Thread by @Belive_Kinuthia

History of Angola's Civil war.

THREAD...

After 1974 coup d'état in Portugal established a military gvt led by President António Spínola.The gvt agreed to give all of Portugal's colonies independence,& handed power over to Angola to a coalition of the three largest nationalist movements, the MPLA, UNITA, and FNLA.

The coalition quickly broke down.The MPLA gained control of the capital Luanda and much of the rest of the country. With the support of the US, Zaïre and S.Africa intervened militarily in favour of the FNLA and UNITA with the intention of taking Luanda.

In response, Cuba intervened in favor of the MPLA. In the meantime the South Africans and UNITA had come as close as 200 km to the south of the capital, the FNLA and Zairean forces as far as Kifangondo, 30 km to the east.

With Cuban support, the MPLA held Luanda and declared independence on November 11, 1975, the day the Portuguese left the country. Agostinho Neto became the first president.

FNLA and UNITA proclaimed their own short-lived republics (the Democratic Republic of Angola and the Social Democratic Republic of Angola) on November 24, 1975, for the zones they controlled with Holden Roberto and Jonas Savimbi as co-presidents (dissolved after January 30, 1976)

On May 27, 1977,a coup attempt, including some former members of the MPLA government such as Nito Alves, led to retaliation by the government and Cuban forces, resulting in the execution of thousands, if not tens of thousands.Alves was tortured and killed.

Led by Jonas Savimbi, UNITA received clandestine support from the U.S. and other nations and took up military resistance in the southeast of the country while the MPLA government was supported by the USSR and Eastern Bloc countries.

South Africa continued to pursue South-West Africa People's Organisation(SWAPO) forces in Southern Angola, soon established bases and increased support of UNITA, which gained control of more and more territory.

In an effort to deliver a final blow to UNITA and to drive S.Africa out of the country, in 1987 the People's Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola with Soviet support, launched a campaign against them.

Again, the Cubans intervened, stopping UNITA and South African advances, leading to the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale from January 13 to March 23, the largest battle in African history since World War II.

The MPLA and the U.S. had been in negotiations for a peaceful solution since June 1987.U.S. agreed to include Cuba in talks.Cuba joined the talks Jan. 28, 1988;S.Africa in March 9.Angola,Cuba and S.Africa signed the Tripartite Accord on Dec. 22, 1988

The Bicesse Accord in 1991 spelled out an electoral process for a democratic Angola under the supervision of the United Nations. MPLA won the first round with 49% of the votes, against 40% for UNITA. UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi rejected the results and returned to war.

From October 30 to November 1, 1992 the Halloween Massacreoccurred in which thousands of UNITA and FNLA supporters in Luanda were killed by MPLA troops. Estimates for the death toll nationwide reach 25,000 to 30,000.A second peace accord, the Lusaka

The UN Security Council voted in1997,to impose sanctions on UNITA.The Angolan military launched a massive offensive in 1999 that destroyed UNITA and recaptured all major cities previously held by Savimbi's forces.Savimbi then declared that UNITA would return to guerrilla tactics.

Later,Savimbi started another war.

The extended civil war rendered hundreds of thousands of people homeless. Up to 1 million lives may have been lost in fighting over the past quarter century. It only ended when Savimbi was killed in 2002.

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