Keesing's Record of World Events (formerly Keesing's Contemporary Archives), Volume 25, March, 1979 Angola, South African, Page 29501 © 1931-2006 Keesing's Worldwide, LLC - All Rights Reserved. Dismissal of Prime Minister -Government Reorganization - Foreign Relations - Military Situation Following a meeting of the central committee of the ruling Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola-Party of Labour (MPLA- PT) held on Dec. 6–9, 1978, it was officially announced (i) that Mr Lopo do Nascimento had been dismissed from the post of Prime Minister which he had held since independence in November 1975 [see 27497 A] and also as secretary of the party's politburo; and (ii) that the resignation had been accepted of Cdr. Carlos Roach Dilolua as Second Deputy Prime Minister with responsibility for Planning and as a member of the politburo. At the same time it was announced that the directors of national television and of the official newspaper A Jornal de Angola had been removed from office, that the 16 provincial commissars had been given ministerial status and that certain administrative services would be moved to the provinces from Luanda. In a speech on Dec. 10 marking the 22nd anniversary of the founding of the MPLA [see page 19277-2750] and the first anniversary of the restructuring of the party into the MPLA-PT [see 28892 A], President Agostinho Neto said that the posts of Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister had now been abolished “so that the head of state can maintain direct contact with ministers at any time without the need for an intermediary”, and that his Government intended to eradicate divisive influences and streamline operations in order to give it greater control. On the following day a presidential decree announced the removal of the remaining two Deputy Prime Ministers (Mr José Eduardo dos Santos and Cdr. Pedro de Castro dos Santos van Dunen), the Minister for Internal Trade (Mr Paulino Pinto Joao), the Minister of Housing and Construction (Mr Manuel Resende de Oliveira) and the Deputy Minister of Internal Trade (Mrs Maria Mambo Cafe); three of these ministers were, however, subsequently allocated new posts in the Council of Ministers, while Mrs Maria Mambo Cafe was appointed director of the MPLA-PT secretariat [see below]. Following the above changes, a series of new appointments to the Government were announced by the Angolan news agency Angop on Dec. 22, together with the appointment of a new provisional party secretariat (pending the next meeting of the party's central committee). Further changes were carried out on Jan. 17, a list of all the new appointments being given below. Mr José Eduardo dos Santos Planning and Chairman of National Planning Commission Mr Horacio Pereira Braz da Silva Housing and Construction Mr Manuel Alves dos Passos Barroso Mangueira Deputy Minister for Housing and Construction Mr Carlos Alberto van Dunen Internal Trade Mr Florencio Gamaleal Gaspar Martins Deputy Minister for Internal Trade Mr Paulino Pinto Joao Deputy Minister for External Trade Mr Antonio José’ Ferreira Neto Deputy Minister for Health Cdr. Pedro de Castro dos Santos van Dunen Provincial Co-ordination Mr Fernando Faustino Muteka Transport and Communications Mr Elidio Tome Alves Machado Deputy Minister for Communications Mr Humberto do Carmo Alves Machado Deputy Minister for Agriculture and Forestry Mr Rui Vieira Dias Mingas Secretary of State for Physical Education and Sport Mr Adolfo Nsikalangu Secretary of State for Cooperation Mr Muteka took on the additional responsibility for Communications; Mr Alves Machado was promoted from Secretary of State to Deputy Minister for Communications. The Ministry of Health, left vacant in September 1977 [see 28644 A], had been assumed at the end of that year by Mr Domingo Coelho da Cruz. The appointments to the party secretariat were as follows: Mr Lucio Lara (who would deputize as party chairman in the absence of President Neto), Mr José Eduardo dos Santos, Mr Henrique de Carvalho Santos, Mr Elidio Tome Alves Machado, Mr Manuel Bernardo de Sousa, Mr Afonso van Dunen, Maj. Antonio dos Santos Franca, Mr Paulo Teixeira Jorge (the Foreign Minister), Mr Erminio Joaquim Escorcio, Mr Agostinho Andre Mendes de Carvaiho and Mr Manuel Pedro Pacavira (Minister of Agriculture). Mrs Maria Mambo Cafe was appointed director of the secretariat. The government reorganization decreed by President Neto was reported to have strengthened his personal power in the face of dissension within the party regarding his efforts to improve relations with the West [see 29307 A and below], and also marked a more pragmatic approach towards the economic problems besetting Angola. In his Dec. 10 speech [see above] the President said that he had learned over the years that above all it was “necessary at all times to defend the independence of the party” and that “if the party is not independent then the country will not be independent”. His remarks were widely interpreted as a reference to Soviet and Cuban influence in Angola—Cdr. Rocha Dilolua, as head of the mixed Angolan-Cuban commission, having recently returned from a visit to Cuba where he had reportedly signed a series of new agreements for increased Cuban economic assistance, to include the despatch of a further 6,000 civilian technicians (bringing the total number of Cubans engaged in a military and civilian capacity in Angola to about 30,000—see also 28892; 28402). On the economic situation, the President said that Angolans could not live by enthusiasm alone and that the state was not yet capable of solving most of the people's problems, and that in particular “men and women living in rural areas are suffering terribly”. Senator George McGovern of the US Democratic Party visited Angola on Dec. 13 in the course of a three-week tour of southern Africa, and stated at a joint press conference with Dr Neto that the Cuban presence was the main obstacle to the establishment of formal relations between Angola and the USA [see 29307 A]; Dr Neto for his part stated that the Cubans remained in order to counter the threat of incursion by South African troops concentrated on the border between Angola and Namibia (South West Africa) [see also below]. The Angolan President subsequently said at a rally in Luanda (reported by Luanda radio on Dec. 18) that “the Americans want us to kick out the Cubans and make the establishment of normal relations conditional upon a reconciliation with UNITA” [the pro-Western National Union for the Total Inde-southern parts of the country—see below], but that Angola would “not be a slave to preconditions or to neocolonialism”. Relations with Portugal, which had been restored in mid-1978, were further improved at the beginning of 1979 when a trade agreement was signed in Luanda on Jan. 22 at the conclusion of a visit by a Portuguese delegation led by the Minister of Trade and Tourism, Sr Abel Repolho Correia. During the visit, however, the Angolan Government had accused the Portuguese press and certain politicians of orchestrating support for opponents of Dr Neto, and this had led to fears that the visit would be cut short; Sr Repolho Correia finally stated that the opinions expressed by certain Portuguese right-wing elements did not reflect official government policy. The Angolan Government announced on Jan. 20, 1979, that it had agreed to a request from the People's Republic of China to discuss the establishment of diplomatic relations between their two countries. The Angolan intelligence and security service (DISA) reported in a communiqué on Nov. 10 that two bombs had exploded in Huambo (central Angola); one explosion had killed 24 people and injured 67 and the other (which had taken place several days previously) had killed 16 and injured 54. The communiqué claimed that “this outbreak of acts of sabotage and terrorism, aimed in its first phase at economic targets and at the defenceless population of the most productive communes ‘, was the logical consequence of South African preparations for an attack on Angola, of which the Defence Minister, Cdr. Iko Teles Carreira, had warned in a speech on Nov. 7; it added that some of the 300 South African-trained “bandits” who had been “infiltrated” into Angola had been captured and would be “presented to the people and publicly tried”. (Luanda radio subsequently announced on Dec. 10 that 16 “bandits” had been condemned to death in Huambo for crimes against the civilian population and causing the deaths of numerous people.) On Nov. 11 Angola closed its airspace to flights between South Africa and Europe, and on the same day President Neto accused South Africa (in a speech at a military parade marking the third anniversary of independence) of wanting to wage “an undeclared war of hypocrisy, attrition and limited violence” against Angola and of training and arming guerrillas of UNITA. Cdr. Carreira's warning to the Angolan people on Nov. 7, when he had called in a radio broadcast for national mobilization in the face of the threat of an imminent South African attack on Luanda and other important towns, followed a series of reconnaissance flights by South African aircraft in recent weeks over these towns. Earlier, the Foreign Ministers of the European Community had agreed on Sept. 19, at the request of the Angolan Government, to address a protest to Pretoria over alleged violations of Angola's airspace by South Africa on Sept. 13–14. The Angolan permanent representative at the United Nations, Mr Elisio de Figueiredo, told a press conference in New York on Nov. 10 that South Africa had stationed up to 22,000 troops along the Angolan-Namibian border and was making reconnaissance flights 100 miles into Angolan territory; that Angolan troops had clashed with South African forces on the border on Oct.