South Africa's May 1986 Military Incursions Into Neighboring African States

Abstract

In recent years, force has increasingly been used as a means of settling disputes in the Southern African region. The unfinished struggle for decolonization, rising demands for self-determination, and the system of apartheid have figured prominently among the factors contributing to this increase. This incident focuses on South Africa's military incursion into three neighboring African states-Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe-in May 1986. Relying extensively on the reactions of the international community, particularly state elites, it analyzes the extent to which international legal norms concerning self-defense and national liberation movements were clarified or modified and assesses their present status in contemporary international law.