Calhoun: The NPS Institutional Archive Theses and Dissertations Thesis Collection 1983 The foreign policy of Angola under Agostinho Neto. Saunders, Gregory M. Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School http://hdl.handle.net/10945/19817 : T216118 NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL Monterey, California THESIS THE FOREIGN POLICY OF ANGOLA UNDER AGOSTINHO NETO by Gregory Michael Saunders December 198 3 Thesis Advisor M. W. Clough Approved for public release; distribution unlimited , Unr;1 aaai f ip.ti SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF THIS PAGE fWhan D«'« Bntorod) READ INSTRUCTIONS REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE BEFORE COMPLETING FORM I. REPORT NUMBER 2. GOVT ACCESSION NO 3. RECIPIENT'S CATALOG NUMBER 4. TITLE (and Submit) 5. TYPE OF REPORT b PERIOD COVERED Master's Thesis The Foreign Policy of Angola December 1983 Under Agostinho Neto 6. PERFORMING ORG. REPORT NUMBER 7. AUTHORS 6. CONTRACT OR GRANT NUMBERf*; Gregory Michael Saunders ». PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME AND ADDRESS 10. PROGRAM ELEMENT PROJECT. TASK AREA 4 WORK UNIT NUMBERS Naval Postgraduate School Monterey, California 93943 II. CONTROLLING OFFICE NAME AND AOORESS 12. REPORT DATE Naval Postgraduate School December 1983 13. NUMBER OF PAGES Monterey, California 93943 111 14. MONITORING AGENCY NAME ft AOORESSfJ/ dlltmrmnt from Controlling Oiflct) 15. SECURITY CLASS, (ot thla report) IS*. DECLASSIFICATION/ DOWNGRADING SCHEDULE 1C. DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT (ot thla Roport) Approved for public release; distribution unlimited 17. DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT (ot tha abatract entered In Block 20, It dlttoront from Roport) II. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES 1*. KEY WORDS (Continue on raver ae old* It neceemary and Idontlty by block numbmr) Angola, the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) Agostinho Neto, Factionalism, Zaire, Mobutu, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) , South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO), Namibian negotations , Shaba 20. ABSTRACT ( Continue on roearam aid* It nacmaaawy and Idontlty by block number) This thesis analyzes the foreign policy of Angola under its first President, Agostinho Neto. Part one examines the evolutior of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola's CMPLA) relations with Angola's neighbor to the north Zaire from the movement's inception in 19 56, through the liberation struggle, post-independent conflicts in Zaire's Shaba Province and rapprochement. The author traces the effect of changes in FORM EDITION OF 1 NOV 6S IS OBSOLETE DD,; AN 73 1473 Unclassified S/N 0102- LF- 014-6601 1 SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF THIS PAGE (Wnen Dmta Bnterea SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF THIS PAGE (Whan Dmtm Enfrmd) (continuation of abstract) Zairian policy on the MPLA's perceptions of and response to its regional and international environment before and after independence. Part two outlines the evolution of M PLA policies toward the problems in southern Angola growing out of the complex forces generated by the interplay between ethnic and political conflicts in the region and Namibia involving the MPLA, The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) , the South West People's Organization CSWAPO) , and South Africa. A central focus of this thesis is the imnact of factional divisions within the MPLA on Angolan foreign policy. S<N 0102- LF- 014-6601 SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF THIS PAGEfWhwi Dstm Enfr,d) Approved for public release; distribution unlimited The Foreign Policy of Angola Onder Agostinno Neto by Gregory H. Saunders Captain, United States Army B.S., United States Military Academy, 1976 Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN NATIONAL SECURITY AFFAIRS from the NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL December 1983 tf. / j ABSTRACT This thesis analyzes the foreign policy of Angola under its first President, Agostinho Neto. Part one examines the evolution of the Popular Movenment for the Liberation of Angola's (MPLA) relations with Angola's northern neighbor Zaire from the movement's inception in 1956, through the liberation struggle, post-independant conflicts in Zaire's Shaba Province and finally rapprochsmenr. The author traces the effect of changes in Zairian policy on the MPLA's perceptions of and responses to its regional and interna- tional environment before and after independence. Part two outlines the evolution of MPLA policies toward the problems in southern Angola growing out of the complex forces gener- ated by the interplay between ethnic: and political conflicts in the region and Namibia involving the MPLA, the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) , the Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) , and South Africa. A central focus of this thesis is the impact of factional divisions within the MPLA on Angolan foreign policy. TABLE OF CONTESTS I. INTRODUCTION 8 II. MPLA IN THE NORTH: FROM CONFLICT TO RAPPROCHEMENT 11 A. THE PRE-INDEPENDENCE PERIOD: 1959-1975 .... 12 1. The MPLA and Congolese Independence ... 13 2. June- September 1960: Lumumba 15 3. September 1960-August 1961: Kasavubu . 16 4. August 1961-July 1964: Adoula 18 5. July 1964-November 1965: Tshombe .... 20 6. November 196 5-November 1975: Mobutu ... 23 7. The Katangans 25 8. Summary 29 B. POST-INDEPENDENT PERIOD: THE ROAD TO SHABA I 30 1. Trouble with Mobutu 31 2. Katangan Belligerence 33 3. External Challenges 34 4. Internal Challenges 35 5. Shaba I: Neto's Position 36 6. Summary 38 C. POST INDEPENDENCE PERIOD: THE ROAD TD SHABA II 39 1. In the South: The Revival of UNITA ... 39 2. In the East: The Revival of the Katangans 40 3. Reassessment of Its Foreign Policy .... 40 4. Foreign Policy Tested 42 D. SHABA II 45 E. RAPPROCHEMENT 51 III. THE MPLA. IN THE SOUTH: EVOLUTION OF TWO-TRACK STRATEGY 53 A. ETHNIC AND POLITICAL MOSAIC OF SOUTHERN ANGOLA 54 1. The Scramble for Independence, January-November 1975 55 2. UNIT A 56 3. SWAPO 60 4. The MPLA 6 3 5. MPLA-SWAPO Alliance 64 B. THE SOUTHERN INITIATIVES, 1976 66 1. Silencing UNITA 66 2. Ouster of South African Troops 69 3. Cultivating the Alliance 70 C. THE INITIATIVES UNRAVEL, 1977 72 1. The Revival of UNITA 72 2. South African Belligerence 74 3. The MPLA-SWAPO Alliance Collapses .... 76 4. Foreign Policy Reassessment 77 5. UN Contact Group Formed 80 D. THE SOUTH ERUPTES, 1978 81 1. Neto Takes the Initiative 81 2. Foreign Policy Unravsls 83 3. SWAPO Accepts UN Proposals: Neto's Role 85 4. The December Purge 87 E. THE TWO TRACK STRATEGY, 1979 90 1. The Stalled Negotiations: Neto's Position 91 2. The DMZ Proposal 93 3. Neto's Death: The End of an Era 95 IV. CONCLDSION 96 NOTES 99 INITIAL DISTRIBUTION LIST 111 , I. INTE0D0CTI3N On November 10, 1975, the High Commissioner Almirante Leonel Cardosa folded the Portuguese flag for the final time in Angola and sailed out of Luanda harbor. It was an historic day. Three centuries of Portuguese colonialism in Africa had ended. Ey the time Almirante Cardosa set sail a fragile coalition of three competing regionally and ethni- cally based liberation fronts negotiated earlier in the year had already collasped touching off a bitter, complex civil war. It was the African equivalent of the Spanish Civil War. On independence day, the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) , which controlled Luanda, seized control. Within three months, the MPLA aided by Soviet arms and Cuban troops defeated its rivals, the Nationa.1 Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA) and the National Union for the Independence Angola (UNITA) , and began to consolidate political control. The effects of the Angolan civil war were far-reaching. It delivered a series of blows to efforts to expand the fragile detente that had developed between the United States and the Soviet Union. The massive Soviet and Cuban inter- vention en behalf of the MPLA signalled a qualitative change in the nature of the superpower rivalry in Africa. The continued Cuban presence in Angola became a major sore point for some American policy-makers who saw the Cuban troops as a significant destabilizing factor in southern Africa. Eight year later, their presence continues to block American recognition of the Angolan government. For the U.S.S. R. the victory by the MPLA was a major African success and indicated that Moscow was both able and willing to commit resources and defend socialist movements and Marxist-Leninist regimes in Africa. 8 Since its independence, Angola has remained a focal point of international attention. In 1977 and again in 1978 , conflicts in Zaire's Shaba Province revived the rival- ries that emerged during the Congo Civil War of 1960-1964 and the more recent Angolan conflict. In addition, the MPLA became inextricably involved in diplomatic efforts authored by the United Nations to achieve a transition to indepen- dence for the last remaining African colony, Namibia, Angola's southern neighbor. By 1981, South African efforts to defeat the guerrillas of the South West Africa Peopled Organization (SWAPO) based in southern Angola had led to a South African military occupation of a 100 mile salient of Angolan territory. Internally, the MPLA's 1977 decision to opt for "scientific socialism" and formally convert itself into a vanguard party added anothsr critical dimension to the Angolan situation. A Marxist-Leninist regime in Luanda raised new and perplexing issues for American policy-makers. This thesis attempts to address these disparate events and the emergence of Marxism-Leninism by focusing on the evolu- tion of Angolan foreign policy under its first President, Agostinho Neto. Two case studies will be examined: 1) the MPLA's relations with Zaire in the north and 2) its rela- tion's with the diverse array of actors in the south and its involvement in the Namibian negotiation process. Additionally, this thesis will examine the ways in which the MPLA has perceived and responded to its regional and international environment. It assumes that a state's foreign policy is determined by an number of factors including the ideological predispositions of decision makers, factional politics and the regime's external envi- ronment.