In Angola the three independence movements
- the National Liberation Front (FNLA), the
National Union for Independence (UNITA) and
the Popular Movement for the Liberation of
Angola (MPLA) – started fighting each other
soon after independence was gained in 1975. It
was a power conflict with strong ethnic influences.
The MPLA was a Marxist organisation that tried
to appeal across tribal divisions; the FNLA in the
north-west of Angola drew support from the
Bakongo tribe; while the most formidable resis-
tance against the MPLA was organised from
southern Angola by Dr Jonas Savimbi’s UNITA,
his support founded on the largest tribe, the
Ovimbundu. The FNLA and Savimbi courted
South Africa and the West for support against
communism. Troops from outside the African
continent were sent in 1976 to help the MPLA to
defeat UNITA and the FNLA. By arrangement
with Moscow, Cuban troops began to arrive and
at the close of the 1980s were 50,000 strong.
Thus the Cold War was extended to exacerbate
the bloody conflict in the region. After continuous
fighting the Angolans and Cubans were unable to
overcome the South African-backed UNITA;
South Africa’s support for the FNLA and UNITA
was bound up with its occupation of Namibia. But
after 1989 South Africa became increasingly anx-
ious to disengage from Angola. In May 1991 a
peace accord was finally signed in Lisbon. The
Portuguese, the United Nations, the Organisation
of African Unity, the US and the Soviet Union
had all acted as mediators. It would take many
years to rebuild the devastated country if peace
could only be maintained.
In September 1992, as part of the peace
accord, general elections were held, monitored by
the UN. José Eduardo’s Popular Movement for
the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) won 58 per
cent of the congressional seats. Savimbi and his
supporters (UNITA) refused to accept the result.
His well-armed guerrillas resumed the civil war.
The Cold War sponsors have withdrawn their sup-
port from the respective warring sides, but neither
this, nor the destitution of the people and the
destruction of the country, seemed likely to guar-
antee a peaceful compromise. For some 3 million
Ovimbundus UNITA remained their cause and
the MPLA an implacable foe. Peace only became
possible after the killing of Jonas Savimbi in
February 2002 and the defeats UNITA had suf-
fered. In April the difficult transition began assem-
bling UNITA soldiers in camps where they were
supposed to disarm and then return to civilian life.
Four million people were displaced from their
homes; the UN here too is fulfilling a thankless
role to help maintain the peace and provide basic
support to stave off famine. There is little work or
future for the majority of families in the shattered
countryside. The one-party state relies on its oil
revenues, but is blighted by corruption and still
has to make good decades of civil war.
Namibia had been the German colony of South-
West Africa until the close of the First World War,
when it was handed over to South Africa under a
League of Nations mandate. In 1966 the United
Nations revoked the mandate, and in 1969 the
Security Council again called on South Africa to
withdraw. The Western powers were not prepared
to force South Africa out – its gold mines and
economy, its strategic importance and its anti-
communist stance ensured that its survival was vital
to the West, more vital than Namibia. Britain in
particular was lukewarm about sanctions and about
any other undue pressure, even while condemning
apartheid. A resistance movement, the South-West
Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO), began
guerrilla operations against South Africa in 1966,
backed by Angola’s MPLA after 1975. South
Africa mounted offensives into southern Angola in
a vain effort to destroy SWAPO.
The stalemate gradually wore down the will of
the contestants. The United Nations headed a
peace mission which, in December 1988, reached a
settlement over the future of Namibia. South Africa
agreed to withdraw its troops and to give up
Namibia, provided the Cuban troops withdrew
from Angola. The Cold War had been removed
from the contest. SWAPO won the general election
held under UN supervision in November 1989,
and the SWAPO leader Sam Nujoma formed a gov-
ernment when Namibia gained its independence in
- Namibia is largely composed of desert but it
has valuable resources of uranium and diamonds.
The SWAPO-led government followed a policy of
1
SOUTHERN AFRICA 773
