"STRAINS IN THE ANGOLAN REBEL MOVEMENT"

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06782002
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: March 8, 2023
• Document Release Date: February 8, 2019
• Case Number: F-2018-01471
• Publication Date: March 13, 1964

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13 March 1964
SC No. 0061.0/64
Copy No.. 402,
WEEKLY REVIEW
OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGNCY
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GROUP I Extluded from automatic1
downgroding and declassification
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This document contains classified information affecting the national
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its transmission or the revelation of its contents in any manner to
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ASIA-AFRICA (Con
STRAINS IN THE ANGOLAN REBEL MOVEMENT
Dissidents within Holden Roberto's proclaimed government-
in-exile and criticism elsewhere in Africa Confront ,him
with his most serious challenge to date.
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STRAINS IN THE ANGOLAN REBEL MOVEMENT
Angolan nationalist leader
Holden Roberto is under increasing
fire from dissidents within his
movement and from critics else-
where in Africa. As long as the
squabbles inside the Leopoldville-
based Angolan leadership persist,
they will further hamstring the
efforts of rebel forues inside
Angola to cope with the continu-
ing pressure from the Portuguese.
The rebellion's lack of
progress is in fact at the root
of Roberto's problems. His mili-
tary forces are ill-equipped and
poorly clothed and fed, partly
because of his failings as an
administrator. Although the
Portuguese are not capable adwip-
13 Mar 64
ing out these forces, the rebels
cannot do more at this stage than
harass the Portuguese. Discontent
apparently is endemic at the An-
golan training camp in the Congo
south of Leopoldville, and it
probably was his desperate need
to mollify his troops which led
Roberto to announce in January
that he would seek aid from Com-
munist countries.
Both the military stalemate
and Roberto's ill-planned lurch
toward the Communists have re-
inforced the restiveness of his
associates in his "government-
in-exile." They have long chafed
at his moodiness and his tendency
to concentrate all authority--
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including control of funds--in
his own hands. Most of them are
irritated by his inefficiency,
and many object to his narrow
tribal outlook. "PoreignministeP
Jonas Savimbi, an Ovimbundo from
central Angola, and the movement's
second most influential member,
has repeatedly said he plans to
oust Roberto, a Bakongo from the
north.
On the international front,
12 African states have recognized
Roberto's proclaimed government
but many of these have been dis-
illusioned by the stalemate in
the rebellion itself and by Ro-
berto's inefficiency.
Algeria--which has given the
Angolans most of their arms and
training but has never beenwholly
Asia-Africa
committed to Roberto's group--
may have renewed pressure for
the inclusion of rival groups
in the government-in-exile.
Roberto may still be able
to surmount these challenges.
He has many things working in
his favor: his proven ability
to keep internal dissidence
under control, the lack of unity
among his critics, his control
of funds, the support he has
always received from Congolese
Premier Adoula, and his estab-
lished position as a leader of
the Bakongo, who so far have
done most of the fighting. The
present
serious
ever.
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discontent is his most
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challenge to date, how-
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