“Africa's Czechoslovakia”: Internationalism and (Trans)National Liberation in Angola, 1961-1976

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“Africa's Czechoslovakia”: Internationalism and (Trans)National Liberation in Angola, 1961-1976 “Africa’s Czechoslovakia”: Internationalism and (Trans)national Liberation in Angola, 1961-1976 by Candace Clare Terese Sobers A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of History University of Toronto © Copyright by Candace Clare Terese Sobers 2014 “Africa’s Czechoslovakia”: Internationalism and (Trans)national Liberation in Angola, 1961-1976 Candace Clare Terese Sobers Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of History University of Toronto 2014 Abstract The list was found in a private archive in Lisbon. It recorded the names of a squadron of Angolan nationalist fighters, who throughout the 1960s and 1970s were embroiled in a protracted war of national liberation against the fading Portuguese empire. Little is known about these individuals, such as Commander Miguel Sebastião João or Commissioner João Constetavél, but their noms de guerre – “Che Guevara” and “Lumumba”, respectively – spoke volumes. By deliberately choosing such value-laden pseudonyms, Angolan nationalists invoked the revolutionary heritages of other Third World leaders, and situated their own independence struggle in a global battle against colonialism, racism, and minority rule. Despite British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan’s famous 1960 assertion that the “wind of change” in Africa was a political reality, Portugal fought steadfastly to remain the ‘last empire’. The ensuing battle for Angolan independence was many things: fifteen years of intense anticolonial struggle and the launch of almost three decades of civil war, a threat to white minority rule in southern Africa, and another battle on the long road to ending empire and colonialism. For some, Angolan independence represented the opening salvo in a period of ii renewed global competition, one that would take advantage of a weakened “west” to renegotiate the positions of power in the international system. The escalation of the crisis in 1975 cast doubts on the resilience of the bipolar cold war world order and indeed on the international system itself, drawing in actors from around the globe including the United States, South Africa, Cuba, and the Soviet Union. For others, Angola demonstrated how national liberation movements, as transnational actors, learned to operate within the international system to gain necessary material and moral support to help achieve their political goals. By studying Angola this dissertation addresses a constellation of neglected topics: the end of the Portuguese empire, the rise of Angolan nationalism, the roles of transnational actors, and the under-theorized relationship between the meaning(s) of liberation, revolutionary movements, and the wider international system. iii Acknowledgements Acknowledgements are necessarily brief, but my gratitude to all who helped with this process is boundless. Many thanks to my insightful dissertation committee, Ronald Pruessen, Carol Chin, and Stephen Rockel, for taking a chance on a bit of a wild card. I am grateful for their careful reading, thoughtful commentary, moral support, and innumerable letters of reference over the years. They always believed it could be done. Thanks also to Thomas Borstelmann, Robert Bothwell, and Dickson Eyoh for their helpful comments on the final draft. Any errors or omissions are, of course, my own. Thanks to other allies along the way: Justin Pearce for introducing me to the archival treasures of Lisbon, and to Christopher Saunders for the wise counsel. Thanks to Mark Solovey and Wesley Wark for introducing me to fascinating new fields of inquiry. I am also grateful for the early support of Geoffrey Smith and Odd Arne Westad – the reasons why I became a historian in the first place. I also appreciate the kindness shown to me by the staff of the Department of History at the University of Toronto. Thanks to my friends and colleagues for their support, advice, documents, cups of coffee, and much appreciated thesis-avoidance tactics, especially Camille Bégin, Erin Black, Helen Dewar, John Dirks, Brandon King, Mairi MacDonald, Margaret Schotte, Jennifer Polk, and Kara Santokie. If I had to travel this difficult road I’m glad you were along for the ride. This project would not have been possible without support from the University of Toronto School of Graduate Studies and Department of History, the Munk School of Global Affairs, the Gerald R. Ford Library and Museum, the Society for Historians of America Foreign Relations, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the Ontario Graduate Scholarship Program. Special thanks to the patient and knowledgeable archivists at the Ford Library in Ann Arbor, MI, and at the Centro de Intervenção para o Desenvolvimento Amílcar Cabral and the Arquivo Mário Soares in Lisbon – obrigada. Finally, many thanks to Claudette Sobers for her unshakeable faith, and to Giles Hodge for always being on my team. What bears saying bears repeating – I really couldn’t have done it without you both (muito obrigada, mas “não pão”)! iv Abbreviations and Acronyms ACOA American Committee on Africa AF Africa Division, US Department of State ANC African National Congress, South Africa BOSS Bureau of State Security, South Africa CIA Central Intelligence Agency, United States CONCP Conferência das Organizações Nationalistas das Colónias Portuguesas (Conference of Nationalist Organizations of the Portuguese Colonies) CSAD Central and Southern Africa Division, United Kingdom EUR Europe Division, US Department of State FCO Foreign and Commonwealth Office, United Kingdom FM Foreign Ministry, United Kingdom FNLA Frente Nacional de Libertação de Angola (National Liberation Front of Angola) FRELIMO Frente de Libertação de Moçambique (Liberation Front of Mozambique) FRUS Foreign Relations of the United States, US Department of State GRAE Govêrno revolucionário de Angola no exílio (Revolutionary Government of Angola in Exile) GRFL Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library GOP Government of Portugal JSN Junta de Salvação Nacional (Junta of National Salvation) MFA Movimento das Forças Armadas (Armed Forces Movement) MMCA Cuban Civilian Military Mission in Angola MPLA Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (Popular Movement for Angolan Liberation) v NAM Non-Aligned Movement NARA II National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, United States NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization NIE National Intelligence Estimate NSA National Security Agency, United States NSAM National Security Action Memorandum NSSM National Security Study Memorandum OAU Organization of African Unity (now African Union) PAIGG Partido Africano da Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde (African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde) PIDE/DGS Polícia Internacional e de Defesa do Estado/ Direcção Geral de Segurança (International and State Defence Police/ General Security Directorate), Portugal PRC People’s Republic of China SADF South African Defence Force, South Africa SWAPO South West Africa People’s Organization TNA The National Archives of the United Kingdom UNITA União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola) UNGA United Nations General Assembly UNSC United Nations Security Council UPA União das Populações Angolanos (Union of the Angola Peoples) UPNA União das Populações do Norte de Angola (Union of the Peoples of Northern Angola) USG Government of the United States vi Table of Contents Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………...………....ii Acknowledgements ………………………………………………………………………………iv Abbreviations and Acronyms ………………………………………………………………….…v Table of Contents ………………………………………………………………………………..vii Introduction: Cape Town, 1960 …………………………………………………………………..1 Chapter 1: Léopoldville, 1965 ……………………………………………………………..…....32 Chapter 2: Washington, D.C., 1969 ………………………………………………………….….67 Chapter 3: Oslo, 1973 ……………………………………………………………………….…113 Chapter 4: Lisbon, 1974 …………………………………………………………………….…158 Chapter 5: Lusaka, 1976 ……………………………………………………………….………202 Conclusion: Cuito Cuanavale, 1988 …………………………………………………………...245 Bibliography …………………………………………………………………………………...257 vii 1 Introduction: Cape Town, 1960 For years, Angola was a sleepy Portuguese colony in Africa where nothing ever seemed to change and about which outside powers did not concern themselves. As a result of the revolution that culminated there in 1975, however, Marxist Cuba and white-ruled South Africa each sent thousands of troops to Angola, which would be an arena of Soviet-American competition for the next fifteen years. Mark N. Katz, Political Scientist, 20011 The wind of change is blowing through this continent, and whether we like it or not, this growth of national consciousness is a political fact. We must all accept it as a fact, and our national policies must take account of it. Harold Macmillan, British Prime Minister, 19602 Wind(s) of Change: Postwar African Independence3 When British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan stood before the Parliament of the Union of South Africa on 3 February 1960, he faced an unenviable task. He was there to convey what was to many South Africans, and certainly to the ruling National Party, an unwelcome and uncomfortable truth – Britain was getting out of the business of empire. Moreover, a mere twelve years after the formal institution of apartheid, Macmillan seemed to be suggesting that the days of white supremacy as an organizing principle of political rule and relations among states were numbered.4 This “wind of change” address was the centre point of Macmillan’s tour
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