Cassinga

Cassinga is a former town in the Huíla province of southern Angola.

The transliteration Kassinga is also commonly used, with the "K" being an adoption of the original Portuguese terminology either by German and Afrikaans-speaking miners, or by indigenous people in whose language the letter "K" is also common. Municipal sources continue to use the older spelling.

History

Victims of the 1978 raid, Cassinga.

Located near the site is an old iron mine constructed by Krupp engineers working in concert with the colonial administration. Between 1966 and 1967, a second terminal for extracting the ore was completed at Saco, a bay just 12 kilometres north of Moçâmedes (present day Namibe) by Compania Mineira do Lobito, the Lobito Mining Company. Cassinga's product would eventually be channeled to Saco under direction of Portuguese authorities. Development of the installation was trusted to Krupp and SETH, a Portuguese subsidiary of Denmark's Højgaard & Schultz. Moçâmedes housed expatriate workers, the foreign engineers, and their families for two years until the first 250,000 tons of ore were shipped out in 1967; Cassinga continued to thrive until Angola's independence from Portugal in 1975. Abandoned by its European supervisors, the mine fell into neglect during the ensuing Angolan Civil War. The following year it was occupied by the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN), military wing of the South West African People's Organization. PLAN subsequently adopted Cassinga as a staging point for insurgent raids on South-West Africa, about 250 kilometres to the south. Their bases soon became a sanctuary for local refugees during the Namibian War of Independence.

In 1978, PLAN's presence attracted the attention of the South African Defence Force. Executing a massive external raid (dubbed Operation Reindeer) involving paratroops of the 44 Parachute Regiment supported by bomber and strike aircraft, South Africa briefly occupied Cassinga on May 4, 1978. The assault, which left sixty Cuban military advisers and over five hundred South West African exiles dead, has been subject to international controversy. Angolan officials subsequently flew in a team of international journalists who photographed mass graves on site, verifying several bodies as women and children in civilian dress. Indignant at claims that its personnel had committed a war crime, the SADF continued to maintain that the defenders were uniformed PLAN combatants.[1]

Cassinga was the site of more fighting during Operation Askari, in late 1983. After driving back several Angolan units with air support and mechanised infantry, the SADF finally occupied the area for the second time on December 22.[2]

Railway

Japanese interests wish to reopen the iron ore mine and link it by rail to the Namibian port of Walvis Bay, this being the most efficient port in the region. This railway would go via Oshikango on Namibia’s northern border.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Edward George, The Cuban Intervention in Angola, 1965-1991: From Che Guevara to Cuito Cuanavale. Psychology Press, 2004.
  2. ↑ Focus on Political Repression in Southern Africa. International Defence & Aid Fund, 1983, Volume 1 Issues 44-45 p. 12.

External links

Coordinates: 15°07′04″S 16°05′11″E / 15.11778°S 16.08639°E