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South African National Defence Force chief General Siphiwe Nyanda returned in South Africa on Friday after a visit to Angola where, Nyanda said, he went to “great lengths” to distance South Africa from the destruction caused by Angola’s ongoing civil war.
Speaking to journalists at Johannesburg International Airport, he said there was a perception in Angola that South Africa was still involved in rebel attacks on towns in southern Angola.
“I had to point out that most of these attacks were (intended) to undermine Angola because of their support for us,” said Nyanda. “We were also the targets of the former racist regime.” He called his visit to Angola “a second homecoming”. Nyanda is a former Umkhonto we Sizwe commander, who was in exile in Angola during the apartheid era.
Nyanda said he did not believe South Africa was required to play any specific military role in Angola but he expected that members of the Angolan army might attend South African military training colleges on an exchange basis.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
