History of UNITA in Angola
History of UNITA in Angola
- Justin PearceJustin PearceDepartment of History, Stellenbosch University
Summary
The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola (UNITA) was the last of three movements to take up arms against Portuguese colonial rule in Angola, when Jonas Savimbi led a breakaway in 1966 from the longer-established National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA). Confined to the territory’s peripheries, its impact was limited, and a pact made in 1973 with the colonial army would later sully its reputation. Once the 1974 Portuguese revolution permitted civilian mobilization, UNITA drew upon nationalist sentiment that emerged from the mission schools of the Central Highlands to establish a skilled cadre within the movement.
As independence approached in 1975, FNLA, UNITA, and the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (MPLA) competed for control. UNITA was bolstered by South African military support until 1976, but as the MPLA gained control of the state, UNITA switched to a strategy of guerrilla warfare. Renewed South African support in the 1980s helped sustain UNITA, by that time based in its “bush capital,” Jamba, where it was able to realize its ambitions to rule, albeit within limited territory. Throughout this period, UNITA depended on a monopoly of force in much of rural Angola, a social contract that involved provision of public goods, and the promulgation of an ideology that positioned UNITA as the representative of the Angolan nation with state-like prerogatives and responsibilities.
Following a peace settlement, UNITA contested the 1992 elections expecting victory. As the MPLA was declared the victor, UNITA remobilized its forces and consolidated control over much of the interior. Following a further failed attempt at a settlement in the mid-1990s, government counterinsurgency at the end of the decade undermined UNITA’s rural support. Savimbi’s death in 2002 prompted UNITA’s surviving generals to accept peace on the government’s terms. UNITA faced difficulty in establishing itself as a civilian party in a political space dominated by the MPLA. During the 2010s it achieved a gradual increase in electoral support by reactivating its networks in the Central Highlands and finding common cause with popular grievances in Luanda.
Keywords
Subjects
- Political History
- Southern Africa