ABSTRACT
With long personal, political and military contacts between the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and Frelimo leadership and the Zimbabwean nationalists, joining the Frontline States as the newly independent states of Angola and Mozambique was a logical continuation of the exchanges. In alliance with two guerrilla forces, National Front for the Liberation of Angola and National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, the South Africans were trying to prevent the MPLA from forming the government of Angola at independence which was scheduled for 11 November 1975. Leaders of Zimbabwe African People's Union had been organising for independence before Frelimo and the MPLA were formed. The river border between Zambia and Rhodesia was a natural setting for ambush by the Rhodesians as the guerrillas tried to cross. The leaders had accepted the majority-rule plan as a basis for further negotiations, while Ian Smith had presented the programme to the Rhodesian public as a concrete settlement.
