The interviews in this book were conducted for the Nordic Africa Institute 's research project National Liberation in Southern Africa The role of the Nordic countries . Around 80 representatives of the Southern African liberation movements, as well as Swedish and other opinion makers, administrators and politicians, reflect on the Nordic support to these struggles. Prominent contemporary leaders among them Joaquim Chissano from Mozambique, Kenneth Kaunda from Zambia and Thabo Mbeki from South Africa give their views on a relationship that largely developed outside the public arena and of which there is scant evidence in open sources. The book is a reference source to a unique North-South relationship in the Cold War period.

In 1969, the Swedish parliament endorsed a policy of direct assistance to the liberation movements in Southern Africa. Sweden thus became the first Western country to enter into a relationship with organizations that elsewhere in the West were shunned as 'Communist' or 'terrorist'. This book traces the background to the relationship. Presenting the actors and the factors behind the support to MPLA of Angola, FRELIMO of Mozambique, SWAPO of Namibia, ZANU and ZAPU of Zimbabwe and ANC of South Africa, it addresses the question why Sweden established those close relations with the very movements that eventually would assume state power in their respective countries. The second volume (appearing in late 1999) will discuss how the support was expressed, covering the period from 1970 to 1994.

Sweden's and the other Nordic countries' support for the national liberation process and struggle against apartheid was unique in the international context both in regard to the size of the financial support and the extensive popular involvement. This book attempts to document the involvement of Sweden in the Southern African struggles against colonialism, occupation and white minority rule. While Volume I set out to identify the actors and factors behind the involvement, the aim of the present volume is to illustrate the Swedish participation. The focus of this study is on official assistance to the national liberation movements but the important role played by the organized Swedish solidarity movement and other non-governmental organizations also forms part of the narration. The study also attempts to contribute to a broader understanding of the international aspects of the Thirty Years' War in the region, a significant chapter in the quest for national self-determination, democracy and human rights towards the end of the troubled 20th century. Primarily written for the general reader interested in relations between Sweden and the Southern African liberation movements, the presentation should also provide material and theoretical enquiries with regard to, for example, Swedish foreign policy in the cold war era; regional developments in a bipolar world; and the diplomatic initiatives, political alliances and material conditions of the different movements. This book is a part of the Nordic Africa Institute's Research Project National Liberation in Southern Africa. The Role of the Nordic Countries. The result of the project is a unique documentation, mainly drawing on hitherto restricted official primary sources. This book, together with the other studies published within the project, forms a valuable reference source for everyone interested in the 20th century history of Southern Africa in particular or North/South and international relations in general.