Namibia: A Droning, No-Win Conflict

South Africa digs in confidently, with no end in sight

Radio and television messages to the boys at the front. Small-town burials of flag-draped coffins. Posthumous awards for valor. These are daily reminders of South Africa 's seemingly endless, distant bush war, which has droned on for 14 years. The battleground is Namibia (South West Africa), which South Africa has controlled since 1920. A flurry of hope for a negotiated cease-fire was shattered in Geneva last month when a United Nations conference on Namibia's future broke down. Reason: South Africa refused to risk...

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