It was fought Hostile_encounter between the South African Defence Force ( SADF ) and the People 's Liberation Army of Namibia ( PLAN ) , an armed wing of the South West African People 's Organisation ( SWAPO ) .

Following several decades of unsuccessful petitioning Request through the United Nations and the International Court of Justice for Namibian independence , SWAPO formed Creating the PLAN in 1962 with material assistance Assistance from the Soviet Union , the People 's Republic of China , and sympathetic African states such as Tanzania , Ghana , and Algeria .

Fighting broke out Process_start between PLAN and the South African authorities in August 1966 .

Between 1975 and 1988 the SADF staged Hold massive conventional raids Attack into Angola and Zambia to eliminate Removing PLAN 's forward operating bases .

The state of war between South Africa and Angola briefly ended Process_end with the short-lived Lusaka Accords , but resumed Process_start in August 1985 as both PLAN and UNITA took Getting advantage of the ceasefire to intensify Cause_change_of_strength their own guerrilla activity , leading to Causation a renewed phase of FAPLA combat operations culminating in the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale .

PLAN launched Military_operation its final guerrilla campaign in late March 1989 .