19 with a Bullet: A South African Paratrooper in Angola

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The Portuguese had colonized and been in possession of Angola for some 400 years. Since the early sixties three main Angolan liberation movements/guerrilla groups had formed and commenced operations against the Portuguese in what became a multi-factioned struggle for the control of Angola. This was called the Angolan War of Independence, or the Portuguese Colonial War, which raged from 1961 to 1974. The three liberation movements were:

• MPLA—Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, headed up by Agostinho Neto and backed by USSR, Cuba and East Germany. The MPLA’s military wing was FAPLA—People’s Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola—which in due course became the Angolan defence force when the MPLA took power in 1975.

• FNLA—National Liberation Front of Angola, headed up by Holden Roberto and backed by the United States, South Africa and China.

• UNITA—National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, headed up by Jonas Savimbi and backed by the United States and South Africa.

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