First Angolan Civil War 1975-1991

Sporadic fighting amongst the insurgents contending to form the government of a soon-to-be independent Angola did not prevent the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA) from agreeing to take part in the transitional government which took power on January 31, 1975. Violent incidents increased as the movements failed to resolve fundamental policy differences. The MPLA forced representatives of FNLA out of the capital in July and UNITA made a declaration of war on the MPLA on August 1st. UNITA then formed an alliance with FNLA to fight the MPLA. Finally, on August 14th, the transitional government collapsed and all expectations for a peaceful transition to independence ended.

South Africa first intervened on the side of the FNLA-UNITA alliance during August 1975 and on October 23rd, a South African force of 300, supported by 3,000 Angolan volunteers (trained by South Africa), advanced almost 1,000km into Angola. Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) also sent troops to support the FNLA along with several hundred mercenaries from around the world. Thousands of Cuban troops and military supplies from the USSR arrived to support the MPLA. Engagement of the apartheid regime of South African led to further international recognition and legitimacy of the MPLA as the government of Angola after independence on November 11th. By February 1976 the FNLA forces had been defeated in the north while international pressure forced South Africa to withdraw to Namibia (then South West Africa) leaving MPLA, with Cuban support, the dominant military power in Angola. UNITA continued to fight a guerrilla war in the south with American and South African aid.

South African engagement in Angola did not end with its withdrawal. The South West African People’s Organization (SWAPO), fighting for the independence of Namibia from South Africa, maintained bases in Angola and received support from the MPLA government. Cross border raids occurred frequently. At the same time South Africa provided supplies, training, and occasional air support for UNITA in its war on the Angolan government, which became increasingly effective. For Angola, the South African involvement justified the presence of the large number of Cuban troops; it also justified Angolan military and diplomatic support for SWAPO in its war against South Africa.

In 1981, South Africa invaded Angola again and established an occupied buffer on Angolan territory which not only made SWAPO infiltration into Namibia more difficult but gave UNITA a well defended base of operations. South African forces began to routinely target not only SWAPO forces but Angolan military and economic targets in support of UNITA. At the same time, UNITA conducted a massive infiltration of the countryside which disrupted the rural economy and forced hundreds of thousands of Angolan civilians to flee. The military success UNITA achieved was evidenced by the Angolan response to its threat to attack Chevron oil platforms in 1986. Additional Cuban troops were deployed to protect the economically vital installations. And the irony of communist soldiers defending American corporate interests in this Cold War confrontation should not be lost.

UNITA gained international support from not only the United States but other countries including France, Saudi Arabia, and the UK. Stalemate on the battlefield led to attempts at finding diplomatic solutions in 1988 and 1989 which failed to end the fighting between Angola and UNITA. However, among the negotiations taking place during this period were those between Angola, Cuba and South Africa linking the independence of Namibia to the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Angola; the three countries reached an agreement in New York on December 22, 1988. South Africa withdrew from Angola by August 30, 1988, before the agreement had been reached. Cuba withdrew all of its forces by May 25, 1991, before the July deadline. After a year of separate negotiations mediated by the United States and Soviet Union, UNITA and the government of Angola signed a peace treaty in Lisbon on May 31, 1991, officially ending the sixteen year war.

Notes

[1] This war certainly had aspects of a non-state, an inter-state, and an intra-state war identifiable at various times. By convention, the war is referred to as a civil war. A more rigorous examination of the available evidence, however, suggests the war was an inter-state war at the beginning and remained so until broader international negotiations resulted in all foreign forces withdrawing by May 1991 by which time Angola and UNITA were negotiating peace (as battle deaths continued to mount).

[2] There is no consensus on the initiation date of this war. Kohn, for example, discusses some events up to 1976 as part of the Angolan War of Independence while overlapping the civil war as beginning in 1975. Clodfelter leaves the start of what he lists as a civil war ambiguous though noting it began before November 1975 and it ends officially on May 31, 1991. Correlates of War (CoW) codes the war as a non-state war from October 15, 1974 (when Portugal signed the last of the ceasefire agreements) to October 22, 1975 (because Angola was not an independent country until November 11, 1975); CoW then considers the war as an inter-state war from October 23, 1975 (when South African troops invaded, though not for the first time) until February 12, 1976 (when South African troops withdraw, though temporarily, and Cuban troops remained); and, finally, CoW lists the war as an intra-state war from February 13, 1976 to May 15, 1991 (when fighting nominally ended).

[3] No definitive battle death (military or civilian) or even war-related death statistics seem to exist. Clodfelter (1991) suggests an Angolan death toll of 340,000 soldiers and civilians from all causes; this is likely based on Rummel whose estimates include 20,000 soldiers and 320,000 civilians killed between 1975 and 1987 (Table 14.1A 104-140). Brogan claims 200,000 people killed for approximately the same period, possibly based on data from Rummel as well. UCDP/PRIO conservatively suggests 100,000 battle deaths from 1975 to 1991 based on SIPRI data (and many more war-related deaths).

[4] Assuming the various estimates (discussed above) all have merit, and considering much of the war period was described as a stalemate, it is reasoned that military/civilian battle deaths were distributed evenly between Angola/MPLA and UNITA. FNLA was effectively insignificant after 1976, its losses estimated at 5% of troop strength of 20,000. Battle deaths of foreign forces are not included in the total because they are too small considering scale and significant digits of the estimates.

References

Angola - A Country Study; Brogan, 3; Clodfelter, 1024-5; COW1581, 186, 804; Kohn, 22-4.

Category

Inter-State War^[1]

Region

South Africa

Belligerents

South Africa, Zaire, Cuba, Angola/MPLA, UNITA, FNLA

Dispute

Governance, Interests

Initiation Date

August 14, 1975^[2]

Termination Date

May 31, 1991

Duration

15 years, 9 months, 18 days
(5770 days)

Outcome

Negotiated Settlement
(USA/USSR mediation)

Fatalities

Total: 100,000^[3]
Angola: 10,000/40,000^[4]
Cuba: 5,000
South Africa: 2,000
Zaire: 100
UNITA: 10,000/40,000^[4]
FNLA: 1,000^[4]

Magnitude

5.0