Fall/Winter 1999 - HR in Angola

continued . . . Angola, by Maria Rio-Benito

I first arrived in Angola in February 1998. This large country in south-western Africa is potentially one of the richest in sub-Sahara Africa. It boasts oil, copper, gold, uranium, diamonds, coffee, tobacco, and many other agricultural and mineral resources. But, since achieving independence from Portugal in 1976, it has been engulfed in a civil war between the government (MPLA–Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola), aided by the Soviet Union, and a rebel organization known as UNITA (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola), assisted by the United States.

When I arrived, the country was enjoying a short-lived peace. My first memories are of the putrid smell and the shantytowns of Luanda, the capital. This greatly contrasted with the better-cared for Menongue, the capital of Kuando-Kubango, the most south-eastern province, where I spent most of my time while in Angola. Except for some handwork of wood and ivory, I saw little productive activity in Menongue. The common meal was funge or pirao, which are corn or manioc based. Meat was very expensive, and fruits could be obtained only when the roads from Benguela in the west coast of the country were safe. The labor market had collapsed due to the fear of land mines, which also accounted for the lack of wild animals. When I left the country in August 1998, the war had resumed, and with it a humanitarian crisis of catastrophic dimensions.

Historically, the native Bantu and other peoples founded kingdoms in what is present day Angola. Their first contact with Europeans was in the 15th century, when the Portuguese navigator Diogo Cio arrived in the kingdom of Kongo, starting a trade relationship that would develop into colonial domination. More and more Portuguese traders, missionaries, soldiers and even criminals arrived, settled, and established the slave trade, which ultimately supplied two million slaves to their colonies, especially Brazil. Throughout the centuries there were numerous indigenous revolts, culminating in those of 1961 when the MPLA fight for liberation officially began. The MPLA grew out of the long struggle for reform of the colonial system carried out in the urban centers. UNITA was founded in 1966 as one of the minor nationalist movements in the struggle for independence. It was made up mainly of people from the Central Plateau, and controlled approximately 80% of the country’s diamond trade and there are suggestions that it collaborated with the Portuguese. The Marxist National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA), was the third player in the struggle for independence and the ensuing civil war.

In January 1975 the three groups signed the ALVOR Accord, which defined the transitional mechanisms to transform Angola from a colony into an independent country. The ALVOR Accord failed in March 1975 when civil war broke out. As one of the cold war battlegrounds, Angola’s many natural resources, its size and its strategic location, made it too tempting a prize. Apartheid South Africa and the US supported UNITA. Cuba, the former USSR, and the Scandinavians supported MPLA. These groups also received logistical, technical and moral support from neighboring countries where they established permanent bases: Congo Brazzaville and Zambia supported the MPLA, and the FNLA received the backing of Democratic Congo.

When the MPLA won in 1976, the FNLA fell apart, but UNITA continued to fight the new regime. The US refused to recognize the Angolan government and supported UNITA, even though that same year President Ford signed the Clark Amendment, which prohibited US involvement in Angola. US support continued in the 80’s under President Reagan. The 1988 New York Accords brought an end to direct interference by Cuba and South Africa in Angola. However, the Angolan civil war continued, now with UNITA supported by the US through Zaire (a support publicly proclaimed by President Bush).

1990 was a turning point: Namibia became independent from South Africa, the African National Congress was legalized and Nelson Mandela came out of prison. UNITA and MPLA, under US and USSR pressure, signed the Bicesse Accord in 1991. This accord formalized the cease-fire and outlined a reconciliation process to be carried out during a transitional phase, which would lead to multi-party elections for the Legislative Assembly and pluralistic elections for the presidency. Free elections took place in 1992. The MPLA won the majority in the legislature. UNITA alleged fraud and resumed the civil war. However, UNITA was increasingly isolated internationally and forced to participate in UN overseen peace talks in Lusaka at the end of 1993. The Lusaka protocol was signed on November 20, 1994. UNITA assured the UN Secretary General in December 1996 that all troops had been demobilized, but they refused to give up strongholds and began retaking territory.

In June 1998 the civil war resumed. Since January 1999, UNITA has taken control of 70% of the country. The UN is considering suspending assistance because 20% of the territory is inaccessible to humanitarian agencies. UNITA continues attacks on relief personnel, aircraft, and trucks, as well as daily mass killings of civilians. Massive starvation has engulfed Angola (200 Angolans are dying a day from malnutrition), millions of people are displaced, and the plight of 3 million people is utterly unknown. Those who are not displaced are terrified of working their farms because they have seen their neighbors killed or maimed by land mines while working their fields (in 1996 the UN estimated there are 9-15 million mines buried in Angola, with more being lain by both sides of the conflict). The declining access to basic medical care is beginning to be evident. There was a recent outbreak of paralysis in Luanda caused by poliomyelitis, an illness nearly eradicated in the world. UNICEF reports that three of every ten Angolan children will not survive to their fifth birthday.

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