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Angola Shaba Invasion and the Nitista Plot
Several incidents in the mid- to late 1970s contributed
to the
MPLA regime's reliance on Soviet military aid and the
presence of
Cuban troops. The first incident occurred on March 8,
1977, when
the National Front for the Liberation of the Congo (Front
National
pour la Libération du Congo--FNLC), a political opposition
group
hostile to Zaire's President Mobutu, launched an attack
from Angola
on Zaire's economically vital Shaba Province. Although the
Zaire
government halted the invasion with the aid of Moroccan
troops,
Mobutu accused the MPLA of having instigated the attack.
In return,
Neto charged Mobutu with harboring and militarily
supporting both
the FNLA and FLEC. The MPLA government, faced with
continuing
border violations and engaged in recriminations with the
Mobutu
regime, requested and received an increase in the number
of Cuban
troops.
Another incident brought factionalism in the MPLA
leadership
into sharp focus. Two ultraleftists, minister of interior
and
Central Committee member Nito Alves and Central Committee
member
José Van Dúnem, had become critical of the government's
economic
policies, which both men considered too moderate. They
also
criticized the government leadership for its heavy
representation
of whites and mestiços. In October 1976, the MPLA
condemned
Alves for factionalism and abolished his ministry. The
government
set up a commission of inquiry that investigated reports
that Van
Dúnem and Alves had purposely caused food shortages to
stir up
discontent. The commission found the men guilty and
expelled them
from the Central Committee in May 1977. Later that month,
Alves and
Van Dúnem led an uprising in the capital and called for
mass
demonstrations outside the presidential palace. The
uprising
failed, but Alves, Van Dúnem, and their followers seized a
number
of senior government leaders, whom they later killed.
The Neto regime, already alarmed by party factionalism
and the
number of members who did not actively support the party's
MarxistLeninist objectives, conducted a massive purge. It
reorganized the
party and the mass organizations, many of which had
supported Alves
and Van Dúnem. The commissars and directing committees in
eight
provinces, appointed by Alves when he had been minister of
interior, were removed. Thousands of Alves supporters,
referred to
as Nitistas, were dismissed from their positions and
detained. All
mass organizations were made subordinate to the MPLA.
Finally, to
achieve these changes, national and provincial
restructuring
committees were set up. By December 1980, the party had
shrunk from
110,000 members to about 32,000 members.
Data as of February 1989
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