From: barnhart@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Mr. Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS:SOUTH AFRICA: POLICE PROBE RENAMO INFILTRATION INTO NATAL
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 03:49:21 GMT
Organization: Evanston, Illinois, U.S.A.

Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: SOUTH AFRICA: POLICE PROBE RENAMO INFILTRATION INTO NATAL


johannesburg, oct 29 (ips) -- south african police are probing
reports of infiltration of members of the mozambique national
resistance (renamo) into south africa's war-torn natal province.

the renamo units are said to be fighting alongside members of
the conservative inkatha movement in its war with left-wing
members of the african national congress (anc).

a prominent inkatha leader, bruce anderson, is understood to
have been smuggling ak-47s supplied by renamo bands to arm
military units set up by his organisation in south africa.

members of south africa's national intelligence service (nis)
last week travelled to mozambique to meet the country's
intelligence agents to discuss the report.

official south african investigators believe the ''renamo
factor'' -- the movement of renamo units into volatile natal
province that borders on mozambique -- may have played an
important role in the spiralling levels of violence in the
province.

inkatha has vehemently denied charges it is collaborating
with the former mozambican rebels.

but anc official bongani msomi said this week natal leader
reggie hadebe had been investigating evidence that inkatha
youths were being trained by renamo at bases in natal at the
time of his death. hadebe was gunned down in an ambush tuesday.

''he was looking at evidence we had collected of renamo
fighters training youths at a camp called mandleni near ulundi
where renamo fighters are training young boys who have been
recruited by chiefs in the area'', says msomi.

this is confirmed by reporter lakhele kaunda who says hadebe
was desperately trying to contact her on the morning of the day
he was assassinated to convey news that ''renamo was training
inkatha people in natal''.

evidence of the ''renamo factor'' in the violence plaguing
natal and other south-eastern parts of south africa is being
investigated by the goldstone commission, an official probe into
the causes of violence in this country.

inkatha transvaal official themba khoza denies charges the
zulu ''nationalist'' movement is working hand in glove with
renamo during its low-intensity war with the anc in natal.
(more/ips)


south africa: police (2)

however, there is an accumulation of reports that inkatha has
been working closely with renamo in the wake of the anc's
threats to march on ulundi, the capital of kwazulu, to demand
democratic rights for the organisation (anc) in the
nominally-independent ''homeland''.

an eye-witness has told reporters he was present when a kombi
load of renamo units was picked up at a military base near the
mozambican border and dropped off at amatikhulu, a kwazulu
police training base on the north coast of natal.

the sources say anderson was deported from south africa two
months ago after this had been requested by mozambican president
joaquim chissano when he met south africa's president f.w. de
klerk at the opening of the new polana hotel in maputo.

earlier this month, a senior kwazulu policeman said 36 renamo
members had been ferried into inkatha headquarters at ulundi
from mozambique to bolster inkatha's ability to withstand mass
action and armed attacks from anc supporters.

inkatha leader musa myeni is reported to have met renamo
leader afonso dhlakama when he (dhlakama) visited south africa
on his way to peace talks with the mozambique government in
rome, italy, last month.

last year, the independent 'weekly mail' newspaper reported
renamo and inkatha men had been trained at the same military
camp located in the mountains near barberton in the eastern
transvaal. the source for these reports was an officer in south
african army intelligence.

the camp, built on the slopes of the ''ghost mountain'' near
mkuze, was in fact a military barracks where inkatha fighters
received advanced training in the use of ak-47s, handguns and
offensive guerilla warfare.

according to one investigator, inkatha maybe turning to
renamo because its elite group of 200 fighters have largely been
neutralised as a clandestine force.

the elite group was trained by members of the south african
defence force at a secret camp during the mid-1980s in namibia
and later at the mkuze camp in natal.

known as ''caprivi 20'', the clandestine force is under
intense scrutiny by the goldstone commission. many of its
members have been implicated during court hearings in murder and
violence directed against anc officials.

''it is useful to use mozambicans for covert work as they
have no identities and cannot be traced to specific incidents in
the way that the caprivi 200 were'', says the nis source.
(end/ips/ek/apc/ar/92)
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