| Holden Roberto |
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EARLY LIFE Roberto, son of Garci'a Diasiwa Roberto and Joana Lala Nekaka, was born in São Salvador, Angola . His family moved to Léopoldville , Zaire in 1925. In 1940 he graduated from a Baptist mission school. He worked for the Belgian Finance Ministry in Léopoldville, Bukavu , and Stanlyville for eight years. In 1951 he visited Angola and witnessed Portuguese officials abusing an old man, inspiring him to begin his political career.Hamann, Hilton. ''Days of the Generals'', 2001. Page 13. POLITICAL CAREER Roberto and Barros Necaca founded the Union Of Peoples Of Northern Angola , later renamed the Union of Peoples of Angola, on July 14 , 1956. Roberto, serving as UPNA President, represented Angola in the All-African Peoples Congress Of Ghana which he secretly attended in Accra , Ghana in December 1958. There he met Patrice Lumumba , the future Prime Minister Of The Democratic Republic Of The Congo , Kenneth Kaunda , the future President Of Zambia , and Kenya n nationalist Tom Mboya . He acquired a Guinea n passport and visited the United Nations .Rensburg, Abraham Paul Janse Van. ''Contemporary Leaders of Africa'', 1975. Page 303. Jonas Savimbi , the future leader of UNITA , joined the UPA in February 1961 at the urging of Mboya and Kenyan Prime Minister Jomo Kenyatta . Later that year Roberto appointed Savimbi Secretary-General of the UPA.H.W. Wilson Company. ''Current Biography'', 1991. Page 499.Walker, John Frederick. ''A Certain Curve of Horn: The Hundred-Year Quest for the Giant Sable Antelope of Angola'', 2004. Page 146-148. The National Security Council of the U.S. government began giving Roberto aid in the 1950s, paying him $6,000 annually until 1962 when the NSC increased his salary to $10,000 for intelligence-gathering. NATIONAL LIBERATION FRONT OF ANGOLA After visiting the United Nations he returned to Kinshasa and organized Bakongo militants. He launched an incursion into Angola on March 15 , 1961, leading 4,000 to 5,000 militants. His forces took farms, government outposts, and trading centers, killing everyone they encountered. At least 1,000 whites and an unknown number of natives were killed.Edgerton, Robert Breckenridge. ''Africa's Armies: From Honor to Infamy'', 2002. Page 72.Commenting on the incursion, Roberto said, Roberto met with and received aid from the Israeli Government from 1963 to 1969.Beit-Hallahmi, Benjamin. ''The Israeli Connection: Whom Israel Arms and Why'', 1988. Page 64.Figueiredo, António de. ''Portugal and Its Empire: The Truth'', 1961. Page 130. Savimbi left the FNLA in 1964 and founded UNITA in response to Roberto's unwillingness to spread The War outside the traditional Kingdom Of Kongo . Zhou Enlai , Premier Of The People's Republic Of China , invited Roberto to visit the PRC in 1964. Roberto did not go because Moise Tshombe , the President of Katanga , told him he would not be allowed to return to the Congo.Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja and Immanuel Maurice Wallerstein. ''The Crisis in Zaire'', 1986. Page 194. On the eve of Angola's independence from Portugal, Zaire, in a bid to install a pro-n forces, who resoundingly defeated them.Crawford Young and Thomas Turner, ''The Rise and Decline of the Zairian State'', 1985. Page 254.[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+zr0175) "Involvement in the Angolan Civil War"] ''Zaire: A Country Study''. United States Library of Congress. In 1976 the MPLA defeated the FNLA in the Battle Of Dead Road and the FNLA retreated to Zaire. While Roberto and Agostinho Neto 's proposed policies for an independent Angola were similar, Roberto drew support from western Angola and Neto drew from eastern Angola. Neto, under the banner of nationalism and Communism , received support from the Soviet Union while Roberto, under the banner of nationalism and Anti-Communism , received support from the United States , among other countries. Roberto staunchly opposed Neto's drive to unite the Angolan rebel groups in opposition to Portugal because Roberto believed the FNLA would be absorbed by the MPLA. The FNLA abducted MPLA members, deported them to Kinshasa, and killed them. In 1991 the FNLA and MPLA agreed to the Bicesse Accords , allowing Roberto to return to Angola. He ran unsuccessfully for President, receiving only 2.1% of the vote. The FNLA won five seats in Parliament but refused to participate in the government. Roberto died on eulogized, "Holden Roberto was one of the pioneers of national liberation struggle, whose name encouraged a generation of Angolans to opt for resistance and combat for the country's independence," and released a decree appointing a commission to arrange for a funeral ceremony. "Angola: Head of State Condoles With Death of FNLA Historic Leader" ''allAfrica.com.'' August 3, 2007 Roberto is a descendant of the monarchy of the Kongo Kingdom.Lamb, David. ''The Africans'', 1987. Page 178. REFERENCES |
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