Ovamboland Flag

Location of former Ovamboland in Africa

Ovamboland (also: Owamboland) was the name given by English-speaking visitors to the land occupied by the Ovambo people in what is now northern Namibia and southern Angola. The endonym is Ovambo ~ Owambo.

History[link]

This section requires expansion.

Before the apartheid period[link]

Before the First World War, some infrastructure in the area was provided by local Finnish missionaries of the Finnish Missionary Society, who established Ovamboland as their first mission field in 1870, the first mission being at Omandongo.

During the First World War South African troops conquered the German colony of South West Africa in 1915, and took control of Ovamboland in 1917, though it still lay outside the "police zone".

Apartheid period[link]

Following the Odendaal Commission in the 1950s the South African government decided to apply the apartheid policy in South West Africa, which South Africa continued to rule in terms of a League of Nations mandate, and continued to do so after the mandate was revoked in 1968.

Ovamboland then became a bantustan called Owambo, intended by the apartheid government to be a self-governing "homeland" for the Ovambo people. It was set up in 1968 and self-government was granted in 1973.

Owambo was the setting of a protracted counter-insurgency war that formed part of the Namibian War of Independence in Namibia, or South African Border War in South Africa.

Since independence of Namibia[link]

Owambo, like other homelands in South West Africa, was abolished in May 1989 at the start of the transition to independence. The region is now commonly referred to as The North but the term Ovamboland is still in use. More than half of the entire population lives here on just 6% of the Namibian territory.

See also[link]

• Apartheid
• Leaders of Ovamboland

External links[link]

• Experiences of two volunteers teaching in Ovamboland 2002–2004

v t e Apartheid-era Bantustans in South-West Africa Bushmanland · Damaraland · East Caprivi/Lozi · Hereroland · Kaokoland · Kavangoland · Namaland · Ovamboland · Rehoboth · Tswanaland Bantustans that were given "self-government" are in italics.

Warren William Zevon /ˈziːvɒn/ (January 24, 1947 – September 7, 2003) was an American rock singer-songwriter and musician noted for including his sometimes sardonic opinions of life in his musical lyrics, composing songs that were sometimes humorous and often had political or historical themes.

Zevon's work has often been praised by well-known musicians, including Jackson Browne, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, and Neil Young.^[1] His best-known compositions include "Werewolves of London", "Lawyers, Guns and Money", "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" and "Johnny Strikes Up The Band," all of which are featured on his third album, Excitable Boy (1978). Other well-known songs written by Zevon have been recorded by other artists, including "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" (a top 40 hit by Linda Ronstadt), "Accidentally Like a Martyr," "Mohammed's Radio", "Carmelita", and "Hasten Down the Wind".

Along with his own compositions, Zevon recorded or performed occasional covers, including Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" and Leonard Cohen's "First We Take Manhattan". He was a frequent guest on Late Night with David Letterman and The Late Show with David Letterman. Letterman later performed guest vocals on "Hit Somebody! (The Hockey Song)" with Paul Shaffer and members of the CBS Orchestra on Warren Zevon's "My Ride Is Here" album.

Early life[link]

Zevon was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Beverly Cope (Simmons) and William Zevon. His father was a Jewish immigrant from Russia, and his original surname was "Zivotovsky"; his mother was from a Mormon family.^[2][3][4] They moved to Fresno, California. By the age of thirteen, Zevon was an occasional visitor to the home of Igor Stravinsky where he, alongside Robert Craft, briefly studied modern classical music. Zevon's parents divorced when he was 16 years old and he soon quit high school and moved from Los Angeles to New York to become a folk singer.^{[citation needed]}

Zevon turned to a musical career early, including a stretch with high school friend Violet Santangelo as a musical duo called lyme & cybelle (exercising artistic license, the band name eschewed capitalization).^{[citation needed]} He spent time as a session musician and jingle composer. He wrote several songs for his White Whale label-mates the Turtles ("Like the Seasons" and "Outside Chance"), though his participation in their recording is unknown.^{[citation needed]} Another early composition ("She Quit Me") was included in the soundtrack for the film Midnight Cowboy (1969). (To suit its place in the film, the song was re-recorded as the female-centric "He Quit Me.") Zevon's first attempt at a solo album, Wanted Dead or Alive (1969), was produced by 1960s cult figure Kim Fowley but did not sell well. Flashes of Zevon's later writing preoccupations of romantic loss and noir-ish violence are present in songs like "Tule's Blues" and "A Bullet for Ramona". Zevon's second effort, Leaf in the Wind, was called by his son, Jordan, "A bullshit money grab by the label".^{[citation needed]}

During the early 1970s, Zevon toured regularly with the Everly Brothers as keyboard player and band leader/musical coordinator.^{[citation needed]} Later during the same decade he toured and recorded with Don Everly and Phil Everly, separately, as they tried to launch solo careers after their break-up. His dissatisfaction with his career (and a lack of funds) led him to move to Spain in the summer of 1975, where he lived and played in The Dubliner Bar, a small tavern in Sitges near Barcelona owned by David Lindell, a former mercenary. Together they composed "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner".^{[citation needed]}

Return to L.A. and major-label debut[link]

By September 1975, Zevon had returned to Los Angeles, where he roomed with then-unknown Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. There, he collaborated with Jackson Browne, who in 1976 produced and promoted Zevon's self-titled major-label debut. Contributors to this album included Nicks, Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, members of the Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, and Bonnie Raitt. Ronstadt elected to record many of his songs, including "Hasten Down the Wind," "Carmelita", "Poor Poor Pitiful Me", and "Mohammed's Radio." Zevon's first tour in 1977 included guest appearances in the middle of Jackson Browne concerts, one of which is documented on a widely circulated bootleg recording of a Dutch radio program under the title The Offender meets the Pretender.

Though a much darker and more ironic songwriter than Browne and other leading figures of the era's L.A.-based singer-songwriter movement, Zevon shared with his 1970s L.A. peers a grounding in earlier folk and country influences and a commitment to a writerly style of songcraft with roots in the work of artists like Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell. Though only a modest commercial success, the Browne-produced Warren Zevon (1976) would later be termed a masterpiece in the first edition of the Rolling Stone Record Guide and is cited in the book's most recently revised (November 2004) edition as Zevon's most realized work. Representative tracks include the junkie's lament "Carmelita," the Copland-esque outlaw ballad "Frank and Jesse James," "The French Inhaler," a scathing insider's look at life and lust in the L.A. music business (which was, in fact about his first wife and mother to his son Jordan) and "Desperados Under the Eaves", a chronicle of Zevon's increasing alcoholism.

Success[link]

Zevon touring solo in Heidelberg as the opener for Jackson Browne, 1976

In 1978, Zevon released Excitable Boy (produced by Jackson Browne and guitarist Waddy Wachtel) to critical acclaim and popular success. The title tune (about a juvenile sociopath's murderous prom night) name-checked "Little Susie", the heroine of former employers the Everly Brothers' tune "Wake Up Little Susie", while songs such as "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" and "Lawyers, Guns and Money" used deadpan humor to wed geopolitical subtexts to hard-boiled narratives. Tracks from this album received heavy FM airplay and the single release "Werewolves of London", which featured Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, was a relatively lighthearted version of Zevon's signature macabre outlook and a Top 30 success.

Critic Dave Marsh, in The Rolling Stone Record Guide (1979), called Zevon "one of the toughest rockers ever to come out of Southern California".^[5]:427 Rolling Stone called the album one of the most significant releases of the 1970s and placed him alongside Neil Young, Jackson Browne, and Bruce Springsteen as one of the four most important new artists to emerge in the decade.

Zevon followed Excitable Boy with 1980's Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School. This album was dedicated to Ken Millar, better known under his nom-de-plume as detective novelist Ross Macdonald. Millar was a literary hero of Zevon's who met the singer for the first time while participating in an intervention organized by Rolling Stone journalist Paul Nelson that helped Zevon temporarily curtail his addictions. Featuring a modest hit with the single "A Certain Girl" (Zevon's cover of a R&B record by Ernie K-Doe scored #57 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart), the album sold briskly but was uneven, and represented a decline rather than commercial and critical consistency. It contained a collaboration with Bruce Springsteen called "Jeannie Needs a Shooter", and the ballad "Empty-Handed Heart" featuring a descant sung by Linda Ronstadt, which dealt with Zevon's divorce from wife Crystal. (Crystal is the only woman he married legally although she is often listed erroneously as his "second wife".^[6] Marilyn "Tule" Livingston, the mother of his son Jordan, and Zevon were in a long-term relationship but never married.) Later during 1980, he released the live album Stand in the Fire (dedicated to Martin Scorsese), recorded over five nights at The Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles.

Personal crisis and first comeback[link]

Zevon's 1982 release The Envoy returned to the high standard of Excitable Boy but was not a commercial success.^[7] It was an eclectic but characteristic set that included such compositions as "Ain't That Pretty at All," "Charlie's Medicine" and "Jesus Mentioned," the first of Zevon's two musical reactions to the death of Elvis Presley (the other is the song "Porcelain Monkey" on Life'll Kill Ya in 2000). The title track was dedicated to Philip Habib, U.S. special envoy to the Middle East during the early 1980s. In the liner notes for the 1996 I'll Sleep When I'm Dead anthology, Zevon stated that after the song came out, Habib sent him "a very nice letter of appreciation on State Department stationery". The lyrics from another track, "The Hula Hula Boys," were excerpted in Hunter S. Thompson's 1983 book, The Curse of Lono.

In 1983, the recently divorced Zevon became engaged to Philadelphia DJ Anita Gevinson and moved to the East Coast.^[8] After the disappointing reception for The Envoy, Zevon's distributor Asylum Records ended their business relationship, which Zevon discovered only when he read about it in the Random Notes gossip column of Rolling Stone. The trauma allegedly caused him to relapse into serious alcoholism and he voluntarily checked himself into an unnamed rehab clinic somewhere in Minnesota in 1984. His relationship with Gevinson ended shortly thereafter.^[8] Zevon retreated from the music business for several years, during which he finally overcame severe alcohol and drug addictions.

During this interim period, Zevon collaborated with Bill Berry, Peter Buck and Mike Mills (of R.E.M.), along with backup vocalist Bryan Cook to form a minor project called Hindu Love Gods. The group released the non-charting single "Narrator" on the IRS label in 1984, then went into abeyance for several years.

Berry, Buck and Mills served as the core of Zevon's next studio band when he re-emerged in 1987 by signing with Virgin Records and recording the album Sentimental Hygiene. The release, hailed as his best since Excitable Boy, featured a thicker rock sound and taut, often humorous songs like "Detox Mansion," "Bad Karma" (which featured R.E.M. lead singer Michael Stipe on backup vocals), and "Reconsider Me." Included were contributions from Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Flea, Brian Setzer, George Clinton, as well as Berry, Buck, and Mills. Also on hand were longtime collaborators Jorge Calderón and Waddy Wachtel.

During the Sentimental Hygiene sessions, Zevon also participated in an all-night jam session with Berry, Buck and Mills, as they worked their way through rock and blues numbers by the likes of Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson and Prince. Though the sessions were not initially intended for release, they eventually saw the light of day as a Hindu Love Gods album.

The immediate follow-up to Sentimental Hygiene was 1989's Transverse City, a futuristic concept album inspired by Zevon's interest in the work of cyberpunk science fiction author William Gibson. It featured guests including Little Feat drummer Richie Hayward, Jefferson Airplane bassist Jack Casady, keyboard player Chick Corea and guitarists Jerry Garcia, Jorma Kaukonen, Pink Floyd's David Gilmour and Neil Young. Key tracks include the title song, "Splendid Isolation," "Run Straight Down" (which had a promotional video that featured Zevon singing in a factory while Gilmour played his guitar solos) and "They Moved the Moon," the latter among Zevon's eerier ballads.

Later years and second comeback[link]

Transverse City was a commercial disappointment, and Virgin Records ended its relationship with Zevon soon after the album's release. Zevon, however, contracted almost immediately with Giant Records, and the first issue under Zevon's contract with his new distributor was the self-titled Hindu Love Gods album recorded during the Sentimental Hygiene sessions. The album included a cover of Prince's "Raspberry Beret", which became a #23 Modern Rock hit in the U.S.

In 1991, Zevon, once again a solo artist, released Mr. Bad Example. This album featured the modest pop hit "Searching for a Heart" and the rocker "Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead", later utilized for the title of the neo-noir film of the same name directed by Gary Fleder; after some skirmishing over the unauthorized use of Zevon's song title, the Zevon track was licensed to play over the film's end credits. Zevon also sang lead vocals on the song "Casey Jones" from the Grateful Dead tribute album, Deadicated (although the cut is credited to regular collaborator David Lindley).

Zevon toured the United States (with the Odds), Europe, and Australia and New Zealand during this period.

Owing to his reduced circumstances, his performances were often true solo efforts (with minimal accompaniment on piano and guitar); 1993's live Learning to Flinch documents such a tour. The disc received some airplay on college radio and was considered Zevon's version of Unplugged. Zevon often played in Colorado to allow for an opportunity to visit with his long-time friend Hunter S. Thompson.

A lifelong fan of "hard-boiled" fiction, Zevon was friendly with several well-known writers who also collaborated on his songwriting during this period, including Thompson, Carl Hiaasen and Mitch Albom. Zevon also served as musical coordinator and occasional guitarist for an ad-hoc rock music group called the Rock Bottom Remainders, a collection of writers performing rock and roll standards at book fairs and other events. This group included Stephen King, Dave Barry, Matt Groening and Amy Tan, among other popular writers, and it has continued to perform one benefit concert per year since Zevon's death.

An affiliated project for which Zevon both played and wrote liner notes is the offbeat 1998 album Stranger Than Fiction, a two CD set attributed to the Wrockers containing rock covers and originals by many of the Remainders authors plus such notables as Norman Mailer and Maya Angelou. Zevon oversaw music for the short-lived revival of the NBC series Route 66 (1993), contributing that series' main title theme, "If You Won't Leave Me I'll Find Somebody Who Will". His music was also featured in several of William Shatner's TekWar movies from 1994 to 1996 (he is listed as "theme music composer" in the opening credits, and his song "Real or Not" was used as the show's theme song.)

Occasionally, between 1982 and 2001, Zevon filled in for Paul Shaffer as bandleader on Late Night with David Letterman and later Late Show with David Letterman. One example was in 1998 when Shaffer traveled to Canada to film his cameo in Blues Brothers 2000.

In 1995, Zevon released the self-produced Mutineer. The title track was frequently covered by Bob Dylan on his U.S. Fall Tour in 2002.^[9] Zevon's cover of cult artist Judee Sill's "Jesus Was a Crossmaker" predated the wider rediscovery of her work a decade later. The album, however, suffered the worst sales of Zevon's career, in part because his label, superagent Irving Azoff's short-lived Giant Records, was in the process of going out of business. Rhino Records released a Zevon "best-of" compilation in 1996, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (An Anthology). Zevon also appeared on the Larry Sanders Show on HBO, in 1993, playing himself as a guest on the show, promoting Learning to Flinch. (Ironically, he and actor John Ritter, who guest starred on the same episode, died within four days of each other in September of 2003.) Zevon also played himself on two episodes of Suddenly Susan in 1999 along with singer/actor Rick Springfield.

After another five-year layoff, Zevon signed with industry veteran Danny Goldberg's Artemis Records and again rebounded with the mortality-themed 2000 release Life'll Kill Ya, containing the hymn-like "Don't Let Us Get Sick" and an austere version of Steve Winwood's 1980s hit "Back in the High Life Again". With record sales reasonably brisk and music critics giving Zevon his best notices since Excitable Boy, Life'll Kill Ya is seen as his second comeback. He followed with 2002's My Ride's Here (with morbid prescience of things to come), which included "Hit Somebody! (The Hockey Song)" (which was co-written by Tuesdays with Morrie author Mitch Albom, and featured Paul Shaffer, the "Late Night" band and a spoken guest vocal from TV host David Letterman) and the ballad "Genius", later taken as the title for a 2002 Zevon anthology, and a song whose string section illustrates the lasting influence of Stravinsky on Zevon's work.

At about this time, he and his neighbor actor Billy Bob Thornton formed a close friendship catalyzed by their common experiences with obsessive-compulsive disorder and the fact they lived in the same apartment building.^[6]

[edit] Cancer, death and The Wind

In interviews, Zevon described a lifelong phobia of doctors and said he seldom received medical assessment. Shortly before playing at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival in 2002, he started feeling dizzy and developed a chronic cough. After a period of suffering with pain and shortness of breath, Zevon was encouraged by his dentist to see a physician; he was diagnosed with inoperable peritoneal mesothelioma (a form of cancer associated with exposure to asbestos). Refusing treatments he believed might incapacitate him, Zevon instead began recording his final album, The Wind which includes guest appearances by close friends including Bruce Springsteen, Don Henley, Jackson Browne, Timothy B. Schmit, Joe Walsh, David Lindley, Billy Bob Thornton, Emmylou Harris, Tom Petty, Dwight Yoakam, and others. It has been said that the decision to include "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" was his, much to the dismay of the others in the project. At the request of the music television channel VH1, documentarian Nick Read was given access to the sessions; his cameras documented a man who retained his mordant sense of humor, even as his health was deteriorating over time.

On October 30, 2002, Zevon was featured on the Late Show with David Letterman as the only guest for the entire hour. The band played "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" as his introduction. Zevon performed several songs and spoke at length about his illness. Zevon was a frequent guest and occasional substitute bandleader on Letterman's television shows since Late Night was first broadcast in 1982. He noted, "I might have made a tactical error in not going to a physician for 20 years." It was during this broadcast that, when asked by Letterman if he knew something more about life and death now, he first offered his oft-quoted insight on dying: "Enjoy every sandwich." He also took time to thank Letterman for his years of support, calling him "the best friend my music's ever had". For his final song of the evening, and his final public performance, Zevon performed "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" at Letterman's request. In the green room after the show, Zevon presented Letterman with the guitar that he always used on the show, with a single request: "Here, I want you to have this, take good care of it."^[10] The day after Zevon's death, Letterman paid tribute to Zevon by replaying his performance of Mutineer from his last appearance. The Late Show band played Zevon's songs throughout the night.

Zevon stated previously that his illness was expected to be terminal within months after the diagnosis in the fall of 2002; however, he lived to see the birth of twin grandsons in June 2003 and the release of The Wind on August 26, 2003. Owing in part to the first VH1 broadcasts of Nick Read's documentary Warren Zevon: Keep Me In Your Heart, the album reached number 16 on the US charts, Zevon's highest placement since Excitable Boy. When his diagnosis became public, Zevon told the media that he just hoped to live long enough to see the next James Bond movie, a goal he accomplished. Coincidentally, the film was titled Die Another Day.

Warren Zevon died on September 7, 2003, aged 56, at his home in Los Angeles, California. The Wind was certified gold by the RIAA in December 2003 and Zevon received five posthumous Grammy nominations, including Song of the Year for the ballad "Keep Me In Your Heart". The Wind won two Grammys, with the album itself receiving the award for Best Contemporary Folk Album, while "Disorder in the House", Zevon's duet with Bruce Springsteen, was awarded Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal. These posthumous awards were the first Grammys of Zevon's thirty-plus year career. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean near Los Angeles.

Posthumous releases and biographical works[link]

A tribute album titled Enjoy Every Sandwich: Songs of Warren Zevon was released October 19, 2004. Zevon's son, Jordan Zevon, acting as executive producer on the album and performing "Studebaker", a previously unfinished Warren Zevon composition. A second tribute album, titled Hurry Home Early: the Songs of Warren Zevon (the line "hurry home early" from the song "Boom Boom Mancini", on Sentimental Hygiene) was released by Wampus Multimedia on July 8, 2005.

On February 14, 2006, VH1 Classic premiered a music video from a new compilation, Reconsider Me: The Love Songs. The video, titled "She's Too Good For Me", aired every hour on the hour throughout the day.

First and last issues of the Zevon albums Stand in the Fire and The Envoy were released on March 27, 2007 by Rhino Records alongside a Rhino re-issue of Excitable Boy, with the three Cd's having four unreleased bonus tracks each. Noteworthy rarities include the outtakes "Word of Mouth" and "The Risk" from the Envoy sessions, and "Frozen Notes (Strings Version)", a melancholy outtake from Excitable Boy performed on acoustic piano with a string quartet. Also included on the expanded Excitable Boy CD is the brief but hilarious "I Need A Truck", Zevon's first-ever a cappella studio release.

On May 1, 2007, Ammal Records, the new label started up as a partnership with New West Records by Zevon's former boss at Artemis Danny Goldberg, released Preludes - Rare and Unreleased Recordings, a two-disc anthology of Zevon demos and alternate versions culled from 126 pre-1976 recordings that were kept in a suitcase. The album contains five previously unreleased songs: "Empty Hearted Town", "Going All the Way", "Steady Rain", "Stop Rainin` Lord" and "The Rosarita Beach Cafe", along with Zevon's original demo for "Studebaker". Selections from an interview between Zevon and Austin-based radio personality Jody Denberg are blended with about 40 minutes of music on the collection's second disc.

I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon, a biography/oral history compiled by ex-wife Crystal Zevon, was published in 2007 by Ecco Books. The book is made up of interwoven interviews from many of Zevon's friends and associates, and is notable for its unvarnished portrayal of Zevon (at his request).

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

Live albums[link]

Compilations[link]

Singles[link]

References[link]

• Ellis, Iain (2008). Rebels Wit Attitude: Subversive Rock Humorists. Soft Skull/Counterpoint. ISBN 978-1-59376-206-3. 

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Warren Zevon

• Warren Zevon official site
• Warren Zevon semi-official site
• Warren Zevon official MySpace site
• Warren Zevon Wiki
• Warren Zevon live audio recordings at Archive.org
• Jordan Zevon's Official Site
• Warren Zevon at Rolling Stone
• Warren Zevon's personal archive at Human ArchivesQ
• Warren Zevon Find a Grave
• Dirty Life And Times
• Keep Me In Your Heart
• Warren Zevon at the Internet Movie Database
• Works by or about Warren Zevon in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Warren Zevon collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Warren Zevon at the Notable Names Database

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South African Border War Part of Cold War A map of the territories during the conflict. Date 1966–1989 Location Southern Africa - Namibia and Angola Result Withdrawal of foreign forces (Cuban, South African) from Angola, Namibian independence from South African rule and aggravated Angolan Civil War. Belligerents  Angola  Cuba SWAPO ANC Supported by:  Soviet Union  South Africa UNITA Supported by:  United States  China

v t e South African Border War Operation Savannah Operation Bruilof Operation Seiljag Operation Reindeer Operation Rekstok Operation Safraan Operation Sceptic (Smokeshell) Operation Vastrap Operation Klipklop Operation Konyn Operation Carnation Operation Protea Operation Daisy Operation Super Operation Meebos Operation Drama Operation Phoenix Operation Askari Operation Boswilger Operation Argon Operation Wallpaper Operation Alpha Centauri Operation Modular Operation Hooper Operation Packer Operation Prone Operation Vuiswys Operation Displace Operation Linger Operation Agree

The South African Border War, commonly referred to as the Angolan Bush War in South Africa, was a conflict that took place from 1966 to 1989 in South-West Africa (now Namibia) and Angola between South Africa and its allied forces (mainly UNITA) on the one side and the Angolan government, South-West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO), and their allies (mainly Cuba) on the other. It was closely intertwined with the Angolan Civil War and the Namibian War of Independence.

Roots of conflict[link]

Cassinga

Xangongo

Menongue

Cuito Cuanavale

Grootfontein

Rundu

Oshivelo

Oshakati

Operational Area: The South African Border War.

The roots of the conflict can be traced back to World War I. In 1915 South Africa invaded and conquered the then German South-West Africa on behalf of the Allied Forces. After five years of South African military rule, the territory was granted to South Africa as a C-class mandate by the League of Nations in 1920.^[1]

After World War II, the League of Nations dissolved and the South African government of Jan Smuts hoped to be able to take over the territory. They formally applied to the United Nations in 1946 for this, but their request was refused, because the indigenous people had not been adequately consulted.^[1] The UN asked South Africa to place the territory under a trusteeship system, requiring closer international monitoring of the territory's administration, but South Africa refused. This resulted in a long-drawn out legal battle.^[1]

In 1966 the International Court of Justice decided that it had no legal standing in the case. Upon the announcement the UN General Assembly irreversibly terminated the mandate.^[1] In 1971 the International Court of Justice supported the UN, and agreed that South Africa's rule of the territory was illegal, and that South Africa should withdraw. In December of that same year, a general strike of workers showed South Africa the massive amount of resistance against the contract labour system. This was a new element of opposition against South African rule.^[2][3]

Although the South African government wanted to incorporate South-West Africa (SWA) into its territory, it never officially did so: it was administered as the de facto fifth province, with its white minority having representation in the Parliament of South Africa, as per the apartheid system.

Conflict begins[link]

The Portuguese in Angola. The label translates as: Luanda, military parade

Following the South African government's refusal, and the implementation of its apartheid policies in South-West Africa, SWAPO became increasingly militant, and, in 1962, formed its military wing, the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN).^[4]

In 1966, a number of SWAPO bases had been established in neighbouring Zambia.^[5] SWAPO's insurgents began an incursion into SWA during September 1965 and again in March 1966, but it was not until 26 August 1966 that the first major clash of the conflict took place.^[6] A unit of the South African Police (SAP) supported by South African Air Force (SAAF) helicopters exchanged fire with SWAPO forces at Omugulugwombashe. This date is generally regarded as the start of what became known in South Africa as the Border War.^[6] The significance of this particular event is that the SAP were unable to engage in what had now become a military action, raising the issue of military intervention for the first time. This event thus triggered the first use of SADF Special Forces, not yet formally in existence, but being run as an experiment under the leadership of Colonel Jan Breytenbach.^[7] From these early roots the subsequent Reconnaisance Commando (Recce), 44 Parachute Brigade and 32 Battalion can be traced.^[8] At this stage the SADF presence was technically illegal because Parliament had not yet approved their deployment, so during the Omugulugwombashe incident, SADF Special Force members were hastily deputized as policemen. On 29 September SWAPO launched an attack on Oshikango on the Namibian/Angolan border. This attack is led by Johannes Nankudhu who was a survivor of the abortive action at Omugulugwombashe, giving an indication that the SWAPO force had not been neutralized, again raising the issue of SAP competence in what was now a military conflict. In December 1966 a SWAPO force attacked a farm known as Maroelaboom, taking the fight into SWA for the first time. Within weeks of this incident, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the armed wing of the African National Congress, infiltrated a small unit into Botswana under the command of Chris Hani, regionalizing the war.^[9]

In late 1966 UNITA joined the fight against the Angolan colonial power of Portugal, who were already in conflict with the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA). UNITA was mainly active in southern and eastern Angola, while the MPLA and FNLA were mainly active in northern Angola. SAAF helicopters were first sent to support the Portuguese against UNITA in 1967, thus beginning South Africa's decades-long involvement.^[10][11]

Portuguese soldiers in Angola.

The first element of security involved in the conflict was the SAP. They mainly deployed light infantry platoons which acted as counter insurgency units. During this time the SAP and its local adjunct, the South West African Police (SWAPOL), bore the brunt of the ground fighting on the South African side, with the SAAF backing them up from the air. In the late 1960s a special police counter insurgency unit named Koevoet^[12] (Afrikaans for crowbar) was formed. When the unit was first formed it was nicknamed Koevoet to signify prying loose the SWAPO insurgents from the thick bush. The official name of the unit was South West African Police Counterinsurgency, SWAPOLCOIN.^[13] The SAP withdrew all their units,^[when?] except the Uniform Branch and CID personnel which were on normal police duties, when the SADF took over the responsibility for the SWA Border.^[14]

In April 1974, the Carnation Revolution in Portugal changed the politics of that country.^[15] The new government announced that it would grant independence to Angola on 11 November 1975; the three rival anti-colonial forces immediately began jockeying for control of the capital Luanda, with international intervention in support of the different factions.^[16] South Africa's first action in August was to secure the strategically important Ruacana-Calueque hydro-electric scheme.^[17] The reason for this action at Calueque was that a major civil engineering project being financed by South Africa was at risk after a unit of ill-disciplined UNITA soldiers held some engineers against their will.^[18] This triggered a request for assistance, which resulted in an armoured column being sent to secure Ruacana. This action must also be interpreted in light of the Détente initiative then underway in South Africa.^{[citation needed]} Prime Minister B.J. Vorster was approached by certain African Heads of State^[who?], concerned that the presence of Chinese military advisors might link the local Angolan War of Liberation to the Cold War. Anxious to show that he could be trusted as an African Head of State, Vorster authorized the action, but with no defined objectives in the rapidly deteriorating security situation in the wake of the hasty Portuguese withdrawal, this single action escalated into what became Operation Savannah.^[19] On October 14, South Africa intervened covertly on behalf of UNITA and the FNLA through Operation Savannah;^[16] in response, Cuba launched Operation Carlota in support of the MPLA, which was able to gain control of the most important areas of the country. The authority of the coalition government was fading until the date scheduled for the independence (November 11, 1975) and Angolan Civil War started as the war of independence formally ended.^[16]

Cold War & Border War end: 1989[link]

Different perspectives[link]

In the 1966-88 period, a number of UN Commissioners for Namibia were appointed. South Africa refused to recognise any of these United Nations appointees, whereas the UN declared South Africa's administration of Namibia illegal.^[20] Nevertheless, discussions proceeded with UN Commissioner for Namibia, Martti Ahtisaari, who played a key role in getting the Constitutional Principles agreed in 1982 by the front-line states, SWAPO, and the Western Contact Group. This agreement created the framework for Namibia's democratic constitution. The US Government's role as mediator was both critical and disputed throughout the period, one example being the intense efforts in 1984 to obtain withdrawal of the South African Defence Force (SADF) from southern Angola.

The so-called Constructive Engagement by US diplomatic interests was viewed negatively by those who supported internationally recognised independence. In addition, US moves seemed to encourage the South Africans to delay independence by taking initiatives such as dominating large tracts of southern Angola militarily while at the same time providing surrogate forces for the Angolan opposition movement, UNITA. The United States supplied UNITA with very advanced Stinger anti-aircraft missiles^[21]

In 1987, the Angolan government with strong support from the Soviet Union decided, against Cuban advice, to restore the territorial integrity of Angola by eliminating UNITA strongholds in the south of Angola. They undertook a serious offensive from Cuito Cuanavale towards Mavinga. As UNITA was being driven back, the South African forces intervened on their behalf. In operations Modular and Hooper they decisively stopped the offensive, and went on to roll back the Angolan government forces to Cuito Cuanavale.

Cuba considerably reinforced its troops in Angola and came to the defence of the besieged FAPLA; the South African advance was stopped at the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale, the largest battle in Africa since World War II, in which both sides have claimed victory. The bulk of the Cuban forces advanced towards Namibia further to the west, threatening to cut off the SADF-Forces remaining at Cuito. On 27 June 1988, Cuban MiG-23 fighters bombed the Calueque hydro-electric complex at 16°44′12″S 14°58′01″E / 16.7367°S 14.9669°E / -16.7367; 14.9669 (Calueque), disabling it and killing 12 SADF soldiers. For some analysts ^[22] the stalemate at Cuito and the death toll and vulnerability to Cuban MiGs was viewed with apprehension by the SADF and may have had some bearing on the fact that a peace accord was agreed soon afterwards. United Nations-mediated negotiations took place with the aim of achieving peace in and independence for South-West Africa/Namibia and the South African ground troops completed their withdrawal from Angola on 30 August 1988 before the negotiations were concluded.

Serious negotiations[link]

In 1988, UN Commissioner for Namibia, Bernt Carlsson, was appointed. In the eventuality of South Africa's relinquishing control of Namibia, Commissioner Carlsson's role would be to administer the country on behalf of the UN, formulate its framework constitution, and organise free and fair elections based upon a non-racial universal franchise.

In May 1988, a US mediation team – headed by Chester A. Crocker, US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs – brought negotiators from Angola, Cuba, and South Africa, and observers from the Soviet Union together in London. Intense diplomatic manoeuvering characterised the next 7 months, as the parties worked out agreements to bring peace to the region and make possible the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 435 (UNSCR 435).^[23]

At the Moscow Summit of leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union in Moscow (29 May-1 June 1988), it was decided that Cuban troops would be withdrawn from Angola, and Soviet military aid would cease, as soon as South Africa withdrew from Namibia. The New York Accords – agreements to give effect to these decisions – were drawn up for signature at UN headquarters in New York in December 1988. Cuba, South Africa, and the People's Republic of Angola agreed to a total Cuban troop withdrawal from Angola. This agreement – known as the Brazzaville Protocol – established a Joint Monitoring Commission (JMC), with the United States and the Soviet Union as observers, to oversee implementation of the accords. A bilateral agreement between Cuba and Angola was signed at UN headquarters in New York City on 22 December 1988. On the same day, a tripartite agreement between Angola, Cuba and South Africa was signed whereby South Africa agreed to hand control of Namibia to the United Nations.

Tragically, UN Commissioner for Namibia, Bernt Carlsson, was not present at the signing ceremony. He was killed on Pan Am Flight 103 which exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland on 21 December 1988 en route from London to New York. South African foreign minister Pik Botha, and an official delegation of 22 had a lucky escape. Their booking on Pan Am 103 was cancelled at the last minute and Botha, together with a smaller delegation, caught the earlier Pan Am 101 flight to New York.

Transition to independence[link]

Implementation of UNSCR 435 officially started on April 1, 1989, when the South African-appointed Administrator General, Louis Pienaar, who took the place of the UN's Bernt Carlsson, began the Namibia's transition to independence. Former UN Commissioner for Namibia, Martti Ahtisaari was appointed United Nations Special Representative in Namibia, and arrived in Windhoek in April 1989 to head the United Nations Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG).

The transition got off to a shaky start because, contrary to SWAPO leader Sam Nujoma's written assurances to the UN Secretary General to abide by a cease-fire and repatriate only unarmed Namibians, it was alleged that approximately 2,000 armed members of the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN), SWAPO's military wing, crossed the border from Angola in an apparent attempt to establish a military presence in northern Namibia. UNTAG's Martti Ahtisaari took advice from British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, who was visiting Southern Africa at the time, and authorised a limited contingent of South African troops to aid the South West African Police (SWAPOL) in restoring order. A period of intense fighting followed, during which 375 PLAN fighters were killed. At a hastily arranged meeting of the Joint Monitoring Commission in Mount Etjo, a game park outside Otjiwarongo, it was agreed to confine the South African forces to base and return PLAN elements to Angola. While that problem was resolved, minor disturbances in the north continued throughout the transition period.

In October 1989, under orders of the UN Security Council, Pretoria was forced to demobilize some 1,600 members of its counter-insurgency force Koevoet (Afrikaans for crowbar). The Koevoet issue had been one of the most difficult UNTAG faced. The unit was formed by South Africa after the adoption of UNSCR 435, and was not, therefore, mentioned in the Settlement Proposal or related documents. The UN regarded Koevoet as a paramilitary organization which ought to be disbanded but the unit continued to deploy in the north in armoured and heavily armed convoys. In June 1989, the UN Special Representative told Administrator-General, Louis Pienaar that this behaviour was totally inconsistent with the Settlement Proposal, which required the police to be lightly armed. Moreover, the vast majority of the Koevoet personnel were quite unsuited for continued employment in the South West African Police (SWAPOL). The Security Council, in its resolution 640 (1989) of August 29, therefore demanded the disbanding of Koevoet and dismantling of its command structures. South African foreign minister, Pik Botha, announced on September 28, 1989 that 1,200 ex-Koevoet members would be demobilized with effect from the following day. A further 400 such personnel were demobilized on October 30. These demobilizations were supervised by UNTAG military monitors.^[7]

The 11-month transition period ended relatively smoothly. Political prisoners were granted amnesty, discriminatory legislation was repealed, South Africa withdrew all its forces from Namibia, and some 42,000 refugees returned safely and voluntarily under the auspices of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Almost 98% of registered voters turned out to elect members of the Constituent Assembly. The elections were held in November 1989 and were certified as free and fair by the UN Special Representative, with SWAPO taking 57% of the vote, short of the two-thirds necessary to have a free hand in revising the framework constitution that had been formulated not by UN Commissioner Carlsson but by South African appointee Louis Pienaar. The opposition Democratic Turnhalle Alliance received 29% of the vote. The Constituent Assembly held its first meeting on November 21, 1989 and resolved unanimously to use the 1982 Constitutional Principles in Namibia's new constitution.

It was later revealed that the South African government had paid more than £20 million to at least seven political parties in Namibia to oppose SWAPO in the run-up to the 1989 elections. They justified the expenditure on the grounds that South Africa was at war with SWAPO at the time.^[24][25][26]

Namibian independence celebrations[link]

Namibia's Independence Day celebrations took place in the Windhoek Sports Stadium on 21 March 1990. Numerous international representatives attended, including 20 heads of state, and the arrival of Nelson Mandela, who had just been released from prison, caused excitement among the 30,000 spectators. United Nations Secretary-General, Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, and the President of South Africa, F.W. de Klerk, jointly conferred independence on Namibia. The president of SWAPO, Sam Nujoma, was then sworn in as the first President of Namibia.^[27]

See also[link]

• Angolan Civil War
• Cuba in Angola
• Frente Leste
• List of operations of the South African Border War
• Military history of South Africa
• Military history of Africa
• Mozambican Civil War
• Portuguese Colonial War
• Rhodesian Bush War
• South Africa and weapons of mass destruction

References[link]

External links[link]

• 32 Battalion - The Terrible Ones
• Willem Steenkamp's book - South Africa's Border War 1966-1989
• Accounts of both sides: A South African Soldier and an MK operative
• Military Memories of ex-SADF rifleman - D.R. Walker
• The Stick (1987) synopsis on IMDB
• Steenkamp, Willem. Borderstrike! South Africa into Angola. 1975-1980., Just Done Productions , Durban, 2006
• South African Roll of Honour
• [1]
• [2]

v t e Armed conflicts involving Cuba External & international Ten Years' War · Cuban War of Independence · Spanish–American War · World War I · World War II · 1952 Cuban Coup · Cuban Revolution · Congo Crisis · Bay of Pigs Invasion · Cuban Missile Crisis · Vietnam War · Ñancahuazú Guerrilla · Eritrean War of Independence · South African Border War · Rhodesian Bush War · Yom Kippur War · Ethiopian Civil War · Angolan Civil War · Ogaden War · Nicaraguan Revolution · Salvadoran Civil War · Invasion of Grenada Related articles Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces · Cold War · Sphere of influence

In Everest climbing parlance, Green Boots is the name given to the corpse of Indian climber Tsewang Paljor (b. 10 April 1968 - May 11, 1996(1996-05-11) (aged 28)) on the Northeast ridge route of Mount Everest. There is little doubt that the body is that of Paljor,^[1] who was wearing green Koflach boots on the day he and two others apparently summited. On the way down, he fell victim to exposure in the storm of May 10th 1996, one among the eight who died that day. Since his corpse lies on the popular northern route, his body is encountered frequently and came to be known as Green Boots.

Paljor was born in Sakti village in Leh (Jammu and Kashmir).^[2] He joined the Indo-Tibetan Border Police as a constable in 1986. He was part of the first Indian team to attempt climbing the peak from the Northeast route.

1996 Indo-Tibetan Border Police Everest Expedition[link]

The Everest disaster of 1996 is well known in the mountaineering circles for the deaths of eight climbers on the 10-11 May 1996. Thanks to Jon Krakauer's book Into Thin Air, the two movies based on that book, and Anatoli Boukreev's book "The Climb", the names of Rob Hall, Scott Fischer, Yasuko Namba, Doug Hansen and Andy Harris are well known. Less well-known are the other three fatalities of the day, who were the climbers from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) expedition from India. The expedition was led by Commandant (equiv to Lt Col) Mohinder Singh, and is credited as being the first Indian ascent of Everest from the East side.^[3]

On 10 May 1996, Subedar Tsewang Samanla, Lance Naik (equiv to Lance Corporal) Dorje Morup, and Head Constable Tsewang Paljor got caught in the blizzard short of the summit. While three of the six-member team turned down, Samanla, Paljor and Morup decided to go for the summit^[4] At around 6.00pm (3.45pm Nepal Time), the three climbers radioed to their expedition leader that they had arrived at the summit.

There is dispute whether the three actually reached the summit or not. Krakauer claims that the climbers were at 28,550 feet, roughly 500 feet short of the top most point. This is based on the interview given by a later Japanese team to the London Financial Express. Due to bad visibility and thick clouds which obscured the summit, the climbers believed they had reached the top. They left an offering of prayer flags, katas, and pitons. Here the leader Samanla decided to spend extra time for religious ceremonies and instructed the other two to move down.

There was no radio contact after that. Back at the camps below, anxious team members saw two headlamps moving slightly above the second step – at 8570 meters. None of the three managed to come back to high camp at 8320 meters.

Possible sightings by Japanese climbers[link]

(All Times Beijing Time)

• 06:15 Hiroshi Hanada and Eisuke Shigekawa (Fukuoka first attack party) departed Camp 6 (8,300 m). Three Sherpas had left in advance.^[5]
• 08:45 Radio call to BC to report nearing the ridge. Just below the ridge they met two men coming down a fixed rope. On the ridge another man appeared before the first snowfield. They could not be identified because all were wearing goggles and oxygen masks under hoods. The Fukuoka party, having no knowledge of missing Indians, thought they were Taiwan party members.^[5]
• 11:39 Radio call to BC to report passing the Second Step (8,600). They then saw two men at a distance of about 15 m from the ridge. Again, identification was impossible.^[5]
• 15:07 Hanada, Shigekawa and three Sherpas reached the summit.
• 15:30 Start descent. After passing the triangle snowfield they saw some unidentifiable object above the Second Step. Below the First Step, they saw one person on the fixed rope. Shigekawa stopped, therefore, and radioed BC. As he started moving again he met someone, who had possibly been on the fixed rope, standing nearby. They exchanged greeting, but he was still unable to identify him. Their oxygen was just enough to return to C6.^[5]
• 16:00 (approx) An Indian party member told the Fukuoka ABC that three men were missing. The Fukuoka party attempted to dispatch three Sherpas from C6 to rescue the Indians but disappearing daylight prevented their departure. Their request to Indian party members at C6 to join a rescue was refused. Also their offer of a radio so that the Indian party could talk to their leader in ABC was declined.^[5]

The Indian expedition leader^{[citation needed]} told later, "The Japanese had initially pledged to help the search for the missing Indians. But hours later, they pressed on with their attempt to reach the summit, despite bad weather."^[6]

The Japanese team denied that they had ever encountered the dying climbers on the way up.^[5]

Captain Kohli, an official of the Indian Mountaineering Federation, who earlier had denounced the Japanese, later retracted his claim that the Japanese had reported meeting the Indians on 10 May.^[5]

"The ITBP accepted the Fukuoka party statements that they neither abandoned nor refused to help the Indians."^[5] The ITBP's director general "commented that a misunderstanding arose from communication difficulties between Indian attack party members and their Base Camp."^[5]

Green Boots[link]

The term Green Boots originates from the green mountaineering boots the body still wears.

It is not known as to when the term Green Boots came into Everest parlance. Over the years it became a common term as all the expeditions from the north side encountered the body of the Indian Climber curled up in the limestone alcove cave. The cave is located at 27,890 feet (8 500 m), and is littered with spent oxygen bottles. Paljor was the only one found by the Japanese climbers, shortly above first step. The rock cave is in the same area.^{[citation needed]}

David Sharp[link]

When the British mountaineer David Sharp died during his solo attempt in 2006, he was found in a hypothermic situation in "Green Boots' Cave". David Sharp would ultimately die of extreme cold, and his body was left lying a few feet from 'Green Boots'. It was theorised on the documentary Dying For Everest (broadcast on SKY 20.04.09) that some other climbers passed by David Sharp without offering assistance, believing him to be "Green Boots".

Ian Woodall[link]

Ian Woodall is a British climber who was on the mountain on that fatal day in 1996, leading a South African expedition. He was at camp 4 during the storm and, having returned to base camp for five days rest, reached the top a couple of weeks later.^[7] Claiming that the body of the climber has continued to haunt him, Woodall returned to the mountain in 2007 with a different mission: not to summit but to help fallen climbers find their last resting place in dignity. They included Francys Arsentiev, the first American woman to have summited Mt Everest without bottled oxygen in 1998. He had planned to return in 2011 to move the body of Tsewang Paljor, but did not.^[8]

See also[link]

• List of people who died climbing Mount Everest

References[link]

External links[link]

• Photographs of the deceased Climbers in the ITBP Martyrs Gallery
• Photo of Green Boots' cave - The dead bodies have been 'whitened out'.
• Photo of Green Boots
• Photograph of Green Boots' body. (German language site)
• Footage of Green Boots' Body Shot starts around 45 second mark.
• Painting of Green Boot Cave