The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Angola (, abbreviated FDLA) was an alliance of Angolan political parties founded in July 1963. FDLA was the brainchild of the chairman of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) Agostinho Neto, as a united front against Portuguese colonial rule. However, other coalition partners in the FDLA were rather minor groups with dubious reputation. Neto sought to position the FDLA towards the Organization of African Unity (OAU) as an alternative to the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA), a move that severely backfired. The FDLA debacle aggravated tensions within the MPLA leadership and weakened the party.
Background In the wake of the beginning of armed conflict against Portuguese rule over Angola in 1961, there emerged an internal crisis within the exiled MPLA leadership over the inability of the party to occupy a leading role in the struggle and forming a united front with the Union of Peoples of Angola (UPA). When the Revolutionary Government of Angola in Exile (GRAE) was formed on April 3, 1962 the MPLA had been left out. In May 1962 Viriato da Cruz was removed from his post as MPLA general secretary. As Neto took over the party leadership, he continued to pursue policy of seeking a broad front of all nationalist groups. On August 5, 1962 Neto led a MPLA delegation to negotiate a united front with FNLA. Neto proposed that MPLA be included in a broad front on equal footing with the FNLA constituents UPA and PDA (which would effectively replace the FNLA with a new entity). The proposal was unacceptable for FNLA, which withdrew from the talks.
In December 1962 MPLA held its first national conference in Léopoldville, at which Neto was elected as the head of the party executive. The conference called for the formation of a united front based on a minimum program of struggle for national independence, but that MPLA would retain its role as a political vanguard with a separate identity within the front.
Founding of FDLA A first coordination meeting in the search of unity of Angolan liberation movements was convened by Congo-Brazzaville president Fulbert Youlou in Brazzaville on June 1, 1963. FNLA did not attend. On June 29, 1963 the government of Congo-Léopoldville formally recognized GRAE. In response to the GRAE recognition across the river, a second meeting was convened by Youlou in Brazzaville on July 1, 1963. The MPLA delegation was led by the party vice president Domingos da Silva. Other MPLA delegates at the July 1 gathering were Domingos da Silva, Luís de Azevedo, Noémia Tavira, Daniel Chipenda and Aníbal de Melo.The FNLA dleegation consisted of Holden Roberto and Emanuel Kunzika. Other groups attending were the Movement for the Defense of Angolan Interests (MDIA), the Angolan Nationalist Movement (MNA), the National Union of Angolan Workers (UNTA) and the Movement for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (MLEC).
In his opening remarks to the July 1, 1963 meeting, Youlou called on the attendees not to abandon the meeting hall until unity of movement and action had been achieved. In his speech Youlou implicitly rejected the unilateral recognition of GRAE by Congo-Léopoldville. Addressing the meeting the FNLA delegation that there was already a united front (FNLA), which the other parties were welcome to join. The FNLA delegation then abandoned the meeting. The deliberations continued after the departure of the FNLA representatives. MLEC also left the talks, after its president Luis Ranque Franque had expressed willingness to cooperative with the Angolan nationalist movement but that the main interest of MLEC was the unity of Cabindans. Another group that had not been part of the meeting from the beginning, Ngwizako, appeared at the venue.
MPLA continued consulations with the different groups, resulting in the foundation of the FDLA was founded in Léopoldville early July 1963.História do MPLA.: 1940-1966. Angola, Centro de Documentação e Investigação Histórica do MPLA, 2008. pp. 252-254 The foundation of FDLA occurred in response to the recognition of GRAE by Congo-Léopoldville.The New Leader, Vol. 46 New Leader Pub. Association, 1963. p. 7 The FDLA was intended as a counter-weight to the FNLA.Amate, C. O. C.. Africa Speaks. Carlton Press, 1975. p. 320 By forming an alliance MPLA hoped to broaden its base and be able to get a stronger position in arguing for its inclusion in GRAE. Adebayo Adedeji (1999) argued that by forming a front with different Bakongo parties, MPLA would seek to gain support in the northern communities (hitherto the bastion of UPA) and recruit guerrilla fighters from there.Adebayo Adedeji. Comprehending and Mastering African Conflicts: The Search for Sustainable Peace and Good Governance. Bloomsbury Academic, 1999. p. 64
Members FDLA members were MPLA, UNTA, Ngwizako, MNA and MDIA.Chilcote, Ronald H.. Emerging nationalism in Portuguese Africa: a bibliography of documentary ephemera through 1965. Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace, Stanford University, 1969. pp. 218-219, 593Africa Special Report: Bulletin of the Institute of African American Relations. The Institute, 1963. p. 6 MDIA was initially admitted only on provisional basis, due to the party president being accused of collaboration with the Portuguese authorities (he had supported the idea holding elections under Portuguese rule).Année africaine 1963. Éditions A. Pedone., 1965. p. 158 Apart from UNTA, all of the FDLA constituent parties promptly suffered splits around the time of creation of the front - with one faction adhering to FDLA and another rejecting FDLA membership.Chilcote, Ronald H.. Portuguese Africa. Prentice-Hall, 1967. p. 79
UNTA was the trade union wing of the MPLA. It was based among support from Bakongo refugees and emigres in Congo-Léopoldville. The other constituents were small tribalist groups which drew support from northern Angola and Bakongo refugee communities in Congo-Léopoldville.Williams, Gwyneth, and Hackland, Brian. The Dictionary of Contemporary Politics of Southern Africa. Taylor & Francis, 2015. p. 89Africa Perspective. Students' Representative Council, University of the Witwatersrand, 1979. p. 4Il filo rosso, issue 6. Feltrinelli. p. 7
Out of the smaller FDLA constituents, MDIA and Ngwizako were accused of collaborating with the Portuguese administration.Angola and Mozambique: A Report. Coordinating Se[retariat of National Union of Students, 1963. p. 32Lo Spettatore internazionale. Istituto affari internazionali., 1969. p. 94Weigert, Stephen L.. Angola: A Modern Military History, 1961-2002. Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.Guimarães, Fernando Andresen. The Origins of the Angolan Civil War. ST. Martin's Press, 2001. p. 215 The MPLA itself had previously accused these groups of being supported by the Salazar regime.
The Ngwizani a Kongo (Ngwizako) was a monarchist Bakongo organization, which had been opposed to armed struggle. It drew support from Catholics whom had supported the Portuguese choice of as new king at São Salvador.Africa Diary, Vol. III. M. Chhabra, 1963. pp. 1233-1234, 1291 By 1963 Ngwizako had been split into two factions - the more conservative Associação faction and the more radical Aliança faction. The latter was formed by younger members of the movement, frustrated with the lack of progress in the establishment of an autonomous Kongo kingdom through cooperation with the Portuguese authorities.Mbah, Jean Martial Arsene. As rivalidades políticas entre a Frente Nacional de Libertação de Angola (FNLA) e o Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (MPLA): 1961-1975. Mayamba Editora, 2010. p. 206 It was the smaller Aliança group that joined FDLA, whilst the Associação was holding a congress in Léopoldville June 29-July 1, 1963. On July 8, the Associação group issued a statement denouncing the Aliança for having joined FDLA, stating that thereby the Aliança group had implicitly endorsed the GRAE.
MDIA was another group that had opposed armed struggle. It largely made up by Bazombo emigres. It had split from UPA in 1961, and was led by Jean Pierre M'Bala.Africa Year Book and Who's who. Africa Journal Limited, 1976. p. 240 In 1962 the United Nations Special Committee of Territories Under Portuguese Administration, after a visit to the MDIA headquarters in Léopoldville had stated that the party was used by the Portuguese government "for the purpose of being able to claim that it had the cooperation of some Angolan group." The party underwent a sudden split around the time of the formation of FDLA, as Augustin Kaziluki and Simon Diallo Mingiedi broke links with M'Bala and opted to support to the FDLA. M'Bala continued to lead the loyalist faction of MDIA, but on July 5, 1963 he flew from Brazzaville to Luanda upon invitation from the Portuguese Governor-General of Angola. The FDLA-faction of MDIA later announced the creation of MDIA War Department, calling on volunteers to go for military training abroad.
MNA, the smallest FDLA member organization, was a party based among the Sorongo people who inhabited an area just south of the River Congo estuary. Previously MNA had been Preparatory Committee of the Angolan People's Congress (CPCP) of Kassinda and Kassanda, but by mid-1963 the party had been reorganized under the leadership of Francisco Mayembe (who left UPA in December 1961 in rejection of militant strategy of Holden) and was now closer to UNTA.
FDLA platform The founding member organization of FDLA agreed on a 14-point platform of the FDLA; 1. Complete liquidation, by all available means, of Portuguese colonialism in Angola 2. Consolidation of national independence, through a policy of non-alignment 3. Struggle against all forms of neocolonialism 4. Establishment in Angola of a democratic regime, in which the fundamental rights of man will be guaranteed 5. Admission into the Frente [FDLA] of all organizations wishing to join it 6. Intensification of both the armed and diplomatic fights 7. Formation of a Political Council, which must approve all opinions issued in the name of the Frente 8. Formation of a single liberation army under a single military command 9. Formation of a single organization for social assistance and for the education of the masses 10. Condemnation of fratricidal fighting and of all manifestations of tribalism and religious and racial intolerance 11. Development of the spirit of brotherhood and mutual assistance among Angolans of all social classes 12. Constant defense of national unity and of the territorial integrity of the country 13. Solemn and active dedication to the realization of African unity, in the spirit of the Charter of Addis Ababa 14. Respect for the personality of each organization belonging to the Frente
Leadership The founding convention of FDLA created FDLA leading bodies, an Executive Committee and a National Council. Neto headed the nine-member Executive Committee as the FDLA President. Emmanuel Loureiro (Ngwizako) was named First Vice President and (UNTA) was named Second Vice President. Other members of the Executive Committee were Secretary of Foreign Relations Mário Pinto de Andrade (MPLA), Secretary of War Armindo de Freitas (MPLA), Secretary for Information, Press, Propaganda and Cultural Questions José Tito (MNA), Secretary for Social Questions Bernard Ndombele (UNTA) and Secretary of Interior Augusto Monteiro (Ngwizako). At the time of the founding of FDLA, the post of Secretary of Finances had been left vacant, albeit the post was soon filled by Augustin Kaziluki (MDIA). The Executive Committee was supposed to implement the policies articulated by the National Council, and arbitrate in disputes between member organizations.