|
Angola Foreign Intervention
During the transition period, foreign powers were
becoming
increasingly involved as the situation in Angola rapidly
expanded
into an East-West power struggle. In late January, a
high-level
United States government policy-making body authorized a
grant of
US$300,000 to the pro-Western FNLA, which at the time
seemed to be
the strongest of the three movements. In March the Soviet
Union
countered by increasing arms deliveries to the MPLA, and
by midJuly that group had become appreciably stronger
militarily.
Alarmed, the United States increased funding to the FNLA
and, for
the first time, funded UNITA. Cuba, which had been aiding
the MPLA
since the mid-1960s, sent military instructors in the late
spring
of 1975. By early October, more Cuban military personnel
had
arrived, this time primarily combat troops; their total
then
probably reached between 1,100 and 1,500.
In April the presidents of Zambia, Tanzania, and
Botswana
decided to support Savimbi as leader of an Angolan
government of
national unity, believing that UNITA attracted the widest
popular
support in Angola. Savimbi also had the support of some
francophone
states and of Nigeria and Ghana. Some of these countries
later
withdrew that support when the OAU pleaded for
reconciliation and
adherence to the Alvor Agreement.
Data as of February 1989
|
