Angola: Opposition to the MPLA-PT government

Extracted from: "Angola" IN Compendium of Elections in Southern Africa (2002), edited by Tom Lodge, Denis Kadima and David Pottie, EISA, 15-16.

Angola's nationalist movement developed in three main streams, determined largely by geographical location, share of total population, ethnic affiliations and traditional rivalry dating back to pre-colonial times. Having been spawned by the mestizo and Mbundu communities in the Luanda-Malanje area, the MPLA's [[Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola]] main rivals were the FNLA [Frente Nacional de Libertação de Angola], based in the three Kikongo-speaking provinces (Zaire, Uige and Cabinda); and UNITA [União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola] which won the allegiance of most Ovimbundu in the populous provinces of the central highlands.

In addition, there was also the secessionist Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC). Its operations remained confined to the province with the smallest population of less than 200 000 people in 1994. Although Flec split into various factions and has never been a too serious threat, it has nevertheless remained a thorn in the flesh of the ruling party. As mentioned above, the FNLA's military capability was destroyed by the government forces shortly after independence, though it survived as a small political movement. Thus UNITA remained as the sole viable alternative to the MPLA-PT government.

UNITA was led by Jonas Malheiros Savimbi after its formation in 1966, following the defection of Savimbi and his Ovimbundu supporters from the FNLA two years earlier. Born in 1934 at Muhango on the Benguela Railway, Savimbi studied medicine in Portugal and political science in Switzerland before joining Holden Roberto's UPA (the forerunner of the FNLA) in 1961. He became the first Ovimbundu to hold a major post under Roberto. Unlike Roberto and the MPLA's dos Santos, Savimbi was both a military commander and a political leader from the outset. He was known for his autocratic leadership style and inflammatory oratory and succeeded in building a personality cult around him. However, Savimbi's reputation was damaged by his authoritarianism, irrational behaviour and inability to compromise, along with defections from the movement and reports of the execution of rivals.

UNITA has been a highly centralized military organization from the beginning but the development of human resources among members and the communities under its control forms an integral part of the movement's activities. The party structures are basically similar to those of the MPLA-PT, including a political bureau, central committee and a party congress which elects the party leader. These top level structures are connected, through provincial, urban and village committees, with the party cells at the grassroots level. Originally, UNITA adhered to Maoist ideology and received some assistance from Communist China. Following independence, its leader began to embrace concepts such as democracy and free enterprise, realising that Western support was available for the struggle against the MPLA and its Soviet allies.