COMMUNIST SUBVERSION THREAT TO AFRICA - I

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-03581R000200120001-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 17, 2001
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: April 1, 1965
• Content Type: REPORT

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COMMUNIST SUBVERSION THREAT TO AFRICA - 1
TRAINING OF GUERRILLAS AND SABOTEURS
Africans, often without the knowledge or consent of their own governments,
are being trained in sabotage, terrorism, and guerrilla warfare in Communist
countries. Ostensibly, the training is being given to support "national liberation"
movements. But the Communists, with their usual long-term objectives in mind,
are using this as a cover to tr6inn arm, and indoctrinate young men for eventual
subversion against, the new governments of Africa.
Recent evidence seems to indicate .a three-point programme:-
(a) Guerrilla training, open or secret; in Communist
States - China, Bulgaria, Cuba and possibly
Czechoslovakia. and East Germany.
(b) Communist-aided (money, arms,. instruction)
guerrilla training in sympathetic or non-aligned
countries in Africa such as the United Arab
Republic, Algeria, Congo, Guinea, Ghana and others.
Komsomol and political training of selected people
as angents provocateurs to create disunity and the correct
"revolutionary" atmosphere for guerrilla activity and
revolt against new Or unstable governments.
:In this context there is also the risk that even university
etudents' sent to Communist countries can return home
subverted.
(e)
plan2baasis on Violence
The Organisation of Afri. n Unity (OAU) and nationalist leaders are keeping a
close watch on the situation. Communist emphasis on violence as a means of
bringing about political change could have a strong appeal, especially among
dissidents in one-party ? States.
China, the strongest advocate of violent revolution, has ?set the pace, But ?
warnings have 'been voiced by, among others, Leopoldville's Etoile u Congo.
On September 18, 1964; it said: "China is stepping up the training of Africans in
guerrilla tactics and in selaversion. The important men responsible for training
camps are Chang Chi-yu and Liu Chang-sheng. Of these, the first is head of the
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Cultural Commission for Foreign Relations, the second is Secretary-General of the
Chinese African Friendship Association. Instructors are trained at 'The First
Branch of the Marxist-Leninist Institute' 'whose teaching staff includes leading
Chinese Communists such as Teng Hsiao-ping and Chen Po-ta."
The Communist States are careful to hide this training behind agreed programmes
of military aid and assistance, instruction, and supply of arms. But these open
negotiations often provide opportunities for contacts with suitable recruits for
their "guerrilla academies". China is known. to have trained guerrillas and
terrorists from the Cameroons, Angola, Guinea, Congo, Kenya, Mozambique,
Nigeria and Bechuanaland.. Bulgaria has trained recruits from Zambia, Kenya and
the Cameroons. Cuba, which has set. up guerrilla camps for more than 10,000
recruits, is reported to be training terrorists from Kenya, Zanzibar, South. Africa,
Rhodesia, Angola, Guinea, Mali and Ghana..
Trainintin Communist States
The Chinese Communists' experience of guerrilla warfare is readily available,
openly or in secret, to Africans, especially those engaged in civil war or opposed
to their own nationalist governments The Peking People's Daily, in December, 1961
also claimed that Chinese pamphlets on guerrilla warfare enjoyed a wide
circulation in Africa.
Convincing evidence of Africans being trained in military subversion came wiih
the arrest of six men on their return to the Cameroons from China in 1960.,
Notebooks and other material in their possession gave full details of the 10-week
courses which they and .three other Cameroon nationals attended at a military.
academy just outside Peking. The course covered instruction on the manufacture
of explosives, mines and grenades, their use in sabotage (demolishing bridges,
railways, and telephone communications), and training in the use of more
sophisticated military weapons as well as political indoctrination..
The six men were to pass on wnat they had learned to the local terrorist
organisation, Arrnee de Leber, Lion Nationale K.amerounaise (ALNK), the militant
Left-wing of the Union des Populations du Cameroun (UPC). When the Cameroons
became independent in January, 1960, the ANLK continued its subversive
activities. The Chinese, significantly, chose to support a movement engaged in
subverting the independent nationalist government, thus proving they are not
interested in mere "national liberation" and that it is an atmosphere of unrest
and political agitation which serves the aims of Communism, not peaceful national
independence.
Under False Pretexts
-
The Cameroon Government .vas unaware at the time that these men were
training in China. This -V a y17 cc clear by its delegate to the United Nations in
December, 1961.:
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"Information obtained shows that many young Cameroonians,
Inveigled and led into China under false pretexts, ieceive there
psychological and military preparations for the ultimate goal
of being sent back to our national territory, there to engage
in subversive activities and to serve as the instructors and
personnel in an eventual effective general rebellion."
The Chinese, purporting to back "freedom fighters", make an early start in
selecting those trainee-guerrillas whom they feel may help them in their subsequent
struggle for power and influence he an emergent country. They are particularly
active in the Portuguese territories in Africa. In August, 1963, it was reported
that an unspecified number of men from the African Independence Party of Guinea
and the Cape Verde Islands (PAIGC) had undertaken a six-month course in guerrilla
warfare in China. Some 50 members of the Moverrieet,P2kulaiye pour la
Liberation d/Angola were also on a similar course. in 1963 a representative of the
Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) who visited Algeria, claimed that
President Ben Bella had offered military training to Rhodesian Africans.
Volunteers, who could only be used for guerrilla activity, were to travel at the
expense of the Chinese Government, Algeria, which has paid tribute to "the
unceasing material and moral support" given to the FLN by Peking, still maintains
strong military connections with China.
The Chinese Embassy in Dar es Salaam is the springboard for political activity
in the whole of East and Central Africa where Peking obviously hopes to exploit
any possible discontent and disillusionment which is sometimes felt in new
countries.
Two Years in China
Other reports on guerrilla or irregular military training courses in China
Inc/tide:-
The former Minister of Education in the Lumumba
Government, Pierre Mulele, who led the recent 'revolt
in the Gong Kwilu Province, is reported to have been
trained in subversion and guerrilla tactics during two
years in China. According to the Hindustan Times,
Mulelels faction received 200 tickets, "obviously to and
from Peking", for the formation of military cadres under
the supervision of the Chinese War Academy.
in December, 1964, China was behind plans to grant
scholarships., including military training, to "revolutionary"
African students in Indonesia.
In October, 1964, 10 "agitators", trained in China, had
arrived in. Rwanda and were at work among refugees. Six
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others returned from China to give "military
training" to refugees.
Luca Fernandes, a self-styled "general" was trained
in China, He was one of three infiltrators caught in
Mozambique.
Eighteen Kenyans were undergoing a course in
guerrilla warfare at Wuhan Military Academy, China,
the East African Standard of Nairobi reported on
September 5, 1964.
Seven captured supporters of D:ibo Baka.ry, who attempted
armed infiltration of Niger, admitted that they had been
trained in Nanking and Peking. President Diori said that
the ringleaders were trained in China,
Nierney, Radio reported in October, 1964, that a
captured terrorist, who was given intensive "military
training" in China, was told by instructors that "to
attack and eliminate all reactionaries" on his return
would help progress. Another captured terrorist,
Yarouba Issa, admitted that "all the training we had
in China was against our will because we had no intention
of returning to attack our brothers and sisters."
Le Nier (November Z3, 1964) published a captured
document which indicated that China-trained terrorists
were returning with arms and ammunition to Niger.
The Congolese Central Government announced in
February, 1962, that "rebels" were being trained in
China. Rebels were being taught guerrilla tactics by
Congolese instructors trained in China, according to
Actualites Africaines October 3, 1964).
_
The first group of members of the Lilo tribe trained
as guerrillas and saboteurs had returned to Kenya. from
China, according to reports in December, 1964.
OATJ Aware of Danger
The OAU and its member-governments are fully aware of the notential threat
behind the indoctrination and training of guerrillas by China. Their fears were
voiced by the Ivory Goastts President Houphouet -Boigny in January, 1965, when he
said:-
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Nouisr,
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"The dangers threatening Africa to-day are
those from Communist: China. Should we who
do not want Africa to remain under foreign
domination allow it to become Chinese?. ...To
arrive more rapidly at their (China's) goal,
they have established training camps for our African
patriots from which Cotnmunist subversion is
organised to gnaw at our continent Mt by bit. They
have formed groups to be used to fight brothers and
sisters in opposing, camps. This is new in Africa and
it is a tragedy that worries us."
Eastern European countries are also taking an increasing interest in training
guerrillas and politically-indoctrinated. "freedom fighters" from Africa. Angolans
have been trained in Czechoslovakia and East Germany while other Africans, including
those from South Africa, have been trained elsewhere in Eastern Europe, including
Bulgaria, Russian, Czech., and Bulgarian arms have followed them back to Angola
and the Congo. Chinese anti-aircraft guns, automatic weapons, and ammunition
have also been found in the Congo,
Bulgaria, one of the most militant of Communist States,- is known to run
guerrilla training courses for Africans. In 1963 a full-scale course on subversion
was attended by some 200 Africans, including 76 Kenyans and 15'Cameroonians.
Instruction was: in English and covered small-arms training and the use of oxplosives.
They were told to "lie low" on their return, make friends with the army, and await
further instructions.
Bulgarials most notorious graduate was John Chanda, a Zambian, who was
arrested at Ndola in December, 1964. and fined ?45, or seven month& imprisonment,
for illegally bringing arms and ammunition into the country. The Bulgarian
Government had provided Chanda, whom they dubbed "General", with. a certificate
explaining the origin of the weapons. He claimed, in fact, that they were presents
from Bulgaria to show my party."
Three Kenyans left for Bulgaria late in 1961, travelling via Addis Ababa, One,
Hiram Mwangi, came into prominence in March, 1963, as leader of a group of
guerrilla trainees. Like Chanda, he appears to have occupied?a?privileged position
in Bulgaria with comfortable quarters and an official car. The Kenya African
Democratic Union, then the country's opposition, expressed its disquiet over the
training of members of the Kikuyu tribe in Bulgaria. Nevertheless, there ? was. a
dramatic increase in the number of trainees in April; 1964, when more than 100
Kenyans, including 79 Kikuyu, were flown to Bulgaria.
Promise of S-h
. a ar nros
The Cameroonian trainees were lured into Bulgaria by exiled Left-.wing -groups
who promised them "scholarships, '' But these, they were told later, wer6 bnly
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for "military training'. Of the.15 who took the course, .3i)$: were arrested on
their return home.
Cuba has begun to play an important role in the training of politically-
indoctrinated guerrillas from Africa. The main revolutionary training camp is
reported to be at Mina del Frio, a village on the slopes of the Sierra Maestra.
Students call the installation the "Guerrilla Academy". Political and theoretical
aspects of revolution are taught at a school in Havana.
According to official estimates, some 100-200 Africans a year are being
trained. in Cuba. They come from Zanzibar, Kenya, South Africa, Rhodesia,
Angola, Mali and Ghana. The African contingent is small, compared to those
from other parts of the world, but according to Cuban revolutionary theory not
more than a selected nucleus is needed.? (Given money, material, and local
backing, it is claimed, 20 or 30 commandos can ignite a revolution or cause wide
disturbances), In Zanzibar, 20 to 30 people trained in Cuba formed the spearhead
of the armed revolt which overthrew the Sultan and the government in January, 1964,
They were sent. to Cuba in January, 1962, by Sheikh Abdul Rahman 13abu, 'formerly
a-New China News .Agency representative in Zanzibar,? who is now Minister of
Cooperatives and Commerce in the government of Tanzania.
Trait in Africa,
?
3?oliticallyeindoctrinated guerrillas (often in the guise of "freedom fighters")
are also being trained in Africa, and Algeria is probably the most important centre
for this. There are many instructors, including Chinese, at camps there, and
Algeria also has large stocke of arms left over from the seven-year struggle for
independence.
The Tlemcen training centre has been instructing Africans from Portuguese
territories since 1961, and more recently there have been intakes frdm South Africa,
The Chinese Premier, Chou En-lai, expressed great interest in these centres on
his visit and offered to make a substantial contribution.
The ? Congo has provided an almost equally important training centre for
Angolans, who are being instructed by compatriots schooled in Algeria. The
Angolan Revolutionary Government in Exile (GRAE) is known to have sought aid
from China, bet the Congolese are unlikely to welcome this after their own experience
of Corrxrnunist subversion.
Tanganyika has shown signs of concern since its Army mutiny in January, 1964.
Its refugee camps have become nests of unrest and intrigue, and more extremist
dissidents have been expelled. Some refugees from Mozambique for instance,
were recently reported to be training in the United Arab Republic. he November,
1964, the Tanzanian Government was compelled to eransfer refugees from the
capital, Dar es Salaam, to Mbeya more than 300 rails inland "where they would be
less able to stir up trouble, and where foreign diplomats would be less able to
subvert them."
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In Portuguese Guinea trained guerrillas received arms fr OM Algeria and
Communist countries, and employed Czech Communist military instructors. Their
leader, Ami/car Cabral, is one of the few actually trained abroad.
Subversion of "Freedom" Grouks
_
The Communists have been quick to exploit and subvert so-called "freedom
fighters", many of whose efforts are now being di r,C;!ttid 'against their own
governments The 0.A.U, moreover, supports oiele what it considers' to be
legitimate "freedom" movements. Meanwhile, the Jetureese.of the Congo's
Kwilu Province, trained by .Pierre Mulele in Chinese methods of guerrilla
warfare, are still regarded as a _considerable threa,t to political stability in that
part of Africa. Similarly, in the Federal Cameroon Republic, terrorists
supported by Communist countries, are still fighting in the name of the illegal
and exiled crypto-Cornmunist Union des Populzttione du Cameroun.
Kenyals Minister for Pan-African Affairs, Mr. Leter Koirkange recently warned
the House of Representatives that some "freedom fighters" from other States,
especially those seeking help to tree their countries, were Yspies". Such appeals
would have to be examined closely. Kenyals own military unrest the abortive
army mutiny of January, 1964 - was not entirely unexpected. As early as 1962
there were reports that groups of Kenyans were training in methods of subversion
and sabotage, as well as guerrilla warfare, in Ghana and the Soviet Union. They
were to head "action brigades" to take over by force when the country became
independent.
Later, it was reported that a guerrilla training camp had been .established in
Ghana by the Bureau of African Affairs.
Kenya's Defence Minister, Dr. Njorage Mungai, told Parliament on March 30.
1965: "Many people have been trained in the armed forces in other countries, and
the first we know about it is when they get back." Asked why there was a delay
in accepting three Russian.-trained "fighter pilots" for the Air Force, he replied :
"Fully trained men are welcome, but they have to go through the proper channels
if they wish to join the KAP'."
Wish to Preserve Africa
Among African leaders who have exposed Communist subversive tactics are
Presidents Diori of Niger and Yarneogo of Upper Volta. They told a news
conference on February 2, 1965, that they wished to preserve Africa, at the birth of
its political independence., from the grip of Communist China. They condemned
China's attempt to introduce, by force, "ideology, weapons, money, and subversion".
President Dieri pointed out that young Africans were being trained in China to be
"leaders of subversion", while the "middle ranks" were being schooled in Algeria
and at Manko, tear Accra,
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- The Malawi Prime Minister, Dr. Hastings Banda, has dismissed "rebel"
.Ministers who had unauthorised contact with the Chinese Embassy in Dar es Saalam,
and warned his country against the duplicity of Communists. One ex-Minister,
Kanyarna Chiume, is now believed to be in contact with the Chinese.
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