Азанийская народная армия освобождения: от Поко к интеграции в САНДУ

Paramilitary wing of the Pan Africanist Congress from 1961 to 1994

The Azanian People's Liberation Army (APLA), formerly known as Poqo, was the military wing of the Pan Africanist Congress, an African nationalist movement in South Africa. In the Xhosa language, the word 'Poqo' means 'pure'. After attacks on and the murder of several white families the APLA was subsequently classified as a terrorist organisation by the South African National government and the United States, and banned. APLA was disbanded and integrated into the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) in June 1994. Its new name was derived from Azania, the ancient Greek name for Southern Africa. The name Azania has been applied to various parts of southeastern tropical Africa. In the Roman period and perhaps earlier, the toponym referred to a portion of the Southeast African coast extending from Kenya, to perhaps as far south as Tanzania.

Poqo was founded in 1961 following the massacre of PAC led protestors at the hands of police outside the Sharpeville police station the previous year. Two white residents, Frans Richard and Rencia Vermeulen were killed. Leballo had planned a massive revolt for 8 April 1963, but Basotholand police managed to track down and raid the PAC's headquarters, seizing a complete list of Poqo members. In the following government crackdown, nearly 2000 Poqo members were sent to prison, almost wiping out the entire organization. Consequently Poqo ceased to be an important participant in the anti Apartheid struggle during the remainder of the 1960s. Ntantala's original group of 70 APLA soldiers felt threatened by the influx of new recruits, leading Ntantala to attempt a coup against then commander, Potlako Leballo in Dar es Salaam. This was prevented by LLA soldiers, a move which exacerbated tensions within two PAC factions, the "Diplomat Reformist" (DR) and "Maoist Revolutionary" (MR) factions. Vusumzi Make's appointment as Leballo's successor sparked a mutiny at Chunya, an APLA camp in Tanzania, on 11 March 1980, during which several APLA forces were killed and the rest further factionalised and confined to different camps; many escaped to Kenya. Leballo himself relocated to Zimbabwe in late 1980 along with senior intelligence and air force personnel from the MR faction. Pressure from Tanzania, however, resulted in his deportation in May–June 1981, as well as the deportation or imprisonment of the others. Make was replaced by John Nyathi Pokela

In April 1992, PAC President Clarence Makwetu declared during the PAC's Annual Congress that his party would now not oppose participation in the multi racial negotiations to end the apartheid. In spite of their failure to achieve their goals at the negotiations, the PAC decided to participate in the 1994 elections, and PAC leader Clarence Makwetu ordered APLA to end its armed struggle.

In 1994, APLA was disbanded and absorbed into the new South African National Defence Force, although members of the MR faction refused to accept this agreement. Attempts by MR officers to regroup in Vietnam, North Korea, and China were unsuccessful, although links were maintained with the Tamil Tigers and Maoist groups in Nepal and India. Occasional propaganda leaflets distributed within South Africa focus on disparity of wealth and the issue of land.