Frontline state

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The frontline States ( Frontline States, FLS ) were, or "group of African frontline states" sovereign South African countries that committed at the end of the colonial and white minority rule for armed liberation struggles and bordered geographically to the countries where these battles took place . Derived from this, countries are still referred to as frontline states today, which because of their geostrategic location border a conflict area or from which influence can be exerted on a conflict area.

The “Group of African Frontline States” came into being in 1974 during the conflict in Rhodesia , later Zimbabwe . The white government of South Africa wanted to find a negotiated solution and started a peace initiative. The Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda responded. He wanted to secure the support of the governments of Tanzania , Botswana and Mozambique . To this end, the four states formed the “Group of African Frontline States”, which was supported by the Organization for African Unity (OAU) and thus became one of the most important actors in the decolonization process in southern Africa. The aim of the states was to coordinate their reactions to apartheid and to formulate a common policy. Lesotho and Swaziland were not among the frontline states due to their great dependence on South Africa.

In the subsequent peace initiatives on Zimbabwe, the frontline states played an important role because of their relations with the rebel groups. In the wars of the 1980s, the importance of the frontline states decreased. Nevertheless, other members joined the group during this period: Angola (1976), Zimbabwe (1980) and Namibia (1990). With the end of apartheid in South Africa in 1994, the legitimacy of the frontline states was also exhausted.

The frontline states were also the forerunners of today's organizations. In 1982 they founded the Inter State Defense and Security Committee (ISDSC) , a meeting of foreign and defense ministers, which in 1996 became the Organ on Politics, Defense and Security of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

Derived from this, countries are still referred to as front-line states today that, due to their geostrategic location, border a conflict area or from which influence can be exerted on a conflict area, such as Florida during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, Germany during the Cold War and Pakistan during the war against terror .

Web links

literature

  • Gilbert M. Khadiagala: Allies in Adversity: The Frontline States in Southern African Security, 1975-1993. In: The International Journal of African Historical Studies , Vol. 29, No. 1 (1996), pp. 161 f.
  • Peter Meyns: Frontline states. In: Jacob E. Mabe (ed.): Das kleine Afrika-Lexikon , Federal Center for Political Education, Bonn 2004, p. 66. ISBN 3-89331-538-1 .