Dodging Peace in Angola

Abstract

Following its independence from Portugal in 1975, Angola’s civil war, a battle for power among the three protagonists for independence, seemed to end with the signing of the Alvor Accords. Among other things, the Alvor Accords outlined a system of power sharing between the Movimento Popular de Libertacao de Angola (MPLA, Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola),1 the Uniao Nacional para a Independencia Total de Angola (UNITA, National Union for the Total Independence of Angola), and the Frente Nacional de Libertacao de Angola (FNLA, National Front for the Liberation of Angola), the three factions vying for political power. Yet, the civil war resumed after Independence Day.2 In fact, after two other peace accords, the 1991 Bicesse Accords3 and the 1994 Lusaka Protocol, Angola’s civil war continued until the death of UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi in February 2002; the Luena Accords were signed in April that same year, and peace has held since. The Bicesse Accords brought relative peace for nearly eighteen months during which time the parties, with the help of the United Nations Angola Verification Mission II (UNAVEM II), moved toward elections. After the first ever elections in September 1992, Savimbi refused to accept that he received less votes than the MPLA’s Jose Eduardo dos Santos, citing fraud. A few months thereafter, UNITA resumed hostilities against the MPLA and the civil war continued.4 The next peace attempt resulted in the Lusaka Protocol, managed by UNAVEM III.