The transition from Portuguese colonialism to independence in Angola was riddled with violence, preceding the start of a brutal civil war. Portugal’s withdrawal from the country in late 1975 led to a power vacuum of competing nationalist groups, each with their own ideological orientation but muddled by leaders’ personal aims. To complicate matters further, the emerging civil war in Angola — which would last nearly three decades before peace deals at the turn of the millennium finally quelled ongoing violence — became a proxy war for competing international interests. Due to the scope and complexity of the lengthy conflict, in this piece, I will focus on the precipitating events which led to violence in Angola. After dedicating a paragraph to historical context, I will argue that ideological and ethnic conflict between nationalist groups vying for power and the influx of foreign interests (and arms) led to violent civil war in Angola.
Portugal was one of the last European powers to forgo its African colonies. After making their “first inroads” into Angola during the fifteenth century, the Portuguese exploited Angolans and the rich natural resources of the country (James 2011, p. 5). Angola, positioned in coastal, southwestern Africa, has rich deposits of petroleum, diamonds, and iron ore (Kaplan 1979, p. XV). Portugal harvested Angola’s natural (and human) resources, but little was returned to the population in terms of hospitals, schools, good governance, a participatory political system, or economic benefits, leading to “stifling conditions” for Angolans. (James 2011, p. 5). By 1961, some Angolans were fed up. Supporters of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) tried to storm several colonial prisons in Luanda, the capital (p. 8). Paired with more violence in northern Angola, this unrest marked the beginning of the Angolan national revolution (p. 8).
The ensuing fifteen years included an initial Portuguese response to the unrest and later independence as Continental political upheaval in Lisbon turned Portugal’s focus away from Angola. In the early 1960s Angolan unrest alone, best estimates suggest that some 40,000 Africans were killed along with 400 Europeans (James 2011, p. 8). Portugal was “stunned” by the events and attempted to alleviate the widespread discontent (p. 8). New offenses were launched in Angola against the African nationalists, such as conducting airborne assaults, building airstrips and roads in remote regions, and constructing fortified villages (aldeamentos) to deprive guerrillas of contact with the wider Angolan population (Meredith 2011, p. 309). Even before independence, the seeds of internecine conflict among Angolan nationalist actors were sown. Meredith notes, accurately, that personal, political, traditional, and religious jealousies led the three sides (more on these later) to fight among themselves as much as against the Portuguese (p. 312-313). The fighting even led to Portuguese action to protect civilians from Angolan nationalist infighting. By 1973 in Portugal, career officers in the armed forces were “disgusted” with government politics and conduct in colonial conflicts, leading to the overthrow of Portuguese dictator Marcelo Caetano and throwing the colonial future of Angola into uncertainty (James 2011, p. 10).
In addition to the MPLA upheaval in Luanda, two other main nationalist actors emerged during these formative years, representing varying interests among Angolan nationalists, and illustrating the salient civil divisions which would soon turn bloody. Looking back briefly, the MPLA was formed in 1956 by the merger of several parties including the communist party (James 2011, p. 8). Agostinho Neto was elected its president in 1962, along with a “strong cadre” of leaders (p. 8). The MPLA was largely located in Luanda and the surrounding environs, engaging with intelligentsia, mestiços (mixed race individuals), and assimilados, and viewing itself as the Angolan defender of the diverse “urban masses” (p. 8). This scope did not apply to all Angolans, though. The anti-Portuguese violence in northern Angola was a function of the Union of People of Angola (UPA), later the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA) (p. 8). This group, led by Holden Roberto, had an agenda which included the restoration of the Bakongo empire (p. 8). To garner support, Roberto traveled throughout Africa, Europe, and North America to spread awareness, also forming an Angolan govêrno (government) in exile (p. 8). What is key about the early FNLA activity is both its ethnic focus (Bakongo) and its international reach, an early hint of later foreign involvement. Lastly, the third major player who emerged in 1966 under Jonas Savimbi, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) was formed to represent Angolan peasants (p. 9). Formed in direct opposition to the other two groups, Savimbi’s new group argued that the MPLA was both too “non-African” and mestiço-focused, while the then FNLA was too dedicated to northern Angola (p. 9). Given these early divisions, it is not surprising that the ensuing independence would be off to a shaky start.
The immediate transition of power from Portugal to Angola was outlined in the 1975 Alvor Accords, but the previously discussed divisions quickly led to the first outbreaks of internecine violence. By July 1974, the new Portuguese leadership promised independence to Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, and Angola (p. 10). The FNLA, MPLA, and UNITA met in Mombasa, Kenya, in January 1975, where they recognized one another as fellow organizations prepared to negotiate with Portugal (p. 10). This amicable recognition was short-lived. Ten days later, the Portuguese and the three Angolan movements met at Alvor, Portugal, to make plans for independence (p. 10). The resulting “Alvor Accords” called for an integrated military, a transitional government, and elections for a constituent assembly by October 1975 (p. 10). Portugal was set to relinquish power on 11 November 1975 (p. 10). It did not go as planned, a result of increasing foreign involvement and the materialization of the divergent interests of the nationalist groups.
In the summer of 1975, simmering tensions erupted on the streets of Luanda in advance of the 11 November independence date; soon, foreign involvement would also ramp up. The three movements gathered in the capital city of Luanda to launch preparations for independence, but as James put it, “old animosities surfaced” (p. 10). In June and July 1975, after much street violence, the FNLA and UNITA were forced from Luanda, returning to the north and south, respectively. As the MPLA maintained power in the city, it could “proclaim independence under its own banner” (p. 10). Ethnic divisions became increasingly evident. The World Encyclopedia of the Nations noted that at the “dawn” of Angola’s independence, each of the three rival organizations had its own army and sphere of influence, representing ethnic and international rifts (p. 24). The FNLA primarily represented and recruited personnel from the Kongo ethnic group (p. 24). This group was based in Zaire (now DRC) and received foreign financial support from China and the United States (p. 24). Together, UNITA and the FNLA established the Popular Democratic Republic of Angola (centered in Huambo), sustained with US funds and South African troops, and some white mercenaries (p. 24). UNITA also drew on its unique ethnic base, recruiting from the Ovimbundu, the largest ethnic group in Angola (p. 24). The MPLA, a Marxist-oriented party, drew social support and recruited from the mestiçosand intellectual elite in Luanda and other urban areas and, on ethnic grounds, from the Mbundu people (p. 24). As a self-proclaimed leftist entity, the group received military and financial assistance from the Soviet Union and from some 15,000 Cuban soldiers (p. 24). Clearly, both ethnic division and differing foreign alignments contributed to civil strife between the three nationalist groups.
In this short essay, I sought to highlight some of the historical context and other precipitating factors which led to the onslaught of violence in Angola. The fighting, which was notably under-documented in both the 1980s and 1990s, included continued clashes between MPLA, FNLA and UNITA forces. Throughout the 1980s, some 30,000 Cuban troops continued to help the MPLA consolidate control over the country and provide technical support in their efforts (World Encyclopedia of the Nations, p. 24). Part of this support was required to stave off constant violence from UNITA, which operated in Angola’s southern hinterlands, using the rural landscape to their guerrilla advantage. After the Organization of African Unity (OAU) formally recognized the MPLA government in Luanda as the “legitimate” sovereign power in Angola, South African troops withdrew (p. 24). In a proxy of the wider Cold War between the United States and the communist bloc supporting MPLA, the United States reportedly sent some $15 million to UNITA in the 1980s. Interestingly, one Washington Post columnist argued that the individual Angolan response to these nationalist groups’ actions was often ambivalent. In the 2015 piece, the author explained that in a (then) new study about Angola, called “Political Identity and Conflict in Angola, 1975-2002,” many Angolans said that the conflict had “little meaning.” Most notably, interviews showed that few ordinary Angolans “cared” about ideological divides between the three nationalist groups and the corresponding foreign players. Rather, interviewees suggested that they simply submitted to the “authority” of the moment’s occupying military power, providing loyalty to whichever group provided them good jobs and services and had a positive impact on their daily life.
Works Cited
Hill, Melissa Sue. Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations. Fourteenth edition / Project Editor: Melissa Sue Hill. Farmington Hills, Mich: Gale, Cengage Learning, 2017. Print.
James, W. Martin. Historical Dictionary of Angola . 2nd ed. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press, 2011, Print.
Kaplan, Irving, H. Mark. Roth, and Allison Butler. Herrick. Angola, a Country Study . 2d ed. Washington, 1979. Print.
Meredith, Martin. The Fate of Africa: a History of the Continent Since Independence. Revised and updated ed. New York: Public Affairs, 2011. Print.
Taylor, Adam. “A 27-year civil war, for no reason at all.” The Washington Post . 14 Oct. 2015. Web. 8 Mar. 2021.