A FAR-AWAY WAR, Angola, 1975-1989
221pp., b/w & colour illus., maps, paperback, Second Edition, Sun Press, Stellenbosch, 2015) 2019
ISBN: 9781920689728
A study of the Angolan War presented from multiple viewpoints: the South African Defence Force perspective, as well as that of Cuban volunteers, Angolan MPLA combatants and Russian (then Soviet) veterans.
Includes many never-before-published photographs from Cuban and Russian archives, as well as a comprehensive bibliography.
"This excellent publication provides much thought-provoking material as well as an invaluable bibliography on the war 'up north' and 'on the border (and beyond)', enabling those on all sides who took part in the conflict, as well as those who watched from the side-lines, to take stock of the most devastating conflict in southern Africa in recent years." Professor André Wessels, Department of History, University of the Free State
"This book is a solid work on the Angolan War seen from different points of view - the former Soviet Union (Russia), East Germany (the DDR) and the Republic of Cuba among others - against the background of the South West African People's Organisation (SWAPO) and the Angolan struggle for independence. The work contributes to the understanding of the present-day realities in the countries that were involved in the fierce political strife of the time. It offers striking if not controversial interpretations to past events that (perhaps disconcertingly) broadens our understanding of the present." Dr Mihail E Ionescu (Gen. retired), Institute for Political Studies of Defense and Military History, Bucharest
Ian Liebenberg is Director of the Centre for Military Studies, Faculty of Military Science, Stellenbosch University.
Jorge Risquet was Cuban civilian representative of the Cuban Republic in Angola (1975/76) and chief negotiator of Cuba during the tripartite negotiations of 1988 to end the conflict in Angola.
Vladimir Shubin is former Deputy Director of the Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow.