Angolan War for Independence
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The Angolan War of Independence (; 1961–1974), called in Angola the ("Armed Struggle of National Liberation"), began as an uprising against forced cultivation of cotton, and it became a multi-faction struggle for the control of Portugal's overseas province of Angola among three nationalist movements and a
separatist Separatism is the advocacy of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group. As with secession, separatism conventionally refers to full political separation. Groups simply seeking greate ...
movement. The war ended when a leftist military coup in
Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
in April 1974 overthrew Portugal's '' Estado Novo'' dictatorship, and the new regime immediately stopped all military action in the African colonies, declaring its intention to grant them independence without delay. The conflict is usually approached as a branch or a theater of the wider
Portuguese Overseas War The Portuguese Colonial War ( pt, Guerra Colonial Portuguesa), also known in Portugal as the Overseas War () or in the former colonies as the War of Liberation (), and also known as the Angolan, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambican War of Independence, ...
, which also included the independence wars of Guinea-Bissau and of Mozambique. It was a guerrilla war in which the Portuguese army and security forces waged a
counter-insurgency Counterinsurgency (COIN) is "the totality of actions aimed at defeating irregular forces". The Oxford English Dictionary defines counterinsurgency as any "military or political action taken against the activities of guerrillas or revolutionar ...
campaign against armed groups mostly dispersed across sparsely populated areas of the vast Angolan countryside.António Pires Nunes
Angola 1966–74
/ref> Many atrocities were committed by all forces involved in the conflict. In the end, the Portuguese achieved overall military victory. In Angola, after the Portuguese withdrew, an armed conflict broke out among the nationalist movements. This war formally came to an end in January 1975 when the Portuguese government, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), and the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) signed the
Alvor Agreement The Alvor Agreement, signed on 15 January 1975 in Alvor, Portugal, granted Angola independence from Portugal on 11 November and formally ended the 13-year-long Angolan War of Independence. The agreement was signed by the Portuguese governmen ...
. Informally, this civil war resumed by May 1975, including street fighting in Luanda and the surrounding countryside.


Background of the territory

In 1482, the
Kingdom of Portugal The Kingdom of Portugal ( la, Regnum Portugalliae, pt, Reino de Portugal) was a monarchy in the western Iberian Peninsula and the predecessor of the modern Portuguese Republic. Existing to various extents between 1139 and 1910, it was also kno ...
's caravels, commanded by navigator Diogo Cão, arrived in the
Kingdom of Kongo The Kingdom of Kongo ( kg, Kongo dya Ntotila or ''Wene wa Kongo;'' pt, Reino do Congo) was a kingdom located in central Africa in present-day northern Angola, the western portion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Republic of the ...
. Other expeditions followed, and close relations were soon established between the two kingdoms. The Portuguese brought firearms, many other technological advances, and a new religion, Christianity. In return, the King of the Congo offered slaves, ivory and minerals.
Paulo Dias de Novais Paulo Dias de Novais (c. 1510 – 9 May 1589), a fidalgo of the Royal Household, was a Portuguese colonizer of Africa in the 16th century and the first Captain-Governor of Portuguese Angola. He was the grandson of the explorer Bartolomeu Dias. ...
founded Luanda in 1575 as . Novais occupied a strip of land with a hundred families of colonists and four hundred soldiers, and established a fortified settlement. The Portuguese crown granted Luanda the status of city in 1605. Several other settlements, forts and ports were founded and maintained by the Portuguese.
Benguela Benguela (; Umbundu: Luombaka) is a city in western Angola, capital of Benguela Province. Benguela is one of Angola's most populous cities with a population of 555,124 in the city and 561,775 in the municipality, at the 2014 census. History Por ...
, a Portuguese fort from 1587, a town from 1617, was another important early settlement founded and ruled by Portugal. The early period of Portuguese incursion was punctuated by a series of wars, treaties and disputes with local African rulers, particularly Nzinga Mbandi, who resisted Portugal with great determination. The conquest of the territory of contemporary Angola started only in the 19th century and was not concluded before the 1920s. In 1834, Angola and the rest of the Portuguese overseas dominions received the status of overseas provinces of Portugal. From then on, the official position of the Portuguese authorities was always that Angola was an integral part of Portugal in the same way as were the provinces of the
Metropole A metropole (from the Greek ''metropolis'' for "mother city") is the homeland, central territory or the state exercising power over a colonial empire. From the 19th century, the English term ''metropole'' was mainly used in the scope of ...
(European Portugal). The status of province was briefly interrupted from 1926 to 1951, when Angola had the title of "colony" (itself administratively divided in several provinces), but it was recovered on 11 June 1951. The Portuguese constitutional revision of 1971 increased the autonomy of the province, which became the State of Angola. Angola has always had very low population density. Despite having a territory larger than France and Germany combined, in 1960, Angola had just a population of 5 million, of which around 180,000 were whites, 55,000 were mixed race and the remaining were blacks. In the 1970s, the population had increased to 5.65 million, of which 450,000 were whites, 65,000 were mixed race and the remaining were blacks. Political scientist Gerald Bender wrote "... by the end of 1974 the white population of Angola would be approximately 335,000, or slightly more than half the number which has commonly been reported." The provincial government of Angola was headed by the Governor-General, who had both executive and legislative powers, reporting to the Portuguese Government, through the
Minister of the Overseas The Minister of the Overseas (french: Ministre des Outre-mer) is the official in charge of the Ministry of the Overseas in the Government of the French Republic, responsible for overseeing Overseas France. The office was titled Minister of ...
. He was assisted by a
cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...
made up of a Secretary-General (who also served as his deputy) and several provincial secretaries, each managing a given portfolio. There was a Legislative Council – including both appointed and elected members – with legislative responsibilities that were gradually increased in the 1960s and the 1970s. In 1972, it was transformed in the Legislative Assembly of Angola. There was also a Council of Government, responsible to advice the Governor-General in his legislative and executive responsibilities, which included the senior public officials of the province. Despite being responsible for the police and other civil internal security forces, the Governor-General did not have military responsibilities, which were vested in the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Angola. The Commander-in-Chief reported directly to the Minister of National Defense and the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces. In some occasions however, the same person was appointed to fulfil both the roles of Governor-Geral and Commander-in-Chief, thus assuming both civil as military responsibilities. In 1961, the local administration of Angola included the following
districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
: Cabinda,
Congo Congo or The Congo may refer to either of two countries that border the Congo River in central Africa: * Democratic Republic of the Congo, the larger country to the southeast, capital Kinshasa, formerly known as Zaire, sometimes referred to a ...
, Luanda,
Cuanza Norte The Cuanza Norte Province ( en, North Cuanza; umb, Konano Kwanza Volupale) is province of Angola. N'dalatando is the capital and the province has an area of 24,110 km² and a population of 443,386. Manuel Pedro Pacavira was born here and ...
,
Cuanza Sul Cuanza Sul Province ("South Cuanza"; Umbundu: Kwanza Kombuelo Volupale) is a province of Angola. It has an area of and a population of 1,881,873. Sumbe is the capital of the province. Don founded the province in 1769 as Novo Redondo. Histo ...
, Malanje, Lunda,
Benguela Benguela (; Umbundu: Luombaka) is a city in western Angola, capital of Benguela Province. Benguela is one of Angola's most populous cities with a population of 555,124 in the city and 561,775 in the municipality, at the 2014 census. History Por ...
, Huambo, Bié-Cuando-Cubango, Moxico, Moçâmedes and Huíla. In 1962, the Congo District was divided in the Zaire and Uige districts and that of Bié-Cuando-Cubando in the Bié and Cuando-Cubango districts. In 1970, the Cunene District was also created by the separation of the southern part of the Huíla District. Each was headed by a district governor, assisted by a district board. Following the Portuguese model of local government, the districts were made of municipalities () and these were subdivided in civil parishes (), each administered by local council (respectively and ). In the regions where the necessary social and economic development had not yet been achieved, the municipalities and civil parishes were transitorily replaced, respectively, by administrative circles () and posts (), each of these governed by an official appointed by the government who had wide administrative powers, performing local government, police, sanitary, economical, tributary and even judicial roles. The circle administrators and the chiefs of administrative posts directed the local native auxiliary police officers known as "
sepoy ''Sepoy'' () was the Persian-derived designation originally given to a professional Indian infantryman, traditionally armed with a musket, in the armies of the Mughal Empire. In the 18th century, the French East India Company and its oth ...
s" (). In these regions, the traditional authorities – including native kings, rulers and tribal chiefs – were kept and integrated in the administrative system, serving as intermediaries between the provincial authorities and the local native populations.


Belligerents


Portuguese forces

The Portuguese forces engaged in the conflict included mainly the
Armed Forces A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
, but also the security and paramilitary forces.


Armed Forces

The Portuguese Armed Forces in Angola included land, naval and air forces, which came under the joint command of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Angola. Until 17 June 1961, there was not an appointed Commander-in-Chief, with the joint command in the early stages of the conflict being exercised by the commanders of the land forces, generals Monteiro Libório (until June 1961) and Silva Freire (from June to September 1961). From then on, the role of Commander-in-Chief was performed successively by the generals Venâncio Deslandes (1961–1962, also serving as Governor-General), Holbeche Fino (1962–1963), Andrade e Silva (1963–1965), Soares Pereira (1965–1970),
Costa Gomes Costa may refer to: Biology * Rib (Latin: ''costa''), in vertebrate anatomy * Costa (botany), the central strand of a plant leaf or thallus * Costa (coral), a stony rib, part of the skeleton of a coral * Costa (entomology), the leading edge of t ...
(1970–1972), Luz Cunha (1972–1974) and Franco Pinheiro (1974), all of them from the Army, except the first one who was from the Air Force. The Commander-in-Chief served as the theatre commander and coordinated the forces of the three branches stationed in the province, with the respective branch commanders serving as assistant commanders-in-chief. With the course of the conflict, the operational role of the Commander-in-Chief and of his staff was increasingly reinforced at the expense of the branch commanders. In 1968, the Military Area 1 – responsible for the Dembos rebelled area – was established under the direct control of the Commander-in-Chief and, from 1970, the military zones were also put under his direct control, with the Eastern Military Zone becoming a joint command. When the conflict erupted, the Portuguese Armed Forces in Angola only included 6500 men, of which 1500 were Metropolitans (Europeans) and the remaining were locals. By the end of the conflict, the number had increased to more than 65 000, of which 57.6% were Metropolitans and the remaining were locals. The land forces in Angola constituted the 3rd Military Region of the
Portuguese Army The Portuguese Army ( pt, Exército Português) is the land component of the Armed Forces of Portugal and is also its largest branch. It is charged with the defence of Portugal, in co-operation with other branches of the Armed Forces. With its ...
(renamed "Military Region of Angola, RMA" in 1962). The Military Region was foreseen to include five subordinate regional territorial commands, but these had not yet been activated. The disposition of the army units in the province at the beginning of the conflict had been established in 1953, at that a time when no internal conflicts were expected to happen in Angola, with the Portuguese major military concerns being a foreseen conventional war in Europe against the Warsaw Pact. So, the previous organization of the former Colonial Military Forces based in company-sized units scattered across Angola, also performing internal security duties, had shift to one along conventional lines, based in three infantry regiments and several battalion-sized units of several arms concentrated in the major urban centers, aimed at being able to raise an expeditionary field division to be deployed from Angola to reinforce the Portuguese Army in Europe if a conventional war occurred. These regiments and other units were, however, mostly in cadre strength, serving as training centers for the conscripts drafted in the province. During the conflict, they were responsible to raise the locally recruited field units. Besides the locally raised units, the Army forces in Angola included reinforcement units raised and sent from European Portugal. These were transitory units, mostly made of conscripts (including most of their junior officers and
non-commissioned officer A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is a military officer who has not pursued a commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority by promotion through the enlisted ranks. (Non-officers, which includes most or all enli ...
s), which existed only during the usual two-year period of tour of duty of their members, being disbanded afterwards. The great majority of these units were light infantry battalions and independent companies designated . These battalions and companies were designed to operate autonomously and isolated, without much support from the higher echelons, so having a strong service support component. They were deployed in a grid system () along the theatre of operations, with each one being responsible for a given
area of responsibility Area of responsibility (AOR) is a pre-defined geographic region assigned to Combatant commanders of the Unified Command Plan (UCP), that are used to define an area with specific geographic boundaries where they have the authority to plan and cond ...
. Usually, a regiment-sized ( battlegroup) commanded a sector, with this being divided in several sub-sectors, each constituting the area of responsibility of a battalion. Each battalion, in turn, had its field companies dispersed by the sub-sector, each with part of it as its area of responsibility. From 1962, four intervention zones (Northern, Central, Southern and Eastern) were established – renamed "military zones" in 1967 – each grouping several sectors. Due to the low scale guerrilla nature of the conflict, the company became the main tactical unit, with the standard organization in three rifle and one support platoons, being replaced by one based in four identical sub-units known as "combat groups". The Army also fielded regular units of artillery, armored reconnaissance, engineering, communications, signal intelligence, military police and service support. Besides the regular units, the Army also fielded units of special forces. Initially, these consisted of companies of , trained for guerrilla and counter-insurgency warfare. The Army tried to extend the training of the special to all the light infantry units, so disbanding those companies in 1962. These proved, however, impracticable and soon other special forces were raised again in the form of the Commandos. The Commandos and a few specially selected units were not deployed in grid, but served instead as mobile intervention units under the direct control of the higher echelons of command. An unconventional force also fielded by Army was the
Dragoons of Angola The 1st Cavalry Group (Portuguese: ''Grupo de Cavalaria n.º 1''), until 1968 the Reconnaissance Group of Angola (''Grupo de Reconhecimento de Angola''), and commonly known as the Dragoons of Angola (''Dragões de Angola''), was a special cavalry u ...
, a special counterinsurgency horse unit raised in the middle 1960s. The Portuguese Navy forces were under the command of the Naval Command of Angola. These forces included the Zaire Flotilla (with patrol boats and landing craft operating in the
river Zaire The Congo River ( kg, Nzâdi Kôngo, french: Fleuve Congo, pt, Rio Congo), formerly also known as the Zaire River, is the second longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the second largest river in the world by discharge ...
), naval assets (including frigates and corvettes deployed to Angola in rotation), Marines companies and Special Marines detachments. While the Marines companies served as regular naval infantry with the role of protecting the Navy's installations and vessels, the Special Marines were special forces, serving as mobile intervention units, specialized in amphibious assaults. The initial focus of the Navy was mainly the river Zaire, with the mission of interdicting the infiltration of guerrillas in Northern Angola from the bordering Republic of Zaire. Later, the Navy also operated in the rivers of Eastern Angola, despite it being a remote interior region at around 1000 km distance from the Ocean. The Portuguese air assets in Angola were under the command of the 2nd Air Region of the
Portuguese Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = 1 July , equipment = , equipment_label ...
, with headquarters in Luanda. They included a central air base (the Air Base 9 at Luanda) and two sector air bases (the Base-Aerodrome 3 at Negage, Uíge and the Base-Aerodrome 4 at Henrique de Carvalho, Lunda). A fourth air base was being built ( Base-Aerodrome 10 at Serpa Pinto, Cuando-Cubando), but it was not completed before the end of the conflict. These bases controlled a number of satellite air fields, including maneuver and alternate aerodromes. Besides these, the Air Force also could count with a number of additional airfields, including those of some of the Army garrisons, in some of which air detachments were permanently deployed. The Air Force also maintained in Angola, the Paratrooper Battalion 21, which served as a mobile intervention unit, with its forces initially being deployed by parachute, but later being mainly used in air assaults by helicopter. The Air Force was supported by the voluntary air formations, composed of civil pilots, mainly from local flying clubs, who operated light aircraft mainly in air logistics support missions. In the beginning of the conflict, the Air Force had only a few aircraft stationed in Angola, including 25
F-84G The Republic F-84 Thunderjet was an American turbojet fighter-bomber aircraft. Originating as a 1944 United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) proposal for a "day fighter", the F-84 first flew in 1946. Although it entered service in 1947, the Thun ...
jet fighter-bombers, six PV-2 Harpoon bombers, six Nord Noratlas transport aircraft, six
Alouette II Alouette or alouettes may refer to: Music and literature * "Alouette" (song), a French-language children's song * Alouette, a character in ''The King of Braves GaoGaiGar'' Aerospace * SNCASE Alouette, a utility helicopter developed in France i ...
helicopters, eight T-6 light attack aircraft and eight Auster light observation aircraft. By the early 1970s, it had available four F-84G, six PV-2 Harpoon, 13 Nord Noratlas,
C-47 The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota (Royal Air Force, RAF, Royal Australian Air Force, RAAF, Royal Canadian Air Force, RCAF, Royal New Zealand Air Force, RNZAF, and South African Air Force, SAAF designation) is a airlift, military transport ai ...
and C-57 transport aircraft, 30
Alouette III Alouette or alouettes may refer to: Music and literature * "Alouette" (song), a French-language children's song * Alouette, a character in ''The King of Braves GaoGaiGar'' Aerospace * SNCASE Alouette, a utility helicopter developed in France i ...
and
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helicopters, 18 T-6 and 26
Dornier Do 27 The Dornier Do 27 is a German single-engine STOL utility aircraft that was designed and manufactured by Dornier GmbH (later DASA Dornier and Fairchild-Dornier). It was notable for being the first mass-produced aircraft in Germany following the ...
observation aircraft. Despite the increase, the number of aircraft was always too few to cover the enormous Angolan territory, besides many being old aircraft difficult to maintain in flying conditions. From the late 1960s, the Portuguese forces in southern Angola were able to count with the support of helicopters and some other air assets of the South African Air Force, with two Portuguese-South African joint air support centers being established.


Security forces

The security forces in Angola were under the control of the civil authorities, headed by the Governor-General of the province. The main of these forces engaged in the war was the Public Security Police (PSP) and the PIDE (renamed DGS in 1969). By the middle of the 1960s, these forces included 10,000 PSP constables and 1,100 PIDE agents. The PSP was the uniformed preventive police of Angola. It was modeled after the European Portuguese PSP, but it covered the whole territory of the province, including its rural areas and not only the major urban areas as in the European Portugal. The PSP of Angola included a general-command in Luanda and district commands in each of the several district capitals, with a network of police stations and posts scattered along the territory. The Angolan PSP was reinforced with mobile police companies deployed by the European Portuguese PSP. The PSP also included the Rural Guard, which was responsible for the protection of farms and other agricultural companies. Besides this, the PSP was responsible to frame the district militias, which were employed mainly in the self-defense of villages and other settlements. The PIDE (International and State Defense Police) was the Portuguese secret and border police. The PIDE Delegation of Angola, included a number of sub-delegations, border posts and surveillance posts. In the war, it operated as an intelligence service. The PIDE raised and controlled the ''
Flechas The Flechas (Portuguese for ''Arrows'') were a elite paramilitary tactical unit of the Portuguese secret police (PIDE, latter renamed DGS) that operated in Angola and Mozambique during the Portuguese Colonial War. Unlike most of the other Portugue ...
'', a paramilitary unit of special forces made up of natives. The ''Flechas'' were initially intended to serve mostly as trackers, but due to their effectiveness they were increasingly employed in more offensive operations, including pseudo-terrorist operations.


Para-military and irregular forces

Besides the regular armed and security forces, there were a number of para-military and irregular forces, some of them under the control of the military and other controlled by the civil authorities. The OPVDCA ( Provincial Organization of Volunteers and Civil Defense of Angola) was a militia-type corps responsible for internal security and
civil defense Civil defense ( en, region=gb, civil defence) or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state (generally non-combatants) from man-made and natural disasters. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, miti ...
roles, with similar characteristics to those of the Portuguese Legion existing in European Portugal. It was under the direct control of the Governor-General of the province. Its origin was the Corps of Volunteers organized in the beginning of the conflict, which became the Provincial Organization of Volunteers in 1962, also assuming the role of civil defense in 1964, when it became the OPVDCA. It was made up of volunteers that served in part-time, most of these being initially whites, but latter becoming increasingly multi-racial. In the conflict, the OPVDCA was mainly employed in the defense of people, lines of communications and sensitive installations. It included a central provincial command and a district command in each of the Angolan districts. It is estimated that by the end of the conflict there were 20,000 OPVDCA volunteers. The irregular paramilitary forces, included a number of different types of units, with different characteristics. Under military control, were the Special Groups (GE) and the Special Troops (TE). The GE were platoon-sized combat groups of special forces made up of native volunteers, which operated in Eastern Angola, usually attached to Army units. The TE had similar characteristics, but were made up of defectors from FNLA, operating in Cabinda and Northern Angola. Under the control of the civil authorities were the (Faithfuls) and the (Loyals). The was a force made up mostly of exiled Katangese gendarmes from the
Front for Congolese National Liberation The Congolese National Liberation Front (french: Front de libération nationale congolaise, FLNC) is a political party funded by rebels of Katangese origin and composed of ex-members of the Katangese Gendarmerie. It was active mainly in Angola an ...
, which opposed Mobutu regime, being organized in three battalions. The was a force made up of political exiles from Zambia.


Race and ethnicity in the Portuguese Armed Forces

From 1900 to the early 1950s the Portuguese maintained a separate colonial army in their African possessions, consisting mainly of a limited number of (native companies). Officers and senior NCOs were seconded from the metropolitan army, while junior NCOs were mainly drawn from Portuguese settlers resident in the overseas territories. The rank and file were a mixture of black African volunteers and white conscripts from the settler community doing their obligatory military service. Black were in theory also liable to conscription but in practice only a limited number were called on to serve. With the change in official status of the African territories from colonies to overseas provinces in 1951, the colonial army lost its separate status and was integrated into the regular forces of Portugal itself. The basis of recruitment for the overseas units remained essentially unchanged. According to the Mozambican historian João Paulo Borges Coelho, the Portuguese colonial army was segregated along lines of race and ethnicity. Until 1960, there were three classes of soldiers: commissioned soldiers (European and African whites), overseas soldiers (black African or ), and native soldiers (Africans who were part of the regime). These categories were renamed to 1st, 2nd and 3rd class in 1960—which effectively corresponded to the same classification. Later, although skin colour ceased to be an official discrimination, in practice the system changed little—although from the late 1960s onward blacks were admitted as ensigns (), the lowest rank in the hierarchy of commissioned officers.Coelho, João Paulo Borges, ''African Troops in the Portuguese Colonial Army, 1961–1974: Angola, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique'', Portuguese Studies Review 10 (1) (2002), pp. 129–50 Numerically, black soldiers never amounted to more than 41% of the Colonial army, rising from just 18% at the outbreak of the war. Coelho noted that perceptions of African soldiers varied a good deal among senior Portuguese commanders during the conflict in Angola, Guinea and Mozambique. General Costa Gomes, perhaps the most successful counterinsurgency commander, sought good relations with local civilians and employed African units within the framework of an organized counter-insurgency plan. General Spínola, by contrast, appealed for a more political and psycho-social use of African soldiers. General Kaúlza, the most conservative of the three, feared African forces outside his strict control and seems not to have progressed beyond his initial racist perception of the Africans as inferior beings. Native African troops, although widely deployed, were initially employed in subordinate roles as enlisted troops or noncommissioned officers. As the war went on, an increasing number of native Angolans rose to positions of command, though of junior rank. After 500 years of colonial rule, Portugal had failed to produce any native black governors, headmasters, police inspectors, or professors; it had also failed to produce a single commander of senior commissioned rank in the overseas Army. Here Portuguese colonial administrators fell victim to the legacy of their own discriminatory and limited policies in education, which largely barred indigenous Angolans from an equal and adequate education until well after the outbreak of the insurgency. By the early 1970s, the Portuguese authorities had fully perceived these flaws as wrong and contrary to their overseas ambitions in Portuguese Africa, and willingly accepted a true color blindness policy with more spending in education and training opportunities, which started to produce a larger number of black high-ranked professionals, including military personnel.


Nationalist and separatist forces


UPA/FNLA

UPA was created on 7 July 1954, as the Union of the Peoples of Northern Angola, by Holden Roberto, a descendant of the old Kongo Royal House, who was born in Northern Angola but who lived since his early childhood in the Belgian Congo, where he came to work for the local colonial authorities. In 1958, the movement adopts a more embracing designation, becoming the Union of the Peoples of Angola (UPA). In 1960, Holden Roberto signed an agreement with the MPLA for the two movements to fight together against the Portuguese forces, but he ended fighting alone. In 1962, UPA merges with the Democratic Party of Angola, becoming the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA), assuming itself as a pro-American and anti-Soviet organization. In the same year, it creates the Revolutionary Government of Angola in Exile (GRAE). UPA and later FNLA was mainly supported by the
Bakongo The Kongo people ( kg, Bisi Kongo, , singular: ; also , singular: ) are a Bantu ethnic group primarily defined as the speakers of Kikongo. Subgroups include the Beembe, Bwende, Vili, Sundi, Yombe, Dondo, Lari, and others. They have lived ...
ethnic group which occupied the regions of the old
Kingdom of Kongo The Kingdom of Kongo ( kg, Kongo dya Ntotila or ''Wene wa Kongo;'' pt, Reino do Congo) was a kingdom located in central Africa in present-day northern Angola, the western portion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Republic of the ...
, including the Northwestern and Northern Angola, as well as parts of the
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
and Belgian Congos. It had always strong connections with the former Belgian Congo (named Zaire from 1971), including due to Holden Roberto being friend and brother in law of
Mobutu Sese Seko Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga (; born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu; 14 October 1930 – 7 September 1997) was a Congolese politician and military officer who was the president of Zaire from 1965 to 1997 (known as the Democratic Republic o ...
. The armed branch of FNLA was the National Liberation Army of Angola (ELNA). It was mainly supported by Congo/Zaire—where its troops were based and trained—and by Algeria. They were financed by the US and—despite considering themselves anti-communists—received weapons from the Eastern European countries.


MPLA

The People's Movement of Liberation of Angola (MPLA) was founded in 1956, by the merging of the Party of the United Struggle for Africans in Angola (PLUA) and the Angolan Communist Party (PCA). The MPLA was an organization of the left-wing politics, which included mixed race and white members of the Angolan ''
intelligentsia The intelligentsia is a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the in ...
'' and urban elites, supported by the
Ambundu The Ambundu or Mbundu ( Mbundu: or , singular: (distinct from the Ovimbundu) are a Bantu people living in Angola's North-West, North of the river Kwanza. The Ambundu speak Kimbundu, and most also speak the official language of the country ...
and other ethnic groups of the Luanda, Bengo, Cuanza Norte, Cuanza Sul and Mallange districts. It was headed by Agostinho Neto (president) and
Viriato da Cruz Viriato Clemente da Cruz (25 March 1928 – 13 June 1973) was an Angolan poet and politician, who was born in Kikuvo, Porto Amboim, Portuguese Angola, and died in Beijing, People's Republic of China. He is considered one of the most important Angol ...
(secretary-general), both Portuguese-educated urban intellectuals. It was mainly externally supported by the Soviet Union and Cuba, with its tentative to receive support from the United States failing, as these were already supporting UPA/FNLA. The armed wing of the MPLA was the People's Army of Liberation of Angola (EPLA). In its peak, the EPLA included around 4500 fighters, being organized in military regions. It was mainly equipped with Soviet weapons, mostly received through Zambia, which included Tokarev pistol,
PPS submachine gun The PPS ( Russian: ППС – "Пистолет-пулемёт Судаева" or "Pistolet-pulemyot Sudayeva", in English: "Sudayev's submachine-gun") is a family of Soviet submachine guns chambered in 7.62×25mm Tokarev, developed by Alexei Su ...
s, Simonov automatic rifles, Kalashnikov assault rifles, machine-guns, mortars,
rocket-propelled grenade A rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) is a shoulder-fired missile weapon that launches rockets equipped with an explosive warhead. Most RPGs can be carried by an individual soldier, and are frequently used as anti-tank weapons. These warheads are a ...
s,
anti-tank mine An anti-tank mine (abbreviated to "AT mine") is a type of land mine designed to damage or destroy vehicles including tanks and armored fighting vehicles. Compared to anti-personnel mines, anti-tank mines typically have a much larger explosive c ...
s and anti-personnel mines


UNITA

The Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) was created in 1966 by
Jonas Savimbi Jonas Malheiro Savimbi (; 3 August 1934 – 22 February 2002) was an Angolan revolutionary politician and rebel military leader who founded and led the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). UNITA waged a guerrilla war agai ...
, a dissident of FNLA. Jonas Savimbi was the Foreign Minister of the GRAE but entered in course of clash with Holden Roberto, accusing him of having complicity with the US and of following an imperialist policy. Savimbi was member of the
Ovimbundu The Ovimbundu, also known as the Southern Mbundu, are a Bantu ethnic group who live on the Bié Plateau of central Angola and in the coastal strip west of these highlands. As the largest ethnic group in Angola, they make up 38 percent of the ...
tribe of Central and Southern Angola, son of an Evangelic pastor, who went to study medicine in European Portugal, although never graduating. The Armed Forces of Liberation of Angola (FALA) constituted the armed branch of UNITA. They had a small number of fighters and were not well equipped. Its high difficulties led Savimbi to make agreements with the Portuguese authorities, focusing more in fighting MPLA. When the war ended, UNITA was the only one of the nationalist movements that was able to maintain forces operating inside the Angolan territory, with the forces of the remaining movements being eliminated or expelled by the Portuguese Forces.


FLEC

The Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC) was founded in 1963, by the merging of the Movement for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (MLEC), the Action Committee of the Cabinda National Union (CAUNC) and the Mayombe National Alliance (ALLIAMA). On the contrary of the remaining three movements, FLEC did not fight for the independence of the whole Angola, but only for the independence of Cabinda, which it considered a separate country. Although its activities started still before the withdrawal of Portugal from Angola, the military actions of FLEC occurred mainly after, being aimed against the Angolan armed and security forces. FLEC is the only of the nationalist and separatist movements that still maintains a guerrilla warfare until today.


RDL

The Eastern Revolt (RDL) was a dissident wing of the MPLA, created in 1973, under the leadership of
Daniel Chipenda Daniel Chipenda (15 May 1931, Lobito - 28 February 1996) fought in the Angolan War of Independence, serving as the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola's (MPLA) field commander in the Eastern Front before founding and leading the Easte ...
, in opposition to the line of Agostinho Neto. A second dissident wing was the Active Revolt, created at the same time.


Pre-war events


International politics

The international politics of the late 1940s and 1950s was marked by the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
and the wind of change in the European colonies in Asia and Africa. In October 1954, the
Algerian War The Algerian War, also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence,( ar, الثورة الجزائرية '; '' ber, Tagrawla Tadzayrit''; french: Guerre d'Algérie or ') and sometimes in Algeria as the War of 1 November ...
was initiated by a series of explosions in
Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...
. This conflict would lead to the presence of more than 400,000 French military in Algeria until its end in 1962. Foreseeing a similar conflict in its African territories, the Portuguese military paid acute attention to this war, sending observers and personnel to be trained in the counter-insurgence warfare tactics employed by the French. In 1955, the
Bandung Conference The first large-scale Asian–African or Afro–Asian Conference ( id, Konferensi Asia–Afrika)—also known as the Bandung Conference—was a meeting of Asian and African states, most of which were newly independent, which took place on 18–2 ...
was held in Indonesia, with the participation of 29 Asian and African countries, most of which were newly independent. The conference promoted the Afro-Asian economic and cultural cooperation and opposed colonialism or neocolonialism. It was an important step towards the Non-Aligned Movement. Following the admission of Portugal to the United Nations in December 1955, the Secretary-General officially asked the Portuguese Government if the country had
non-self-governing territories Chapter XI of the United Nations Charter defines a non-self-governing territory (NSGT) as a territory "whose people have not yet attained a full measure of self-government". In practice, an NSGT is a territory deemed by the United Nations Gener ...
under its administration. Maintaining consistency with its official doctrine that all Portuguese overseas provinces were an integral part of Portugal as was the Portuguese European territory, the Portuguese Government responded that Portugal did not have any territories that could be qualified as non-self-governing and so it did not have any obligation of providing any information requested under the Article 73 of the United Nations Charter. In 1957, Ghana (former British Gold Cost) becomes the first European colony in Africa to achieve independence, under the leadership of
Kwame Nkrumah Kwame Nkrumah (born 21 September 190927 April 1972) was a Ghanaian politician, political theorist, and revolutionary. He was the first Prime Minister and President of Ghana, having led the Gold Coast to independence from Britain in 1957. An in ...
. In 1958, he organized the Conference of African Independent States, which aimed to be the African Bandung. The former Belgian Congo and northern neighbor of Angola became independent in 1960, as the
Republic of the Congo The Republic of the Congo (french: République du Congo, ln, Republíki ya Kongó), also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply either Congo or the Congo, is a country located in the western coast of Central Africa to the w ...
(known as "Congo-Léopoldville" and later "Congo-Kinshasa", being renamed "
Republic of Zaire Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, ...
" in 1971), with Joseph Kasa-Vubu as president and Patrice Lumumba as prime-minister. Immediately after independence, a number of violent disturbances occurred leading to the Congo Crisis. The white population became a target, with more than 80,000 Belgian residents being forced to flee from the country. The Katanga seceded under the leadership of Moïse Tshombe. The crisis led to the intervention of United Nations and Belgian military forces. The Congolese internal conflicts would culminate with the ascension to power of
Mobutu Sese Seko Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga (; born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu; 14 October 1930 – 7 September 1997) was a Congolese politician and military officer who was the president of Zaire from 1965 to 1997 (known as the Democratic Republic o ...
in 1965. John F. Kennedy was inaugurated as President of the United States on 20 January 1961. His Administration started to support the African nationalist movements, with the objective of neutralizing the increasing Soviet influence in Africa. Regarding Angola, the United States started to give direct support to the UPA and assumed an hostile attitude against Portugal, forbidding it to use American weapons in Africa. In 1964,
Northern Rhodesia Northern Rhodesia was a British protectorate in southern Africa, south central Africa, now the independent country of Zambia. It was formed in 1911 by Amalgamation (politics), amalgamating the two earlier protectorates of Barotziland-North-West ...
became independent as Zambia, under the leadership of Kenneth Kaunda. From then on, Angola was almost entirely surrounded by countries with regimes hostile to Portugal, the exception being South West Africa.


Internal politics and rise of Angolan nationalism

The Portuguese Colonial Act – passed on 13 June 1933 – defined the relationship between the Portuguese overseas territories and the metropole, until being revised in 1951. The Colonial Act reflected an imperialistic view of the overseas territories typical among the European colonial powers of the late 1920s and 1930s. During the period in which it was in force, the Portuguese overseas territories lost the status of "provinces" that they have had since 1834, becoming designated "colonies", with the whole Portuguese overseas territories becoming officially designated " Portuguese Colonial Empire". The Colonial Act subtly recognized the supremacy of the Portuguese over native people, and even if the natives could pursue all studies including university, the ''de facto'' situation was of clear disadvantage due to deep cultural and social differences between most of the traditional indigenous communities and the ethnic Portuguese living in the Angola. Due to its imperialist orientation, the Colonial Act started to be called into question. In 1944,
José Ferreira Bossa José Silvestre Ferreira Bossa GOC (Safara, Moura, 20 July 1894 - 14 February 1970) was governor of Portuguese India and the Colonial Minister during the Estado Novo government of António de Oliveira Salazar. He was the son of Eufrásio Caeta ...
, former Minister of the Colonies, proposed the revision of the Act, including the end up of the designation "colonies" and the resume of the traditional designation "overseas provinces". On 11 June 1951, a new law passed in the Portuguese National Assembly reviewed the Constitution, finally repulsing the Colonial Act. As part of these, the provincial status was returned to all Portuguese overseas territories. By this law, the Portuguese territory of Angola ceased to be called (Colony of Angola) and started again to be officially called (Province of Angola). In 1948,
Viriato da Cruz Viriato Clemente da Cruz (25 March 1928 – 13 June 1973) was an Angolan poet and politician, who was born in Kikuvo, Porto Amboim, Portuguese Angola, and died in Beijing, People's Republic of China. He is considered one of the most important Angol ...
and others formed the
Movement of Young Intellectuals The Movement of Young Intellectuals (MYI) is a defunct Angolan nationalist and cultural organization. Viriato da Cruz and others formed the MYI in 1948. The MYI sent a letter to the United Nations calling for Angola to be given protectorate status u ...
, an organization that promoted Angolan culture. Nationalists sent a letter to the United Nations calling for Angola to be given protectorate status under UN supervision. In the 1950s, a new wave of Portuguese settlement in all of
Portuguese Africa Portuguese Africa may refer to: *African territories of the Portuguese Empire: **Portuguese Cape Verde ** Portuguese Congo **Portuguese East Africa **Portuguese Guinea **Portuguese São Tomé and Príncipe **Portuguese West Africa ** Fort of São Jo ...
, including the overseas province of Angola, was encouraged by the ruling government of António de Oliveira Salazar. In 1953, Angolan separatists founded the
Party of the United Struggle for Africans in Angola Party of the United Struggle for Africans in Angola (in Portuguese: ''Partido da Luta Unida dos Africanos de Angola''; abbreviated: PLUA) is the first political party in Angola to advocate Angolan independence from Portugal, campaigning from its fo ...
(PLUA), the first political party to advocate Angolan independence from Portugal. In 1954, ethnic
Bakongo The Kongo people ( kg, Bisi Kongo, , singular: ; also , singular: ) are a Bantu ethnic group primarily defined as the speakers of Kikongo. Subgroups include the Beembe, Bwende, Vili, Sundi, Yombe, Dondo, Lari, and others. They have lived ...
nationalists in the Belgian Congo and Angola formed the Union of Peoples of Northern Angola (UPA), which advocated the independence of the historical
Kingdom of Kongo The Kingdom of Kongo ( kg, Kongo dya Ntotila or ''Wene wa Kongo;'' pt, Reino do Congo) was a kingdom located in central Africa in present-day northern Angola, the western portion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Republic of the ...
, which included other territories outside the Portuguese overseas province of Angola. During 1955,
Mário Pinto de Andrade Mário Coelho Pinto de Andrade (21 August 1928 – 26 August 1990) was an Angolan poet and politician. Biography He was born in Golungo Alto, in Portuguese Angola, and studied philosophy at the University of Lisbon and sociology at the Sorbon ...
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 Lúcio Rodrigo Leite Barreto de Lara (April 9, 1929 – February 27, 2016), also known by the pseudonym Tchiweka, was a physicist-mathematician, politician, professor, anti-colonial ideologist and one of the founding members (and president) of t ...
, derived support from the
Ambundu The Ambundu or Mbundu ( Mbundu: or , singular: (distinct from the Ovimbundu) are a Bantu people living in Angola's North-West, North of the river Kwanza. The Ambundu speak Kimbundu, and most also speak the official language of the country ...
and in Luanda. In March 1959, when inaugurating the new military shooting range of Luanda, the Governor-General of Angola, Sá Viana Rebelo, made the famous Shooting Range Speech, where he predicted a possible conflict in Angola. General Monteiro Libório assumed the command of the land forces of Angola, with prerogatives of commander-in-chief, in September 1959. He would be the Portuguese military commander in office when the conflict erupts. Álvaro Silva Tavares assumed the office of Governor-General of Angola in January 1960, being the holder of the office when the conflict erupted. During January 1961, Henrique Galvão, heading a group of operatives of the DRIL oppositionist movement, hijacked the Portuguese liner ''Santa Maria''. The intention of Galvão was to set sail to Angola, where he would disembark and establish a rebel Portuguese government in opposition to Salazar, but he was forced to head to Brazil, where he liberated the crew and passengers in exchange for political asylum. Feeling the need of having forces trained in
counter-insurgency Counterinsurgency (COIN) is "the totality of actions aimed at defeating irregular forces". The Oxford English Dictionary defines counterinsurgency as any "military or political action taken against the activities of guerrillas or revolutionar ...
operations, the Portuguese Army created the Special Operations Troops Centre in April 1960, where companies of special forces (baptized ) started preparations. The first three companies of special (CCE) were dispatched to Angola in June 1960, mainly due to the Congo Crisis. Their main mission was to protect the Angolan regions bordering the ex-Belgian Congo, each being stationed in Cabinda (1st CCE), in Toto, Uíge (2nd CCE) and Malanje (3rd CCE).


The Baixa de Cassanje revolt

Although usually considered as an event that predates the Angolan War of Independence, some authors consider the Baixa de Cassanje revolt (also known as the "Maria's War") as the initial event of the Conflict. It was a labour conflict, not related with the claiming for the independence of Angola. The
Baixa do Cassanje Baixa de Cassanje, also called Baixa de Kassanje is a non-sovereign kingdom in Angola. Kambamba Kulaxingo was its king until his death in 2006. Presently, Dianhenga Aspirante Mjinji Kulaxingo serves as the king. History The region of Baixa de C ...
was a rich agricultural region of the Malanje District, bordering the ex-Belgian Congo, with approximately the size of
Mainland Portugal Continental Portugal ( pt, Portugal continental, ) or mainland Portugal comprises the bulk of the Portuguese Republic, namely that part on the Iberian Peninsula and so in Continental Europe, having approximately 95% of the total population and 9 ...
, which was the origin of most of the cotton production of Angola. The region's cotton fields were in the hands of the Cotonang - General Company of the Cottons of Angola, a company mostly held by Belgian capital and which employed many natives. Despite its contribution for the development of the region, Cotonang had been accused several times of disrespecting the labour legislation regarding working conditions of its employees, causing it to become under the investigation of the Portuguese authorities, but with no relevant actions against it being yet taken. Feeling discontent with Cotonang, in December 1960, many of its workers started to boycott work, demanding better working conditions and higher wages. The discontent was seized by infiltrated indoctrinators of the Congolese PSA (African Solidarity Party) to foment an uprising of the local peoples. At that time, the only Portuguese Army unit stationed in the region was the 3rd Special Company (3rd CCE), tasked with the patrolling and protection of the border with the ex-Belgian Congo. Despite receiving complains from local whites who felt their security threatened, the Governor of the Malanje District, Júlio Monteiro – a mixed race
Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...
an – did not authorize the 3rd CCE to act against the rebels and also forbade the acquisition of self-defense weapons by the white population. From 9 to 11 January 1961, the situation worsened, with the murder of a mixed race Cotonang foreman and with the surrounding of a 3rd CCE patrol by hundreds of rebels. Finally, on 2 February, the clashes between the rebels and the security forces erupted, with the first shots being fired, causing 11 deaths. By that time, the uprising had spread to the whole Malanje District and threatened to spread to the neighboring districts. The rebel leaders took advantage of the superstitious beliefs of most of their followers to convince them that the bullets of the Portuguese military forces were made of water and so could do no harm. Presumably due to this belief, the rebels, armed with
machetes Older machete from Latin America Gerber machete/saw combo Agustín Cruz Tinoco of San Agustín de las Juntas, Oaxaca">San_Agustín_de_las_Juntas.html" ;"title="Agustín Cruz Tinoco of San Agustín de las Juntas">Agustín Cruz Tinoco of San ...
and ''canhangulos'' (home-made shotguns), attacked the military en masse, in the open field, without concern for their own protection, falling under the fire of the troops. Given the limitations of the 3rd CCE to deal with the uprising in such a large region, the Command of the 3rd Military Region in Luanda decided to organize an operation with a stronger military force to subjugate it. A provisional battalion under the command of Major Rebocho Vaz was organized by the Luanda Infantry Regiment, integrating the 3rd CCE, the 4th CCE (stationed in Luanda) and the 5th CCE (that was still en route from the Metropole to Angola). On 4 February, the 4th CCE was already embarked in the train ready to be dispatched to Malanje, when an uprising at Luanda erupted, with several prisons and Police facilities being stormed. Despite the indefinite situation at Luanda and despite having few combat units available there, General Libório, commander of the 3rd Military Region decided to go forward with the sending of the 4th CCE to Malanje, which arrived there on 5 February. The provisional battalion started gradually the operations to subdue the uprising. The land forces were supported by the Portuguese Air Force, which employed Auster light observation and PV-2 ground attack aircraft. The military forces were able to assume the control of the region by 11 February. By the 16th, the provisional battalion was finally reinforced with the 5th CCE which had been held in Luanda as a reserve force after disembarking in Angola. Baixa do Cassanje was officially considered pacified on 27 February. The anti-Portuguese forces claimed that, during the subduing of the uprising, the Portuguese military bombed villages in the area, using napalm and killing between 400 and 7000 natives. However, the Portuguese military reported that no napalm was ever used in the operations and that the number of rebels dead was inferior to 300, plus 100 registered injured treated at the Malanje Hospital. The military forces suffered two dead and four injured. After the subdue of the uprising, the Portuguese military pressed the Government-General of Angola to take actions to improve the working conditions of the Cotonang employees in order to solve definitely the situation. The Governor-General Silva Tavares took measures to calm down the situation and on 2 May 1961, the Government decreed the change of the labor legislation related with cotton culture. Apparently, these measures were successful in deeply reducing the discontent among the laborers of the Baixa de Cassanje, with the region remaining peaceful even after the UPA attacks of 15 March 1961.António Lopes Pires Nunes
"A Sublevação da Baixa do Cassange", ''Revista Militar'', 2011
/ref>


The 4 and 10 February events at Luanda

The facts about the events of 4 and 10 February 1961 are still very much clouded by the propaganda and contradictory information issued by the various parties about what really happened. At a time when Luanda was full of foreign journalists that were covering the possible arriving at Angola of the hijacked liner ''Santa Maria'' and with the Baixa de Casanje revolt on its peak, on the early morning of 4 February 1961, a number of black militants, mostly armed with machetes, ambushed a Public Security Police (PSP) patrol-car and stormed the Civil Jail of São Paulo, the Military Detection House and the PSP Mobile Company Barracks, with the apparent objective of freeing political prisoners that were being held in those facilities. They were not able to storm other planned targets like the Airport, the National Broadcast Station, post office and military barracks. Different sources indicate the number of militants involved in the attacks as being between 50 and several hundred. The militants were able to kill the crew of the patrol-car, taking their weapons, but their assaults against the several facilities was repulsed, not being able to release any prisoners. In the assaults, the security forces suffered seven dead, including five white and one black police constables and a white Army corporal, besides having several seriously injured elements. Different sources indicate between 25 and 40 attackers killed. The MPLA always officially claimed to be the originator of the attacks. However, this is contested. Several sources indicate the Angolan nationalist mixed race priest Manuel das Neves as the perpetrator of the attacks. Apparently this was also the PIDE theory, which arrested and sent him to the Metropole, where he was interned in religious houses. An emotional funeral for the deceased police constables was held on 5 February, which was attended by thousands of persons, the majority being white inhabitants of Luanda. During the funeral, riots broke out, which would cause additional dead. There are several contradictory versions of what happened. The anti-Portuguese line states that the riots were originated by the whites, who desired to revenge the dead police constables, committing random acts of violence against the ethnic black majority living in Luanda's slums ('' musseques''). Contrary versions state that the riots were caused when provocative shots were fired near the cemetery where the funeral was being held, causing panic among the attendants. The riots caused a number of dead, which number varies accordingly with the sources. The anti-Portuguese line describes a massacre carried away by the white inhabitants and the security forces, with hundreds of blacks being killed. Following this line of thought: However, other sources refer that the theory of the massacre is mere anti-Portuguese false propaganda and that only 19 persons died in the riots. Following this line: On 10 February, a similar attack was carried out against the Jail of São Paulo. However, the security forces were better prepared and were able to repulse the attacks without any of their men being killed, however, 22 of the attackers were killed. Apparently, other attacks were being planned, but were discovered and averted by the security forces.


Course of the conflict


Beginning of the conflict

On 15 March 1961, the
Union of Peoples of Angola The National Front for the Liberation of Angola ( pt, Frente Nacional de Libertação de Angola; abbreviated FNLA) is a political party and former militant organisation that fought for Angolan independence from Portugal in the war of independenc ...
(UPA), under the leadership of Holden Roberto, launched an incursion into northern Angola from its base in the Congo-Léopoldville (ex-Belgian Congo), leading 4,000 to 5,000 militants. His forces took farms, government outposts, and trading centers, killing and mutilating officials and civilians, most of them
Ovimbundu The Ovimbundu, also known as the Southern Mbundu, are a Bantu ethnic group who live on the Bié Plateau of central Angola and in the coastal strip west of these highlands. As the largest ethnic group in Angola, they make up 38 percent of the ...
"contract workers" from the Central Highlands. It was the start of the Angolan War of Independence and of the wider Portuguese Overseas War. UPA militants stormed the Angolan districts of Zaire,
Uíge Uíge ( kg, Wizidi), formerly Carmona, is a provincial capital city in northwestern Angola, with a population of 322,531 (2014 census), and a municipality, with a population of 519,196 (2014 census), located in the province of the same name. I ...
,
Cuanza Norte The Cuanza Norte Province ( en, North Cuanza; umb, Konano Kwanza Volupale) is province of Angola. N'dalatando is the capital and the province has an area of 24,110 km² and a population of 443,386. Manuel Pedro Pacavira was born here and ...
and Luanda, massacring the civilian population during their advance, killing 1,000 whites and 6,000 blacks (women and children included of both white European and black African descent). Besides the killing of people, the UPA militants destroyed the infrastructures they found on their way, including houses, farms, roads and bridges, creating a general chaos and panic. The terrified populations took refuge in the forests or fled to nearby regions and to Congo-Léopoldville. However and contrary to the expectations of the UPA, the majority of the white inhabitants that were able to survive the initial attacks did not flee, except some women and children that were evacuated to Luanda. Instead, they entrenched themselves in several towns and villages of the region – including
Carmona Carmona may refer to: Places Angola * the former name of the town of Uíge Costa Rica * Carmona District, Nandayure, a district in Guanacaste Province India * Carmona, Goa, a village located in the Salcette district of South Goa, India ...
,
Negage Negage is a town and municipality (''município'') of the Uíge province in Angola , national_anthem = "Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion ...
,
Sanza Pombo Sanza Pombo is a town and a municipality in Uíge Province in Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , ...
, Santa Cruz,
Quimbele Quimbele is a town and Municipalities of Angola, municipality in Uíge Province in Angola. The municipality had a population of 136,496 in 2014. References

Populated places in Uíge Province Municipalities of Angola {{Angola-geo-stub ...
and
Mucaba Mucaba is a town and municipality in Uíge Province in Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , reli ...
– resisting the assaults almost without the support of the few existent military forces. On the same day and on the 16th, the 7th and the 9th Special companies and the 1st Paratrooper Company were dispatched from the
Metropole A metropole (from the Greek ''metropolis'' for "mother city") is the homeland, central territory or the state exercising power over a colonial empire. From the 19th century, the English term ''metropole'' was mainly used in the scope of ...
to Angola by air. Other small units of the same type were dispatched in the following days. Small military columns left Luanda and Carmona to try to rescue some of the isolated populations of the areas under the UPA attacks. On 21 March, the Provisional Battalion of Major Rebocho Vaz – which has acted in the Baixa de Cassange revolt – moved to Cuanza Norte to face the UPA advances. Without relevant military reinforcements arriving from the Metropole, on 28 March, the Corps of Volunteers of Angola was created, in order to officially frame the civil volunteers that were already fighting the UPA. In early April, the Massacre of Cólua occurred. The village of Cólua, near
Aldeia Viçosa Aldeia Viçosa is a town and commune of Angola, located in the province of Uíge. The town does not have running water or electricity, and runs on lamp posts powered by solar panels that work at night. * Communes of Angola The Communes of An ...
, Uíge had been attacked and its inhabitants massacred by the UPA. A military column from the Provisional Battalion was sent to the village to try to collect the dead bodies. However, an isolated group of soldiers (including two officers) which remained behind was ambushed, with their bodies being later found horribly mutilated. Another military patrol that was sent to the area was also ambushed, with some of their members falling into UPA's hands and also tortured, mutilated and killed. 30 civilians and 11 military were eventually killed at Cólua. Later testimonies report that the UPA militants practiced acts of cannibalism, eating parts of the dead bodies of the soldiers. The Cólua events had an important psychological effect on the Portuguese forces, not only due to the horrifying acts practiced against its soldiers, but also because they realized that the insurgents now dared to attack military forces and not just defenseless civilians. On 11 April, the Minister of National Defense
Júlio Botelho Moniz Júlio Carlos Alves Dias Botelho Moniz ( Lisbon, 12 October 1900 – Lisbon, 30 September 1970) was a Portuguese soldier and politician. Botelho Moniz owed his political and military career (Minister of the Interior and of Defence, Chief General o ...
– discontent with the attitude of Prime Minister Salazar regarding the Overseas policy and the conflict in Angola – lead a '' coup d'état'' attempt, which failed. Following the aborted coup and now realizing that the conflict in Angola was more serious than what was initially thought, Prime Minister Salazar dismissed Botelho Moniz and assumed himself the Defense portfolio. On 13 April, Salazar spoke on television about the situation in Angola, using the famous phrase (To Angola, rapidly and in force). As part of the government remodeling, Adriano Moreira was appointed Overseas Minister, initiating a series of liberal reforms in the Portuguese Overseas territories. A strong military mobilization was then initiated by the Portuguese Armed Forces. Finally, on 21 March, the first important military contingent from the Metropole (including the ''
Caçadores The Caçadores (hunters) were the elite light infantry troops of the Portuguese Army, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Units of ''Caçadores'' – with features somewhat different from the original ones – continued to exist in the P ...
'' battalions 88 and 92) embarked in the
ocean liner An ocean liner is a passenger ship primarily used as a form of transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships). Ca ...
''Niassa'', arriving at Luanda on 2 May. The cargo ship ''Benguela'' also departed to Angola, carrying war material. In a demonstration of force, the military units at Luanda paraded along the main avenue of the city. On 13 May, the units from the Metropole start to move to Northern Angola, to occupy strategic positions. Until June, Army units were positioned in
Damba The damba (''Paretroplus damii'') is a species of cichlid. Etymology The genus name ''Paretroplus'' is composed by the Greek ''Para'' (meaning ''similar to'') and ''Etroplus'' (a closely related genus of Indian cichlids). The Latin species nam ...
, Sanza Pombo, São Salvador do Congo and
Cuimba Cuimba is a town and municipality in Zaire Province in Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religi ...
, while '' Fuzileiros'' (Marines) occupied
Tomboco Tomboco is a town and municipality in Zaire Province in Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , relig ...
. Due to the blocked roads, destroyed bridges and ambushes, the movement of the units was slow, with the Portuguese forces suffering numerous casualties. After occupying these positions, the Portuguese units initiated the gradual re-occupation of the areas controlled by the UPA. In June, Air Force General Augusto Venâncio Deslandes was appointed Governor-General of Angola, replacing Silva Tavares. General António Libório was replaced by General Carlos Silva Freire in the role of commander of the 3rd Military Region (commander of land forces of Angola). General Silva Freire would maintain prerogatives of joint Commander-in-Chief until September, when Venâncio Deslandes was also appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Angola, accumulating this role with that of Governor-General. On 10 July, the Portuguese forces initiate its first major operation of the conflict, this being Operation Viriato ( Viriathus), aimed at re-conquering the town of
Nambuangongo Nambuangongo is a town and municipality in Bengo Province in Angola , national_anthem = "Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , r ...
, in the Dembos forest, which had been proclaimed by UPA as its capital. The operation was still planned as a conventional-type maneuver, with ''Caçadores'' battalions 96 and 114 and Cavalry Squadron 149 converging in Nambuangongo through three axes of attack, with the support of artillery, engineering and air forces. On 9 August, the vanguard of the Battalion 96 of Lieutenant-Colonel Armando Maçanita finally arrived and re-occupied Nambuagongo. In their advance, the three military units suffer 75 casualties, including 21 dead. The Portuguese forces focused in the re-occupation of the village of
Quipedro Quipedro is a town and commune of Angola, located in the province of Uíge. See also * Communes of Angola The Communes of Angola ( pt, comunas) are Administrative division, administrative units in Angola after Municipalities of Angola, muni ...
, in order to eliminate the rebellious forces in the area and to cut off their flight from Nambuangongo to the North, as a follow-up of Operation Viriato. For this, they began Operation Nema, which included the first airborne assault in combat of the Portuguese military history. The operation was carried through between 11 and 21 August, with the 1st Company of the recently created Paratroopers Battalion 21 of Angola jumping by parachute over the target, after preparation air strikes. The rebels were taken by surprise, with the paratroopers being able to occupy Quipedro almost without resistance. They then built an improvised runway and waited for the arriving of Cavalry Squadron 149 that was advancing by land from Nambuangongo. In August, by order of General Silva Freire, the Northern Intervention Zone (ZIN) was created, encompassing the districts of Luanda, Cabinda, Uige, Zaire, Malange and Cuanza Norte, replacing the so-called "Northern Uprising Zone". Despite not existing still a conflict in this area, an Eastern Intervention Zone (ZIL) – covering the districts of Lunda and Moxico – is also created in the following month. As part of his reforms, Minister Adriano Moreira decreed the repulsion of the ''Statute of the Portuguese Indigenous of the Provinces of Guinea, Angola and Mozambique'' on 6 August. With the abolition of this statute, all Angolans, independently of their race, education, religion and costumes, achieve identical Portuguese citizenship rights and obligations. On 10 April, the Operation Esmeralda (Emerald) – aimed at cleaning and retaking the control of Pedra Verde, UPA's last base in northern Angola – was initiated by the Special ''Caçadores'' Battalion 261, supported by paratroopers, artillery, armored cars and aviation elements. The initial assault was repulsed by the UPA forces, with the Portuguese suffering important casualties. The Portuguese regrouped and, days later, launched a second assault, finally taking control of Pedra Verde on 16 September. On 9 June, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 163, declaring Angola a non-self-governing territory and calling on Portugal to desist from repressive measures against the Angolan people. The resolution was approved with the votes of China, United States, Soviet Union and of all the non-permanent members, with the abstaining of France and the United Kingdom. The major military operations finally terminated on 3 October, when a platoon of the Artillery Company 100 reoccupied Caiongo, in the circle of
Alto Cauale Alto Cauale (Portuguese spelling) or Alto Kawale (Bantu spelling) is a town and municipality in Uíge Province in Angola. The municipality covers an area of 3 064 km ² and as of 2006 had an estimated population of 104,000. It is border to ...
, Uíge, the last abandoned administrative post that remained unrecovered. This reoccupation ended the almost six-month period during which the UPA fighters were able to control a geographic area with four times the size of European Portugal. In a speech made on 7 October, the Governor-General and Commanding-in-Chief Venâncio Deslandes announces the termination of the military operations and that from then only police operations would be carried out, although partly in military scope. During an air reconnaissance in southern Angola on 10 November, the aircraft that was carrying General Silva Freire and his staff crashed, killing him and almost all the officers of the headquarters of the land forces of Angola. Because of this crash, General Francisco Holbeche Fino was appointed commander of the 3rd Military Region. In the first year of the war, 20,000 to 30,000 Angolans were killed,Tom Hartman, ''A World Atlas of Military History 1945–1984''. and between 300,000 and 500,000 refugees fled to Zaïre or Luanda. UPA militants joined pro-independence refugees and continued to launch attacks from across the border in Zaire, creating more refugees and terror among local communities. A UPA patrol took 21 MPLA militant prisoners and then executed them on 9 October 1961 in the Ferreira incident, sparking further violence between the two sides. Holden Roberto merged UPA with the Democratic Party of Angola (PDA) to form the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) in March 1962. A few weeks later he established the
Revolutionary Government of Angola in Exile The Revolutionary Government of Angola in Exile ( pt, Govêrno revolucionário de Angola no exílio, or GRAE) was a self-proclaimed government-in-exile based in Léopoldville (modern-day Kinshasa) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo during the ...
(GRAE) on 27 March, appointing
Jonas Savimbi Jonas Malheiro Savimbi (; 3 August 1934 – 22 February 2002) was an Angolan revolutionary politician and rebel military leader who founded and led the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). UNITA waged a guerrilla war agai ...
to the position of
Foreign Minister A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...
. Roberto established a political alliance with Zairian President
Mobutu Sese Seko Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga (; born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu; 14 October 1930 – 7 September 1997) was a Congolese politician and military officer who was the president of Zaire from 1965 to 1997 (known as the Democratic Republic o ...
by divorcing his wife and marrying a woman from Mobutu's wife's village. Roberto visited Israel and received aid from the
Israeli government The Cabinet of Israel (officially: he, ממשלת ישראל ''Memshelet Yisrael'') exercises executive authority in the State of Israel. It consists of ministers who are chosen and led by the prime minister. The composition of the governmen ...
from 1963 to 1969. Romania was the first state to sign agreements with the MPLA. In May 1974, Nicolae Ceaușescu reaffirmed Romania's support for Angolan independence. As late as September 1975, Bucharest publicly supported all three Angolan liberation movements (FNLA, MPLA and UNITA). The MPLA held a party congress in Leopoldville in 1962, during which,
Viriato da Cruz Viriato Clemente da Cruz (25 March 1928 – 13 June 1973) was an Angolan poet and politician, who was born in Kikuvo, Porto Amboim, Portuguese Angola, and died in Beijing, People's Republic of China. He is considered one of the most important Angol ...
found to be slow, negligent, and adverse to planningwas replaced by Agostinho Neto. In addition to the change in leadership, the MPLA adopted and reaffirmed its policies for an independent Angola: * Democracy *
Multiracialism Multiracialism is a conceptual framework used to theorize and interpret identity formation in global multiracial populations. Multiracialism explores the tendency for multiracial individuals to identify with a third category of 'mixed-ness' as op ...
* Non-alignment *
Nationalization Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
* National liberation of the entire colony * No foreign military bases in Angola Savimbi left the FNLA in 1964 and founded UNITA in response to Roberto's unwillingness to spread the war outside the traditional
Kingdom of Kongo The Kingdom of Kongo ( kg, Kongo dya Ntotila or ''Wene wa Kongo;'' pt, Reino do Congo) was a kingdom located in central Africa in present-day northern Angola, the western portion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Republic of the ...
. Neto met Marxist leader Che Guevara in 1965 and soon received funding from the governments of Cuba, German Democratic Republic, and the Soviet Union.


Opening of the Eastern Front

In May 1966
Daniel Chipenda Daniel Chipenda (15 May 1931, Lobito - 28 February 1996) fought in the Angolan War of Independence, serving as the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola's (MPLA) field commander in the Eastern Front before founding and leading the Easte ...
, 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 25 December 1966, preventing trains from passing through the Benguela railway at
Teixeira de Sousa Luau is a town and municipality in Angola in the province of Moxico on the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. Colonial period Until independence, the town was called Teixeira de Sousa, having been named after the Portuguese Prime M ...
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 fighters 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. UNITA had its main base in distant south-eastern Angolan provinces, where the Portuguese and FNLA influence were for all practical purposes very low, and where there was no guerrilla war at all. UNITA was from the beginning far better organized and disciplined than either the MPLA or the FNLA. Its fighters also showed a much better understanding of guerrilla operations. They were especially active along the Benguela railway, repeatedly causing damage to the Portuguese, and to the
Republic of Congo The Republic of the Congo (french: République du Congo, ln, Republíki ya Kongó), also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply either Congo or the Congo, is a country located in the western coast of Central Africa to the w ...
and Zambia, both of which used the railway for transportation of their exports to Angolan ports. On 19 May 1968, FNLA entered Eastern Angola and carried out its first violent actions in the region against the local populations. During October 1968, the Portuguese forces initiated Operation (Victory) against the MPLA, assaulting and destroying its main bases at Eastern Angola. Among others, the Mandume III base (headquarters of the MPLA's III Military Region) was assaulted by the Portuguese Commandos, leading to the capture of important documents. 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. In the late 1969, the Portuguese forces organize the Battle Group ''Sirocco'' ( Siroco), a highly mobile composite task force aimed at hunting and destroying the guerrilla forces operating in Eastern Angola. The land component of the task force was centered in Commando companies, being supported by an air component with helicopters and light aircraft. On 1 September, Battle Group ''Sirocco'' initiated a long series of highly successful operations in the Eastern region. Battle Group ''Sirocco'' (remodeled as ''Sirocco 1970'' and ''Sirocco 1971'', respectively in 1970 and 1971) would be active for three years, in 1972 being replaced by the similar Battle Group ''Ray'' ( Raio).


Portuguese re-focus to the East

The MPLA began forming squadrons of 100 to 145 militants in 1971. These squadrons, armed with 60 mm and 81 mm mortars, attacked Portuguese outposts. The Portuguese conducted
counter-insurgency Counterinsurgency (COIN) is "the totality of actions aimed at defeating irregular forces". The Oxford English Dictionary defines counterinsurgency as any "military or political action taken against the activities of guerrillas or revolutionar ...
sweeps against MPLA forces in 1972, destroying some MPLA camps. Additionally, the South African Defence Force engaged the MPLA forces in Moxico in February 1972, destroying the Communist presence. The Portuguese Armed Forces organised a successful campaign to control and pacify the entire Eastern Front (the Frente Leste). Neto, defeated, retreated with 800 militants to the Republic of the Congo. Differing factions in the MPLA then jockeyed for power until the Soviet Union allied with the Chipenda faction. On 17 March 1,000 FNLA fighters mutinied in Kinkuzu, but the Zairian army put down the rebellion on behalf of Roberto. In 1973 Chipenda left the MPLA, founding the
Eastern Revolt The Eastern Revolt ( pt, Revolta do Leste; RDL) is an Angolan nationalist organization that fought in the Angolan War of Independence, war for independence from Portugal under the leadership of Daniel Chipenda.
with 1,500 former MPLA followers.
Tanzanian President This is a list of the heads of state of Tanzania, from the independence of Tanganyika in 1961 to the present day. From 1961 to 1962 the head of state under the Constitution of 1961 was the queen of Tanganyika, Elizabeth II, who was also the que ...
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 cut off aid to the MPLA completely in 1974 when
Revolta Activa The reVolta is an annual professional women's road bicycle racing event in Catalonia, Spain. First held in 2018, it was initially organised on the same day as the last stage of the Volta a Catalunya. However, as there is another -more important- r ...
split off from the mainstream MPLA. In November the Soviet Union resumed aid to the MPLA after Neto reasserted his leadership. The combined forces of the MPLA, the UNITA, and the FNLA succeeded in their rebellion not because of their success in battle, but because of the
Movimento das Forças Armadas ''Movimento'' (English: "Movement") is the sixth studio album by Portuguese group Madredeus. It was released on 9 April 2001 by EMI-Valentim de Carvalho. Recording ''Movimento'' was recorded in January and February 2000 at the Wisseloord Studio ...
' coup in Portugal. The MFA was an organisation of lower-ranked officers in the Portuguese Armed Forces which was responsible for the
Carnation Revolution The Carnation Revolution ( pt, Revolução dos Cravos), also known as the 25 April ( pt, 25 de Abril, links=no), was a military coup by left-leaning military officers that overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo regime on 25 April 1974 in Lisbo ...
of 25 April 1974, which ended the Portuguese Colonial War and led to the independence of the Portuguese overseas territories. The MFA overthrew the Lisbon government in protest against the authoritarian political regime and the ongoing African colonial wars, specially the particularly demanding conflict in Portuguese Guinea. The revolutionary Portuguese government removed the remaining elements of its colonial forces and agreed to a quick handover of power to the nationalist African movements. This put an immediate end to the independence war against Portugal, but opened the door for a bitter armed conflict among the independentist forces and their respective allies. Holden Roberto, Agostinho Neto, and
Jonas Savimbi Jonas Malheiro Savimbi (; 3 August 1934 – 22 February 2002) was an Angolan revolutionary politician and rebel military leader who founded and led the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). UNITA waged a guerrilla war agai ...
met in Bukavu, Zaire in July and agreed to negotiate with the Portuguese as one political entity, but afterwards the fight broke out again.


End of the conflict

The three party leaders met again in Mombasa, Kenya on 5 January 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 10 till 15 January. They signed on 15 January what became known as the
Alvor Agreement The Alvor Agreement, signed on 15 January 1975 in Alvor, Portugal, granted Angola independence from Portugal on 11 November and formally ended the 13-year-long Angolan War of Independence. The agreement was signed by the Portuguese governmen ...
, granting Angola independence on 11 November 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 (FLEC) and
Eastern Revolt The Eastern Revolt ( pt, Revolta do Leste; RDL) is an Angolan nationalist organization that fought in the Angolan War of Independence, war for independence from Portugal under the leadership of Daniel Chipenda.
never signed the agreement as they were excluded from negotiations. The coalition government established by the Alvor Agreement 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 31 January 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 ministries for each party. 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 The Kongo people ( kg, Bisi Kongo, , singular: ; also , singular: ) are a Bantu ethnic group primarily defined as the speakers of Kikongo. Subgroups include the Beembe, Bwende, Vili, Sundi, Yombe, Dondo, Lari, and others. They have lived ...
, 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, to which the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC) never agreed, described Cabinda as an "integral and inalienable part of Angola". Separatists viewed the agreement as a violation of the Cabindan right to
self-determination The right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a ''jus cogens'' rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. It stat ...
. 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 Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...
that the Alvor Agreement would not succeed. By spring the African National Congress and the South West Africa People's Organization (
SWAPO The South West Africa People's Organisation (, SWAPO; af, Suidwes-Afrikaanse Volks Organisasie, SWAVO; german: Südwestafrikanische Volksorganisation, SWAVO), officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former ind ...
) were echoing Cuba's warning. Leaders of the Organization of African Unity organized a peace conference moderated by
Kenyan President The president of the Republic of Kenya () is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Kenya. The President is also the head of the executive branch of the Government of Kenya and is the commander-in-chief of the Kenya Defenc ...
Jomo Kenyatta Jomo Kenyatta (22 August 1978) was a Kenyan anti-colonial activist and politician who governed Kenya as its Prime Minister from 1963 to 1964 and then as its first President from 1964 to his death in 1978. He was the country's first indigenous ...
with the three leaders in Nakuru, Kenya in June. The Angolan leaders issued the Nakuru Declaration on 21 June, agreeing to abide by the provisions of the Alvor Agreement while acknowledging a mutual lack of trust which led to violence. In July fighting again broke out and the MPLA managed to force the FNLA out of Luanda; UNITA voluntarily withdrew from the capital to its stronghold in the south from where it also engaged in the struggle for the country. By August the MPLA had control of 11 of the 15 provincial capitals, including Cabinda and Luanda. On 12 August, Portugal began airlifting more than 200,000 white Portuguese Angolans from Luanda to Lisbon, via "Operation Air Bridge". South African forces invaded Angola on 23 October 1975, covertly 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 10 November the Portuguese left Angola. Cuban-MPLA forces defeated South African-FNLA forces, maintaining control over Luanda. On 11 November NATO declared the independence of the People's Republic of Angola. The FNLA and UNITA responded by proclaiming their own government based in Huambo. The South African Army retreated and, with the help of Cuban forces, the MPLA retook most of the south in the beginning of 1976. Many analysts have blamed the transitional government in Portugal for the violence that followed the Alvor Agreement, criticizing the lack of concern about internal Angolan security, and the 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 The Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of African Affairs is the head of the Bureau of African Affairs, within the United States Department of State, who guides operation of the U.S. diplomatic establishment in the countries of sub-Saharan Afric ...
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.1975, Angola: Mercenaries, Murder and Corruption
Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger considered any government involving the pro-Soviet, communist MPLA, to be unacceptable and President
Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...
oversaw heightened aid to the FNLA.


Foreign influence


United States

The situation of the Portuguese in their overseas province of Angola soon became a matter of concern for a number of foreign powers particularly her military allies in NATO. The United States, for example, was concerned with the possibility of a
Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
regime being established in Luanda. That is why it started supplying weapons and ammunition to the UPA, which meanwhile grew considerably and merged with the Democratic Party of Angola to form the FNLA. The leaders of the FNLA were, however, not satisfied with the US support. Savimbi consequently established good connections with the People's Republic of China, from where even larger shipments started arriving. The USA granted the company Aero Associates, from Tucson, Arizona, the permission to sell seven Douglas B-26 Invader bombers to Portugal in early 1965, despite Portugal's concerns about their support for the Marxists from Cuba and the USSR. The aircraft were flown to Africa by John Richard Hawke – reportedly, a former Royal Air Force pilot – who on the start of one of the flights to Angola flew so low over the White House, that the United States Air Force forced him to land and he was arrested. In May 1965, Hawke was indicted for illegally selling arms and supporting the Portuguese, but was imprisoned for less than a year. The B-26s were not to see deployment in Angola until several years later.


Rhodesia and South Africa

Aside from the US, two other nations became involved in this war. These were
Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...
and South Africa, both of which were ruled by the white minority. Their white-elected governments were concerned about their own future in the case of a Portuguese defeat. Rhodesia and South Africa initially limited their participation to shipments of arms and supplies. However, by 1968 the South Africans began providing
Alouette III Alouette or alouettes may refer to: Music and literature * "Alouette" (song), a French-language children's song * Alouette, a character in ''The King of Braves GaoGaiGar'' Aerospace * SNCASE Alouette, a utility helicopter developed in France i ...
helicopters with crews to the
Portuguese Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = 1 July , equipment = , equipment_label ...
(FAP), and finally several companies of South African Defence Forces (SADF) infantry who were deployed in southern and central Angola. However, contemporary reports about them guarding the iron mines of Cassinga were never confirmed. Finally, there were reports that a number of Rhodesian pilots were recruited to fly FAP helicopters. However, when the first Portuguese unit was equipped with Aerospatiale Puma helicopters, in 1969, its crews were almost exclusively South Africans. Rhodesian pilots were considered too valuable by the Royal Rhodesian Air Force (RRAF) to be deployed in support of the Portuguese. The SADF had pilots and helicopters operating out of the (CCAA – Joint Air Support Centre), setting up in
Cuito Cuanavale Cuito Cuanavale is a town and municipality in Cuando Cubango (Kuando-Kubango) province in Angola. The names Kuito Kuanavale or Kwito Kwanavale are sometimes used, although this is a mutation of the original Portuguese name. It covers an area of ...
during 1968.


USSR

During the late 1960s the USSR also became involved in the war in Angola, albeit almost exclusively via the MPLA. While the FNLA received only very limited arms shipments from the US, and the UNITA was getting hardly any support from outside the country, the Marxist MPLA developed very close relations with Moscow and was soon to start receiving significant shipments of arms via Tanzania and Zambia. In 1969 the MPLA agreed with the USSR that in exchange for arms and supplies delivered to it the Soviets would—upon independence—be granted rights for establishing military bases in the country. Consequently, by the early 1970s, the MPLA developed into the strongest Angolan anti-colonial movement and the most powerful political party.


Aftermath

As soon as the agreement between the MPLA and Portugal for the transfer of power became known to the public, a mass exodus began. Over 300,000 people left Angola by November, most of them evacuated aboard TAP
Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is an American, long-range, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype first flown in 1954, the initial first flew on December 20, ...
aircraft. The British Royal Air Force also lent a hand, sending Vickers VC10 airliners to evacuate about 6,000 additional refugees. At this stage, the Angolan Civil War had started and spread out across the newly independent country. The devastating civil war lasted several decades and claimed a million lives and refugees in independent Angola.The Decolonization of Portuguese Africa: Metropolitan Revolution and the Dissolution of Empire by Norrie MacQueen – Mozambique since Independence: Confronting Leviathan by Margaret Hall, Tom Young – Author of Review: Stuart A. Notholt African Affairs, Vol. 97, No. 387 (Apr., 1998), pp. 276–278
JSTOR JSTOR (; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library founded in 1995 in New York City. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary sources as well as current issues of j ...
In the wake of the conflict, Angola faced deterioration in central planning, economic development and growth, security, education and health system issues. Like the other newly independent African territories involved in the Portuguese Colonial War, Angola's rank in the human development and
GDP per capita Lists of countries by GDP per capita list the countries in the world by their gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. The lists may be based on nominal or purchasing power parity GDP. Gross national income (GNI) per capita accounts for inflows ...
world tables fell. After independence, economic and social recession,
corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...
,
poverty Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse social, economic, and political causes and effects. When evaluating poverty in ...
, inequality and failed central planning eroded the initial post-independence expectations.Mario de Queiroz
AFRICA-PORTUGAL: Three Decades After Last Colonial Empire Came to an End
A level of economic development comparable to what had existed under Portuguese rule became a major goal for the governments of the independent territory. The sharp recession and the chaos in many areas of Angolan life eroded the initial impetus of nationalistic fervor. There were also eruptions of black racism in the former overseas province against white and mulatto Angolans."Things are going well in Angola. They achieved good progress in their first year of independence. There's been a lot of building and they are developing health facilities. In 1976 they produced 80,000 tons of coffee. Transportation means are also being developed. Currently between 200,000 and 400,000 tons of coffee are still in warehouses. In our talks with ngolan President AgostinhoNeto we stressed the absolute necessity of achieving a level of economic development comparable to what had existed under ortuguesecolonialism."; "There is also evidence of black racism in Angola. Some are using the hatred against the colonial masters for negative purposes. There are many mulattos and whites in Angola. Unfortunately, racist feelings are spreading very quickly.

Fidel Castro, Castro's 1977 southern Africa tour: A report to Honecker, CNN.


See also

* Portuguese Colonial War * Portuguese West Africa *
Cuba in Angola The Cuban intervention in Angola (codenamed Operation Carlota) began on 5 November 1975, when Cuba sent combat troops in support of the communist-aligned People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) against the pro-western National Un ...


References


External links

*
Guerra Colonial: 1961–1974 – State-supported historical site of the Portuguese Colonial War (Portugal)



U.S. Involvement in Angolan Conflict
from th
Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archive
{{Authority control Portuguese Angola *Angolan Wars of independence 1960s conflicts 1970s conflicts War of Independence Guerrilla wars Separatism in Angola Separatism in Portugal 1960s in Angola 1970s in Angola Wars involving Angola Wars involving Cuba Wars involving Portugal Wars involving South Africa Wars involving the states and peoples of Africa Angola–Portugal relations Angola–South Africa relations Communism in Angola 1961 establishments in Angola 1975 disestablishments in Angola 20th century in the Portuguese Empire African resistance to colonialism