It involved maintaining the illusion that the SADF had remained in brigade strength east of Cuito Cuanavale at the end of April 1988 and the eventual withdrawal of all South African military units from south-eastern Angola during August 1988.

The Americans under Chester Crocker, eager to prevent further fighting, negotiated a third round of talks in New York City to begin on 10 July.

The talks ended on 13 July 1988, resulting in a document called the New York Principles which set out the negotiating points for future rounds.

Combat Group 20 – Commandant Piet Nel By the end of March 1988, it was soon realized that the SADF and UNITA would not be able to push the FAPLA/Cuban forces out of their Tumpo positions without taking serious casualties.

After the battle at Techipa on 27 June and the subsequent South African publics uproar over the deaths of the twelve SADF soldiers on the same day, the SA government decided to scale back operations in southern Angola and an undeclared ceasefire came into being.

It did however state that it wished to stop fighting if the Angolan government held talks with them or ceased attacking them and seek national reconciliation.

[4]: 548  The SADF elements arrived at the Angolan/SWA/Namibian border with ten days to spare and had to wait around as the Joint Monitoring Commission and world media organised themselves for the crossover at Rundu at a temporary steel bridge that was to take place on 1 September.

[3]: 170  On 30 August 1988, the last of the South African troops crossed the temporary steel bridge into SWA/Namibia watched by the world's media and the Joint Monitoring Commission, 36 hours early than the planned time.

[1]: 250 What followed were nine more rounds of negotiations revolving around the dates for the Cuban withdrawal from Angola that finally ended with an agreement called the Tripartite Accord signed on 22 December in New York.