From 1961 to 1974, Portugal faced an independentist insurgency in its African overseas territories – the Portuguese Colonial War. The Portuguese national interests in Africa were put under threat by several separatist guerrilla organizations supported by most of the international community and the United Nations. By the early 1970s, while the counterinsurgency war was won in Angola, it was less than satisfactorily contained in Mozambique and dangerously stalemated in Portuguese Guinea from the Portuguese point of view, so the Portuguese Government decided to create sustainability policies in order to allow continuous sources of financing for the war effort in the long run. On 13 November 1972, a sovereign wealth fund ("Fundo do Ultramar" – The Overseas Fund) was enacted through the Decree Law "Decreto-Lei n.º 448/ /72" and the Ministry of Defense ordinance "Portaria 696/72", in order to finance the counterinsurgency effort in the Portuguese overseas territories. In addition, new Decree Laws (Decree Law: "Decretos-Leis n.os 353, de 13 de Julho de 1973, e 409, de 20 de Agosto") were enforced in order to cut down military expenses and increase the number of officers by incorporating irregular militia as if they were regular military academy officers.