Angolan Civil War
The Angolan Civil War started as a civil war within Angola, then became a proxy war and then after the end of the cold war became just a civil war again. The conflict lasted from 1975 until 2002 with only a few brief periods of peace and relative stability. Over the decades of war more than 500,000 people were killed. The civil war began soon after Angola gained independence from Portugal. There were three main political groups within the country and they represented the three main ethnic groups within the country. The People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) consisted of the Ambundu people, and was an offshoot of the Angolan Communist Party and was therefore supported by the Soviet Union, Cuba and other African countries. The National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) was rooted with the Bakongo people and was supported by Zaire and the People’s Republic of China. The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) was formed by the Ovimbundu people.
When war broke out the United States sought to prevent the spread of communism within Africa and was willing to spend millions in order to prevent from the MPLA from winning. President Ford in 1975 began funneling money to UNITA and FNLA, he hoped that he would be able to hide the millions that he was sent from the American people. By the 1980s the war continued to escalate and became a major proxy war of the Cold War. In 1984 the USSR sent more than $2 billion in aid to help the MPLA. Cuba and other Eastern bloc nations also increased their support for the MPLA in Angola throughout the 80s which prompted a bigger response from the U.S. Periods of stability and strife continued until 2002 when an agreement was finally reached between UNITA and the MPLA.