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Angola Armed Forces Organization and Mission
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Figure 13. Military Regions and Principal Bases, 1987
Figure 14. Organization of the Ministry of Defense, 1988
The minister of defense served under both the political
and the
military authority of the president in his dual role as
head of
government and FAPLA commander in chief. Because defense
and
security matters were of extreme urgency, the minister of
defense
was considered second in importance only to the president.
The
minister was responsible for the entire defense
establishment,
including the army, air force, navy, and local militias.
The
commanders of the three major military services each held
the title
of vice minister of defense. Colonel Henrique Carreira
(nom de
guerre Iko), the first minister of defense, held the post
from 1975
to 1980; as of late 1988 Pedro Maria Tonha (nom de guerre
Pedalé)
had been minister of defense since July 1980
(see
fig. 14).
The Angolan armed forces were collectively known as
FAPLA. The
army was officially termed the People's Army of Angola
(Exército
Popular de Angola -- EPA). The government and most press
reports,
however, referred to the army as FAPLA. The triple mission
of the
military was to protect and defend the authority of the
party and
government from internal subversion, to defend the country
from
external attack, and to assist regional allies in meeting
their
internal and external security needs. Accordingly, FAPLA
was
organized and equipped to fight both counterinsurgency and
conventional wars and to deploy abroad when ordered; it
had engaged
in all these tasks continuously since independence. Its
main
counterinsurgency effort was directed against UNITA in the
southeast, and its conventional capabilities were
demonstrated
principally in the undeclared war with South Africa. FAPLA
first
performed its external assistance mission with the
dispatch of
1,000 to 1,500 troops to São Tomé and Príncipe in 1977 to
bolster
the socialist regime of President Manuel Pinto da Costa.
During the
next several years, Angolan forces conducted joint
exercises with
their counterparts and exchanged technical operational
visits. The
Angolan expeditionary force was reduced to about 500 in
early 1985.
It is probable that FAPLA would have undertaken other
"internationalist" missions, in Mozambique for example,
had it not
been absorbed in war at home.
In 1988 the strength of the Angolan armed forces was
estimated
at 100,000 active-duty and 50,000 reserve personnel,
organized into
a regular army and a supporting militia, air and air
defense force,
and navy. The active-duty forces had expanded greatly
since
independence as UNITA's insurgency spread throughout the
country
and South African interventions increased in frequency and
magnitude. As of late 1988, Lieutenant General António dos
Santos
Franca (nom de guerre Ndalu) was FAPLA chief of the
general staff
and army commander. He had held these positions since
1982.
Data as of February 1989
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