I was digging into some Angolan history tonight. A personal obsession of mine: I regard a good deal of what's happened there as a reason to burn the UN.

But before I let on my own views, I'm interested: what do the literate and educated among us in this forum think about Angola? Any views on:

the MPLA
the South African connection
Jonas Savimbi
the Battle of Cuito Canavale
UNITA
The 1992 election
UNAVEM I and II
Cuba's involvement
"Conflict diamonds"
Clinton/W. Bush support for Eduardo Dos Santos

et cetera?

Angola was a true victim of the cold war: it's civil war became a proxy conflict between east and west, and some very unsavory groups gained access to more money and weaponry then they knew what to to with. The end result: a country with great natural riches was devestated by war for about 20 years. No participant in the Angolan War can boast about their part in what happened there.


On the lighter side, the Angolan war featured the wiedest match up of nations since New Zealand invaded Turkey: Cuba vs South Africa.

Incidently, can anyone recomend a good military history of the conflict? I'm particularly curious about an incident where a South African battalion or brigade was besiged by a Angolan-Cuban force.

Here's what I know about the angolan conflict:

MPLA
Movimento Popular pela Libertação de Angola
In Eglish: Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola
This was a communist movement, finnanced by the soviets. Its primary goal was to obtain the independence of Angola from Portugal. After the independence, they took power.

Unita
União pela Independência Total de Angola
In English: Union for the Total Independence of Angola
Their primary goal was also the independence of the country. However, it was supported by the USA and South Africa. After the MPLA came to power, UNITA became a rebell group fighting the government. After the end of the cold war, they lost the external support, but since they controlled some diamond-rich regions they continued to have money to keep the fight.

Jonas Savimbe was the main leader of UNITA and he was killed
recently.

Cuba, as the soviets, supported the MPLA in the Civil War. But the cubans sent soldiers to Angola, including Ernesto "Che" Guevara.

Originally posted by Case
Incidently, can anyone recomend a good military history of the conflict? I'm particularly curious about an incident where a South African battalion or brigade was besiged by a Angolan-Cuban force.

I think you're referring to Cuito Canavale in 1988, which I will not soon forget; I followed the battle closely in international newspapers. I remember it being referred to in one feature headline as "The Stalingrad of Africa." The battle lasted almost half a year. But it's so obscure, I can't even find a decent link for it online. I actually spent part of today in a couple of used bookstores hunting for good military histories of the war and found nothing yet, sorry.

I guess I'm primarily interested to see how CFC's conservative lot stands on this. There was and still is a major debate over whether Savimbi was a freedom fighter or just an authoritarian thug who was actually worse than the communists he fought. For an example of how wide the divide was on this, Ronald Reagan took the former view, and Margaret Thatcher the latter.

I'm with Maggie on this one :D

Originally posted by Richard III


I think you're referring to Cuito Canavale, which I will not soon forget; I followed the battle closely in international newspapers during I remember it being referred to in one feature headline as "The Stalingrad of Africa." The battle lasted almost half a year. But it's so obscure, I can't even find a decent link for it online. I actually spent part of today in a couple of used bookstores hunting for good military histories of the war and found nothing yet, sorry.

Thanks Richard. I've also been looking for books and websites on this battle and have found nothing but tantalising mentions of it. :(

Anyway, most sites on the web covering the South African involvement in the Angolan War appear to be written by nationalist white South Africans and/or ex-Rhodesians, and I don't put much faith in the information they present.

I guess I'm primarily interested to see how CFC's conservative lot stands on this. There was and still is a major debate over whether Savimbi was a freedom fighter or just an authoritarian thug who was actually worse than the communists he fought.

The fact that the Americans dropped him like a stone at the end of the Cold War is a pretty good sign that he was a seriously bad apple.

Jonas Savimbi was a most despictable character, and Angola will not miss him in the future. However, José Eduardo dos Santos and his Luanda companions are not much better, and so, here you have the tragedy of Angola in the last quarter of a century. It all started during the Colonial War (1961-1974), when two groups, MPLA and another one which name I can't remember were fighting the portuguese. Later there a cision and UNITA appeared. In the Bicesse agreements, when the new portuguese democracy gave Angola full independence, all three parties wereat the table. Later, Agostinho Neto of MPLA would become the first president. The divergences between MPLA and UNITA were too big and they started a civil war that lasted until last year. Neto died and JED came to power. MPLA allways controled the capital and had the support of the soviet block while UNITA was supported by South Africa and the US to a lesser extent. They controled the interior, rich in diamond mines. For two decades, there was this fratricidal war. In the last decade, the war has been no ore than just a personal fight between Savimbi JE dos Santos. It happened more than once, when the MPLA (later the legitimate government) was almost defeating UNITA (the later rebels), that Savimbi would call for a truce and while negotiations were being held, he would use that time period to rearm and reorganize. It was what led to the Lusaka agreements in early 90s, and the first democratic elections. Savimbi never really accepted the defeat and his personal rivalry with JES and his ambition to enter in the Futungo de Belas (the presidential palace) was too big. The MPLA found in this move the perfect opportunity to gain the legitimacy from the international community. The oil was a big help too: both France and the USA decided that these oil business and the end of the cold war justified the abandoning of Savimbi. The end of appartheid was also a blow in UNITA's international agenda. Somewhere in late 90s Savimbi called for another truce, and a year later stroke again, but in the end his isolation would mean that his dream of a military victory was impossible. MPLA took this cover to commit all type of illegal actions, since it was a sort of legitimate dictatorship. Throughout the 90s, José Eduardo dos Santos was an absolute ruler (and still is) and contributed to the downfall of angolan hopes as much as his rival.
In a yet unclear event, Savimbi was killed last year, and Angola has finally an opportunity to have a better future. But, has she really?
I have a close friend whose father works in Angola for a french oil company and I actually share a house with two angolan natives, an the news aren't that good. Angola is tormented with massive corruption at all levels of society. The immense natural wealth of the country hasn't come with any benefit for the population, but only to the Luanda élites and foreign powers, mainly France, USA and Portugal. You wouldn't believe the stories I hear everyday from these two felows and their (and mine) friends. It will take more than a generation (at best) to change anything for god in Angola, and unfortunatelly the international community, especialy those with influence and capacity do something (ie, the above cited three countries) doesn't seem very interested in do something. It's business as usual...