Elias Salupeto Pena

Last updated
Elias Salupeto Pena
Died2 November 1992
Occupation(s)a representative of UNITA, politician
Known forbeing murdered
Family Jonas Savimbi (distant relative)

Elias Salupeto Pena (died 2 November 1992) [1] served as the representative of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), an anti-Communist rebel group that fought against the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) in the Angolan Civil War, to the Joint Military and Political Commission. [2] Pena was a distant relative of, and a senior advisor to, UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi. [3]

Contents

Death

The government killed Pena [4] along with Jeremias Chitunda, the Vice President of UNITA, in Luanda in November 1992, following the first round of the presidential election in what was known as the Halloween Massacre. [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Angola</span>


Angola was first settled by San hunter-gatherer societies before the northern domains came under the rule of Bantu states such as Kongo and Ndongo. In the 15th century, Portuguese colonists began trading, and a settlement was established at Luanda during the 16th century. Portugal annexed territories in the region which were ruled as a colony from 1655, and Angola was incorporated as an overseas province of Portugal in 1951. After the Angolan War of Independence, which ended in 1974 with an army mutiny and leftist coup in Lisbon, Angola achieved independence in 1975 through the Alvor Agreement. After independence, Angola entered a long period of civil war that lasted until 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UNITA</span> Angolan political party

The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola is the second-largest political party in Angola. Founded in 1966, UNITA fought alongside the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) in the Angolan War for Independence (1961–1975) and then against the MPLA in the ensuing civil war (1975–2002). The war was one of the most prominent Cold War proxy wars, with UNITA receiving military aid initially from the People's Republic of China from 1966 until October 1975 and later from the United States and apartheid South Africa while the MPLA received support from the Soviet Union and its allies, especially Cuba.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonas Savimbi</span> Angolan politician and rebel leader (1934–2002)

Jonas Malheiro Savimbi was an Angolan revolutionary, politician, and rebel military leader who founded and led the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). UNITA was one of several groups which waged a guerrilla war against Portuguese colonial rule from 1966 to 1974. Once independence was achieved, it then became an anti-communist group which confronted the ruling People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) during the Angolan Civil War. Savimbi had extensive contact with anti-communist activists in the United States, including Jack Abramoff and was one of the leading anti-communist voices in the world. Savimbi was killed in a clash with government troops in 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MPLA</span> Ruling party of Angola since 1975

The People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola, from 1977–1990 called the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola – Labour Party, is an Angolan social democratic political party. The MPLA fought against the Portuguese Army in the Angolan War of Independence from 1961 to 1974, and defeated the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) in the Angolan Civil War. The party has ruled Angola since the country's independence from Portugal in 1975, being the de facto government throughout the civil war and continuing to rule afterwards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">José Eduardo dos Santos</span> President of Angola from 1979 to 2017

José Eduardo dos Santos was an Angolan politician and military officer who served as the second president of Angola from 1979 to 2017. As president, dos Santos was also the commander-in-chief of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) and president of the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), the party that has ruled Angola since it won independence in 1975. By the time he stepped down in 2017, he was the second-longest-serving president in Africa, surpassed only by Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea.

Pedro Ngueve Jonatão "Tito" Chingunji served as the foreign secretary of Angola's The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) rebel movement in the 1980s and early 1990s. In the mid-1980s, he was UNITA's representative in Washington, D.C.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angolan Civil War</span> Armed conflict in Angola between 1975 and 2002

The Angolan Civil War was a civil war in Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with interludes, until 2002. The war began immediately after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975. It was a power struggle between two former anti-colonial guerrilla movements, the communist People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the anti-communist National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Nations Angola Verification Mission II</span> Second UN peacekeeping mission in Angola (1991–1995)

The United Nations Angola Verification Mission II, established May 1991 and lasting until February 1995, was the second United Nations peacekeeping mission, of a total of four, deployed to Angola during the course of the Angolan Civil War, the longest war in modern African history. Specifically, the mission was established to oversee and maintain the multilateral ceasefire of 1990 and the subsequent Bicesse Accords in 1991, which instituted an electoral process for the first time including the two rival factions of the civil war, the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), the de facto government of Angola, with control of Luanda and most of the country since independence in 1975, and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Assembly (Angola)</span> Unicameral legislature of Angola

The National Assembly is the legislative branch of the government of Angola. Angola is a unicameral country so the National Assembly is the only legislative chamber at the national level. The People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) has held a majority in the Assembly since Angolan independence in 1975.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angola–United States relations</span> Bilateral relations

Angola and the United States have maintained cordial diplomatic relations since 1993. Before then, antagonism between the countries hinged on Cold War geopolitics, which led the U.S. to support anti-government rebels during the protracted Angolan Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1992 Angolan general election</span>

General elections were held in Angola on 29 and 30 September 1992 to elect a President and National Assembly, the first time free and multi-party elections had been held in the country. They followed the signing of the Bicesse Accord on 31 May 1991 in an attempt to end the 17-year-long civil war. Voter turnout was 91.3% for the parliamentary election and 91.2% for the presidential election.

The Alvor Agreement, signed on 15 January 1975 in Alvor, Portugal, granted Angola independence from Portugal on 11 November and formally ended the 13-year-long Angolan War of Independence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Constitution of Angola</span> National Constitution of the Republic of Angola

Since its independence from Portugal in 1975, Angola has had three constitutions. The first came into force in 1975 as an "interim" measure; the second was approved in a 1992 referendum, and the third one was instituted in 2010.

David "Samwimbila" Chingunji served as a top commander in the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), who became pro-Western rebels in the subsequent Angolan Civil War (1975–2002). David Chingunji was the nephew of Tito Chingunji, who served as the foreign secretary of Angola's UNITA rebel movement in the 1980s and early 1990s.

In the 1990s in Angola, the last decade of the Angolan Civil War (1975–2002), the Angolan government transitioned from a nominally communist state to a nominally democratic one, a move made possible by political changes abroad and military victories at home. Namibia's declaration of independence, internationally recognized on April 1, eliminated the southwestern front of combat as South African forces withdrew to the east. The MPLA abolished the one-party system in June and rejected Marxist-Leninism at the MPLA's third Congress in December, formally changing the party's name from the MPLA-PT to the MPLA. The National Assembly passed law 12/91 in May 1991, coinciding with the withdrawal of the last Cuban troops, defining Angola as a "democratic state based on the rule of law" with a multi-party system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">People's Republic of Angola</span> Self-declared socialist state (1975–1992)

The People's Republic of Angola was the self-declared socialist state which governed Angola from its independence in 1975 until 25 August 1992, during the Angolan Civil War.

The Halloween Massacre was a purge of UNITA party members and supporters carried out by Angola's ruling MPLA from October 30 to November 1, 1992, in Luanda, Angola. The unrest occurred as a result of the breakdown of the Bicesse Accords, on account of alleged voter fraud in the 1992 Angolan general elections, resulting in renewed military tensions, assassinations of public figures, and acts of terrorism. Thousands of UNITA supporters are estimated to have been murdered.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">55 Day War</span> Conflict of the Angolan Civil War

The 55-day war was a battle in the city of Huambo between the rebel forces of UNITA led by Arlindo Pena and the MPLA-led Angolan government. The 55-day war lasted between 9 January 1993 and 6 March 1993, resulting in UNITA emerging victorious and the destruction of most of the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cabinda War</span> 1975–present conflict in the Angolan exclave of Cabinda

The Cabinda War is an ongoing separatist insurgency, waged by the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC) against the government of Angola. FLEC aims at the restoration of the self-proclaimed Republic of Cabinda, located within the borders of the Cabinda province of Angola.

References

  1. "Clashes Stall Angola Peace Effort". Christian Science Monitor. 1992-11-10. ISSN   0882-7729 . Retrieved 2019-12-01.
  2. 1 2 The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, UNITA, Standing Committee of the Political Commission, 1999 - Year of Generalised Popular Resistance Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine Federation of American Scientists.
  3. "UNITA Threatens War If Angolan Vote Results Released". AP NEWS. Retrieved 2019-11-29.
  4. "Clashes Stall Angola Peace Effort". Christian Science Monitor. 1992-11-10. ISSN   0882-7729 . Retrieved 2019-11-29.