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Angola Internal Security Forces and Organization
Internal security responsibilities in Angola were
distributed
among the ministries of defense, state security, and
interior, plus
the People's Vigilance Brigades (Brigadas Populares de
Vigilância--
BPV). This elaborate internal security establishment was
another
manifestation of endemic crises and the mass mobilization
undertaken to cope with them. The Ministry of Defense's
Directorate
of People's Defense and Territorial Troops, established as
the ODP
in late 1975, had 600,000 members, with some of these
personnel in
virtually every village by 1979. By that time, 50,000 ODP
troops
were also reported to be fighting alongside the regular
army
against UNITA and the SADF. Estimates of the size of the
ODP
militia in the late 1980s varied widely, from an effective
strength
of 50,000, one-fifth of whom served with FAPLA, to a
nominal
(possibly reserve) strength of 500,000. This militia had
both armed
and unarmed units dispersed in villages throughout the
country to
guard likely UNITA targets such as bridges, power plants,
wells,
schools, and clinics. The ODP also cooperated with FAPLA,
sometimes
in joint operations, to thwart infiltration and attacks by
small
units in areas where UNITA or other insurgent forces were
operating.
State security functions were assigned to the Angolan
Directorate of Intelligence and Security (Direção de
Informação e
Segurança de Angola -- DISA) in the Ministry of Interior.
As the
principal internal security organ with intelligence
collection and
political police functions, the DISA was powerful and
feared. Its
national security police force had wide-ranging powers and
discretion to conduct investigations, make arrests, detain
individuals, and determine how they would be treated.
Indeed,
during Colonel Ludy Kissassunda's tenure as director
(1975-79), the
agency came into disrepute for excesses that included
torture and
summary executions. In mid-1979 President Neto announced
the
dissolution of the DISA, the arrest of Kissassunda and
several
other top security officials, and the reorganization of
the state
security apparatus. Although officially abolished, the
DISA
remained the colloquial term for the state security
police. Its
agents were trained at a school in Luanda by East German
and Soviet
instructors. The DISA reportedly also operated out of the
Angolan
chancery in Portugal to maintain surveillance over
expatriate
activities and received assistance from counterparts in
various
communist embassies in Lisbon.
The Ministry of State Security was created in July 1980
as part
of a government reorganization by dividing the Ministry of
Interior
into two separate ministries. The new ministry
consolidated the
DISA's internal security functions with those relating to
counterintelligence, control of foreigners, anti-UNITA
operations,
and frontier security. Colonel Kundi Paihama, the former
minister
of interior, became the minister of state security upon
creation of
the ministry, but in late 1981 Colonel Paulo succeeded
Paihama.
In early 1986, after having revitalized the party
organs and
formed a new Political Bureau, President dos Santos
undertook to
purge and reorganize the Ministry of State Security. He
removed
Paulo and Deputy Minister Mendes António de Castro, took
over the
portfolio himself, and appointed Major Fernando Dias da
Piedade dos
Santos, deputy minister of interior since mid-1984, as new
deputy
minister of state security. In March 1986, the president
formed the
Commission for Reorganization of the Ministry of State
Security,
composed of all the directors at the ministries of
interior and
state security, under Piedade dos Santos's leadership.
After the
arrest and jailing of several senior state security
officials for
abuse of their positions, corruption, and other
irregularities, the
commission was disbanded in March 1988. In May 1988,
President dos
Santos relinquished the state security portfolio to
Paihama, who
also retained the position of minister of state for
inspection and
control.
The Angolan Border Guard (Tropa Guarda Fronteira
Angolana--
TGFA), under the Ministry of State Security, was
responsible for
maintaining security along more than 5,000 kilometers of
land
borders with Congo, Zaire, Zambia, and Namibia; maritime
border
surveillance may also have been included in the TGFA's
mission. The
TGFA's strength was estimated at 7,000 in 1988. Local
training took
place under Cuban instructors at several centers,
including
Omupanda, Saurimo, Negage, and Caota, although some border
guards
were sent to Cuba, presumably for advanced or specialized
training.
After its reorganization in 1980, the Ministry of
Interior
supervised the national police, provincial administration,
and
investigation of economic activities. Although the
Ministry of
State Security was responsible for administering the
national
prison system, certain prison camps were run by the
Ministry of
Interior. It was unclear how territorial administration
was carried
out in relation to the regional military and provincial
defense
councils. Colonel Manuel Alexandre Rodriques (nom de
guerre Kito),
who had been vice minister of interior in charge of
internal order
and the national police, was promoted to minister in the
1980
reorganization and was still serving in that post in late
1988. At
that time, however, in response to reports that "special
forces of
a commando nature" had been established within the
ministry without
authorization, President dos Santos ordered an
investigation as a
prelude to a restructuring and personnel purge.
The national Angolan People's Police evolved from the
Portuguese colonial police and the People's Police Corps
of Angola,
which was set up in 1976 under the Ministry of Defense.
Headquartered in Luanda but organized under provincial and
local
commands, the police numbered about 8,000 men and women
and
reportedly was supported by a paramilitary force of 10,000
that
resembled a national guard. Cuban advisers provided most
recruit
training at the Kapolo Martyrs Practical Police School in
Luanda,
but some police training was also given in Cuba and
Nigeria. In
1984 Minister of Interior Rodriques dismissed Fernando da
Conceiç o
as police director and named Piedrade dos Santos as his
provisional
replacement. Rodriques relieved Major Bartolomeu Feliciano
Ferreira
Neto as chief of the general staff of the police general
command in
November 1987, appointing Inspector José Adão de Silva as
interim
chief of the general staff pending a permanent posting. In
December
1988, Armindo Fernandes do Espirito Santo Vieira was
appointed
commander general of the Angolan People's Police
(apparently the
top police post, formerly titled director). At the same
time,
police functions were being reorganized and consolidated
within the
Ministry of Interior to eliminate unauthorized activities,
give the
police more autonomy, and make them more responsive to
party and
government direction.
Finally, President dos Santos created the BPV in August
1983 as
a mass public order, law enforcement, and public service
force in
urban areas. Organizationally, the BPV had ministerial
status, and
its commander reported directly to the president. In some
ways, the
BPV was the urban counterpart of the Directorate of
People's
Defense and Territorial Troops. Unlike this directorate,
however,
whose members served alongside the army, the BPV was
strictly
defensive. Some BPV units were armed, but most performed
public
security and welfare duties and local political and
ideological
work--including intelligence gathering, surveillance and
security
patrols, civil defense, crime prevention and detection,
and the
organization of health, sanitation, recreation,
beautification, and
other social services--with and through local government
and the
field offices of central government agencies. The brigades
were
organized at the provincial level and below, operated in
small
units of up to 100 members, and expanded rapidly,
particularly in
areas affected by UNITA insurgency. In late 1984, a large
number of
FAPLA soldiers were integrated into the BPV to strengthen
its
numbers and technical military skills. The BPV was also
reported to
serve as a recruitment pool for FAPLA. By 1987 the BPV's
strength
was estimated by various sources to be from 800,000 to 1.5
million.
A third of its members were said to be women, organized
into 30,000
brigades under Colonel Alexandre Lemos de Lucas (nom de
guerre Bota
Militar).
The rapid growth and diverse social composition of the
BPV were
illustrated by reports from Namibe and Huambo provinces.
In early
1985, there were about 500 vigilantes organized into
twenty-six
squads in Namibe, capital of Namibe Province. These
vigilante units
had just been credited with neutralizing a network of
"saboteurs"
who were stealing and selling large quantities of food and
housewares at high prices. Two years later, the Namibe
provincial
BPV was reported to have 11,885 men and women organized
into 6
municipal and 228 intermediary brigades. Among the ranks
were 305
MPLA-PT members, 266 members of the Organization of
Angolan Women
(Organização da Mulher Angolana--OMA), 401 members of the
JMPLA,
and 448 members of the National Union of Angolan Workers
(União
Nacional dos Trabalhadores Angolanos--UNTA). In Huambo
Province,
there were reportedly about 100,000 brigade members in
early 1986,
one-third of them women, and the authorities planned
continued
expansion to 300,000 by the end of that year.
As in the case of the armed forces, the Angolan
internal
security organs were subject to ideological and
institutional
controls. They were also heavily influenced by Soviet,
East German,
and Cuban state security doctrines, organizational
methods,
techniques, and practices. Advisers from these countries
were
posted throughout the security ministries, where their
presence,
access, and influence ironically became a security problem
for the
Angolan government. They reportedly penetrated the
internal
security apparatus so thoroughly and recruited so many
Angolan
security officials that President dos Santos removed
foreigners
from some sensitive areas and dismissed several Angolan
security
officers for "collaboration" with foreign elements. A
security
school, staffed entirely by Angolan personnel, also opened
in late
1987, thereby reducing the need and attendant risks of
sending
officers abroad for training.
Data as of February 1989
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