The Revolt in Angola
MARCUM, JOHN
FORMATION OF GOVERNMENT IN EXILE INDICATES NEW STAGE The Revolt in Angola By John Marcum On March 15, 1961, a revolution erupted in the Portuguese colony of Angola. Thirteen months and...
...But the Angolan revolt is already an international issue...
...The nationalists are waging a war of attrition, trying to convert a profitable colony into a costly liability...
...It is comprised of two major groups: Roberto's Union of the Populations of Angola (UPA), whose National Liberation Army is the only proven rebel military force, and the Angolan Democratic party (PDA, formerly known as the Alliazo), which is strong both in the northern Maquela de Zomba area and among an enterprising community of Zombo emigres and refugees now in the Congo...
...Since the beginning of the year, the nationalists have increased their contacts abroad, though primarily among Africans and Portuguese colonials...
...They are well on the way toward denying the wealth of Angola's coffee, cotton, diamonds, oil and cheap contract labor to the Portuguese treasury...
...Oriented toward the Casablanca Bloc's brand of militant Pan-Africanism and a Guinean style of monolithic political organization, the Conference included representatives from the African Independence party of Portuguese Guinea and the Cape Verde Islands, a rival of the MLGC, as well as delegates from Mozambique, Sao Tomé and Principe...
...The violent upheaval which began in March 1961 was the result of five centuries of severe colonial rule in Angola...
...They indicated the Exile Government' would seek recognition only from African states, in order to avoid entanglement in cold war politics...
...It recently received sizeable quantities of arms, including Bren guns, rifles, land mines and grenades, none of which came from Communist sources...
...The National Liberation Army controls an extensive area of mountain and forest terrain...
...By attacking and capturing equipment from Portuguese military posts and patrols, and by destroying transportation routes and plantations, the rebels hope to force Lisbon to negotiate...
...Representatives of the International Red Cross report that the "rehabilitation centers" established to welcome returning refugees remain nearly empty...
...Thirteen months and many thousands of lives later, the rebellion continues unabated under the leadership of a newly formed Government in Exile headed by Holden Roberto...
...In announcing their merger, the new partners disclaimed any "racist spirit or hatred," and expressed their hope for an eventual "reconciliation" between the Angolan and Portuguese people, once the latter had freed themselves from the colonialism and fascism of dictator António Oliveira de Salazar's rule...
...The MPLA has also been actively cultivating friends in Africa...
...The self-administering UPA territory of the north is fostering a taste for freedom and a desire for independence among thousands of young militants and African deserters from the Portuguese Army, all of whom appear determined and able to fight on indefinitely...
...They feared that Mario Andrade's rival Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), with its mulatto leadership and ties to Portuguese opposition elements, might, in the event of a coup in Lisbon, make a deal with a future Left-wing regime and settle for autonomy within a reformed Portuguese community...
...Most of the rebel leaders are themselves products of Protestant mission schools and Catholic seminaries...
...Morale is high following the arrival of new arms and the promise of more to come...
...John Marcum, who recently returned from a visit to the rebelcontrolled areas of northern Angola, is the director of the African Program at Lincoln University...
...José Liahuca lobbied at the January Lagos meeting of independent African states, while leaders of both the UPA and Mario Andrade's rival MPLA were present at the recent General Assembly debates in New York...
...Roberto and Henri Labery of the MLGC have invited other nationalist organizations in Mozambique and the islands of Sao Tomé and Principe to join them in a united front against the Portuguese government...
...The Portuguese are apparently unable to penetrate and hold territory off the main roads or outside the garrisoned towns...
...Under Portuguese law, all overseas territories are regarded as integral parts or "provinces" of the country...
...The Portuguese have so far met nationalist demands for self-determination with napalm and invective...
...For all the inter-party rivalry, however, the revolt in Angola appears to be entering a more advanced stage...
...Emmanuel Kounzika of the PDA is First Vice Premier...
...Roberto was named Premier...
...The Portuguene administration, a privileged European elite openly hostile to democratic ideals and institutions, encouraged involuntary contract labor, social inequality and restricted schooling...
...Thus they have resorted to widespread and indiscriminate bombing and strafing of villages suspected of being in rebel hands...
...According to Lisbon, many of the 150,000 Angolan refugees in the Lower Congo have returned to the protection of the Portuguese Army and the productive labor of Portuguese coffee plantations...
...Lisbon boycotted the Assembly debates, insisting that the Angolan revolution was an internal affair and did not constitute a threat to world peace...
...Despite the centuries of "civilizing" by Portugal (itself still an economically underdeveloped country with an annual per capita income of $200 and an illiteracy rate of 40 per cent), only 5 per cent of Angola's African population can read and write...
...Over 40 Angolans, representing all regions of the country, will soon return from in-battle training with the Algerian National Liberation Front to assume UPA command posts...
...The African leaders of the UPA and PDA are determined to achieve complete independence from Portugal...
...Last April, Andrade was instrumental in convening a Conference of Nationalist Organizations of Portuguese Colonies in Casablanca, Morocco...
...Utilizing small, highly mobile patrols, which operate out of hidden forest bases over a complicated and constantly altered system of bush paths, the rebels are expanding their military activity...
...And this modest achievement is due largely to the efforts of foreign missionaries, whose educational work has been limited by the colonial administration...
...The formation of a Government in Exile was more a precautionary move by the two groups than an expression of real power...
...Currently farming plots of land in the Bacongo area, most Angolan refugees openly sympathize and cooperate with the nationalists...
...A visit to the nationalist-held territory of northern Angola reveals the contrary to be true...
...Early this year, too, the UPA established formal relations with the Movement for the Liberation of Portuguese Guinea and the Cape Verde Islands (MLGC), and promised to send arms and "technical assistance in the art of guerrilla warfare...
...But this tactic has furthered the growth of nationalist feeling, and it helps explain why actually only a handful of refugees have chosen to accept Portuguese invitations to return to Angola...
...In January of this year, the United Nations General Assembly, by a vote of 99-2 (South Africa and Spain were the only dissenters), urged Portugal to initiate a program leading to self-determination and independence for the territory...
...UPA representative Dr...
...For Angola's 4.5 million Africans (as against 200,000 whites) they seek a guaranteed step-by-step approach to self-government and independence, with United Nations guidance and assistance...
...Should they continue to do so, they will only prolong the war, increase bitterness against themselves and probably end their chance for any future economic and cultural role in Africa...
...Portugal now claims that calm has been restored to northern Angola...
...The General League of Angolan Workers, led by André Cassinda, a young trade unionist from southern Angola, recently affiliated with both the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and the new African Trade Union Confederation established at Dakar...
...The new Government, whose temporary seat is in the Congo capital of Leopoldville, now exercises control over an area of northern Angola half the size of Portugal...
Vol. 45 • April 1962 • No. 9
