BATTLE OF CUITO CUANAVALE. FROM POLITICAL DÉTENTE TO REGIONAL ECONOMIC CHALLENGE

Abstract

The Battle of Cuito Cuanavale, which took place between November 15, 1987 and March 23, 1988, was the final act of war in a series of attacks and counter-attacks between the Popular Forces for the Liberation of Angola (FAPLA), allied to the Cuban military contingent, and the South African Defense Forces (SADF), allied to the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), in the corridor between the regions of Mavinga and Cuito Cuanavale, in southern Angola. Given the period of essentially peaceful co-existence between the United States (USA) and the Soviet Union (USSR), as well as the prevalence of the ideological-political and military realignments of the USA with Apartheid South Africa and UNITA, and the USSR with the People's Republic of Angola, the climate of international détente, as well as the final success of the battle, determined a change in the status quo in the southern region through the New York Tripartite Agreements signed on December 22, 1988 between the governments of Angola, Cuba and South Africa. However, the transformation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), which has been underway since the late 1990s, and Africa's commitment to regional and continental integration in order to promote development, will only be possible for the southern region given the political détente and political stability brought about by the outcome of the battle. Using the historical and contextualization method and the technique of literature review and analysis of institutional documents, we intend to analyse the correlation between international and/or regional political détente and its subsequent effects on regional economic integration, with an emphasis on describing some of the economic challenges facing the Southern African Development Community (SADC).