South Africa begins the repatriation of anti-apartheid militants who died in Angola.

Angola hosted the largest number of members of the ANC, the African National Congress, who went into exile during the struggle against apartheid. This presence continued even as the country was engulfed in a long civil war.

South African authorities now have to locate the graves, identify the remains, and organize their return to South Africa. The operation concerns militants whose families have been waiting for decades to recover their remains.

The search promises to be complex due to the number of potential sites and the context in which these militants lived and died. Available information about the burial sites remains fragmented, according to details communicated by Pretoria.

Angola, a Land of Exile for the ANC

The choice of Angola as a host country raises questions, particularly due to the civil war that raged there. However, the country maintained close ties with liberation movements opposed to colonial regimes and racial domination policies in Southern Africa.

For ANC militants, exile in Angola was part of a struggle waged from outside South Africa. They lived there, were trained, and organized their political engagement in an environment marked by regional conflicts.

The presence of the ANC in Angola also created lasting ties between the two countries and their societies. These relationships were shaped by the shared history of liberation struggles, as well as by the trials faced by South African militants on Angolan soil.

Didier Péclard, an Africa specialist at the University of Geneva, analyzes the reasons that led the ANC to favor Angola and the connections established between anti-apartheid militants and the country. His insights come as Pretoria undertakes to trace the footprints of these missing exiles.