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The Origins of the Angolan Civil War THE LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE The Origins of the Angolan Civil War International Politics and Domestic Political Conflict 1961-1976 Thesis submitted to the University of London in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in internalionai Relations Fernando Joao da Costa Cabral Andresen Guimaraes March 1392 UMI Number: U615B6B All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U615363 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 T h e s e s Library British Library of Political and Economic Science \ 2 . 1 6 5 5 ^ ABSTRACT This thesis views the Angolan civil war as a conflict that resulted from both internal and external political factors. The war, fought in the period 1975-1976 between the MPLA and the FNLA-UNITA coalition to succeed Portuguese colonialism in Angola, involved the intervention of external powers on behalf of both sides. This study examines, in part, the relationships that were established between these international powers and the Angolan movements. Due to the way in which these external relationships modified the nature of the internal political dispute, they became an intricate part of the origins of the conflict itself. The internationalization of the Angolan civil war was predicated, however, on an internal political conflict that emerged from a dynamic interaction of the effects of both Portuguese colonialism and divergent currents of Angolan anti­ colonialism. While the particularities of Portuguese colonialism and the Salazarist regime played their part in establishing some of the conditions within which Angolan anti-colonialism emerged, the latter was also a product of specific political choices on the part of the movements involved. In this interaction there can also be found the roots of the conflict between the Angolan movements. This internal conflict was further exacerbated when the parties to it hoped to bolster their respective positions by establishing relationships with external powers. The establishment of these relationships was in part achieved by appealing to external rivalries, in particular to that of the competition between the superpowers, but also to regional rivalries, such as that between Congo and Zaire and wider continental divisions. The interaction between the internal conflict and these external rivalries is shown to have contributed significantly to the origins of the civil war. This thesis maintains its focus tightly on the specific question of the origins of the Angolan civil war. Those developments that led to the war, rather than the conflict itself are its main concern. 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The completion of this thesis was only made possible by the support of a number of people, without whom I would not have had neither the opportunity nor the inspiration for the work. To them I would like to express my gratitude. Firstly, I would like to thank my family: my mother and father, Antonio and Graga, my grandparents and my brother Antonio, for their unwavering support and belief in the project. They made it possible and it is to them that this thesis is dedicated. Secondly, I would like to thank Professor Fred Halliday for his supervision and encouragement, and the International Relations Department of the LSE, where I spent so much time and felt so welcome. In particular, I would like to thank all my colleagues in the Africa Seminar who helped to make the meetings an important part of the development of the thesis. The financial support provided by the British Council in the early phases of my work is much appreciated. Lastly, but not least, I would like to thank my friends, who either on a day-to-day basis or far away, made my life better and my work worthwhile: Mark for starting it and Spyros for ending it; Lisa, Pedro, Gil, Joao, Claudia, Paulo, Hugh, Heiner, Richard, Allison, Shari, Nicky, Margarida, Leon, Joe, Karin, Anna, Fida, Mallory, Tony and Ariane for what they have given me. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract............................................... p. 2 Acknowledgements........................................ p. 4 Table of Contents....................................... p. 5 Abbreviations...........................................p. 8 INTRODUCTION............................................p. 11 PART ONE THE ANGOLAN CIVIL WAR 1975-1976 CHAPTER 1 THE ANGOLAN CIVIL WAR........................ p. 28 (i) The Collapse of Portuguese Colonialism (ii) International Intervention PART TWO THE INTERNAL SOURCES OF CONFLICT IN ANGOLA CHAPTER 2 PORTUGUESE COLONIALISM IN ANGOLA p. 93 (i) Colonial Policy and the Portuguese New State (ii) Portugal and the Economy of Colonial Angola (iii) The Policy of Assimilation and the Formation of Colonial Society in Angola CHAPTER 3 ANGOLAN ANTI-COLONIALISM p. 147 (i) The Origins of Angolan Nationalism (ii) Urban Radicalism and the MPLA (iii) The FNLA, Roberto and Bakongo Nationalism (iv) Savimbi and UNITA: the Third Force PART THREE CONTINENTAL POLITICS AND ANGOLAN RIVALRY 1961-1976 CHAPTER 4 EXILE POLITICS IN THE CONGO.................. p.220 CHAPTER 5 THE OAU AND THE ANGOLAN NATIONALISTS: CONFLICT AND RECOGNITION................ •............ p.240 5 PART FOUR THE GLOBALIZATION OF ANGOLAN CONFLICT 1961-1976 CHAPTER 6 THE INTERNATIONAL ACTORS......................p.292 (i) Cuba and Angola: Internationalism and Intervention (ii) South Africa and Angola: Regional Power Politics (iii) Zaire and Angola: the Search for Influence CHAPTER 7 THE GLOBAL ACTORS........................... p.369 (i) The United States and Angola (ii) The Soviet Union and Angola (iii) China and the Angolan Movements CONCLUSION............................................. p.450 Appendix............................................... p. 461 Bibliography p. 493 6 Tables and Maps Tables 1 Value of Total Angolan Exports by Origin 1961 and 1962.p.123 2 Main Angolan Export Commodities 1966................ p. 124 3 Coffee Exports from Angola 1948-1970................ p.128 4 Investment levels in Angola 1959-1973............... p.132 5 Angolan Population by Race and 'Civilized Status' 1950.p.137 6 Racial Composition of Angolan Population 1777-1970 p.140 7 White Population in Angola 1940-1973................ p. 143 8 Voting on Angola at OAU Emergency Session January 1976.p.287 9 Cuban Troop Strengths in Angola 1975-1976............p.318 Maps 1 Angola 1975........................................ p. 9 2 Major Angolan Ethnic Groups......................... p. 10 7 ABBREVIATIONS ALC African Liberation Committee (OAU) ANC African National Congress BOSS Bureau of State Security CIA Central Intelligence Agency CONCP Congress of the Nationalist Organizations of the Portuguese Colonies COPCON Operational Command of the Continent DGS Security Directorate (ex-PIDE) EEC European Economic Community EFTA European Free Trade Association ELNA Army for the National Liberation of Angola (FNLA) EPLA Popular Army for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) FAPLA Popular Armed Forces of the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) FLEC Liberation Front of the Enclave of Cabinda FLN National Liberation Front (Algeria) FNLA National Front of the Liberation of Angola FRELIMO Liberation Front of Mozambique GRAE Revolutionary Government of Angola in Exile (FNLA) JSN Council of National Salvation MFA Armed Forces Movement MPLA Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization NIC Newly Industrialized Country NSC National Security Council (US) OAU Organization of African Unity PAIGC African Party of the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde PCA Angolan Communist Party PCP Portuguese Communist Party PDA Democratic Party of Angola PIDE International and State Defence Police RSA Republic of South Africa SADF South African Defence Force SWAPO South West Africa People's Organization UNITA National Union for the Total Independence of Angola UPA Union of the Angolan Peoples (ex-UPNA) UPNA Union of the Peoples of Northern Angola UN United Nations Organization US United States of America USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics 8 IS* • AAZZAV/LLt • KINSHASA f u -ua*»£»V »(rf) ZAIRE IHTC«**Af»OK*AI. BooMDARye* # tXPnAL , RAiuWA'f^ 0 r» c -rfn c x ^aPitAU ~ \ f IMMSfZ 9 ANGOLA 0vi*e,,. h e r e r o .: m &THHIC. Cr/zoor* INTRODUCTION This thesis looks at how the convergence of internal and external political factors led to the Angolan civil war. While the civil war has generally been considered to have been a case of ex­ ternal intervention in internal Angolan affairs, this thesis ex­ amines the relationship between the international factors and the internal conflict. Within this relationship these international factors were an intricate part of the origins of the conflict it­ self, rather than a series of events that occurred after, and in­ dependently of, the internal dispute. It will be argued that the domestic political actors in the conflict in Angola actively sought to internationalize their dispute in such a way that the dispute itself took on different natures. Thus, the civil war ceased
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