In Search of Enemies - A CIA Story - John Stockwell

Footsoldiers of Foreign Policy
don't put all the blame on Kissinger, the CIA led the United States
into the Angolan mess," she added.
The Portuguese coup was April 25, 1974. But in 1973 Roberto had
already begun accepting arms from the Chinese. On May 29, 1974,
the first contingent of 112 Chinese military advisors, led by a major
general of the Chinese army, arrived in Zaire to train the FNLA
forces. The Chinese issued a press release announcing the arrival of
these advisors. In July 1974 the CIA began funding Roberto without
40 Committee approval, small amounts at first, but enough for word
to get around that the CIA was dealing itself into the race. In August
the Communist party of the Soviet Union announced that it considered
the MPLA to be the true spokesman of the Angolan people.
The Soviets began flying arms to Dar-es-Salaam designated for
" African liberation movements''; the CIA could only speculate
whether they were for Rhodesian and South African movements or
the MPLA on the other side of the continent. On August 28 the
Kinshasa press announced that the Rumanian communist party had
presented a large quantity of military equipment to the FNLA. On
September 10, the FNLA publicly acknowledged the receipt of 450
tons of supplies from China.
During the fall of 1974 the CIA continued to fund Roberto, still
without 40 Committee approval, and its intelligence reporting on
Angola was predominantly from Zairian and FNLA sources. Most
important, MacElhinney emphasized, the flagrant, semiovert activities
of the CIA station in Kinshasa ensured that American support
of the FNLA would be widely known. There was reporting that the
Soviet Union began filtering limited amounts of arms to the MPLA
late in 1974.
In the Alvor agreement, January 15, 1975, the three movements
agreed to compete peacefully for elections to be held in October 1975.
Every indication was that UNIT A and the MPLA acted in good
faith, although no one could deny the likelihood of violence if one
party threatened to dominate the elections.
On January 22, 1975, the 40 Committee authorized the CIA to pass
$300,000 to the FNLA, which was historically the most warlike of
the movements and which was thought to have the largest army. In
February 1975, encouraged by Mobutu and the United States
Roberto moved his well-armed forces into Angola and began attacking
the MPLA in Luanda and northern Angola. In one instance in