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Angolan Civil War: A Visual History

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Visual history of a war

Twenty-seven years of MPLA against UNITA, with Cubans, South Africans, Soviets and Americans, ending only when Jonas Savimbi was shot in 2002.

Fought
1975 to 2002
Duration
27 years
Dates
11 November 1975 to 4 April 2002
Deaths
About 500,000 to 800,000; 4 million displaced; 70,000 amputees from mines
MPLA
Government under Agostinho Neto and Jose Eduardo dos Santos; Cuba, USSR, SWAPO
UNITA and FNLA
UNITA under Jonas Savimbi; South Africa, United States, Zaire; FNLA under Holden Roberto (to 1976)
Result
MPLA victory; Luena Memorandum; UNITA becomes a party

The Angolan Civil War (1975-2002) broke out as Portugal withdrew, when the three liberation movements, the Marxist MPLA, the FNLA and Jonas Savimbi's UNITA, fought for the capital. Cuban troops and Soviet arms secured Luanda for the MPLA in November 1975 and repelled a South African invasion; UNITA, backed by South Africa and from 1986 openly by the United States, waged a bush war from the south-east. The Battle of Cuito Cuanavale in 1987-1988 led to Cuban and South African withdrawal and Namibian independence. Elections in 1992 were rejected by Savimbi and the war resumed, financed by diamonds against oil; his death in battle in February 2002 brought peace within weeks. Some 500,000 to 800,000 died and 4 million were displaced.

When it was fought: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Angolan Civil War. The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

15501600165017001750180018501900195020002050Angolan Civil War (1975 to 2002)Open: British EmpireBritish Empire (1583 to 1997)Open: Dutch EmpireDutch Empire (1602 to 1975)Open: United StatesUnited States (1776 to present)Open: Third Portuguese EmpireThird Portuguese Empire (1822 to 1999)Open: Second French colonial empireSecond French colonial empire (1830 to 1980)Open: Soviet Union (USSR)Soviet Union (USSR) (1922 to 1991)Open: Cold WarCold War (1947 to 1991)Open: Portuguese Colonial WarPortuguese Colonial War (1961 to 1974)Open: Mozambican Civil WarMozambican Civil War (1977 to 1992)Open: Burundian Civil WarBurundian Civil War (1993 to 2005)Open: First Congo WarFirst Congo War (1996 to 1997)Open: Second Congo WarSecond Congo War (1998 to 2003)

Cuban troops in Angola

013.7527.541.25551975: 361980: 251988: 521991: 019751980198519901991thousands

Timeline of the Angolan Civil War

  1. 1975
    Independence; Cuban and South African interventions
  2. 1976
    FNLA destroyed; Clark Amendment
  3. 1986
    US aid to UNITA resumes
  4. 1988
    Cuito Cuanavale; New York Accords
  5. 1992
    Elections; war resumes
  6. 1994
    Lusaka Protocol
  7. 1998
    War resumes again
  8. 2002
    Savimbi killed; Luena Memorandum

1975: the race for Luanda

The Alvor Agreement of January 1975 promised a transitional government and elections; instead the movements fought. Zaire and the CIA backed the FNLA, South Africa launched Operation Savannah from Namibia to install UNITA, and Cuba flew in 36,000 troops (Operation Carlota) who stopped the FNLA at Quifangondo and the South Africans south of Luanda. The MPLA declared independence on 11 November 1975; the US Congress cut off covert aid with the Clark Amendment in 1976.

Cold War bush war

Savimbi's UNITA, based at Jamba in the south-east, was armed by South Africa and, after the Clark Amendment's repeal in 1985, by the US, and courted by Reagan; the MPLA held the cities and oil, guarded by 50,000 Cubans and Soviet advisers, while Angola hosted SWAPO and ANC bases that South Africa raided. Mines and sabotage crippled the country. The MPLA offensive of 1987 was stopped by South Africa on the Lomba, and the siege of Cuito Cuanavale in 1988 ended in stalemate that both sides claimed as victory; the New York Accords of December 1988 sent the Cubans and South Africans home and freed Namibia.

Blood diamonds and Savimbi's end

The Bicesse Accords of 1991 led to elections in September 1992; dos Santos led and Savimbi refused the result, and the Halloween massacre of UNITA supporters in Luanda and UNITA's seizure of much of the country reopened the war more bloodily than before, with UNITA selling diamonds and the government spending oil on arms. The Lusaka Protocol of 1994 collapsed by 1998. Government offensives took Jamba and Bailundo in 1999; Savimbi was killed in an ambush in Moxico on 22 February 2002 and UNITA signed the Luena Memorandum on 4 April. Dos Santos ruled until 2017.

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8 surprising things about the Angolan Civil War

  1. Cuba sent some 400,000 troops through Angola over 16 years; Mandela credited Cuito Cuanavale with hastening apartheid's end.
  2. Savimbi was welcomed at the White House by Reagan in 1986 and called a freedom fighter by conservatives.
  3. The 'blood diamonds' campaign and the Kimberley Process certification scheme grew largely from UNITA's diamond sales.
  4. Angola had one of the highest rates of landmine amputees in the world; Princess Diana's 1997 walk was through an Angolan minefield.
  5. The Portuguese exodus of 1975 removed 300,000 settlers and almost all skilled workers in months.
  6. Angola's Cabinda oil paid for the MPLA's war and made it Africa's second-largest producer.
  7. Both superpowers backed the same movements at different times: the CIA had funded the FNLA and, briefly, the MPLA's rival Savimbi had once been Maoist.
  8. Savimbi's death was confirmed by a photograph of his body with 15 bullet wounds broadcast on state television.

Sources

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