Cenepa War
Figures given for losses during the Cenepa War vary widely, especially regarding human casualties. Ecuadorian military sources put the casualties at 34 killed recognized by Comando Conjunto de las FFAA del Ecuador and 154 killed and wounded recognized by Asociación de ex combatientes del Cenepa, Quito, Ecuador. As of February 2005, an Ecuadorian Cenepa war veterans' association had a membership of 131 ex-combatants, some of them with long-term health disorders caused by the war.
ALDHU, a human rights NGO, has put the total number of mortal casualties for both sides at around 500. This figure was also given by Ecuadorian senior officers after the war, reflecting the fact that Peruvians found themselves attacking well-protected Ecuadorian positions and subjected to continuous ambushes and well-aimed artillery and rocket fire from the heights of the Condor range.
Cassinga
UNICEF reported of a "well-run and well-organized" camp but "ill-equipped" to cope with the rapid refugee increase in early 1978. The Cubans, who set up a base at nearby Techamutete when they intervened in the war in 1975, provided logistical support to the SWAPO administration at Cassinga. According to SADF intelligence, "Logistic planning and the provision of supplies, weapons and ammunition to insurgents operating in central and eastern Ovamboland were undertaken from Cassinga. Medical treatment of the seriously wounded as well as the repair of equipment and the assembly of newly trained insurgents on their way to bases in the East and West Cunene Provinces all took place in Cassinga."
By 1978, PLAN's presence had attracted the attention of the South African Defence Force. Executing a massive external raid (dubbed "Operation Reindeer") involving paratroops of the 44 Parachute Regiment supported by bomber and strike aircraft, South Africa briefly occupied Cassinga on May 4, 1978. The assault, which left sixty Cuban military advisers and over five hundred South West African exiles dead, is now called Battle of Cassinga has been subject to international controversy. Angolan officials subsequently flew in a team of international journalists who photographed mass graves on site, verifying several bodies as women and children in civilian dress. Indignant at claims that its personnel had committed a war crime, the SADF continued to maintain that the defenders were uniformed PLAN combatants. The Angolan government counted 624 dead and 611 injured civilians as well as combatants. Among the dead were 167 women and 298 teenagers and children. Since many of the combatants were female or teenagers, and many combatants did not wear uniforms, the exact number of civilians among the dead could not be established. A secret report to the SWAPO Central Committee listed 582 dead and 400 wounded.