INSURGENCIES OF PORTUGESE AFRICA - ANGOLA, MOZAMBIQUE, GUINEA-BISSAU (FROM POLITICAL VIOLENCE AND INSURGENCY - A COMPARATIVE APPROACH, 1974, BY BARD E O'NEILL ET AL SEE NCJ-63408)

• NCJ Number: 63416
• Author(s): D J ALBERTS
• Date Published: 1974
• Length: 102 pages
• Corporate Author: Phoenix Press
• Publication Format: Document
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF INSURGENCIES IN MOZAMBIQUE, ANGOLA, AND GUINEA-BISSAU EXAMINES THE FIVE STRATEGIC VARIABLES OF GOVERNMENT, ENVIRONMENT, POPULAR AND EXTERNAL SUPPORT, AND ORGANIZATION OF THE INSURGENCIES.

Abstract

AS PART OF A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF POLITICAL VIOLENCE AND INSURGENCY, THIS CHAPTER DEALS WITH THREE INSURGENCY MOVEMENTS AGAINST PORTUGAL. IN GUINEA BISSAU THE REVOLUTIONARY PARTY IS CALLED PARTIDO AFRICANO DA INDEPENDENCIA DO GUINE E CABO VERDE (PAIGC), WHILE IN MOZAMBIQUE IT IS THE FRENTE DE LIBERATACAO DE MOCAMBIQUE (FRELIMO). IN ANGOLA THERE ARE THREE MOVEMENTS: THE FRENTE NACIONAL DE LIBERTACAO DE ANGOLA (FNLA), ALSO KNOWN AS GOVERNO DA REPUBLICA ANGOLANA EM EXILIO (GRAE), MOVIMENTO POPULAR DE LIBERTACAO DE ANGOLA (MPLA), AND THE UNIAO NACIONAL PARA A INDEPENDENCIA TOTAL DE ANGOLA (UNITA). THE DEGREE TO WHICH RADICAL SOCIOECONOMIC CHANGE IS ENVISAGED AFTER INDEPENDENCE IS WON VARIES FROM MOVEMENT TO MOVEMENT. THE HISTORICAL PRECONDITIONS OF THE THREE CASES HAVE GREAT SIMILARITIES. ALTHOUGH PORTUGAL HAD ESPOUSED A CONCEPT AND POLICY OF RACIAL EQUALITY, THIS POLICY WAS NOT BORNE OUT BY THE DYNAMICS OF LIFE IN THE TERRITORIES. CLASS DISTINCTIONS WERE BASED ON LEVELS OF 'CIVILIZATION,' BUT IN REALITY THIS LED TO A PRIVILEGED WHITE RACE. HOWEVER, EARLY NATIONALISTIC TENDENCIES WITHIN THE COLONIES RESIDED MAINLY WITHIN THE EUROPEAN SECTOR OF THE POPULATION. THE OUTBREAK OF FIGHTING IN ANGOLA IN 1961 AND IN GUINEA-BISSAU IN 1962 LED TO THE ADOPTION BY LISBON IN 1963 OF THE ORGANIC LAW OF THE OVERSEAS PROVINCES. THE PORTUGUESE GOVERNMENT ALSO RESPONDED MILITARILY, BUT IN A LIMITED FASHION. THE PATTERN OF WARFARE WAS THE SAME IN ALL THREE COUNTRIES: INITIAL INSURGENT SUCCESS, MASSIVE PORTUGUESE MILITARY COUNTERMEASURES, AND THEN MILITARY STALEMATE. EACH VARIABLE IS EXAMINED FOR EACH OF THE THREE COUNTRIES. THE IMPACT OF THE 1974 COUP IN PORTUGAL IS ASSESSED IN RELATION TO FUTURE REVOLUTIONARY ACTIVITY. FOOTNOTES AND A BIBLIOGRAPHY ARE INCLUDED. (RFC)