Information AboutFnla |
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The National Front for the Liberation of Angola (. The FNLA was founded in 1957 as the Union of the Populations of Northern Angola (União das Populações do Norte de Angola). FNLA was one of the three national liberation movements which fought against Portuguese colonial rule in Angola . The other two were:
UNITA was a splinter-group of the FNLA that was formed in March 1966 when Jonas Savimbi left the FNLA to establish his own organization. After a long battle with Portuguese colonial forces, Angola became independent in 1975 . Shortly before, a civil war broke out between the MPLA, UNITA and FNLA. The importance of FNLA declined rapidly as UNITA established itself as the main anti-MPLA opposition movement. The struggle was complicated by the fact that all three groups received foreign backing. The FNLA received the support of the People's Republic Of China and Zaire but by the late 1970s they had withdrawn their military aid as the FNLA had been crushed. Some Mercenaries who fought for FNLA in 1975 and 1976 were captured by the MPLA and tried as mercenaries. On June 28 , 1976 , an Angolan MPLA court sentenced four mercenaries to death and nine others to prison terms ranging from 16 to 30 years. The three Britons and an American were shot by a firing squad on July 10 , 1976 . Ahead of the first multiparty elections in 1992 , FNLA was reorganized as a political party. FNLA received 2.4% of the votes and won five MPs. It mainly receives its support from the Northern regions of the country. The FNLA is today led by Holden Roberto , who founded the movement in the 1950s. Flaws Many reasons are given by historians as to why the FNLA failed to establish itself after Angolan independence, despite the fact that it was the most veteran resistance organization. The most plausible is the widely observed fact that their membership was almost entirely composed of members of the Bakongo ethnic group of northern and northeast Angola. The MPLA was far more ethnically diverse and had members of the Mulattoes , though the Kimbundu were the largest percentage of their African membership. UNITA drew heavy support from the Ovimbundu, who were located in the central and southern areas of the state. Another fatal error was Roberto's long-held insistence on leading the resistance from the exile in the Congo - Zaire capital Leopoldville . The Zairean dictator Mobutu Sese Seko was Roberto's closest ally among African leaders, due to his anti-colonial and Anti-communist stances. Unfortunately, most Angolans saw this as exploitation by an exiled leadership, and one of Roberto's allies, Jonas Savimbi, left to form UNITA. UNITA's ruthlessness and willingness to coalesce with any enemy of the MPLA was an advantage that helped them survive as opposed to the FNLA. While Roberto vainly relied on the unstable Mobutu for backing and failed to find an ally among the US intelligence community, Savimbi smuggled in untold quantities of arms from the People's Republic Of China , South Africa , and major sums of money from donors who believed that the domino theory would soon play out in a communist African continent. Savimbi also invested far more money in military equipment and training, a decision that helped UNITA evolve from a bush militia in the 1970s into a lumbering death machine in the 1980s. By contrast the FNLA preferred to use propaganda and ineffective grassroots activity on the Angolan population that was largely illiterate and apathetic unless faced with force, as both UNITA and the MPLA dealt with them. The FNLA never succeeded in transforming into the effective and dangerous guerilla army that UNITA became, and in the 1980s evaporated within Angola. Roberto can be compared with African leaders like Milton Obote of Uganda and David Dacko of the Central African Republic . All three possessed the character of statesmen, the charisma needed to lead an illiterate and oppressed population, and the education needed to gain respect of the former colonial powers. Yet the presence of more ambitious, ruthless, and charismatic leaders in all three of their countries led to their downfall and exile. Unlike the other Dacko and Obote, Roberto never held power, while the other two were deposed leaders who regained power after foreign invasions of their nations. External links |