Africa-Press – Angola. Among the small FAPLA units and Cuban advisors, groups of small combatants could be seen, in uniform and armed with the light weapons of the time, carrying out all the tasks that adult soldiers did, including participating directly in combat actions.History cannot be erased. Press publishes four unusual testimonies from former combatant pioneers who were members of the People’s Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (FAPLA) and were engaged in the fight against the South African columns.
Among the small FAPLA units and Cuban advisors, groups of small combatants could be seen, in uniform and armed with the light weapons of the time, such as PPSH, FBP, Streling and others. They carried out all the tasks that adult soldiers did, including participating directly in combat actions.
Today, aged over 60, they agreed to speak to our reporters, at a time when preparations for the celebration of the 50th anniversary of national independence, next year, have begun. They were active participants in the struggle to make the dream of several generations of Angolans come true.
To bring readers in tune with the times, we provide a brief review of the situation in Angola in the months preceding the proclamation of National Independence by President Agostinho Neto.
In the first week of November 1975, after breaking through the MPLA forces’ defence line in the town of Catengue, “Operation SAVANNAH” reached the outskirts of the city of Benguela. The conquest of Benguela on 7 November was one of the high points of the ground offensive launched in August 1975 by the South African Defence Forces (SADF) to prevent the MPLA from declaring Angolan independence. The combat groups led by Commanders Constand Viljoen, Ben de Wet Roos and Jan Breytenbach advanced decisively from the southern border to the centre and north of Angola, in alliance with mixed troops from UNITA and the FNLA. Their objective was to reach Luanda before 11 November.
According to reports from the South African commander himself, Jan Breytenbach, the main attack force, designated the “ZULU” Group, passed through Cacula in a leisurely manner, after easily taking Sá da Bandeira (Lubango) and Moçamedes, and came dangerously close to the town of Catengue, where the FAPLA set up a defence with around 1,200 men hastily organised by the Central Front Command, led by commanders Monty, N’gaKumona and Kassanji.
The FAPLA placed Cuban recruits and advisors in the trenches, the latter under the direct command of Fidel Castro from Cuba. The Cubans belonged to the special forces of the FAR and the MININT, highly trained troops.
FAPLA had its best troops there, with Squadron commanders, many of them from the Commandos and Dragoons of the last Portuguese troops in Angola. Among them were the seasoned soldiers from the Congolese Shaba, the Katangese. The fighting begins. Breytenbach, who commands the SADF, reports his first casualties to the command in Pretoria, where Viljoen is. Meanwhile, the other blade of the SADF attack pincers marches from Huambo via Londuimbale-Balombo and takes the Colango detour, at the intersection with road number 100, which leads north, that is, to Luanda, the capital of Angola, where all national and international attention is focused.
Retired RNA technician
José Costa “Malagueta” (Pioneer Costinha)
Our first witness is Mr. José Costa “Malagueta” (Pioneiro Costinha), who lives in Benguela and is a retired technician from the National Radio of Angola.
“I am from a generation of pioneers who, at the time, after the 25th of April, joined the MPLA. We swore allegiance to the flag in Ganda, in December 1974. The instructor was a “Katanguês” named Cobra. At that time, a contingent of Katangese soldiers had arrived in Benguela, commanded by Moisés Bumba and the commanders Miúdo and Cobra.
The people I remember being with me there, at the Ganda camp, for the oath, are Vinhas Vasconcelos, the son of Nuno de Menezes. There were a number of pioneers who were under 16 years old, because the other pioneers who were over 16 years old went to the CIR Kazage, in Moxico. We were the first group to join the military. We also had political studies. For those who know the history, they know that when President Agostinho Neto came to Benguela, there was a military garrison of pioneers, where I always had the honor of being enlisted.
After the oath of allegiance, I joined the FAPLA, which had already been proclaimed since 1974. But before that, we already had a core of pioneering guerrillas who were affiliated with the MPLA and not with the FAPLA itself. I remember Kinito, Pioneiro Pirata, Graça, Dado, Kamolas, Tozé Baptista, Rui Escórcio, from Rua dos Burgeses, and the Matos family. From here, in Benguela, were my brother Dodó, Amaro Trindade, Beto Makuto. The Venâncio and Matos families, the children and grandchildren of the eldest Pacavira, Zé Caprego, the younger brothers of the Rasgado family, young people from the Senhor Agripino family. They were the pioneers we had, who motivated me.
My motivation came from the previous years. I lived on 11th Street, in the Benfica neighborhood, which, even during the colonial era, was a popular meeting place for former MPLA members. There were meetings at Mr. Pacavira’s house, at Mr. Severino’s house, and I had a friend of my father’s, Mr. Pinto, and his wife, Dona Carminda, who were also part of the resistance. At that time, I served as a carrier pigeon, without knowing it. I took notes to bars to deliver to the Cohens, César Banzar, Santos Primo, the Rasgados, Severino. On 13th Street, there were also people linked to the MPLA. But in 1969, there was a complaint and Mr. Rodrigues went to tell my father that I was involved in it and that I was in trouble. I was sent to Lobito, to the house of an uncle, who had just returned from the colonial army and had revolutionary ideas. That’s when I started listening to Angola Combatente with him, following the Angolan liberation struggle.
From 1974/75 onwards, I took part in very important missions, with Dokui de Castro, Rigoberto Cubano, Humberto Lourenço, Trindade and Piedade, and this motivated me to be in a high position. I was close to important people such as Hermínio Escórcio and other DOM leaders.
I had very important missions, one of which was to dynamite the Portuguese barracks, where the MPLA leadership believed the South African forces would be stationed. At the time, the mining work was carried out, the entire mechanism was activated, but unfortunately, the South African troops sent a UNITA reconnaissance group, which detonated pavilions 42 and 57. The other pavilions remained untouched.
At that time, my name was put on the line. Once I came on a boat mission from Cuanza-Sul to Lobito, I was denounced by João Banana’s son and was arrested by the South Africans in front of the Áurea bakery. They filled me up to my chest with gasoline in a drum to force me to talk. That was why, from then on, I did not take part in any more combative actions, until 1976, when I began political activity in the JMPLA, in Lobito, with other comrades who were there and we went to the coffee harvesting campaign in Chicuma and Babaera.”
SERGIO RAIMUNDO, THE FAMOUS KALUANDA PIONEER
“I am very proud of my past and I am not ashamed of it”
“I joined FAPLA in mid-1975, in the Central Front, with a group of kids from Benguela and Lobito, more specifically, in Lobito, and immediately went to the Balombo Front, with Totola, from the Senhora da Graça neighborhood, the late Gomes, from Camunda, Kino (Tiroteio), Kaluanda Cambuta, Camutari, the little Carlitos, Beto Blindado, all from Lobito and many others, where we fought alongside older people, like Calicas, Camolas, Marito from Mona Caxito (Gradp-1), Tozé, who was our commander in Monte Belo, Napica, Carlota, the vast majority from the Compão neighborhood, in Lobito. They called me the pioneer “Kaluanda” because I came from Luanda as a child at the age of 6. I was not born in Luanda, but in Dondo, Cuanza-Norte. I always lived in Luanda until I was six years old, and then I grew up in Benguela, where I received all my basic training at the Missão da Senhora de Nazaré, led by the late Father Horácio, assisted at the time by the late Father Pires. My father was one of the assiduous militants, who was among the people who welcomed the first guerrillas, such as Kassanje, Comrade Jacaré, the late Chipenda, who fell in Catengue when the South African troops first arrived on the scene, the late Diquixi, who was in the Security Forces, and Chinganeca, who was Comrade Pai. My brother António Francisco Raimundo Neto died in the Sumbe (Novo Redondo) retreat, at the age of 14, and our eldest was Commander Bruxo, who died in the Salupeto Pena house on 1 November 1991, in the heat of the turbulent implementation of the Bicesse Agreements. The motivation at the time that infected the young people and teenagers, because we were on average 12 to 14 years old, was the revolutionary effervescence that transmitted to all Angolans, including children, to participate directly and actively in the struggle for liberation and national independence. We all wanted to fight without fear of the consequences. This was the case in relation to the three movements, depending on the political sympathies of each one, often driven by the political inclinations of the father and other adult relatives who were references in the family.
In addition to those I mentioned above, they fought with me, Vado Rasgado, now deceased, Gomes da Camunda, also now deceased, João Pirica, from Luanda, Tiroteio, Nicolau da Camunda, who recited poetry in Umbundu on the album by Kissanguela, from Camunda, who later emigrated to Portugal, where he recently died, as well as the Mais Velhos, just to name a few, in addition to those I mentioned above, Sangue Derramado, whose real name is Francisco Kamaty, I know that until very recently he was deputy administrator of Canjala, Domingos Maluco, Velho Victor do Dip, Bardoca, Revolução, Filho Perdido, Gildo, Frente Leste, Mundial, Ponta Negra and many others.
We retreated in 1975 to what was then Novo Redondo, via Anha do Norte and exited at Egito Praia, because the South African forces had already taken the diversion (Culango), since, mistakenly, we who were defending Monte Belo, after being chased out of Balombo, received orders to abandon our positions to reinforce the defence of Benguela, and we left that corridor unguarded, which allowed the enemy forces to easily advance at the time, forgetting that our only exit to Luanda was through there, so much so that the first comrades of ours who tried to leave Lobito for Luanda, almost all fell in Culango and it was thanks to one of the survivors who managed to get back to Lobito, who warned us that the passage to Luanda was closed.
So we all went to the Port of Lobito to catch a ship and it was a fight for survival, a life for all. I was unable to transport even a third of the troops present on this ship, because all the military personnel from the Central and Southern Fronts were concentrated there, from Bié, through Huambo to Banguela, Cunene, Huíla and Namibe.
And it was thanks to an older comrade of ours who remembered that before the current road that connects Lobito to Luanda, or vice-versa, the connection was made via Anha do Norte, so we put some BRDMs in front to open the way and the South Africans only realized at night that we were leaving through there, and attacked the tail of the column, but we arrived safely, at dawn, in Novo Redondo, today Sumbe.
At that time, our commanders were Kassanje, Inkaca, Catondo, Monte, Roca Monita, Sapo and his brother José Manuel, Frente Leste, Mundial and many others.
An experience of camaraderie, brotherhood, solidarity and loyalty without equal, unique, as the spirit of all for one and one for all reigned.
I am very proud of my past and I am not ashamed of it, since it is precisely because of this past that I am the man I am today, with a solid vision for the country. However, it is important to emphasize, here and now, that it was not the ideals that today guide the political life of the MPLA that mobilized us for the struggle for liberation and National Independence of Angola, because we were politically educated that our struggle was to promote the social well-being of all the daughters and sons of this beautiful country, which is called Angola, hence Neto’s legacy that “the most important thing is to solve the people’s problems.”
Unfortunately, this legacy has become dead letters, but if the MPLA wants to continue to be in power in Angola, it does not need to look for “culprits”, it just needs to work hard to transform Neto’s legacy from dead letters into living letters, that is, translating them into the real life of each citizen.
The story is long, so it is not possible to tell it in a few lines, but I promise to soon launch a literary work to pass this legacy on to new and future generations.
My thanks for the opportunity granted to participate in this historical work of great importance.”
MY TESTIMONY
“We were not child soldiers”
Completely oblivious to men and their exploits, time flies by unstoppably, just as the wind blows in the winds. We are celebrating the 49th anniversary of National Independence.
Memories remain indelible in our minds. They remain astonishingly alive and continue to project themselves into the present, like shadows that are illuminated only when the intense light of the headlights of History shines upon them.
Nowadays, according to UN standards, we would be called child soldiers, since we were very young when we held our first weapons of war in our hands and threw our books into the calends.
After surviving untold misfortunes, we became men, indelibly marked by many complicated historical moments. We remembered the loss of many companions, whose souls we humbly prayed to the Creator to let them rest in peace, in the splendor of perpetual Light.
The United Nations defines a child soldier as any person under the age of 18 who has been recruited or used by an armed force or group, in any capacity.
Just as a matter of interest, in 2022, around 20,000 children were involved in different wars around the world, according to the UN’s annual report on the participation of children in armed conflicts. Therefore, although this is not a new phenomenon, it tends to continue.
In 1975, we voluntarily joined the armed ranks of the MPLA. No one forcibly captured us or forced us to take up arms.
Of the contingent that led the retreat from Benguela and arrived in Novo Redondo on the 6th, 7th and 8th of November 1975, there were fighters younger than me, such as Bela Russa, Pioneiro Kaluanda, Costinha and Tiroteio.
Two years older, we also had the fearless Dias “Ngueta Mukuaxi”, who would fall in combat during the attack on Sumbe, in March 1984.
Destined to complete abandonment, the iconic Russian Beauty with “Fire-Colored Hair” died of cancer in 2006. She left behind children who were left helpless and, to this day, cry out in the desert for the memory of their guerrilla mother to be rescued. Others died in atrocious oblivion!
Of our group, those who are located and still alive, only two remain. Francisco Caldeira and I. We never heard from Zezito Ramos again. Alongside me, on November 12, 1975, “Mingudu”, from the “Ngunza-Kabolo” squadron, also disappeared.
Surely, there are another dozen or more of these brave men out there, buried, forgotten or made to be forgotten.
We must discover them and rescue them for a dignified life and tell their own story, to be included in the gallery of the sons of Angola who fought because they believed in a flag that still flies on the masts of the Nation and remains stuck in their hearts.
No one can guarantee whether we will still be here next season.
But, new concepts must be defined to classify this illustrious generation that, with total dedication, gallantly defended the ideals of nobility that were proposed to them.
But we still have one certainty! We were not child soldiers!
Honor to the intrepid generation of the sixties!
Glory to the educated, talented and passionate young people who were brutally torn from the garden of their dreams and their projects and fell on the front lines, fulfilling the sacred duty of defending the Fatherland.
(Jaime Azulay)
JOSE CABRAL (SANDE)
“I received an FBP machine gun when I was 13 years old”
After the first clashes with UNITA, I received an FBP machine gun from Commander Jibóia and became his field officer until his death in combat, which occurred between Marco de Canaveses and the town of Chimboa. I was left an orphan until Commander Bettencourt took me in.
General Bettencourt welcomed me while we were playing the ginga-joga. In the morning, UNITA entered via Marco/Canaveses/Canjulo/BNA and we left via the airfield/Camunda/CFB hospital. And in that game, Chipenda, Kussy and Captain Manel (husband and father of Isabel Vaz Monteiro’s children) died.
This lasted until the day when Commander Polo-polo put an end to the fun. He ran with us from Cubal and joined us with the guerrillas who had gone from Huambo and Balombo/via Ganda, heading towards Catengue, where the FNLA/ELP and UNITA joint forces led by Emílio Marta were already on standby. We and the number of children sent from Jaquelino/Benguela were massacred. The protection of General Bettencourt was worth it, and with my help, he gathered a small group of children (including a Cuban advisor) who, between gunfire and escapes, managed to reach Dombe-Grande. The Cuban advisor did not survive. Posted in Benguela, we were collected, subject to a united order, for a few hours, in the Benguela national camp and instructed to continue the “strategic retreat” towards Novo Redondo. I left the FBP behind and received a “Bretha” (FN super), towards the “Santa Teresa” farm, in Canjala, where the two concrete bridges had already been destroyed.
In a brief operational overview, Commander Bettencourt came to the conclusion that the chances of survival were slim. So, he chose the young and the most educated to return, as they would be more useful on the way back. He took my weapon and mapped out the return route via Egipto-Praia, Muri beach, Hanha-praia, Praia Grande, Jomba – Lobito.
Upon my return in 1976, I was included in the first Junior Specialists Course at the Rafael Zembo Faty Sergeant School (Veno) in a grey beret and, after completing the course, I was placed as an operational officer in the first Unified Command of Lobito, in the then URP (Radio Patrol Unit) with Jorge Sukissa/TGFA, General Independência/DISA and Lieutenant Manico/Sergeant School. The gender was represented by officers Marina dos Anjos Nogueira and Sub-Lieutenant Yolanda.
He joined FAPLA at the age of 14
Francisco Caldeira (Caldeira): “I was a tanker at the age of 16”
I joined FAPLA in the early months of 1975, in Novo Redondo, now Sumbe, in the province of Cuanza-Sul. In the euphoria of the revolution, we wanted to be soldiers. There were several of us friends with different political views, some of whom went to Cela at the time, to a UNITA Centre, and I and some companions like Zezito Ramos and Jaime Azulay, tried to join the CIR Sangue do Povo. Due to our age, we were 14 years old, if I’m not mistaken, and we were initially rejected, but we managed to convince those in charge who ended up accepting us and we trained with the already soldiers Domingos and Explode, who were supposedly part of the first squadrons of the CIR Sangue do Povo (Vietnam and Kwenha). Our first training was in the middle of the Boa-Venturança palm grove, next to the Cambongo River.
We later stayed at the MPLA Delegation garrison, which was headed by Commander M’beto Traça. I remember that we were children when, when the fighting between the MPLA and the FNLA came to a standstill in the city, the shops were abandoned. Next to the delegation there was a Marques e Seixas shop, which sold a variety of products, and the windows of one of the shop windows were broken. We decided to take advantage of the opportunity and take some things for ourselves. So, we each stole a toy car, called a “dick-toy”, and a bottle of gin to give to the soldiers. These cars were used to race in the good weather, on a track drawn with chalk on the pavement, on the balcony of the Delegation.
At that time, morale and determination were enormous, which led me to join the fighters who went to reinforce the troops in Benguela during the invasion of the “Carcamanos do Catano” (as we called the South African invaders in our childhood innocence). My intervention began at Benguela airport, where I met Commander Kassanje, and then, with other members and under the Commander’s instructions, I retreated in a blue “Saviem” minibus, and on the Lobito/Canjala route we were ambushed before the Culango diversion.
Oh, the story of having walked with other fugitives, including a Cuban, to the White House, where we were taken in, when family and friends, in Novo Redondo, had already declared me dead and were preparing my death. At that age, and despite still playing with toy cars, we already had our sense of responsibility recognised, because, in addition to being guarded by the MPLA Delegation, when we retreated, we were responsible for removing all the documentation and resources existing in the Delegation, including militant files, so that the enemy would not capture them. The only thing we were unable to take was a “Mercedes” vehicle, which belonged to the comrade delegate, but which, later, other older comrades (Cte. Madaleno), who came from Benguela, took. At that time, I remember that there were several of us FAPLA pioneers. I knew several girls who also came from Benguela, such as Arminda, who later lived with us in Algodoeira, in Porto Amboim, and who I presume died. Many comrades died and I lost track of others. We were those pioneers who, unlike many who today want to boast, did not march with wooden weapons in rallies wearing the OPA uniform; we forged ourselves with weapons in our hands and marched on the battlefields. Our motivation was strong, we were aware that we wanted to be independent and have different and more dignified living conditions than those we had in colonial times.
During the period of expulsion of the South Africans, which ended on 27 March 1976, we were already military kids, but we were just like the great soldiers. Among these kids, under the age of 16, there were tankers, archers, drivers, gunners, in short, “an army of brave pioneers”.
I personally had the opportunity to train as a tank driver with the Cubans and, because of my age and performance, I was sent to Luanda, first to the 9th BRIM and then to the Personal Security of the comrade President. This motivated me the most and made me think that we were on the right path, that everything was worth it.
For years, I carried out missions of responsibility in various Defense and Security agencies, as well as other institutions, but today I am different, all motivation is gone.
I even think, and in my case, worse, that we were used by the comrades who came from the forest and, later, by other opportunists who led the Armed Forces and the Party that we had in our hearts.
Our people, for whom we fought, still do not benefit in their fullness, they lost their sons in the wars but they are worse off, we have several hundred millionaires, many of whom have not even held a weapon and during the great difficulties of the war they lived in Europe.
Today we have a country destroyed by corruption, where institutions have stopped functioning normally. I don’t know of any state body or institution that can be said to function well. Everything is for interests, everything is for money.
Today I have no regrets for all the struggle and for all my participation in the pacification of our country, but, honestly, that was not what we wanted, nor was it what we fought for.
I personally led military missions and units, where commendations and medals were given to others. I was the leader of columns in this country, driving hundreds of cars around the country. During “Operation Restoration” I was responsible, with my troops, for getting equipment and food to the combat fronts, and today we have not received any recognition.
In short, there is a lot to tell, but one day, with patience, I may do so so that my grandchildren and great-grandchildren will know how much our Independence cost. So that they will know that it was not only on November 11, 1975 that we gained our freedom and Independence. It comes from a past of much struggle.
jornaldeangola
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