough to support a military re-arming of the sort that has been going on in the Angolan bush, according to diplomats, is in the copperbelt cities of Ndola and Kitwe, with the international airport, hangers and vast warehouses.
Angolan government sources say that one of Unita’s senior generals, Smart Chata, is related to the former Zambian defence minister (now energy minister), Ben Mwila, who is from north-western Zambia.
Newspapers in Uganda and Tanzania have documented shipments of weaponry through the port of Dar es Salaam, and then by rail and/or road to Uganda, and on at least one occasion to Rwanda, for onward transfer by air via Kassama to Unita’s headquarters in Angola, at Andulo. The arms and equipment are sourced from Ukraine, Bulgaria and Russia, where much-needed capital.
Unita pays for the arms through the sale of diamonds which were smuggled out through Mbuji Mayi in DRC (then Zaire), until the current DRC government took control of the town. The diamonds are now taken out of Angola to Solwezi in north-western Zambia or to Mwila’s Zambezi lodge, near Zambezi boma, further south, where they get Zambian documents and are moved out to the major diamonds markets of Antwerp and London.
Diamonds must have documents to get into those markets and Angolan diamonds are appearing on large enough quantities to be visible, as diamonds have different identification characteristics which indicate their source.
The diamond monopoly marketing firm Central Selling Organisation, an arm of De Beers, admits privately that it is buying up the diamonds to stockpile and ensure the stability of high market prices. (SARDC)
