Angola

Collapse of the Transitional Government

Inevitably, the delicate coalition came apart as the leaders of the three movements failed to resolve fundamental policy disagreements or control their competition for personal power. Although the OAU brought Neto, Roberto, and Savimbi together in June 1975 for negotiations that produced a draft constitution, heavy fighting broke out in early July and spread swiftly throughout the country. Within a week, the MPLA had forced the FNLA out of Luanda, while the FNLA had eliminated all remaining MPLA presence in the northern towns of Uíge and Zaire provinces. UNITA formally declared war on the MPLA on August 1, 1975. A year earlier, the MPLA had created its military wing, the People's Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (Forças Armadas Populares de Libertação de Angola -- FAPLA), which became the core of the postindependence army (see Armed Forces , ch. 5). The FNLA and UNITA, recognizing that their separate military forces were not strong enough to fight the MPLA, formed an alliance and withdrew their ministers from the provisional government in Luanda, heralding full-scale civil war. The United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), meanwhile, initiated a covert program to have American and European mercenaries fight with the FNLA.

On August 14, 1975, the transitional government collapsed. Portugal ordered the dissolution of the coalition government and announced the assumption of all executive powers by the acting Portuguese high commissioner in Angola. In reality, MPLA officials filled those ministries abandoned by the FNLA and UNITA, thereby allowing the MPLA to extend its political control throughout the Luanda government.

Data as of February 1989

Angola - TABLE OF CONTENTS

• INTRODUCTION

• Chapter. 1. Historical Setting
  • PRECOLONIAL ANGOLA AND THE ARRIVAL OF THE PORTUGUESE
    • Kongo Kingdom
    • Ndongo Kingdom
    • The Defeat of Kongo and Ndongo
    • Matamba and Kasanje Kingdoms
    • Lunda and Chokwe Kingdoms
    • Ovimbundu and Kwanhama Kingdoms
    • The Dutch Interregnum, 1641-48
  • ANGOLA IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
    • Slave Trading in the 1700s
    • Portuguese Settlers in Angola
  • THE 1800s: TURMOIL IN PORTUGAL, REFORM AND EXPANSION IN ANGOLA
    • The Early Nineteenth Century
    • Abolition of the Slave Trade
    • Expansion and the Berlin Conference
  • SETTLEMENT, CONQUEST, AND DEVELOPMENT
    • The Demographic Situation
    • Military Campaigns
    • Administration and Development
  • ANGOLA UNDER THE SALAZAR REGIME
    • Angola under the New State
    • Salazar's Racial Politics
  • RISE OF AFRICAN NATIONALISM
    • Roots of Discontent
    • African Associations
      • The Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola
      • The National Front for the Liberation of Angola
    • Organizational Weaknesses
    • Beginning of Revolution
  • ANGOLAN INSURGENCY
    • Ascendancy of the MPLA
    • Emergence of UNITA
    • Liberation Movements in Cabinda
    • Portuguese Economic Interests and Resistance to Angolan Independence
    • The Portuguese Coup d'Etat and the End of the Colonial Era
  • COALITION, THE TRANSITIONAL GOVERNMENT, AND CIVIL WAR
    • Foreign Intervention
    • Collapse of the Transitional Government
    • South African Intervention
  • INDEPENDENCE AND THE RISE OF THE MPLA GOVERNMENT
    • Transformation into a Marxist-Leninist Party and Internal Dissent
    • Shaba Invasion and the Nitista Plot
    • Strengthening Ties with the Soviet Union and Its Allies
    • Economic Problems and the Implementation of Socialist Policies
    • The UNITA Insurgency and the South African Threat
    • The Final Days of the Neto Regime
  • THE DOS SANTOS REGIME
    • Steps Toward a Stronger Party and Political Discord
    • The Namibia Issue and Security Threats in the 1980s
    • Second Party Congress