page_title: United States involvement in regime change
section_title: 1975-1991: Angola
hierarchical_section_title: United States involvement in regime change / 1945–1991: The Cold War / 1970s / 1975-1991: Angola
context_page_description: United States involvement in regime change has entailed both overt and covert actions aimed at altering, replacing, or preserving foreign governments. In the latter half of the 19th century, the U.S. government initiated actions for regime change mainly in Latin America and the southwest Pacific, including the Spanish–American and Philippine–American wars. At the onset of the 20th century, the United States shaped or installed governments in many countries around the world, including neighbors Panama, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic.
  During World War II, the United States helped overthrow many Nazi Germany or imperial Japanese puppet regimes. Examples include regimes in the Philippines, Korea, the Eastern portion of China, and much of Europe. United States forces were also instrumental in ending the rule of Adolf Hitler over Germany and of Benito Mussolini over Italy.
context_section_description: Angola had been a colony of Portugal for hundreds of years however beginning in the 1960s the inhabitants of the country rose up in the Angolan War of Independence. In 1974 Portugal overthrew its right-wing military junta in the Carnation Revolution. The new government promised to give independence to its colonies including Angola. In 1975 Portugal signed the Alvar Agreement giving independence to Angola however the various groups started fighting one another. The People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) was a leftist group that was advancing upon the other two main rebel groups the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) and National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). Cuba and The Soviet Union started sending in arms and troops into Angola to support the MPLA, and at the same time Apartheid South Africa sent in troops into Angola to support the FNLA and UNITA.
  The United States began covertly supporting UNITA and the FNLA through Operation IA Feature. President Gerald Ford approved of the program on July 18, 1975 while receiving dissent from officials in the CIA and State Department. Nathaniel Davis, Assistant Secretary of State, quit because of his disagreement with this. The funding for these organizations was headed by John Stockwell. This program began as the war for independence was ending and continued as the civil began in November 1975. The funding initially started at $6 million but than added $8 million on July 27 and added $25 million in August. Congress found out about the program in 1976 and condemned it. Senator Dick Clark added the Clark Amendment to the US Arms Export Control Act of 1976 ending the operation and restricting involvement in Angola. Despite this CIA Director George H.W. Bush did not concede that all aid to the FNLA and UNITA had stopped. According to Jane Hunter Israel became a middleman for continued American arms sales into Angola. During the Carter Administration the limited support for these organizations would continue. In 1978 the FNLA was depleted and defeated. This only left UNITA headed by Jonas Savimbi. Savimbi was a former Maoist who eventually became a capitalist ideologically and made UNITA into a capitalist militant group.
  Meanwhile, in the United States the rise of the New Right saw the election of Ronald Reagan to the presidency. His administration put out the Reagan Doctrine which called for the funding of Anti-Communist forces across the world to "roll back" Soviet influence. This saw the Reagan Administration support Savimbi and conservative think tanks, like the Heritage Foundation, lobbying for allowing more assistance to them. This saw the repeal of the Clark Amendment on July 11, 1985. Savimbi would show his gratitude of this when he spoke at the Heritage Foundation in 1989. Starting in 1986 the war really ramped up and Angola became a major proxy conflict in the cold war. Savimbi's conservative allies in the US, such as Michael Johns and Grover Norquist, lobbied for more support for UNITA. In 1986 Savimbi came to the White House and afterwards Reagan approved the shipment of Stinger Surface-to-Air Missiles as a part of $25 Million in aid. As well UNITA's headquarters in Jamba hosted the Democratic International, a conference of Anti-Communist leaders from across the globe.
  As the Cold War began to end the two sides started to approach each other diplomatically. After George H.W. Bush became president he continued to aid Savimbi. Savimbi began relying on the company Black, Manafort, and Stone in order to lobby for assistance. This company, as in the name, was headed by Charles Black, Paul Manafort, and Roger Stone. They lobbied the H.W. Bush administration for more assistance and weapons to Savimbi. Savimbi also met with Bush himself in 1990. However the MPLA and UNITA came to an agreement with the Bicesse Accords in 1991 ending US and USSR involvement in the war. This also saw South Africa withdraw from Namibia. Despite the peace the war ramped up again after the Halloween Massacre in 1992 and continued until 2002.
caption: Location of Angola
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