ANGOLA'S POTENTIAL LEADERS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP86T00608R000200010064-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: November 17, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 2, 2000
• Sequence Number: 64
• Publication Date: December 1, 1975
• Content Type: BR

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Angola s Potential Leaders
Secret
BR 75-66
December 1975
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IJOI'O I?N
Angola, the oldest, richest and largest of thr former
Portuguese African colonies, received its independet.ce on 11
November 1975. The birth of this nation, however, has not been as
smooth as that of Guinea-Bissau (independent in September 1974)
and Mozambique (in June 1975), both former Portuguesz colordes.
The Portuguese made an effort to set up a ruling co:dition, the
Transitional Government of Angola, in January 197` It had a
Presidential Council of three men, one from each of Argola's
three major liberation groups--the National Front fe,r the Libera-
tion of Angola (FN LA), the National Union ic;, - the Total
Independence of Angola (UNiTA), and the Popular ii ,ovement for
the Liberation of Angole (MPLA). The longstarti ling rivalries
between the groups proved to be irreconcilable, however, and
fighting among there intensified in mid-1975 as the= independence
aa`e approached. The Transitional Government wir abandoned in
Jury, and Angola came to independence in a state o civil war.
114'TEN-Ia. NT W FE is
MVQr BE. JOKINro - -TNREV ARMIES
'AR Whit UNE ANO'WlE
The Natal Mercury, June 1975
This report was prepared by the Central Reference Service and
was coordinated within CIA as appropriate. Comments and
questions may be directed to 25X1 A
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The FNLLA and the MPLA were set upon a u,iilitary solution to
determine who would govern. The UNITA, v., Mich preferred a
political solution, delayed entering the fighting and worked for
about a month to effect a reconciliation among the liberation
groups. During July-August the MPLA--with an influx of Soviet
arms and assistance-drove the FNLA out of Luanda and made
successful incursions into FNLA and UNITA territory , by August
MPLA attacks on UNiTA troops forced the UNITA. to join the
FNLA in a military alliance against the MIPLA. By October the
MPLA was claiming to hold 12 of Angola's 16 district capitals.
Stepped-up action by the FNLA and UNITA-with foreign
assistance-enabled those two groups to retake a significant Dart
of their areas, and by 21 November the MPLA actually wiitrolled
only three district (-apitals and one entire district. At the end of
Novembe -, however, the military advan age appeared to be
return_ng to the MPLA, whose troops were -oain making progres:?
in UNITA and FNLA territory.
After independence two guvernments were announced. The
MPLA formed the People's Republic of Angola (PRA), based in
Luanda, and on 14 November named a Cabinet. This government
has been recognized by the USSR, several Eastern European
Communist states, Brazil and several African States.
The other government-the Democratic Republic of Angola
(DRA) -is based in Huambo (formerly Nova Lisboa) and is a
coalition government formed by the UNITA and the FNLA. It is
shaky at best and is no more than a marriage of convenience.
Disagreement on who would lead the government and which group
would control which portfolio delayed the formation of a Cabinet
urti? 23 November. As announced at that time, the DRA has a
Revolutionary Council that is empowered to represent the nation,
safeguard independence and territorial integrity, enforce laws,
conduct elections, declare war and make peace. It also has a
Cabinet and a joint military command. The Cabinet includes two
nominated prime ministers (one from each liberation movement),
hciding office in alternating months; 13 ministers; and three
secretaries of state. Each movement appoints to the military
command a chief of st'4ff, who presides over that body in
alternating months; when the FNLA holds the prime ministry, the
UNITA will head the military command.
No nation has yet recognized this government. The African
countries that have supported the UNITA and the FNLA are
among the more moderate African states and have been prevented
from recognizing the DRA by a recommendation of the Organiza-
tion of African Unity (OAU): that no African country recognize a
government in Angola unless it is a coalition government of all
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three liberation groups. Several African states that might have
supported the FNLA/UNITA coalition have been troubled by the
recent revelations that South Africans are fighting with the
UNITA forces; this information led Nigeria to recognize the
MPLA. rather than observe the OAU recommendation.
Adding to Angola's problems is the question of the oil-rich
enclave of Cabinda. The Portuguese administered Cabinda from
Luanda, 5ut some inhabitants of the enclave--;upported by
n -~ighboring African states-claim that it was not a genuine union
and that Cabinda should now be independent of Angola. In the
1960's they formed the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of
Cabinda (FLEC): small though it is, this group too has suffered
from factionalism.
The conflicts among the liberation groups are of long standing
and can be traced to a tangle of differences-tribal, traditional,
urban-rural, regional, and ideological.
The power base of the FNLA is among tF - Bakongo people in
northern Angola, who number about 700,0+J0 and have tribal
affinities with peoples across the border in Zair . The FNLA was
created in 1962 by the merger of three ;reoup,;: the Bakongo
nationalists; the Democratic Party of Angola (PDA), a self-help
association created in 1944 and domLiated by the Bazombo tribe;
-And the Angolan Peoples' Union (UPA), the largest of the three.
The UPA was organized in 1957 and started the Angolan military
action against the Portuguese with unsuccessful uprisings in March
1961.
Until about 1974 the FN LA probably had the largest armed
forces; it operated in northt and eastern Angola. FNLL,
headquarters are in Kinshasa, Zaire; since ?TUy 1975 FNLA
president Holden Roberto ha& been with his troops in Angola,
based in the northern town of Ambriz. Another major FNLA
center is Carmona, also in the north. Over the years the FNLA
has received backing frw such diverse sources as the People's
Republic of China, Nortl: ,Corea, Zaire, Algeria, Tunisia, Nigeria,
Egypt, Yugoslavia. Romania, the United States, Belgium, France,
the World Council of Churches, and the OAU.
The power base of the MPLA is among the Kimhundu people,
who number about a million and inhabit the Lunda and Malanje
districts, the most important economically and the politicel-
administrative center of Angola. It is a multiracial party whose
membership includes whites, mulattoes and blacks. The MPLA
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was formed with the merger of several nationalist groups in 1956
but did not begin military operations against the Portuguese until
about 1965. This group has concertrated its efforts in the
northeast and in some of the more sparsely populated areas of
eastern Ango'.a.
The MPLA has had several headquarters: during 1961-62 it
was based in Conakry, Guinea; during 1963 in Kinshasa, Zaire; and
during 1963-75 in Brazzaville, Congo. Now its headquarters are in
Luanda, the Angolan capital. Over the years the MPLA has had
the backing of the USSR and the Eastern European countries;
Cuba; Tanzania, Mozambique and the Congo; the OAU; numerous
Communist-front organizations; and several European Communist
parties. It has received extensive Soviet arm;, generally via the
Congo. Cuban troops have joined its forces in the present conflict
with the FNLA and UNITA.
The MPLA has suffered from numerous divisions. The
authoritarian leadership of its president, Agostinho Neto, has
alienated some subordinates, and the persoral ar,1bitions of a
number of others have caused other divisions. The multiracial
char#.cter of the MPLA has not been a source of strength. The
blacks have noticed that they do most of the fighting, while the
better educated mulattoes hold the party's leadership posts, and
black resentment has been a serious divisive problem.
In 1973 factionalism led to the creation of two splinter
groups. The Active Revolt Faction, based in Brazzaville until 1975
(when it moved to Luanda), is a small group of intellectuals,
students and profession'l men who broke away because they
wished to democratize the party and replace Neto. The Eastern
Revolt Faction is composed largely of the troops of the military
commander Daniel Chipenda. Chipenda was an MPLA vice
president before th^ snlit; he is personally ambitious, but he
claims that his ma::i objection to Neto's leadership was the
MPLA's heavy dependence upon the USSR. In April 1975 Chipenda
merged his faction into the FNLA.
The [tower base of the UNITA is in southern Angola among
the Ovimbundu people-Angola's largest tribe, numbering about 2
million. It also includes the rural Chokwe and Nganguela people
of the sparsely populated east and south. The newest of Angola's
liberation groups, UNITA was formed in 1966. Its nucleus was a
group of Ovimbundu who had belonged to the FNLA but lift in
1964 because FNLA policies were dominated by the Bakongo.
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Over the years UNITA hqs had difficulty locating foreign
financial assistance. It was unable to mount any military action
against the Portuguese for several years, and when it did start to
fight it had so few armed men that it could only conduct small
raids against Portuguese installations in southeastern Angola.
First based in Lusaka, Zambia, UNITA was expelled in mid-1967
because of Portuguese economic reprisals against Zambia and
moved its headquarters temporarily to Cairo. In 1968
headquarters were established in Angolan territory. During the
1970's UNITA received some aid from the People's Republic of
China, Zambia, and the World Council of Churches. In 1975 it
also received either support or financial assistance from such
diverse states as Senegal, Zaire, Souti4 Africa, France and
Romania. Much of the success of UNITA's forces during the
November 1975 fighting was due to the South Africans that were
assisting in its drive through the south t-)ward Luanda.
A number of moderate African leaders favor UNITA president
Jonas Savimbi as a compromise candidate for the Presidency of
Angola.
FLEC, the Cabindan separatist movement, has been relatively
ineffective and appears to be little more than a puppet of
Cabinda's two neighbors, Zaire and the Congo. It was formed in
Brazzaville in the early 1960's, with the goal of total independence
from both Portugal and Angola.
Since 1974 there have been two FLEC factions-one based in
Kinshasa and the other across the river in Brazzaville. The
Kinshasa Faction is apparently the original FLEC movement. The
Brazzaville Faction was formed in June 1974, when a group of
FLEC members merged with the Democratic Union of the Peoples
of Angola and the Movement of Cabindan People. In August 1975
the Congolese Government ended its support for this fact.,,io and
gave its undivided support to the MPLA, which does not recognize
Cabinda's right to independence. In October Auguste Tchioufou,
head of FLEC's Brazzaville faction, fled to Kinshasa, where he
was allegedly going to sign an unspecified "important document."
Some observers felt that a reconciliation agreement between the
two factions might be under way. The Kinshasa-based faction, the
original FLEC movement, receives support from the Zairian
Government. It has recently been training troops in Zaire and
infiltrating them across Zaire's border into Cabinda. In July 1975,
at the OAU Conference in Kampala, the Kinshasa-based faction
announced the establishment of a Cabindan government and
named a Cabinet.
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OFFICIALS OF THE MAJOR
LIBERATION GROUPS
Daniel CHIPENDA
Johnny EDUARDO Pinnock
N'Gola KABANGU
Hendrik Vaal NETO
Holden ROBERTO
MPLA
Nito ALVES (Bernardo Batista)
Joaquim de ANDRADE
Mario de ANDRADE
Joao CAi;TANO
Henrique CARREIRA
Jose EDUARDO
Paulo JORGE
Lucio LARA
Lopo do NASCIMENTO
(Antonio) Agostinho NETO
Samuel CHIWALE
Jose NDELE
Miguel Nzau PUNA
Jorge SANGUMBA
Joi-9s SAVIMBI
Antor-?o VAKULUKUTA
Jorge VALENTIM
Luis, Ranque FRANQUE
Auguste TCHIOUFOU
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