Angolan State security/intelligence services, and their support of the MPLA and presidential hegemony

ABSTRACT

Despite the so-called transition in Angola from a single-party Socialist regime to a multiparty liberal democracy in the 1990s, alongside several formal organizational, legal, and institutional changes, this article argues that the Angolan security/intelligence services have been able to maintain their primary purpose since their creation in 1975 up to the present day – to support and protect the hegemony of the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) party, its elites and, above all, its President. The article outlines the evolution of the Angolan security/intelligence services in terms of their long-term continuity, exposing how changes in Angola’s political system in response to domestic and international challenges were circumvented by the security services without altering their main foundational objective, or making them more accountable to democratic civilian control.

KEYWORDS:

• Angola
• State security
• intelligence services
• politics
• history

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

¹ Diário da República – DR, I, Decree-Law 3/75 (December 29, 1975).

² Diário da República – DR, I, Law 4/77, (February 25, 1977).

³ Nuno Fragoso Vidal, “The International and Domestic Fabrics of an Ideological Illusion: The Socialist MPLA,” Tempo & Argumento 13, n. 34 (2021): e0102. set./dez.

⁴ Iko Carreira, O Pensamento estratégico de Agostinho Neto (Lisboa: Dom Quixote,1996): 155.

⁵ James Lockhart, “Cuba and the Secret World,” The International History Review 43, n. 1 (2021): 170–184.

⁶ Nuno Fragoso Vidal, “The Angolan Regime and The Move to Multiparty Politics,” in Angola: The Weight of History, eds. Patrick Chabal and Nuno Fragoso Vidal (London: Hurst, 2007).

⁷ Jean-Michel Mabeko-Tali, O MPLA perante si próprio 1960–1977. Guerrilhas e lutas sociais (Lisboa: Mercado de Letras, 2018): ch XIV.

⁸ Agostinho Neto, “Comunicações de Agostinho Neto ao país, entre 27 e 30 de Maio,” Boletim do Militante (Luanda: MPLA, 1977).

⁹ Diário da República – DR, I, Law 7/78 (May 26, 1978).

¹⁰ Diário da República – DR, I, Law 7/79, DR, I, 157 (June 22, 1979).

¹¹ Diário da República – DR, I, Law 5/80, DR, I, 159 (7 July 1980).

¹² Thomas Collelo, Angola, a Country Study (Washington: Federal Research Division, 1991).

¹³ Christine Messiant, “Angola les voies de l’ethnisation et de la décomposition – II — Transition à la démocratie ou marche à la guerre? L’épanouissement des deux ‘partis armés (Mai 1991–Septembre 1992)”, Lusotopie 3 (1995): 181–221.

¹⁴ Diário da República – DR, I, Law 2/91 (February 23, 1991).

¹⁵ As mentioned, Paihama had been appointed Minister of the Interior in 1979, after DISA’s transformation.

¹⁶ Diário da República – DR, I, Decree-Law 28/93 (August 27, 1993).

¹⁷ Diário da República – DR, I, Law 8/94, DR, I, 18 (May 6, 1994).

¹⁸ Diário da República – DR, I, Law 8/94, DR, I, 18 (May 6, 1994).

¹⁹ Diário da República – DR, I, Decree-Law 28/93 (August, 27 1993); Diário da República – DR, I, Decree-Law 8/94 (March 25, 1994); Diário da República – DR, I, Decree-Law 14/02 (December 6, 2002).

²⁰ Diário da República – DR, I, Law 8/94, DR, I, 18 (May 6, 1994).

²¹ Diário da República – DR, I, Law 8/94, DR, I, 18 (May 6, 1994).

²² Samuel Huntington, The Third Wave – Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century (Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma, 1991).

²³ Florina Cristiana Matei and Thomas Bruneau, “Intelligence reform in new democracies: factors supporting or arresting progress,” Democratization 18, no. 3 (2011): 602–630.; Thomas Bruneau and Florina Cristiana Matei, “Intelligence in the developing democracies: the quest for transparency and effectiveness,” in The Oxford Handbook of National Security Intelligence ed. Loch K. Johnson (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010): 757–773.

²⁴ Khareen Pech, “Executive Outcomes – a corporate conquest,” in Peggy Mason and Khareen Pech Peace, profit or plunder? The Privatisation of Security in War-Torn African Societies eds. Jakkie Cilliers (Johannesburg: Institute for Security Studies in Africa, 1996): 86.

²⁵ Among those involved were: Charles Pasqua, French Interior Minister; Jean-Christophe Miterrand, Presidential advisor for African Affairs (and son of former French President François Miterrand); Jean-Charles Marchiani, former officer of the French external intelligence agency (DGSE); Jacques Attali, counsellor to President François Mitterrand up to 1991 and first head of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

²⁶ Global Witness. All the President’s Men. Report (London: Global Witness, 2002).

²⁷ Marissa Moorman, “Along the Edges of Comparison,” in Apartheid Israel: The Politics of an Analogy eds. Sean Jacobs and Jon Soske (Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2015).

²⁸ Marcelino Bonzela Franco, “A evolução do conceito estratégico do serviço de inteligência e de segurança do estado da república de Angola, 1975–2010,” (Ma. Dissertation, Lisbon ISCSP, 2013), 43.

²⁹ Marissa Moorman, “Along the Edges ….

³⁰ Marcelino Bonzela Franco, “A evolução …, 45.

³¹ Diário da República – DR, I, Law 12/02, DR, I, 65 (August 16, 2002).

³² Diário da República – DR, I, Law 10/02 (August 16, 2002).

³³ Diário da República – DR, I, Law 11/02 (August 16, 2002).

³⁴ Diário da República – DR, I, Decree-Law 13/02 (December 6, 2002).

³⁵ Diário da República – DR, I, Decree-Law 14/02 (December 6, 2002).

³⁶ Diário da República – DR, I, Decree 80/02 (December 6, 2002).

³⁷ Carlos Feijó with Fernando Garcia Miala and Carlos Teixeira, A Produção de Informações de Segurança no Estado Democrático de Direito. O caso Angolano (Lisboa: Principia, 2003): 9.

³⁸ Alexandre Martins speech in January 2013 at the opening of the Methodological seminar on the integrated planning system of SINSE, cit. in Paula Cristina Roque, Governing in the shadows. Angola securitised State (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021): 103.

³⁹ See Voice Of America – VOA news. November 15, 2013. Angola Fala Só - Alexandre Neto: “Demissão de Sebastião Martins é para proteger o Presidente”, https://www.voaportugues.com/a/angola-fala-so-alexandre-neto-demissao-de-sebastiao-martins-e-para-proteger-o-presidente/1791036.html (accessed February 1, 2023).

⁴⁰ Nuno Fragoso Vidal, “Angola – Election Management Bodies,” in Election Management Bodies in Southern Africa (Johannesburg: OSISA & African Minds, 2017): 1–43.

⁴¹ See Paula Cristina Roque, ‘Angola legislative elections: Analysing the MPLA’s triumph’, Situation Report (Johannesburg: Institute for Security Studies, 2008); also Paula Cristina Roque, “Angola’s façade democracy,” Journal of Democracy 20, no. 4 (2009): 137–150.; Paula Cristina Roque, Governing in,… :111–115.

⁴² Vital Moreira, “Presidencialismo superlativo – Espaço público,” Público, February 9, 2010.

⁴³ Diário da República – DR, I, Presidential Decree-Law 1/10 (March 5, 2010).

⁴⁴ Paula Cristina Roque, Governing in, … : 93–98.

⁴⁵ Nuno Fragoso Vidal, ‘The Angolan regime … ’.

⁴⁶ Deutsche Welle, Nelson Francisco Sul, “Fernando Miala: o homem dos sete ofícios,” March 13, 2018.

https://www.dw.com/pt-002/fernando-miala-o-homem-dos-sete-of%C3%ADcios-da-secreta-em-angola/a-42963763 (accessed January 3, 2023).

⁴⁷ Diário da República – DR, I, Presidential Decree-Law 62/18, DR, I (February 26, 2018).

⁴⁸ José Maria was replaced by his deputy, General Apolinário José Pereira.

⁴⁹ Gustavo Costa, “João Lourenço em entrevista ao Expresso,” Expresso, November 21, 2018, https://expresso.pt/politica/2018-11-21-Joao-Lourenco-em-entrevista-ao-Expresso-Sao-conhecidos-os-que-trairam-a-patria.

⁵⁰ Gustavo Costa, “Generais de Eduardo dos Santos entregam ativos de mil milhões,” Expresso, October 10, 2020.

⁵¹ Expansão, “Operação “Caranguejo” chega a tribunal com 51 arguidos e 213 testemunhas,” December 1, 2021, https://expansao.co.ao/angola/interior/operacao-caranguejo-chega-a-tribunal-com-51-arguidos-e-213-testemunhas-105744.html (accessed February 14, 2023).

⁵² Diário da República – DR, I, Presidential Decree-Law 294/21, 231 (December 9, 2021).

⁵³ Weza Pacoal, ”Operação Caranguejo’ desvenda roubo de mais de 167 mil milhões,” Jornal de Angola, January 30, 2022.

https://www.jornaldeangola.ao/ao/noticias/operacao-caranguejo-desvenda-roubo-de-mais-de-167-mil-milhoes/ (accessed January 21, 2023).

⁵⁴ Luís Bernardino, A posição de Angola na arquitetura de paz e segurança Africana (Lisboa: Almedina, 2013): 525–574.

⁵⁵ I would like to thank one of the anonymous reviewers of this paper for these remarks.

⁵⁶ Talks between the DRC and Rwanda in the Angolan capital Luanda led to a truce agreement on November 23, 2022. Under the deal, M23 was meant to lay down arms, then pull back from occupied territories; see France 24, ‘DR Congo’s M23 rebels pledge to retreat from strategic town of Kibumba’, available at https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20221223-dr-congo-s-m23-rebels-pledge-to-retreat-from-strategic-town-of-kibumba (accessed January 2, 2023).

⁵⁷ See: Luca Bussotti and Remo Mutzenberg, “Movimentos Sociais, Estado e Sociedade Civil em África. Considerações Introdutórias,” Cadernos de Estudos Africanos 31 (2016): 37–38; also Marissa Moorman, Marissa, Intonations – A social history of music and nation in Luanda, Angola, from 1945 to recent times (Ohio: Ohio University Press, 2008): 195; also Rafael Marques de Morais, “Rapper MCK in the Banana Republic,” Maka Angola, December 16, 2011, https://www.makaangola.org/en/2011/?option=com_content&view=archive&month=11&Itemid=246&lang=en (accessed January 2, 2023).

⁵⁸ See Rafael Marques de Morais, “Rapper MCK Forbidden to Leave Angola,” Maka Angola, November 20, 2015 https://www.makaangola.org/2015/11/rapper-mck-forbidden-to-leave-angola/ (accessed January 2, 2023).

⁵⁹ Rafael Marques de Morais, “Kamulingue, Cassule, CIA, SINSE e os Mandantes dos Assassinatos,” Maka Angola, November 17, 2014, https://www.makaangola.org/2014/11/kamulingue-cassule-cia-sinse-e-os-mandantes-dos-assassinatos/ (accessed January 10, 2023).; see also Deutsche Welle, January 28, 2014, https://www.voaportugues.com/a/misterio-sobre-paradeiro-dos-corpos-de-kamulingue-e-cassule/1839478.html (accessed January 2, 2023); also Paula Cristina Roque, Governing in … : 121–123.

⁶⁰ Nuno Fragoso Vidal, “Angolan civil society activism since the 1990s: reformists, confrontationists and young revolutionaries of the “Arab spring generation”,” Review of African Political Economy 42, no. 143 (2015): 77–91.

⁶¹ By then, the EU coordinator of the programme to support Non-State Actors (PAANE) had regular meetings with some of the young critics on how to support their work within the programme, while at the same time a representative of Human Rights Watch (HRW) was also in the field establishing increasingly regular contact with these youngsters as well as with the PAANE coordinator. A liaison between the HRW representative and the CIA was allegedly made by the security services. On the alleged liaison between HRW representative and the CIA see Maka Angola, Rafael Marques de Morais, “Kamulingue, Cassule, CIA, SINSE e os Mandantes dos Assassinatos,” November 17, 2014 https://www.makaangola.org/2014/11/kamulingue-cassule-cia-sinse-e-os-mandantes-dos-assassinatos/; accessed January 10, 2023.

⁶² See Voice Of America – VOA news. November 15, 2013. Angola Fala Só - Alexandre Neto: ‘Demissão de Sebastião Martins é para proteger o Presidente’; https://www.voaportugues.com/a/angola-fala-so-alexandre-neto-demissao-de-sebastiao-martins-e-para-proteger-o-presidente/1791036.html accessed (February 1, 2023). See also Lusa news agency, Lisbon, November 15, 2013, “PR angolano demitiu chefe do Serviço de Inteligência e Segurança do Estado,” https://www.rtp.pt/noticias/mundo/pr-angolano-demitiu-chefe-do-servico-de-inteligencia-e-seguranca-do-estado_n695933 (accessed February 1, 2023).

⁶³ Jornal de Angola, October 29, 2017.

https://www.jornaldeangola.ao/ao/noticias/detalhes.php?id=392090 (accessed January 10, 2023).

⁶⁴ Gene Sharp, From Dictatorship to Democracy: A Conceptual Framework for Liberation (Bangkok Thailand: Committee for the Restoration of Democracy in Burma, 1994).

⁶⁵ On this case see Marisa Moorman’s article, 2015, “Watch out Angola – repression only generates more dissent,” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/13/angola-repression-generates-more-dissent-politics-mpla; Kayla Ruble’s article, 2016, “Angola Sends a Rapper and 16 Activists to Prison for Plotting Rebellion,” https://www.vice.com/en/article/wja74m/angola-sends-a-rapper-and-16-activists-to-prison-for-plotting-rebellion; Manuel Luamba’s article, 2016, https://www.dw.com/pt-002/lei-da-amnistia-aprovada-em-angola-contempla-os-152/a-19415207 (accessed January 2, 2023).

⁶⁶ Paula Cristina Roque, “Angola legislative … “; Paula Cristina Roque, Governing in, … :111–115.

⁶⁷ Nuno Fragoso Vidal, “Angolan civil society ….

⁶⁸ The Budapest Beacon, “Full text of Viktor Orbán’s speech at Băile Tuşnad (Tusnádfürdő) of 26 July 2014”, https://budapestbeacon.com/full-text-of-viktor-orbans-speech-at-baile-tusnad-tusnadfurdo-of-26-july-2014/ (accessed February 12, 2023).

⁶⁹ Marc Plattner, ‘Illiberal Democracy and the Struggle on the Right’, in Journal of Democracy, 30, 1 (2019): 5–19.

⁷⁰ Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way, “The New Competitive Authoritarianism,” Journal of Democracy 31 no. 1 (2020): 51–65.

⁷¹ Deborah Brautigam, Jyhjong Hwang, Jordan Link and Kevin Acker, Chinese Loans to Africa Database (Washington, DC: China Africa Research Initiative, Johns Hopkins University, 2020); Samuel Ramani, Russia in Africa. Resurgent Great Power or Bellicose Pretender? (London: C. Hurst, 2023); also (Ramani, 2023)

⁷² Lusa/Diário de Notícias, August 29, 2017, “Angola/Eleições: João Lourenço revê-se como reformador ao estilo Deng Xiaoping “.

https://www.dn.pt/lusa/angolaeleicoes-joao-lourenco-reve-se-como-reformador-ao-estilo-deng-xiaoping-8734634.html (accessed February 12, 2023).

⁷³ Marcelino Bonzela Franco, “A evolução …, 77–8, 85.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nuno Fragoso Vidal

Nuno de Fragoso Vidal, PhD in Political Studies, King’s College London 2002, senior researcher at the Lisbon University Institute – Centre for International Studies, PI of the research project “Pluralism: Democracy and Electoral Integrity in Angola and Mozambique” (www.pdeiam.com), author of books and articles centered on democratization and development processes in Southern Africa, mainly Angola and Mozambique.