Moscow and the armed struggle in South Africa

 
PIIS032150750008726-0-1
DOI10.31857/S032150750008726-0
Publication type Article
Status Published
Authors
Occupation: Principal Research Fellow, Centre for History and Cultural Anthropology, Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences; Research Fellow, Centre for Military Studies, Stellenbosch University (South Africa); member, Editorial Board, “Asia and A
Affiliation:
Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences
Stellenbosch University (South Africa)
Address: Russian Federation, Moscow
Journal nameAsia and Africa Today
EditionIssue 3
Pages72-79
Abstract

The article considers international terrorism, as one of the pressing problems of our time and states that that this topic requires particularly deep analysis, if only because there is no universally recognized definition of terrorism, which creates a reason or better said, an excuse for its different interpretation, for “blurring” the border between terrorism and the justified use of armed violence.

To clarify the issue the article, based on the documents and testimonies of the participants in the events, analyses the relations of our country with organizations that have used the armed force as a form of struggle, having taken as an example the African National Congress of South Africa… (ANC and, above all, its armed organization “Umkhonto we Sizwe” (“Spear of the Nation”). It is noted that the ANC, using armed as one of the forms of struggle, did not slide on the path of terrorism, which was facilitated by its ties with the USSR, the training of military personnel of the Congress in the Soviet Union and by Soviet specialists in Angola.

The article concludes with steps to implement the Joint Declaration on the establishment of a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the Russian Federation and the Republic of South Africa, signed in 2013, to “to preserve the historical memory of cooperation in the struggle against apartheid and education of young generations of both countries in the non-racial spirit”.

KeywordsSouth Africa, African National Congress, Umkhonto we Sizwe, USSR, military training, terrorism
Received30.03.2020
Publication date30.03.2020
Number of characters35699
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