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Civil War In Angola And The Involvement Of The International Community In It. Essay, Research Paper

THE ARMED CONFLICT IN ANGOLA AND THE INVOLVEMENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY IN IT.

The civil war in Angola which has raged for over three decades has been labelled as the “longest and most miserable in Africa.” (Goldman, 1999 : 1) The involvement and consequences for the international community have and continue to be vast . This essay will concern itself with the history of the civil war which has ravaged the potentially, richest country in Africa. Following this a critical synopsis of the current situation, investigating the standpoints of both internal belligerents, as well as the views of international actors is delivered. In conclusion a prediction of the fate of Angola in the coming six months is offered.

The civil war in Angola began in 1961. Despite extensive through more than thirty years, it remains one of the most misunderstood of the post-colonial conflicts in Africa. The war has been labelled anti-imperial, revolutionary, a proxy cold war, and a war between elites over natural resources. however the true roots of this climacteric lie in ethnic tensions steeped in history. (Goldman, 1999 :1) In 1956 the Movimento libertacao de Angola /Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) was founded as a liberation movement to end three centuries of Portuguese colonialism, and in 1961 the armed struggle began. In 1962 a United States backed Frente Nacional para leibertacao de Angola /National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA) was founded with similar objectives and the anti-colonial war proceeded.

Then in 1966 the charismatic Jonas Savimbi emerged on the stage of the liberation war. He criticised the MPLA for being dominated by the “mixed race intellectuals from the coastal cities” (Goldman, 1999 :2) and FNLA by Northerners. In response he launched the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) to take up arms against the Portuguese as well as the two established liberation movements – the anti-colonial war had become a civil war. Savimbi hailed UNITA as the ” real Africans’, sons of the soil, living in the bush, fighting against a wealthy cosmopolitan, better -educated, urban elite” (Goldman, 1999 : 2). UNITA draws its support base from the Ovimbundu people. The Ovimbundu were recognised by the Portuguese as hard workers and were used as coffee pickers in the colonial era. They bear a deep-seeded resentment of the ‘mesticos’ (light skinned people) who make up the majority of the urban coastal population. It is this fixation with tensions based on class, racial and ethnic differences which ahs characterised the war. Ovimbundu UNITA supporters, mostly living in the central highlands are pitted against the mixed-race people from the coast and the Kimbundu peoples of the North. The military logic used in the war has perpetuated the situation, in that UNITA’s guerrillas are active in the countryside while the better-armed MPLA holds to the cities located on the coast. The location of diamonds in the north-east and crude oil in offshore waters provides both a device to prolong a war for the respective minority elites, as well as creating further class based cleavages within the populace.

As independence approached in 1975, each side employed the support of Cold War participants. Cuba helped MPLA to take Luanda, South Africa sided with UNITA, and the USA supported the increasingly negligible FNLA efforts in the North, Widespread criticism of external involvement arose, but Goldman purports that:

” in reality it was more a case of the puppets pulling the strings of the puppet masters in a ruthless bid to seize the initiative.” (Goldman, 1999 :2)

A 1974 peace agreement was reached and in 1975 independence was gained. The supposed goal of the liberation movement is attained, however, in 1977 and alleged coup fails and the embroilment recommences. From this point on the war follows a horribly predictive cycle. In 1989 the Gbadolite peace accords, brokered by the Zairean President Mobutu Sese Seko are signed, but collapse soon after. In 1991 Portugal intervenes and brokers the Bicesse peace accords . The very next year UNITA rejects the results of the multi-party elections won by MPLA and once again the war ensues. In 1994 the UN brokers the Lusaka peace accords. But in 1998 the cease-fire collapses and Angola is once again at civil war. Nearly four decades after the inception of this war Angola lies crippled, the current generation know nothing but poverty, strife and conflict.

Let us more closely analyse the current situation in Angola. First within the context of the issues involved and the opposing parties viewpoints. And secondly, within the framework of the international situation. To begin a critical discourse on the current situation a useful point of departure is the breakdown, in 1998, of the cease-fire agreed upon at the 1994 Lusaka peace accords. UNITA failed to adhere to its commitments under the peace plan. Its army was not demobilised nor were its weapons turned in. Fighting once again commenced with attacks on “villages, aid agency compounds, government facilities and the UN”. (Herbert, 1998 : 11) “There are no angels in Angola” (Herbert, 1998 : 11) however, and the government responded to UNITA’s initial recapture of sixty towns with attacks by armed bands and police on UNITA held villages. Soon fully fledged civil war once again raged in Angola. UNITA seeks to control the critical “diamond rich Lunde Norte and Lunde Sul regions” (Herbert, 1998 : 11) in the North East, which through diamond sales fund UNITA’s struggle. This also further reiterates UNITA’s presupposition to remove the wealth from the hands of a minority elite and to have it controlled by the true ’sons of the soil’. Influence by the UN is negated, in that the

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