Africa-Press – Angola. March 15, 1961, Wednesday, eight o’clock in the morning. Something abnormal surprised the small white community of Kitexi, made up of coffee farmers and traders.
Kitexi depended on the jurisdiction of Cuanza-Norte until July 1961, when it was annexed to Uíge, to remove it from the Ambundu (Kimbundu-speaking) area. The action of the 15th of March thus began in the heart of the district of what was then Cuanza-Norte, extending through Uíge, Zaire and even reaching close to Luanda.
Out of “nowhere”, black people appeared with machetes, “canhangulos”, sticks and stones that started killing white people. A state of shock set in among the white community, accustomed to the passive obedience of the black community, and disbelief continued beyond the attackers’ retreat in the afternoon.
The morale of the Portuguese military was not the highest because they feared an attack for which they did not have reaction forces, although the Battalion of Caçadores was installed in the cities of Uíge, Toto and Maquela do Zombo on June 22, 1960, nine months before the 15th of March, with a Military Aerodrome being created in the North of Angola, in Negage, on the 7th of February 1961, where Auster, Dornier and Harvard T-6 aircraft operated. The armament of the few Portuguese soldiers consisted of FBP machine guns, Parabellum pistols and Mauser rifles.
Kitexi was an area of great coffee production and the “contractors”, coming from the central plateau in large trucks that passed through the streets of Luanda, were 4 to 5 times more numerous than the white population of the town and farms.
When the sepoy Ferraz “rang the bell” at 8 am, as he had done for a long time, for the start of work by the “contractors”, the order was given to attack, which was devastating, taking both the white population and the “people” by surprise. “black” contractors. The attackers acted with great determination and initially killed an unknown number of people.
To the surprise of the whites, the organization of repression followed in the villages, which were set on fire, and the surviving population had nothing left to do but flee to places that would protect them, the impenetrable forests of Serra de Kimbinda, Serra do Kitoque and the Serra massif from Cananga.
On March 17, two days after the nationalists’ first attack on Kitexi, the colonial authorities began an airlift to Luanda, while, in the following days, PIDE took charge of the situation, giving orders to the Portuguese military itself. A “black hunt” is then launched.
In Luanda, around 500 white people surrounded the North American consulate and threw consul William Gibson’s car into the bay.
The organic links between those who proposed to launch nationalist armed actions against the settlers and the UPA leadership in Congo are not known. But the clandestine political action was intense, absorbing information that arrived from that country. Holden Roberto’s organization had already redefined its objective of fighting only for the North of Angola, changing its name from UPNA or UPONA to UPA- União das População de Angola.
Militants or sympathizers in the villages and some pastors of the Evangelical or Protestant Church were in agreement on the need for exemplary violent nationalist action throughout Northern Angola.
Why March 15th?
Portugal began to become isolated on the international scene. The 4th of February had placed the issue of colonialism and the self-determination of peoples on the UN agenda.
“Disturbing” information about possible attacks was soon circulating in diplomatic circles. The Portuguese Minister of Defense, General Botelho Moniz, meets, on March 6th, with the North American ambassador in Lisbon who, following instructions from the new North American Administration of John Kennedy, which takes power on January 20th and maintains informal contacts with Holden Roberto, presses for changes in Portuguese policy in Africa, a position that the ambassador conveys to Salazar the following day.
Serious problems in Angola, as in Congo, are forecasts made by Washington, which says it will vote against Portugal, on March 15th. On the 10th, the UN Security Council begins the debate on the situation in Angola.
And on March 20, 1961, the discussion about Angola began at the UN General Assembly, with Portugal abandoning the session, in protest, due to the overwhelming strength of the Afro-Asian group. Resolution 1603 (XV) is approved, urging the Portuguese Government to promote urgent reforms to comply with the Anti-Colonialist Declaration.
Meanwhile, on March 31, in Luanda, Canon Manuel das Neves, vicar general of the Diocese of Luanda, is arrested and deported to Portugal.
In the North of Angola, Portugal reinforces its position, Damba is attacked by nationalists, on April 17, after white women and children are transferred to Luanda, with the nationalists withdrawing, without being able to take the Portuguese flag.
Seven days earlier, nationalists attacked Úcua, killing 13 white people and, the following day, another group attacked a Portuguese patrol, near Tando Zinge, Cabinda.
Portuguese military casualties
Portuguese military casualties were already significant in the month of April, 18 killed in combat.
Damba would be attacked again by nationalists four more times and, on the last one, on May 31st, Portuguese soldiers were already there.
Specialized troops are sent from Lisbon, by sea, the first being paratroopers, but entire companies of hunters also go to Luanda and, on May 2, 1961, the first large Portuguese military contingent transported arrives in the city. by sea, consisting of nine Hunter Companies, nine Artillery Companies, two Cavalry Companies and four Military Police Platoons. One of the most important, the 109th Hunter Battalion, embarked in Lisbon on May 5, 1961, disembarked in Luanda on May 14 and, after a month in the capital, traveled by sea to Soyo and reoccupied Quinzau, Tomboco, Nzeto, Pedra do Feitiço, Sumba, Bessa Monteiro and Fazenda Loje. Land transport by Portuguese companies was carried out using Willys MB 4×4 jeeps model 1944, Dodge 4×4 jeepneys model 1948, GMC 6×6 model 1952 trucks and Ford Canada 4×4 model (single wheels).
Holden Roberto and companions accompanied by Chinese instructors at a training camp
Mbanza Kongo is attacked by nationalists
May is the month in which Mbanza Kongo is attacked by nationalists and, on the 1st, the new Minister of Overseas Affairs, Adriano Moreira, arrives in Luanda, who the following day watches the parade of the newly arrived specialized troops of paratrooper hunters who assume great hegemony in war.
In the first days of May, a column leaves Luanda which, in Negaje, divides into two, one advancing towards Songo, Damba and Maquela do Zombo, the other towards Púri, Sanza Pombo, Macocola, Quimbele and Santa Cruz, occupying all the villages.
The North was at total war with a devastating colonial counter-offensive, extreme repression and the massive flight of populations that, from the forests, tried to reach the territory of Congo.
In June, the Portuguese suffered 30 casualties and, with attacks imminent in Cabinda, forces from the Portuguese Navy began regular patrolling of the Kiloango River.
June is also the month of turning point, with the appointment of General Venâncio Deslandes to the positions of governor-general and commander-in-chief of Angola, Senegal cuts diplomatic relations with Portugal and dozens of African students flee from Lisbon by sea, to join the national liberation struggle.
While the “inactivity in the Metropolis” was taking place, the commander of the Military Region of Angola, General Monteiro Libório, in despair, already in 1961, with Angola in nationalist flames, cried out to Lisbon: “Troops must be quickly prepared and the Armed Forces, equipped of means so that they can carry out their mission, which, evidently, they are not doing. We are heading towards an extremely difficult situation that will cost the Nation, in blood and money, a few thousand times what it would have to be spent now, much more timely and economically.”
War is in Ambriz
The war is in Ambriz, in Mbanza Kongo and the Portuguese specialize their armed forces for counter-guerrilla warfare, while in a joint ground-air operation they try to reopen the “coffee road” in Serra da Canda.
Nambuangongo, taken by the nationalists since the beginning of the revolt, began to be the focus of recapture in July, by the Portuguese army, which launched “Operation Viriato”, with battalions of hunters and cavalry, supported by artillery, engineering and air force. On the 18th of July, the strategic town is surrounded by Portuguese troops and, on the 9th of August, the troops commanded by lieutenant colonel Maçanita reoccupy Nambuangongo, the main stronghold of the nationalists, after around five months of occupation which resulted in 21 killed and 61 injured among Portuguese forces.
The Portuguese military received orders to decapitate the corpses of the nationalists and stick their heads on stakes, in an attempt to contradict the ideals of resurrection of the nationalists who, allegedly, believed that they would return to life if their body was buried completely.
Two days later, the Portuguese carried out their first military operation with the launch of paratroopers, over the Kipedro region, and, on the 24th, they began a joint operation, with aviation, paratroopers and ground forces, in the Serra da Canda.
If, on the 15th of September, the colonial authorities recognize the general pacification of the North, 12 days later, they are forced to close the Uíge-Negaje road, due to new military actions by the nationalists and there is, at least, an ambush by nationalist forces in the banks of the Loje river.
Six months after the start of the war, the Portuguese army in the North is much more organized and equipped, with specialized companies and battalions, probably with numbers exceeding 15 thousand soldiers. In September 1961 alone, colonial troops suffered 27 casualties.
In October 1961, with the situation apparently pacified, Portugal carried out a charm operation, sending the Minister of Overseas to the North of Angola, who traveled overland, taking photographs with a group of people with the Portuguese flag and paying homage to the sepoy Baxe, killed in March.
On the 7th of October, the new governor-general of Angola, Venâncio Deslandes, ends military operations in the North of Angola, “moving on to the police operations phase”: On the 3rd of October, the Portuguese army retakes Caiongo , the last outpost held by the rebels. In less than four months, the Portuguese Armed Forces reoccupied the entire affected region. For six months, the guerrillas, led by João Baptista Traves Pereira, killed on February 6, 1962, in the Bembe area , occupied an area four times larger than Portugal which, in the meantime, and in an urgent operation, created the marine corps directed to the North of Angola.
In the theater of war, the situation seems to swing towards the side of the colonial authorities, who launch Operation “Fava”, which occupies the Colonato of Vale do Loje, with an alleged leader of the UPA, Pedro Tumissungo Cardoso, being captured. In the middle of the month , Portuguese special forces conquer the important position of Pedra Verde, between Luanda and Uíge.
If, in September, the colonial authorities felt some comfort due to the effectiveness of their army’s counter-offensive, the truth is that, two months later, on November 27, 1961, the governor-general of Angola announced “new terrorist activity” in the North of the territory, at a time when Holden Roberto is preparing to form the FNLA, as a response to the OAU’s demand that Angolan nationalism be united and not dispersed.
Guerrillas massacred
But October 1961 also marked, in a negative way, the struggle of the Angolans. On the 9th, a military column coming from Matadi, in Congo, and commanded by the nationalist Tomás Ferreira, leader of a Democratic Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MDLA), with the support of the recently installed MPLA leadership in Léopoldville, was destroyed by elements of the UPA. In a statement dated more than a month later, on November 23, the MPLA reported: “The mission of commander Tomás Ferreira’s column was to reach the Dembos Region and bring emergency aid to the population of Nambuangongo who were surrounded and threatened with death by Portuguese troops. The squad carried weapons, ammunition, clothes, footwear, medicines, political propaganda material and, through deceptive traps, armed groups from the UPA surrounded and arrested the squad in the Caluca region, in Angolan territory, 9 October. After being subjected to beatings, hunger and humiliation, the guerrillas were massacred by UPA militants.”
Clandestine activities of nationalists in Uíge and Cuanza-Norte
Already with a new acronym, under pressure from Franz Fanon, the UPA, in a first phase, appears in Accra, Ghana, due to the ban of the Belgian colonial authorities in the Congo, but, with the rapid independence of that country, it moves its weapons and luggage to close to the Angolan-Congolese border and is organized among Angolan refugees in Congolese territory, especially in Matadi. Frantz Omar Fanon (1925-1961), also known as Ibrahim Frantz Fanon, was a psychiatrist and political philosopher from the French Antilles of the French colony of Martinique who supported Algeria’s national liberation struggle and influenced many African leaders.
The clandestine activities of the nationalists were very active in the corridors of Kitexi, Ambaca and Ambuíla, the Uíge and Negage line, Songo and Nambuangongo, among many other areas that reached Cuanza-Norte and the vicinity of the district of Luanda, and the name of Patrice Lumumba, as well as the example of Congo’s emancipation from the Belgian colonialist yoke, it was a common point of reference to provide more encouragement for the struggle. Kikwanga sheets hid many pamphlets written in Kikongo.
Holden Roberto, aged 38 at the time, had in fact given up the fight for the “regeneration” of the Kingdom of Congo, where the Protestant and Catholic elites were fighting each other. The King of Kongo, Pedro Buafu, died on April 17, 1955. After his death, there was a succession crisis, in which the Catholic Church and Portuguese administration branches appointed Dom António Afonso as the new sovereign, while the nationalist Protestant branch supported Dom Manuel Quidito. UPONA then emerged to fight for the regeneration of the Kingdom, under Protestant hegemony, through the action of Manuel Barros Nekaka, who, in 1960, would end up asking for the dissolution of UPA.
On the phone, 31 years ago, Holden Roberto told me, from Paris, where he lived at the time, that in January 1961, there were disturbances in the Congo, “the population attacked many European stores and among the population there were Angolan refugees who were expelled by the Belgian colonial authorities and handed over to the PIDE at the Matadi border. The Portuguese colonial authorities spread these Angolans across the plantations and the revolt began.” And Holden Roberto confessed: “There were sad things, but we were outside and we couldn’t control the people. Certain acts that I can’t remember here didn’t have my agreement. The people wanted to vent against the colonists, it wasn’t an organized thing. With the Over time, we organized ourselves, created ELNA and the fight changed its appearance.”
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