History of Angola - Civil War

Civil War

A 1974 coup d'état in Portugal established a military government led by President António de Spínola. The Spínola government agreed to give all of Portugal's colonies independence, and handed power in Angola over to a coalition of the three, largest, separatist movements, the MPLA, UNITA, and the FNLA, through the Alvor Agreement. The coalition quickly broke down, however, and the country descended into civil war. The MPLA gained control of the capital Luanda and much of the rest of the country. With the support of the United States, Zaïre and South Africa intervened militarily in favour of the FNLA and UNITA with the intention of taking Luanda before the declaration of independence. In response, Cuba intervened in favor of the MPLA (see: Cuba in Angola). In the meantime the South Africans and UNITA had come as close as 200 km to the south of the capital, the FNLA and Zairean forces as far as Kifangondo, 30 km to the east.

With Cuban support, the MPLA held Luanda and declared independence on November 11, 1975, the day the Portuguese left the country. Agostinho Neto became the first president. FNLA and UNITA proclaimed their own short-lived republics (the Democratic Republic of Angola and the Social Democratic Republic of Angola) on November 24, 1975, for the zones they controlled with Holden Roberto and Jonas Savimbi as co-presidents (dissolved after January 30, 1976). By the end of January 1976 the Angolan army (FAPLA) and the Cubans had all but crushed FNLA, Zaireans and UNITA, and the South African forces withdrew.

The proxy war continued. The Angolan government, recognised internationally (although not by the United States), requested that Cuban forces remain in the country. Led by Jonas Savimbi, UNITA received clandestine support from the U.S. and other nations and took up military resistance in the southeast of the country while the Angolan government was supported by the USSR and Eastern Bloc countries. South Africa continued to pursue South-West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO) forces in Southern Angola, soon established bases and increased support of UNITA, which gained control of more and more territory. In an effort to deliver a final blow to UNITA and to drive South Africa out of the country, in 1987 the People's Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (FAPLA), with Soviet support, launched a campaign fraught with failures and defeats. Again, the Cubans intervened, stopping UNITA and South African advances, leading to the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale from January 13 to March 23, the largest battle in African history since World War II.

Angola and the U.S. had been in negotiations for a peaceful solution since June 1987. The U.S. agreed to include Cuba in direct talks. Cuba joined the negotiations January 28, 1988; South Africa joined March 9. Angola, Cuba and South Africa signed the Tripartite Accord on December 22, 1988, in which the withdrawal of Cuban troops from Angola was linked to the retreat of South African soldiers from Angola and Namibia.

The Bicesse Accord in 1991 spelled out an electoral process for a democratic Angola under the supervision of the United Nations. MPLA won the first round with 49% of the votes, against 40% for UNITA. UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi rejected the results and returned to war. A second peace accord, the Lusaka Protocol, was brokered in Lusaka, Zambia and signed on November 20, 1994.

The peace accord between the government and UNITA provided for the integration of former UNITA insurgents into the government and armed forces. However, in 1995, localized fighting resumed. A national unity government was installed in April 1997, but serious fighting resumed in late 1998 when Savimbi renewed the war for a second time, claiming that the MPLA was not fulfilling its obligations. The UN Security Council voted on August 28, 1997, to impose sanctions on UNITA. The Angolan military launched a massive offensive in 1999 that destroyed UNITA's conventional capacity and recaptured all major cities previously held by Savimbi's forces. Savimbi then declared that UNITA would return to guerrilla tactics, and much of the country remained in turmoil.

The extended civil war rendered hundreds of thousands of people homeless. Up to 1.5 million lives may have been lost in fighting over the past quarter century. It only ended when Savimbi was killed in 2002.