OLIVEIRA, Pedro Aires – “The United Kingdom and the independence of Portuguese Africa (1974-1976): stakes, perceptions and policy options”, Revue Française de Civilisation Britannique, Vol. 18. No. 2 (2013), pp. 105-128. (original) (raw)
Although some research into the nature of the United Kingdom's involvement in the final years of Portuguese rule in Africa has been recently carried out, the British role in the hazardous transition to independence in some of the Portuguese colonies immediately after the Carnation revolution of 1974 has until now received little or no attention, at least as far as historical literature in English is concerned 1. This article seeks to fill that gap. It will start by sorting out the reasons behind the United Kingdom's policy of even-handedness with regard to the conflicts in Lusophone Africa up to 1974, which is essential to understand some of the limitations which the Labour government had to face in the period following the collapse of Portugal's colonial regime. After a brief description of London's expectations regarding the different 'roadmaps' for a transfer of power in Portuguese Africa, the article will focus on the two cases which possessed the greatest relevance to British interests: Mozambique and Angola. There was an interesting contrast in the way British diplomats and decision-makers assessed the implications of a 'Marxist' triumph in Maputo and in Luanda. Thus, while the FCO made a positive evaluation of FRELIMO's ascendancy in Mozambique, taking quick steps to establish friendly relations with Samora Machel's movement, it displayed a much cooler attitude vis-à-vis the MPLA 2 (a party which, since the 1960s, had kept a few links with the Labour party and allied organizations), and made significant overtures towards one of its main rivals, UNITA, 3 led by Jonas Savimbi, who by 1974 had acquired a somewhat dubious reputation among sectors of the European Left. 4 Drawing on recently released sources, this article will try to make sense of this dichotomy in the light of the analysis produced by British officials concerning: i) the leadership abilities of the main groups vying for power in Angola and Mozambique; ii) the implications of the situation in the two territories for the evolution of other Southern African conflicts (particularly the Rhodesian
Sign up for access to the world's latest research.
checkGet notified about relevant papers
checkSave papers to use in your research
checkJoin the discussion with peers
checkTrack your impact
Loading Preview
Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.