The Eastern Revolt ( pt, Revolta do Leste; RDL) is an

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

n nationalist organization that fought in the war for independence from

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

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 ...

.Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola-Workers' Party
Country-data The RDL drew its support from 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 ...

ethnic group.Westad, Odd Arne. ''The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions and the Making of Our Times'', 2005. Page 217. In May 1966, Chipenda, then a member of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (

MPLA The People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola ( pt, Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola, abbr. MPLA), for some years called the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola – Labour Party (), is an Angolan left-wing, social d ...

), established the Eastern Front, significantly expanding the MPLA's reach in Angola. When the EF collapsed, Chipenda and MPLA leader

Agostinho Neto António Agostinho da Silva Neto (17 September 1922 – 10 September 1979) was an Angolan politician and poet. He served as the first president of Angola from 1975 to 1979, having led the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) i ...

each blamed the other's factions. In 1972 the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

allied with Chipenda's faction, giving him aid. The Eastern Revolt also received aid from the governments of

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

.Stewart Lloyd-Jones and António Costa Pinto. ''The Last Empire: Thirty Years of Portuguese Decolonisation'', 2003. Pages 27-29. Chipenda left the MPLA in 1973, founding the Eastern Revolt with 1,500 former MPLA followers.George, Edward. ''The Cuban Intervention In Angola, 1965-1991: from Che Guevara to Cuito Cuanavale'', 2005. Page 46. He opposed the MPLA's

mestizo (; ; fem. ) is a term used for racial classification to refer to a person of mixed Ethnic groups in Europe, European and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous American ancestry. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also r ...

-leadership and was wary of the Soviet Union, despite its support. In 1973, the Soviet Union invited Neto to

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

and told him Chipenda planned to assassinate him. Although Chipenda joined the

National Liberation Front 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 ...

(FNLA) in September 1974Bennett, Andrew. ''Condemned to Repetition?: The Rise, Fall, and Reprise of Soviet-Russian Military Interventionism'', 1999. Page 152. the Eastern Revolt's existence continued and RDL forces fought against the MPLA in February 1975.

References

Rebel groups in Angola Angolan War of Independence Cold War {{ColdWar-stub