The 'Angolan War of Independence' (
1961–
1974)
began as an uprising against forced cotton harvesting, became a multi-faction struggle for control of
Angola with 11 separatist movements
, and ended in 1975 when the Angolan government,
UNITA, the
MPLA, and the
FNLA signed the
Alvor Agreement.
Civil disobedience (1948-1959)
Angola had the status of a
Portuguese colony from 1655 until the
Assembly of the Republic passed a law giving all Portuguese colonies provincial status on
June 11, 1951.
[3][4]
The Portuguese Colonial Act, passed on
June 13, 1933 recognized the supremacy of Portuguese over native people, and, even if locals could pursue all studies including
university, the ''de facto'' situation was of clear disadvantage. Beginning in the
1950s, many Portuguese people settled in Angola, encouraged by the authoritarian government of
António de Oliveira Salazar.
Viriato da Cruz and others formed the
Movement of Young Intellectuals, an organization that promoted Angolan culture, in 1948. Nationalists sent a letter to the
United Nations calling for Angola to be given protectorate status under UN supervision. In 1953 Angolan separatists founded the
Party of the United Struggle for Africans in Angola (PLUA), the first
political party to advocate Angolan independence from Portugal. Two years later
Mário Pinto de Andrade and his brother
Joaquim formed the
Angolan Communist Party (PCA). In December 1956 PLUA merged with the PCA to form the
Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA). The MPLA, led by da Cruz, Mário Andrade,
Ilidio Machado, and
Lúcio Lara, derived support from the
Mbundu people and in
Luanda.
[5][6][7][8]
Congolese-Angolan nationalists formed the Union of Peoples of Northern Angola, which advocated the independence of the traditional
Kingdom of Kongo, in 1954.
[9]
1960s
In January 1961 Angolan peasants in
Malanje Province boycotted the cotton fields they were forced to harvest. The peasants burned their identification cards and attacked Portuguese traders in
Maria's War. The Portuguese military responded by bombing twenty villages with
napalm, killing 7,000 Africans. On
February 4 250 MPLA militants in Luanda stormed a police station and
São Paulo prison, wounding seven policemen and killing 40 Africans. The government held a funeral for the deceased police officers on
February 5. During the funeral Portuguese citizens became enraged and massacred Africans in Luanda. Militants attacked a second prison on
February 10 and the Portuguese reaction was equally brutal. John Marcum reported, "the Portuguese vengeance was awesome. The police helped civilian vigilantes organize nightly slaughters in the [Luanda slums]. The whites hauled Africans from their flimsy one-room huts, shot them and left their bodies in the streets. A methodist missionary... testified that he personally knew of the deaths of almost three hundred."
[10] Within the next few weeks the government pushed the MPLA out of Luanda, northeast into the Dembos region where the MPLA established the '1st Military Region'. UPA leader
Holden Roberto launched an incursion into Angola on
March 15, leading 4,000 to 5,000 militants. His forces took farms, government outposts, and trading centers, killing everyone they encountered. At least 1,000 whites and an unknown number of natives were killed.
[11] Commenting on the incursion, Roberto said,
The Portuguese took control of Pedra Verde, the UPA's last base in northern Angola, on
September 20. In the first year of the war 2,000 Portuguese and 50,000 Africans died while between 400,000 and 500,000 refugees went to
Zaire. UPA militants joined the refugees and continued to launch attacks from the safety of Zaire.
A UPA patrol took 21 MPLA militants prisoner and then executed them on
October 9, 1961 in the
Ferreira incident, sparking further violence between the two groups.
In 1962 the MPLA held a party congress in
Leopoldville.
Viriato da Cruz, found to be "slow, negligent, and adverse to planning," was replaced by
Agostinho Neto. In addition to the change in leadership the MPLA adopted and reaffirmed its policies for an independent Angola;
democracy,
multiracialism, national liberation of the entire colony, non-alignment, no foreign military bases in Angola, and nationalization.
Neto met Marxist leader
Che Guevara in 1965 and soon received funding from the governments of
Cuba,
German Democratic Republic, and the
Soviet Union.
[13]
In May 1966
Daniel Chipenda, then a member of MPLA, established the Eastern Front, significantly expanding the MPLA's reach in Angola. When the EF collapsed, Chipenda and Neto each blamed the other's factions.
UNITA carried out its first attack on
December 25, 1966, preventing trains from passing through the
Benguela railway at
Teixeira de Sousa on the border with
Zambia. UNITA derailed the railway twice in 1967, angering the Zambian government which exported copper through the railway. President
Kenneth Kaunda responded by kicking UNITA's 500 militant forces out of Zambia. Savimbi moved to
Cairo,
Egypt where he lived for a year. He secretly entered Angola through Zambia and worked with the Portuguese military against the MPLA.
During the late 1960s the FNLA and MPLA fought each other as much as they did the Portuguese with MPLA forces assisting the Portuguese in finding FNLA hideouts.
1970-1975
The MPLA began forming squadrons of 100 to 150 militants in 1971. These squadrons, armed with 60mm and 81mm mortar, attacked Portuguese outposts. The Portuguese conducted counter-insurgency sweeps against MPLA forces in 1972 and 1973, destroying the
Ho Chi Minh camp. Additionally,
South African Defence Forces engaged the MPLA forces in
Moxico in February 1972, destroying the Communist presence and the Eastern Front. Neto, defeated, retreated with 800 militants to the
Republic of the Congo. Factions in the MPLA jockeyed for power and the
Soviet Union allied with the Chipenda faction in 1972. In 1973 Chipenda left the MPLA, founding the
Eastern Revolt with 1,500 former MPLA followers.
Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere convinced the
People's Republic of China, which had begun funding the MPLA in 1970, to ally with the FNLA against the MPLA in 1973. Roberto visited the PRC in December and secured Chinese support. The Soviet Union cutoff aid to the MPLA completely in 1974 when
Revolta Activa split off from the mainstream MPLA. In November the Soviet Union resumed aid to the MPLA after Neto reasserted his leadership.
s engaged the MPLA forces in
Moxico in February 1972, destroying the Communist presence and the Eastern Front. Differing factions in the MPLA then jockeyed for power. 1,000 FNLA fighters mutinied on March
17 in
Kinkuzu, but the Zairian army put down the rebellion on behalf of Roberto. Roberto visited the
People's Republic of China in December 1973, gaining Chinese support for the FNLA. South African forces invaded Angola on
October 23, 1975.
[14]
Leftist military officers overthrew the
Caetano government in Portugal in the
Carnation Revolution on
April 25, 1974. The MPLA, FNLA, and UNITA each negotiated peace agreements with the transitional Portuguese government and began to fight each other for control of
Luanda and the country.
Holden Roberto,
Agostinho Neto, and
Jonas Savimbi met in
Bukavu,
Zaire in July and agreed to negotiate with the Portuguese as one political entity. They met again in
Mombasa,
Kenya on
January 5, 1975 and agreed to stop fighting each other, further outlining constitutional negotiations with the Portuguese. They met for a third time, with Portuguese government officials, in
Alvor,
Portugal from
January 10-
15 and signed what became known as the
Alvor Agreement, granting Angola independence on
November 11 and establishing a transitional government.
The agreement ended the war for independence while marking the transition to
civil war. The
Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda and
Eastern Revolt never signed the agreement as they were excluded from negotiations. The coalition government the Alvor Agreement established soon fell as nationalist factions, doubting one another's commitment to the peace process, tried to take control of the colony by force.
The parties agreed to hold the first
assembly elections in October 1975. From
January 31, 1975 until independence a transitional government consisting of the Portuguese High Commissioner Rosa Coutinho and a Prime Ministerial Council would rule. The PMC consisted of three representatives, one from each Angolan party, and a rotating Premiership among the representatives. Every decision required two-thirds majority support. The twelve ministries were divided equally among the Angolan parties and the Portuguese government, three for each. Author Witney Wright Schneidman criticized this provision in ''Engaging Africa: Washington and the Fall of Portugal's Colonial Empire'' for ensuring a "virtual paralysis in executive authority." The Bureau of Intelligence and Research cautioned that an excessive desire to preserve the
balance of power in the agreement hurt the transitional Angolan government's ability to function.
The Portuguese government's main goal in negotiations was preventing the mass emigration of white Angolans. Paradoxically, the agreement only allowed the MPLA, FNLA, and UNITA to nominate candidates to the first assembly elections, deliberately disenfranchising
Bakongo, Cabindans, and whites. The Portuguese reasoned that white Angolans would have to join the separatist movements and the separatists would have to moderate their platforms to expand their political bases.
The agreement called for the integration of the militant wings of the Angolan parties into a new military, the
Angolan Defense Forces. The ADF would have 48,000 active personnel, made up of 24,000 Portuguese and 8,000 MPLA, FNLA, and UNITA fighters respectively. Each party maintained separate barracks and outposts. Every military decision required the unanimous consent of each party's headquarters and the joint military command. The Portuguese forces lacked equipment and commitment to the cause while Angolan nationalists were antagonistic of each other and lacked training.
The treaty, which FLEC never agreed to, described
Cabinda as an "integral and inalienable part of Angola." Separatists view the agreement as a violation of Cabindan right to
self-determination.
[16] By August 1975 the MPLA had taken control over Cabinda.
[17]
All three parties soon had forces greater in number than the Portuguese, endangering the colonial power's ability to keep the peace. Factional fighting renewed, reaching new heights as foreign supplies of arms increased. In February the Cuban government warned the
Eastern Bloc the Alvor Agreement would not succeed. By spring the
African National Congress and
SWAPO were echoing Cuba's warning.
[18] Leaders of the
Organization of African Unity organized a peace conference moderated by
Kenyan President Jomo Kenyatta with the three leaders in
Nakuru, Kenya in June. The Angolan leaders issued the
Nakuru Declaration on
June 21,
[19] agreeing to abide by the provisions of the Alvor Agreement while acknowledging a mutual lack of trust led to violence. Many analysts have criticized the transitional government in Portugal for the violence that followed the Alvor Agreement in terms of a lack of concern about internal Angolan security and favoritism towards the MPLA. High Commissioner Coutinho, one of the seven leaders of the
National Salvation Junta, openly gave Portuguese military equipment to MPLA forces.
Edward Mulcahy, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs in the
United States State Department, told
Tom Killoran, the U.S. Consul General in Angola, to congratulate the PMC rather than the FNLA and UNITA on their own and Coutinho for Portugal's "untiring and protracted efforts" at a peace agreement.
Secretary of State
Henry Kissinger considered any government involving the pro-Soviet, Communist MPLA, to be unacceptable and President
Gerald Ford oversaw heightened aid to the FNLA.
In July the MPLA violently forced the FNLA out of Luanda and UNITA voluntarily withdrew to its stronghold in the south. There MPLA forces engaged UNITA and UNITA declared war. By August the MPLA had control of 11 of the 15 provincial capitals, including Cabina and Luanda. South Africa intervened on
October 23, sending 1,500 to 2,000 troops from
Namibia into southern Angola. FNLA-UNITA-South African forces took five provincial capitals, including Novo Redondo and Benguela in three weeks. On
November 10 the Portuguese left Angola. Cuban-MPLA forces defeated South African-FNLA forces, maintaining control over Luanda. On
November 11 Neto declared the independence of the People's Republic of Angola.
The FNLA and UNITA responded by proclaiming their own government based in
Huambo.
By mid-November the Huambo government had control over southern Angola and began pushing north.
Death Road
An anti-Communist force made up of 1,500 FNLA fighters, 100 Portuguese Angolan soldiers, and two battalions of the Zairian army passed near the city of Quifdango, only 30km north of Luanda, at dawn on
November 10. The force marched in a single line along the
Bengo River as 26 South African gunners faced an 800-strong Cuban force across the river. The Cubans and MPLA fighters bombarded the FNLA with mortar and 122mm rockets, destroying most of the FNLA's armored cars and six Jeeps carrying antitank rockets in the first hour of fighting. Witnesses estimated the Cuban-led force shot 2000 rockets at the FNLA. Cubans then drove forward, launching RPG-7 rocket grenades, shooting with anti-aircraft guns, killing hundreds. The South African force retreated to President Steyn, a South African navy frigate. The Cuba-MPLA victory in Nshila wa Lufu, Death Road, largely ended the FNLA's importance.
[21]
References
1. Rothchild, Donald S. ''Managing Ethnic Conflict in Africa: Pressures and Incentives for Cooperation'', 1997. Pages 115-116.
2. Chester A. Crocker, Fen Osler Hampson, and Pamela R. Aall. ''Grasping The Nettle: Analyzing Cases Of Intractable Conflict'', 2005. Page 213.
3. Palmer, Alan Warwick. ''The Facts on File Dictionary of 20th Century History, 1900-1978'', 1979. Facts on File, Inc. Page 15.
4. Samuel Newton Dicken and Forrest Ralph Pitts. ''Introduction to Human Geography'', 1963. Page 359.
5. Wright, George. ''The Destruction of a Nation: United States Policy Towards Angola Since 1945'', 1997. Pages 2, 8-11, and 57.
6. Oyebade, Adebayo O. ''Culture And Customs of Angola'', 2006. Page XI.
7. ''Africa Year Book and Who's who'', 1977. Page 238.
8. Tvedten, Inge. ''Angola: Struggle for Peace and Reconstruction'', 1997. Pages 29-36.
9. Robert (ADP) Shadle and James Stuart Olson. ''Historical Dictionary of European Imperialism'', 1991. Pages 26-27.
10. Sellstr̀eom, Tor. ''Sweden and National Liberation in Southern Africa'', 2002. Page 380.
11. Edgerton, Robert Breckenridge. ''Africa's Armies: From Honor to Infamy'', 2002. Page 72.
12. George, Edward. ''The Cuban Intervention In Angola, 1965-1991: from Che Guevara to Cuito Cuanavale'', 2005. Pages 10, 46, and 289.
13. Peter Abbott and Manuel Ribeiro Rodrigues. ''Modern African Wars: Angola and Mozambique, 1961-74'', 1988. Page 10.
14. Peter N. Stearns and William Leonard Langer. ''The Encyclopedia of World History: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, Chronologically Arranged'', 2001. Page 1065.
15. Schneidman, Witney Wright. ''Engaging Africa: Washington and the Fall of Portugal's Colonial Empire'', 2004. Page 200.
16. Ryan, J. Atticus. ''Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization Yearbook'', 1998. Page 58.
17. Porter, Bruce D. ''The USSR in Third World Conflicts: Soviet Arms and Diplomacy in Local Wars, 1945-1980'', 1986. Page 149.
18. Westad, Odd Arne. ''The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions and the Making of Our Times'', 2005. Page 227.
19. McDannald, Alexander Hopkins. ''The Americana Annual: An Encyclopedia of Current Events, 1877-1976'', 1976. Page 86.
20. 1975, Angola: Mercenaries, Murder and Corruption Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade
21. CIA man Roberto: Burying the Last of Angola's 'Big Men', August 9, 2007. Santiago Indy Media.
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