Editing History of Angola (section)

==Independence and civil war==
{{main|Angolan Civil War|Foreign policy of the Ronald Reagan administration}}
A [[Carnation Revolution|1974 coup d'état]] in Portugal established a military government led by President [[António de Spínola]]. The Spínola government agreed to give all of Portugal's colonies independence, and handed power in Angola over to a coalition of the three largest nationalist movements, the MPLA, UNITA, and the FNLA, through the [[Alvor Agreement]]. The coalition quickly broke down, however, and the country descended into civil war. The MPLA gained control of the capital Luanda and much of the rest of the country. With the support of the United States, [[Zaïre]] and South Africa intervened militarily in favour of the FNLA and UNITA with the intention of taking Luanda before the declaration of independence. In response, [[Cuban intervention in Angola|Cuba intervened]] in favor of the MPLA. In the meantime the South Africans and UNITA had come as close as 200&nbsp;km to the south of the capital, the FNLA and Zairian forces as far as Kifangondo, 30&nbsp;km to the east.

With Cuban support, the MPLA held Luanda and declared independence as the [[Angolan People's Republic]] on 11 November 1975, the day the Portuguese left the country. [[Agostinho Neto]] became the first president. FNLA and UNITA proclaimed their own short-lived republics (the Angolan Democratic Republic and the Angolan Social Democratic Republic) on 24 November 1975, for the zones they controlled with [[Holden Roberto]] and [[Jonas Savimbi]] as [[Heads of state of the Democratic People's Republic of Angola|co-presidents]] of the [[Angolan People's Democratic Republic]] in Huambo. This joint FNLA-UNITA government was dissolved on 11 February 1976 after a MPLA offensive. By the end of January 1976 the MPLA army (FAPLA) and the Cubans had all but crushed FNLA, Zairians and UNITA, and the South African forces withdrew.<ref name="countrystudies">{{Cite book |last=Collelo |first=Thomas |url=http://countrystudies.us/angola/39.htm |title=Angola: A Country Study |publisher=GPO for the Library of Congress |year=1991 |location=Washington, DC |language=en |chapter=Independence and the Rise of the MPLA Government |via=countrystudies.us}}</ref>

On 27 May 1977, a coup attempt, including some former members of the MPLA government such as [[Nito Alves]], led to retaliation by the government and Cuban forces, resulting in the execution of thousands, if not tens of thousands.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pawson |first=Lara |title=In the Name of the People: Angola's Forgotten Massacre |date=2014 |publisher=I.B. Tauris |isbn=978-1-78076-905-9 |location=London |language=en |author-link=Lara Pawson}}</ref> Alves was tortured and killed. The movement is known as [[Fraccionismo]].
[[File:Soviet and East Bloc military advisors in Angola 1983.jpg|thumb|Soviet and East Bloc military advisors train MPLA troops in Angola, 1983]]
The proxy war continued. The MPLA government, recognized internationally (although not by the United States), requested that Cuban forces remain in the country. Led by Jonas Savimbi, UNITA received clandestine support from the U.S. and other nations and took up military resistance in the southeast of the country while the MPLA government was supported by the [[USSR]] and [[Eastern Bloc]] countries. South Africa continued to pursue [[South-West Africa People's Organisation]] (SWAPO) forces in Southern Angola, soon established bases and increased support of UNITA, which gained control of more and more territory. In an effort to deliver a final blow to UNITA and to drive South Africa out of the country, in 1987 the [[People's Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola]] (FAPLA), with Soviet support, launched a campaign fraught with failures and defeats. Again, the Cubans intervened, stopping UNITA and South African advances, leading to the [[Battle of Cuito Cuanavale]] from 13 January to 23 March, the largest battle in African history since World War II.

The MPLA and the U.S. had been in negotiations for a peaceful solution since June 1987. The U.S. agreed to include Cuba in direct talks. Cuba joined the negotiations 28 January 1988; South Africa joined 9 March. Angola, Cuba and South Africa signed the [[Tripartite Accord (Angola)|Tripartite Accord]] on 22 December 1988, in which the withdrawal of Cuban troops from Angola was linked to the retreat of South African soldiers from Angola and Namibia.

The [[Bicesse Accord]] in 1991 spelled out an electoral process for a democratic Angola under the supervision of the [[United Nations]]. MPLA won the first round with 49% of the votes, against 40% for UNITA. UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi rejected the results and returned to war. From 30 October to 1 November 1992 the [[Halloween massacre (Angola)|Halloween Massacre]] occurred in which thousands of UNITA and FNLA supporters in Luanda were killed by MPLA troops. Estimates for the death toll nationwide reach 25,000 to 30,000.<ref name="angolamilitaryhistory">{{Cite book |last=Weigert |first=Stephen L. |title=Angola: A Modern Military History, 1961–2002 |date=2011 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=New York, NY}}</ref><ref name="historicaldictionary">{{Cite book |last=Martin |first=W. James |title=Historical Dictionary of Angola |date=2004 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |location=Lanham, MD |page=67 |language=en}}</ref> A second peace accord, the [[Lusaka Protocol]], was brokered in [[Lusaka]], [[Zambia]] and signed on 20 November 1994.

The peace accord between the government and UNITA provided for the integration of former UNITA insurgents into the government and armed forces. However, in 1995, localized fighting resumed. A national unity government was installed in April 1997, but serious fighting resumed in late 1998 when Savimbi renewed the war for a second time, claiming that the MPLA was not fulfilling its obligations. The [[UN Security Council]] voted on 28 August 1997, to impose sanctions on UNITA. The Angolan military launched a massive offensive in 1999 that destroyed UNITA's conventional capacity and recaptured all major cities previously held by Savimbi's forces. Savimbi then declared that UNITA would return to guerrilla tactics, and much of the country remained in turmoil.

The extended civil war rendered hundreds of thousands of people homeless. Up to 1 million lives may have been lost in fighting over the past quarter century. It only ended when Savimbi was killed in 2002.