Summary

The website content recounts the life and legacy of Jonas Savimbi, the Angolan political and military leader who played a pivotal role in the country's struggle for independence and subsequent civil war, highlighting his connections with Ukraine and the international community's response to his actions.

Abstract

Jonas Savimbi, born on August 3, 1934, was a key figure in Angola's history, leading the UNITA movement primarily composed of the Ovimbundu ethnic group. Despite his initial education pursuits in Portugal and Switzerland, Savimbi's life took a turn towards politics and conflict, as he became involved with various Angolan nationalist movements before forming UNITA. His fight against Portuguese colonialism and later against the MPLA government was marked by shifting alliances, including arms deals with Ukraine, and attracted significant international attention. Savimbi's leadership was characterized by charismatic authority and strategic maneuvering, which saw him receive support from the United States during the Cold War. The content reflects on his role as a war criminal according to some, his refusal to accept election defeat, and the eventual peace agreements that he never fully embraced, leading to his death in 2002. The article also touches on the broader implications of the Cold War and the superpowers' influence in Angola's conflict.

Opinions

The author suggests that history may judge Savimbi more favorably than some contemporary accounts, particularly in the context of Ukrainian history.
There is an implication that Savimbi's actions were influenced by a desire to counteract U.S. imperialist influence and to unite disparate Angolan factions against the Portuguese.
The text conveys a sense of skepticism regarding Savimbi's death, hinting at unresolved questions surrounding the event.
The author expresses a view that Savimbi's UNITA was a significant force in the Angolan conflict, overshadowing the FNLA due to Savimbi's leadership and strategic alliances.
There is a critical perspective on Savimbi's refusal to accept the results of the UN-supervised elections, which led to a resurgence of conflict.
The article suggests that Savimbi's control over diamond-producing regions was a key factor in funding his military efforts.
The author seems to portray Savimbi as a complex figure, whose legacy is marred by his transformation into a dictatorial leader, yet also shaped by the broader geopolitical struggles of the Cold War era.

LIFE LESSONS | HISTORY IN PLAIN SIGHT

A Long Overdue Tribute To The Ukrainian People: Africa Salutes You

A Luta Continua

Jonas Savimbi bought logistical access through Zambia from his diamond revenues, and purchased arms from Ukraine and elsewhere to reequip his forces.

Ukraine, the country on all our minds right now, was willing to sell arms to Jonas Savimbi. As history goes, some will write bad things about Jonas Savimbi, but Ukrainian history will tell you otherwise.

The international community placed sanctions on UNITA(led by Savimbi), and the Southern African Development Community ( think the witch Margeret Thatcher) countries passed a resolution proposed by the government of Angola to declare Savimbi a war criminal in 1999.

He was killed in battle on February 22, 2002. ( We will never know).

On August 3, 1934, Jonas Savimbi was born the son of a railway station master and Evangelical Church pastor in Munhango, situated along the Benguela railway in Bié Province. He was a member of the Ovimbundu, the largest single ethnolinguistic group in Angola but did not represent an overall majority of the population. UNITA's movement was to draw heavily on this regional support base.

On May 18, 1958, Savimbi left for Portugal to pursue his studies in Lisbon at the Passos Manuel Secondary School, briefly pursuing medicine before abandoning his studies. The United Church of Christ provided him with a scholarship, but he never completed his studies as a doctor.

He nonetheless used the title doctor throughout his life. In 1959, he met with other Angolan nationalist leaders, was detained for a short time by the Portuguese secret police, and then left for Switzerland, where he enrolled in the Legal Faculty in Lausanne. The following year, he joined with Holden Roberto's Angolan People's Union (UPA) movement.

Subsequently, he was appointed secretary-general. Following the fusion of the UPA with the Angola Democratic Party (PDA) into a movement called the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) in March 1962, almost immediately after that, the FNLA declared itself the Government of the Republic of Angola in Exile (GRAE), and Savimbi was appointed its foreign minister.

In July 1964, Savimbi resigned from the GRAE, taking some colleagues with him; he claimed as his reasons for leaving the U.S. imperialist influence on the GRAE, the failure of the GRAE and the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) to unite, GRAE's Bakongo domination, and the singular lack of serious military effort to oust the Portuguese.

He and eleven colleagues then departed for guerrilla warfare training in China ( China plans long term. If you did not know, now you know).

He also recruited supporters from refugees in western Zambia. Following brief detention by Zambian authorities in 1967, Savimbi visited Cuba, returning the following year to Angola, where he led an armed struggle against the Portuguese colonial regime.

There is evidence that he sometimes collaborated with the Portuguese in a secondary struggle against the MPLA, and herein were sown the seeds of future distrust in UNITA's dealings with the MPLA.

(A Machiavellian move if you know the playbook)

After the dictatorship of Caetano in Portugal was overthrown, Savimbi signed a cease-fire in June 1974. In January 1975, he signed the Alvor Accords, granting Angola independence, Agostinho Neto of the MPLA, and Holden Roberto of the FNLA. The nationalist struggle in Angola was complicated not only by the existence of three nationalist movements but also by becoming embroiled in the Cold War struggles.

( Enter the Cold War and the two 'Super Powers') Savimbi gained support from the United States ( one has to think, Why?). He was a member of the Ovimbundu, the largest single ethnolinguistic group in Angola but did not represent an overall majority of the population. UNITA's movement was to draw heavily on this regional support base.

The MPLA government of President Neto and later President dos Santos faced continuing armed opposition by UNITA and the FNLA.

With the newly elected U.S. President Ronald Reagan avowing a "roll-back" of communism globally, Savimbi successfully courted increased U.S. backing for his cause, visiting the United States in 1981 and 1986. He was received in the Oval Office by President Reagan himself( You don't say?).

As the dominant opposition force, Savimbi and UNITA rapidly eclipsed Roberto and the FNLA. Inside UNITA, Savimbi maintained an iron rule by using his obvious charisma and eliminating any potential leadership contenders.

Following a period of bitter armed conflict and civil war in the 1980s, heightened by the Cold War struggle, initial efforts at reconciliation began. In June 1989, at the Gbadolite summit, organized by President Mobuto Sese Seko of Zaire, Savimbi and dos Santos, head of the MPLA and president of Angola, met for the first time.

Eventually, on May 31, 1991, the Bicesse Peace Accord was signed by the rival leaders in front of all the key international organizations. In September 1991, Savimbi returned to Luanda for his first visit after sixteen years of independence.

United Nations–supervised democratic elections were held in September 1992, but Savimbi refused to acknowledge that he and UNITA had lost the vote to dos Santos and the MPLA. He relaunched the war using troops and armaments hidden from the UN peace process mechanisms.

There followed the two most destructive years in Angola's history. Savimbi's forces took the initiative, occupying most of the country, including the provincial capitals.

Funding for his war effort came from control of diamond producing regions in the northeast of the country.

The military initiative eventually swung back to the government. Under pressure on the battlefield and international diplomatic pressure, a new peace agreement was signed in Lusaka in November 1994.

Yet Savimbi never accepted the Lusaka agreement. He pretended to go along with it out of necessity. Still, he continually procrastinated in fulfilling the terms of the agreement and kept ensconced his core army and control of his territory.

Translation: An African leader. Turned Dictator by his rulers. Killed to serve the interest of the Masters. The story of all African Dictators

PEACE.

IN WITH THE GOOD TIMES, OUT WITH THE BAD.

FOR OUR CHILDREN.

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