Department of Military History

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Browsing Department of Military History by Author "Esterhuyse, Abel"

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    Battle on the Lomba, 1987 the day a South African armoured battalion shattred Angola’s last mechanised offensive : a crew commander’s account
    (Stellenbosch University, Faculty of Military Science (Military Academy), 2015) Esterhuyse, Abel
    Writing about the Namibian Border War and South African involvement in the Angolan Civil War is difficult. Many South Africans have been conscripted or willingly served in the military at the time and find it difficult to distance themselves from their own experiences and their personal involvement in many of the operations that were conducted by the South African military. The issue is also clouded by the current South African government’s association with what happened on the other side of the hill[i]and, more specifically, their support for the winning narrative of the Cuban–Angolan forces. Many previous South African Defence Force (SADF) soldiers are also facing the wounds of post-traumatic stress because of their exposure to the battlefield experiences of the war. It is very often difficult to navigate between perceptions and reality and to find the truth in the debate about who won the so-called Battle for Cuito Cuanavale.
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    Suid-Afrika en die beslegtiging van gewapende konflik in Afrika sedert 1994
    (Faculty of the Humanities, University of the Free State, 2002) Esterhuyse, Abel
    Die verstaan van die anatomie van konflik is essensieël vir enige poging om neem van die oorsake, verloop en wyses van beëindiging van konflikte, alvorens betekenisvol betrokke geraak kan word in die oplossing van konflikte in Afrika. Die grondslag van Suid-Afrika se betrokkenheid by konflikoplossing is sy buitelandse- en binnelandse beleide, asook die strewe om Suid-Afrika se betrokkenheid by konflikoplossing in Afrika te versoen met die strewes van streeks- en internasionale organisasies in hierdie verband. Tot op hede is Suid-Afrika se betrokkenheid gekenmerk deur neutraliteit en ’n klem op diplomatieke oplossings, asook deur oud-president Mandela se verpersoonliking van sodanige diplomatieke strewes en ’n vermyding van hoërisiko-vredesoperasies.