Angola: First civil war (1975-1992)

Updated October 2005

The agreement between the Angolan parties, the MPLA, FNLA and UNITA and Portugal to establish a joint transitional government in January 1995 came to naught. The civil war that had begun before independence raged on. Even before the Portuguese flag was furled the joint party patrols that were meant to keep the peace were fighting one another in the capital and the provinces when Angola became independent on November 11, 1975 (Meijer & Birmingham 2004, Accord 2004).

Each side in the conflict had its Cold War foreign backers, the MPLA received aid from the USSR, Cuba and the People's Republic of Congo, the FNLA from the USA, China and Zaïre and UNITA from the USA and South Africa. The MPLA was able to expel the others from the capital and, defeating an FNLA assault on Luanda, went on the offensive. They proclaimed a socialist one-party state with Agostinho Neto as president and received widespread international recognition. Early military gains were reversed in October, when South African troops from Namibia (then South West Africa) invaded from the south in support of UNITA. Only a massive influx of Cuban troops prevented the fall of Luanda to them (Meijer & Birmingham 2004).

The withdrawal of the Portuguese government sparked a panicked exodus of white settlers, by the end of 1975 less than 10% remained. The exodus of the settlers was accompanied by widespread destruction of infrastructure, and the economy was bereft of skilled labour. This, combined with the debilitating effects of the civil war, brought the economy to a rapid halt. The MPLA government responded to the crisis by nationalising Portuguese firms, but not foreign oil companies (Library of Congress 1989p, History World undated, Meijer & Birmingham 2004).

The MPLA changed its name to the MPLA-Workers' Party (MPLA-PT) and began an internal reorganisation to transform itself from a mass party into van-guard party on the Soviet model. Members were expelled and a centralised, highly disciplined, tightly organised and minutely supervised Marxist-Leninist party was created (Angolan Embassy 1996a). The Catholic Church, which had been favoured by the Portuguese colonial regime, was suppressed. All trade unions, youth organisations, media and other civil society structures were placed under state control. The state was so thoroughly penetrated by and subordinated to the party that no practical distinction between the two existed (Meijer & Birmingham 2004).

With Cuban assistance a military counter-offensive was launched in January 1976, driving back the South African-UNITA forces, capturing Huambo, and forcing the FNLA back into Zaïre. By March the South Africans, lacking promised US support due to an Act of Congress, had withdrawn. The capture of the major urban centres did not bring the war to the end, for both UNITA and the FNLA withdrew to the bush from where they conducted guerrilla campaigns against the MPLA (Accord 2004).

UNITA found itself in a relatively strong position. With South African support it was able to establish a secure base in the remote south-east of the country under the cover of the South African Air Force. With South African arms and materiel, and periodic direct South African intervention, it was able to reorganize and began to harry the MPLA supply lines (Angolan Embassy 1996b). Its diplomatic offensive in the West bore fruit, particularly in Reagan's America, and it was increasingly viewed as an anti-communist alternative to the MPLA. By the late 1970's the FNLA, driven from the urban areas by the MPLA and progressively losing the support of traditional allies such as the USA and Zaïre, slowly disintegrated as a military force; its members were reabsorbed into the MPLA controlled society (Meijer & Birmingham 2004).

References

ACCORD 2004 "Chronology" Accord 15, [www] http://www.c-r.org/our-work/accord/angola/chronology.php [opens new window] (accessed 15 May 2008).

ANGOLAN EMBASSY 1996a, "The MPLA takes over" IN Virtual Historical Tour of Angola, Washington DC, [www] http://www.angola.org/referenc/history/tour4.html (Site off-line 19 Oct 2007).

ANGOLAN EMBASSY 1996b, "The War with UNITA" IN Virtual Historical Tour of Angola, Washington DC, [www] http://www.angola.org/referenc/history/tour5.html (Site off-line 19 Oct 2007).

HISTORY WORLD UNDATED, "History of Angola", [www] http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ad33 [opens new window] (accessed 16 Oct 2007).

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 1989p, "Administration and Development" IN Country Study: Angola [www] http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+ao0028) [opens new window] (accessed 16 Oct 2007).

MEIJER, G & BIRMINGHAM, D 2004, "Angola from past to present" Accord 15 [www] http://www.c-r.org/our-work/accord/angola/past-present.php [opens new window] (accessed 15 May 2008).