Keesing's Record of World Events (formerly Keesing's
Contemporary Archives),
Volume 25, March, 1979 Angola, South African, Page 29501
© 1931-2006 Keesing's Worldwide, LLC - All Rights Reserved.
Dismissal of Prime Minister -Government
Reorganization - Foreign Relations Military Situation
Following a meeting of the central committee of the ruling Popular
Movement for the Liberation of Angola-Party of Labour (MPLAPT) held on Dec. 6–9, 1978, it was officially announced (i) that Mr
Lopo do Nascimento had been dismissed from the post of Prime
Minister which he had held since independence in November 1975
[see 27497 A] and also as secretary of the party's politburo; and (ii)
that the resignation had been accepted of Cdr. Carlos Roach
Dilolua as Second Deputy Prime Minister with responsibility for
Planning and as a member of the politburo. At the same time it was
announced that the directors of national television and of the
official newspaper A Jornal de Angola had been removed from
office, that the 16 provincial commissars had been given
ministerial status and that certain administrative services would be
moved to the provinces from Luanda.
In a speech on Dec. 10 marking the 22nd anniversary of the
founding of the MPLA [see page 19277-2750] and the first
anniversary of the restructuring of the party into the MPLA-PT
[see 28892 A], President Agostinho Neto said that the posts of
Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister had now been
abolished “so that the head of state can maintain direct contact
with ministers at any time without the need for an intermediary”,
and that his Government intended to eradicate divisive influences
and streamline operations in order to give it greater control. On the
following day a presidential decree announced the removal of the
remaining two Deputy Prime Ministers (Mr José Eduardo dos
Santos and Cdr. Pedro de Castro dos Santos van Dunen), the
Minister for Internal Trade (Mr Paulino Pinto Joao), the Minister
of Housing and Construction (Mr Manuel Resende de Oliveira)
and the Deputy Minister of Internal Trade (Mrs Maria Mambo
Cafe); three of these ministers were, however, subsequently
allocated new posts in the Council of Ministers, while Mrs Maria
Mambo Cafe was appointed director of the MPLA-PT secretariat
[see below].
Following the above changes, a series of new appointments to the
Government were announced by the Angolan news agency Angop
on Dec. 22, together with the appointment of a new provisional
party secretariat (pending the next meeting of the party's central
committee). Further changes were carried out on Jan. 17, a list of
all the new appointments being given below.
Mr José Eduardo dos Santos
Mr Horacio Pereira Braz da Silva
Mr Manuel Alves dos Passos Barroso Mangueira
Mr Carlos Alberto van Dunen
Mr Florencio Gamaleal Gaspar Martins
Mr Paulino Pinto Joao
Mr Antonio José’ Ferreira Neto
Cdr. Pedro de Castro dos Santos van Dunen
Mr Fernando Faustino Muteka
Mr Elidio Tome Alves Machado
Mr Humberto do Carmo Alves Machado
Mr Rui Vieira Dias Mingas
Mr Adolfo Nsikalangu
Planning an
Housing an
Deputy Min
Internal Tra
Deputy Min
Deputy Min
Deputy Min
Provincial C
Transport a
Deputy Min
Deputy Min
Secretary o
Secretary o
Mr Muteka took on the additional responsibility for
Communications; Mr Alves Machado was promoted from
Secretary of State to Deputy Minister for Communications.
The Ministry of Health, left vacant in September 1977 [see 28644
A], had been assumed at the end of that year by Mr Domingo
Coelho da Cruz.
The appointments to the party secretariat were as follows: Mr
Lucio Lara (who would deputize as party chairman in the absence
of President Neto), Mr José Eduardo dos Santos, Mr Henrique de
Carvalho Santos, Mr Elidio Tome Alves Machado, Mr Manuel
Bernardo de Sousa, Mr Afonso van Dunen, Maj. Antonio dos
Santos Franca, Mr Paulo Teixeira Jorge (the Foreign Minister), Mr
Erminio Joaquim Escorcio, Mr Agostinho Andre Mendes de
Carvaiho and Mr Manuel Pedro Pacavira (Minister of Agriculture).
Mrs Maria Mambo Cafe was appointed director of the secretariat.
The government reorganization decreed by President Neto was
reported to have strengthened his personal power in the face of
dissension within the party regarding his efforts to improve
relations with the West [see 29307 A and below], and also marked
a more pragmatic approach towards the economic problems
besetting Angola.
In his Dec. 10 speech [see above] the President said that he had
learned over the years that above all it was “necessary at all times
to defend the independence of the party” and that “if the party is
not independent then the country will not be independent”. His
remarks were widely interpreted as a reference to Soviet and
Cuban influence in Angola—Cdr. Rocha Dilolua, as head of the
mixed Angolan-Cuban commission, having recently returned from
a visit to Cuba where he had reportedly signed a series of new
agreements for increased Cuban economic assistance, to include
the despatch of a further 6,000 civilian technicians (bringing the
total number of Cubans engaged in a military and civilian capacity
in Angola to about 30,000—see also 28892; 28402).
On the economic situation, the President said that Angolans could
not live by enthusiasm alone and that the state was not yet capable
of solving most of the people's problems, and that in particular
“men and women living in rural areas are suffering terribly”.
Senator George McGovern of the US Democratic Party visited
Angola on Dec. 13 in the course of a three-week tour of southern
Africa, and stated at a joint press conference with Dr Neto that the
Cuban presence was the main obstacle to the establishment of
formal relations between Angola and the USA [see 29307 A]; Dr
Neto for his part stated that the Cubans remained in order to
counter the threat of incursion by South African troops
concentrated on the border between Angola and Namibia (South
West Africa) [see also below]. The Angolan President
subsequently said at a rally in Luanda (reported by Luanda radio
on Dec. 18) that “the Americans want us to kick out the Cubans
and make the establishment of normal relations conditional upon a
reconciliation with UNITA” [the pro-Western National Union for
the Total Inde-southern parts of the country—see below], but that
Angola would “not be a slave to preconditions or to
neocolonialism”.
Relations with Portugal, which had been restored in mid-1978,
were further improved at the beginning of 1979 when a trade
agreement was signed in Luanda on Jan. 22 at the conclusion of a
visit by a Portuguese delegation led by the Minister of Trade and
Tourism, Sr Abel Repolho Correia. During the visit, however, the
Angolan Government had accused the Portuguese press and certain
politicians of orchestrating support for opponents of Dr Neto, and
this had led to fears that the visit would be cut short; Sr Repolho
Correia finally stated that the opinions expressed by certain
Portuguese right-wing elements did not reflect official government
policy.
The Angolan Government announced on Jan. 20, 1979, that it had
agreed to a request from the People's Republic of China to discuss
the establishment of diplomatic relations between their two
countries.
The Angolan intelligence and security service (DISA) reported in a
communiqué on Nov. 10 that two bombs had exploded in Huambo
(central Angola); one explosion had killed 24 people and injured
67 and the other (which had taken place several days previously)
had killed 16 and injured 54. The communiqué claimed that “this
outbreak of acts of sabotage and terrorism, aimed in its first phase
at economic targets and at the defenceless population of the most
productive communes ‘, was the logical consequence of South
African preparations for an attack on Angola, of which the
Defence Minister, Cdr. Iko Teles Carreira, had warned in a speech
on Nov. 7; it added that some of the 300 South African-trained
“bandits” who had been “infiltrated” into Angola had been
captured and would be “presented to the people and publicly
tried”. (Luanda radio subsequently announced on Dec. 10 that 16
“bandits” had been condemned to death in Huambo for crimes
against the civilian population and causing the deaths of numerous
people.)
On Nov. 11 Angola closed its airspace to flights between South
Africa and Europe, and on the same day President Neto accused
South Africa (in a speech at a military parade marking the third
anniversary of independence) of wanting to wage “an undeclared
war of hypocrisy, attrition and limited violence” against Angola
and of training and arming guerrillas of UNITA.
Cdr. Carreira's warning to the Angolan people on Nov. 7, when he
had called in a radio broadcast for national mobilization in the face
of the threat of an imminent South African attack on Luanda and
other important towns, followed a series of reconnaissance flights
by South African aircraft in recent weeks over these towns. Earlier,
the Foreign Ministers of the European Community had agreed on
Sept. 19, at the request of the Angolan Government, to address a
protest to Pretoria over alleged violations of Angola's airspace by
South Africa on Sept. 13–14.
The Angolan permanent representative at the United Nations, Mr
Elisio de Figueiredo, told a press conference in New York on Nov.
10 that South Africa had stationed up to 22,000 troops along the
Angolan-Namibian border and was making reconnaissance flights
100 miles into Angolan territory; that Angolan troops had clashed
with South African forces on the border on Oct. 30, Nov. 2 and
Nov. 3, causing some casualties; and that Angola had declared a
state of emergency and had imposed a curfew in the southern and
central provinces and in Luanda [For South African-Angolan
relations in 1978, see pages 29042-43; 29461 A].
The South African Prime Minister, Mr P. W. Botha, stated
“unequivocally” on Nov. 14 that South Africa had no intention of
attacking Angola or of threatening the independence of any
neighbour or country in Africa, but that “on the contrary we are
endeavouring to promote independence [i.e. in Namibia] in an
orderly and democratic fashion”.
Mr Botha said that allegations of imminent South African
aggression had “assumed such dimensions that it has now become
a propaganda campaign against us”. South Africa had troops “in
the border areas of South West Africa to meet its obligations
towards the local population to protect them against terrorism” and
would fulfil these obligations “with everything at its disposal” to
protect “all the peace-loving people in South West Africa, as in the
past, against uncalled for intimidation and terrorism”.
A series of Cuban-backed MPLA offensives were reported to have
been launched during 1978 against UNITA strongholds in the
central and southern provinces of Angola. The UNITA information
secretary, Mr Joaquim Chitunda, claimed in London on April 4,
1978, that UNITA was having “steady success” against a force of
MPLA troops and 5,000 Cubans in Cuando-Cubango province in
the largest offensive yet launched, and he also alleged that napalm
was being used against UNITA's forces. Reports of this offensive
were substantiated by South African reports, which said that 700
refugees had fled over the Angolan border into the Kavango
homeland (South West Africa) but added that UNITA was meeting
strong resistance. Mr Chitunda also claimed that 580 MPLA and
Cuban troops and 78 UNITA guerrillas had been killed during
February 1978.
According to a UNITA spokesman in London on June 7, some
6,000 Cubans with air support had begun an offensive on June 4 in
Bié, Huambo and Cuando-Cubango provinces; the spokesman
claimed on June 15 that the Cubans had been routed, that 50 had
been killed and 60 injured, and that some had been captured.
A UNITA spokesman in Paris stated on Oct. 10 that another
offensive had begun in the central and southern provinces, and
pledged the continuation of guerrilla warfare to achieve the “total
liberation of our country from Soviet-Cuban domination”; in an
apparent attempt to quash rumours that the UNITA leader, Dr
Jonas Savimbi, had been killed or captured, the statement
contained a passage said to have been recorded by Dr Savimbi at
his headquarters in the Angolan bush.
Luanda radio announced at the beginning of December that five
UNITA members had been executed for training guerrillas, placing
bombs and sabotage.
The Benguela railway, which had been closed since 1975 [see
27537 A] and which was to have reopened by mid-November in
accordance with an agreement reached between President Neto and
President Mobutu of Zaire in October 1978 [see 29307 A],
remained inoperative despite opening ceremonies held in
November in the Angola-Zaire border town of Dill. A UNITA
communiqué released in Paris on Nov. 10 said that UNITA forces
had, in the course of a dozen attacks, recently wrecked 37 miles of
the railway, while a further statement issued by Mr Chitunda in
London on Jan. 18, 1979, said that the railway would not be
allowed to function against the will of UNITA or be used to
“transport Cuban troops who massacre our people”; if the line
reopened, he added, it would become an instrument of political
pressure in the hands of the Soviet Union against Zambia and
Zaire. In his Jan. 18 statement Mr Chitunda also said that UNITA
was ready to talk with President Neto's forces, but not until all
Cuban forces had been withdrawn from Angola.-(Guardian - Daily
Telegraph -BBC Summary of World Broadcasts - West Africa - Le
Monde- Neue Zurcher Zeitung - Cape Times - International Herald
Tribune) (A,; Maps, pages 28892 and 29125; Attempted Coup
(1977) 28489 A)
© 1931- 2011 Keesing's Worldwide, LLC - All Rights Reserved.