Copyright 1986 Guardian Newspapers Limited
The Guardian (London)
May 20, 1986
LENGTH: 513 words
HEADLINE: 4 held in Zimbabwe as ANC targets hit / Suspects arrested in Harare in
connection with South African military attacks
BYLINE: From ANDREW MELDRUM and JIM FISH
DATELINE: HARARE and LUSAKA
BODY:
Four suspects were arrested yesterday in Harare in connection with the South African military
attacks on two African National Congress targets on the Zimbabwe capital, the Prime
Minister, Mr Robert Mugabe, announced.
Although previous killings and acts of sabotage in Zimbabwe have been blamed on South
Africa, the latest open aggression is seen as breaking the tacit agreement that Zimbabwe
was not threatened directly by the South African military.
Mr Magabe blamed South Africa for significantly expanding its domestic conflict to the whole
southern African region. Condemning Pretoria for the unprovoked attacks, Mr Mugabe said it
had 'adopted state terrorism as its policy,' and called for comprehensive economic sanctions
against South Africa.
Mr Mugabe said Zimbabwean security forces responding to the attacks caused the South
Africans to 'panic. ' He said that South African vehicles, explosives and communications
equipment had been captured at the sites attacked, an ANC office in downtown Harare and an
ANC residence in the suburb of Ashdown Park.
Mr Mugabe also confirmed that a private security guard was injured in the attack on the city
office buildings. He did not comment on earlier reports that some ANC members were missing
from Harare and may have been abducted.
In a restrained and guarded statement, Mr Mugabe refused to give further details about the
attacks. According to informed sources, Zimbabwean security was tipped off about the South
African raids, and ANC members were warned. The ANC has eight diplomatic staff in Harare.
He denied that Zimbabwe had allowed the ANC to plan or launch any guerrilla attack from its
territory. Mr Mugabe said that Zimbabwe supports the ANC diplomatically and financially and
added that 'the time has come for us to call for more support to be given to the ANC and other
liberation movements struggling in South Africa. '
The South African attackers arrived at their Harare targets by car. At the ANC office building,
the attackers, described as two Coloured and one black man, held a security guard at gunpoint
and then used a ladder to enter the ANC offices and plant the explosives. The guard was then
released.
At the house on the outskirts of Harare, machine-gun fire and a few hand grenade explosions
were heard before a large explosion destroyed the house. Ballistics experts estimate the bomb
weighed 40lb. The house is the same residence where the ANC representative Joe Qabi was
assassinated in July, 1981.
In Zambia, President Kenneth Kaunda called for an emergency meeting of the six front-line
states to consider their response to the raids.
Speaking during a visit to the refugee camp at Makeni that was the target of the South African
attackers, he accused Britain of continuing to support the apartheid system, and pledged that
Zambia will not expel the ANC from its headquarters in Lusaka.
He described the raids as 'state terrorism' inspired by the US attack on Libya. 'I will defend
this nation and no one should take this message lightly,' he said.
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