S. African troops massing for attack, Angola charges

March 7, 1980

South African troops are massing on the Angolan border in preparation for an attack, the Angolan ambassador to France, Luis de Almeida, charged Thursday. He told a news conference that several thousand South African soldiers were gathering on the border in Namibia (South-West Africa) in preparation for an airborne assault.

He said Angola would use every means available to repulse an attack. In Cape Town, a South African Defense Force spokesman said the report of its troops massing on the border was "absolute rubbish."