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Abstract
The Swiss government’s actions in Angola in the 1970s highlight its aim to improve the credibility of its neutrality policy in Southern Africa, which was greatly challenged in the global Cold War context. Drawing on Swiss, US, British, and International Committee of the Red Cross archival sources, this paper argues that the Swiss authorities’ participation in the relief mission of the ICRC during the Angolan War permitted them to benefit from this organisation’s good image. Switzerland’s early recognition of the People’s Republic of Angola was closely coordinated with European political leaders and underlines the country’s increased independence from Washington during Détente.
Acknowledgements
A previous version of this article was presented at the 2016 GWU/UCSB/LSE Graduate Student Conference on the Cold War in Washington, DC, in April 2016, and I would like to thank the organisers and participants for their helpful remarks. I am also grateful to the two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments. Finally, special thanks go to Sandra Bott, Anne de Chastonay, Virginie Fracheboud, Janick Marina Schaufelbuehl, and Marco Wyss for their advice and feedback.
Notes
1 Piero Gleijeses, Conflicting Missions: Havana, Washington, and Africa, 1959–1976 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002), 230–390; Steven F. Jackson, ‘China’s Third World Foreign Policy: The Case of Angola and Mozambique, 1961–93,’ The China Quarterly 142 (1995): 388–422; Jamie Miller, ‘Yes, Minister: Reassessing South Africa’s Intervention in the Angolan Civil War, 1975–1976,’ Journal of Cold War Studies 15, no. 3 (2013): 4–33; Odd Arne Westad, The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions and the Makings of Our Times (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 218–41. For an African perspective, see John A. Marcum, The Angolan Revolution, vol. II, Exile Politics and Guerrilla Warfare (1962–1976) (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1978).
2 On Swiss anticommunism, consult Daniel Alexander Neval, ‘Mit Atombomben bis nach Moskau’: Gegenseitige Wahrnehmung der Schweiz und des Ostblocks im Kalten Krieg 1945–1968 (Zürich: Chronos, 2003); Luc van Dongen, ‘La Suisse dans les rets de l’anticommunisme transnational durant la Guerre froide: réflexions et jalons,’ in Relations internationales de la Suisse durant la Guerre froide, ed. Sandra Bott, Janick Marina Schaufelbuehl, and Sacha Zala (Basel: Schwabe, Itinera, vol. 30, 2011), 17–30. On Swiss pro-Western neutrality, which was nevertheless accepted by the USSR, see notably Hans Ulrich Jost, ‘Switzerland’s Atlantic Perspectives,’ in Swiss Neutrality and Security. Armed Forces, National Defence and Foreign Policy, ed. Marko Milivojevic and Pierre Maurer (New York: Berg, 1990), 110–21; Janick Marina Schaufelbuehl and Mario König, eds., Schweiz-USA im kalten Krieg. Suisse-USA dans la guerre froide, Traverse 2 (2009); Marco Wyss, Arms Transfers, Neutrality and Britain’s Role in the Cold War: Anglo-Swiss Relations 1945–1958 (Leiden: Brill, 2013).
3 See Tor Sellström, Sweden and National Liberation in Southern Africa, vol. II, Solidarity and Assistance 1970–1994 (Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, 2002).
4 Daniel Möckli, Neutralität, Solidarität, Sonderfall. Die Konzeptionierung der schweizerischen Aussenpolitik der Nachkriegszeit, 1943–1947 (Zürich: Forschungsstelle für Sicherheitspolitik und Konfliktanalyse der ETH, 2000), 141–6.
5 Ibid., 138.
6 ICRC documents for the years 1966–1975 were declassified in summer 2015; later records are not currently available to researchers. However, some ICRC documents dating from 1976 can be consulted at the Swiss Federal Archives (SFA), Berne, Switzerland.
7 Marc Perrenoud, ‘Les relations de la Suisse avec l’Afrique lors de la décolonisation et des débuts de la coopération au développement,’ Revue internationale de politique de développement 1 (2010): 81–98 (82–5).
8 For a recent overview of Switzerland’s neutrality policy during the Cold War, see Thomas Fischer and Daniel Möckli, ‘The Limits of Compensation: Swiss Neutrality Policy in the Cold War,’ Journal of Cold War Studies 18, no. 4 (2016): 12–35.
9 Thomas Fischer, Die Grenzen der Neutralität. Schweizerisches KSZE-Engagement und gescheiterte UNO-Beitrittspolitik im kalten Krieg 1969–1986 (Zürich: Chronos, 2004), 112–4, 131–2.
10 On Switzerland’s relations with the Apartheid regime and its stand on UN sanctions against Rhodesia, see Sandra Bott, La Suisse et l’Afrique du Sud, 1945–1990: Marché de l’or, finance et commerce durant l’apartheid (Zürich, Chronos, 2013); Sandra Bott, Sébastien Guex, and Bouda Etemad, Les relations économiques entre la Suisse et l’Afrique du Sud durant l’apartheid (1945–1990) (Lausanne: Antipodes, 2005); Georg Kreis, Die Schweiz und Südafrika, 1948–1994: Schlussbericht des im Auftrag des Bundesrates durchgeführten NFP 42+(Bern: Haupt, 2005); Rudolf Letsch, Rhodesien, die Vereinten Nationen und die Schweiz. Konzepte und Inkonsistenzen der Rhodesienpolitik (Herisau: Druck Schläpfer+Co AG, 1983); John F. L. Ross, Neutrality and International Sanctions: Sweden, Switzerland and Collective Security (New York: Praeger, 1989).
11 Nello Celio, Swiss President, address, 18 April 1972, E2001E-01#1982/58#440*, SFA.
12 Statement of Heinz Langenbacher, Swiss ambassador in Ethiopia, minutes of the Annual Conference of Ambassadors 4 September 1974-6 September 1974, 30 September 1974, 75, Diplomatic Documents of Switzerland 1945–1972 (hereafter Dodis), doc. 35118, http://dodis.ch/35118, (accessed December 8, 2017).
13 Statement of Michael Gelzer, Deputy Chief of the Federal Political Department (FPD)’s Directorate of Political Affairs (DPA), ibid., 67.
14 Alfred Reinhard Hohl (DPA) to the Swiss Embassy in Zaire, 12 November 1974, E2001E-01#1987/78#4651*, SFA.
15 Norrie MacQueen, The Decolonization of Portuguese Africa: Metropolitan Revolution and the Dissolution of Empire (London: Longman, 1997), 175–6.
16 FPD, memorandum, Angola & Mozambique, no author, no date, attached to a note from Hohl to Charles Glauser (FPD), 3 February 1975, E2004#1990/219#344*, SFA.
17 Note from Jean Schneeberger, Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations Office and other international organisations in Geneva, to André Dominicé, chief of the Permanent Mission, 7 February 1975, E2001E-01#1987/78#4650*, SFA.
18 Sellström, Sweden and National Liberation, 129–31.
19 For a historiographical overview on Swedish foreign policy during the Cold War, see Ulf Bjereld and Ann-Marie Ekengren, ‘Cold War Historiography in Sweden,’ in The Cold War – and the Nordic Countries: Historiography at Crossroads, ed. Thorsten B. Olesen (Odense: University Press of Southern Denmark, 2004), 143–75.
20 Marcel Guélat, Swiss consul in Angola, to the FPD’s Administration Division (AD), confidential, 24 March 1975, 4-5, E2001E-01#1987/78#4650*, SFA.
21 René Gailloz, inspector of the Federal Police, memorandum, gouvernement de transition angolais et anciens réfugiés angolais en Suisse, 22 April 1975, E2001E-01#1987/78#4650*, SFA. On Jonas Savimbi’s activities in Switzerland from 1959 until he finished his studies in 1965, see Eliane Kurmann, ‘Affaires angolaises’. Die angolanischen Studenten in der Schweiz während dem Unabhängigkeitskampf 1961–1975 (masters thesis, University of Fribourg, 2008), 85–100.
22 See, for example, Claude Huguenin (DPA), memorandum, visite du ressortissant angolais M. Albert TANDA, 13 March 1975, E2001E-01#1987/78#4650*, SFA.
23 Decree of the Swiss Federal Council, Anerkennung von Angola durch die Schweiz, confidential, 16 June 1975, E2001E-01#1987/78#1683*, SFA.
24 Gleijeses, Conflicting Missions, 254, 257–8; Marcum, Exile Politics and Guerrilla Warfare, 260–2; Miller, ‘Yes, Minister,’ 17.
25 Daniel Trachsler, ‘Neutralität, Solidarität und Kalter Krieg: Die Entwicklungshilfe als aussenpolitisches Instrument in der Ära Petitpierre, 1945–1961,’ in Handlungsfeld Entwicklung. Schweizer Erwartungen und Erfahrungen in der Geschichte der Entwicklungszusammenarbei, ed. Sara Elmer, Konrad J. Kuhn, and Daniel Speich-Chassé, (Basel: Schwabe, Itinera 35, 2014), 167–83.
26 Jean-Pierre Weber to the DPA, confidential, 27 March 1975, 2, E2005A#1985/101#230*, SFA.
27 Note from Hohl to the FPD’s Directorate of International Organisations (DIO) and the Delegate for Technical Cooperation (DTC), Angolesisches Gesuch um Ausbildung von Krankenschwestern, 8 April 1975, 1-2, E2005A#1985/101#230*, SFA. It seems that this project was never realised.
28 See, for example, Renata Carugo to the DTC, Entrée en matière, 26 June 1975, 2, E2005A#1985/101#114*, SFA; note from Ernesto Thalmann, FPD’s Secretary General, to the Swiss President, Relations avec le Portugal, 20 August 1975, 3, E2001E-01#1987/78#4656*, SFA.
29 Several authors have treated this question, although a complete account of the relations between the Swiss government and the ICRC still needs to be written: Rainer Baudendistel, Between Bombs and Good Intentions: The Red Cross and the Italo-Ethiopian War, 1935–1936 (New York: Berghahn Books, 2006), 7–49; Thomas Brückner, Hilfe schenken. Die Beziehung zwischen dem IKRK und der Schweiz, 1919–1939 (Zürich: NZZ Libro, 2017); François Bugnion, Le Comité international de la Croix-Rouge et la protection des victimes de la guerre, 2nd ed. (Geneva: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge, 2000), 1156–75; David P. Forsythe, The Humanitarians: The International Committee of the Red Cross (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 183–92; Hans Peter Gasser, ‘The International Committee of the Red Cross and its Development since 1945,’ in Swiss Foreign Policy, 1945–2002, ed. Jürg Martin Gabriel and Thomas Fischer (Houndsmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003), 105–26; Hans Haug, ‘Die Schweiz, die Rotkreuz- und Rothalbmondbewegung und das Internationale Komitee vom Roten Kreuz,’ in Neues Handbuch der schweizerischen Aussenpolitik, ed. Alois Riklin, Hans Haug, and Raymond Probst (Bern: Haupt, 1992), 677–91; Isabelle Vonèche Cardia, Neutralité et engagement. Les relations entre le Comité international de la Croix-Rouge (CICR) et le Gouvernement suisse 1938–1945 (Lausanne: SHSR, 2012); Albert Wirz, ‘Die humanitäre Schweiz im Spannungsfeld zwischen Philanthropie und Kolonialismus: Gustave Moynier, Afrika und das IKRK,’ in Traverse 5 (1998): 95–110.
30 Bugnion, Le Comité international de la Croix-Rouge, 1159–63.
31 An overview of this debate can be found in Vonèche Cardia, Neutralité et engagement, 24–6.
32 Wirz, ‘Die humanitäre Schweiz,’ 100.
33 ICRC memorandum, Action du CICR en Angola, no author, 6 August 1975, 1-2, E2003A#1988/15#650*, SFA.
34 Jean-Luc Blondel, From Saigon to Ho Chi Minh City: The ICRC’s Work and Transformation from 1966 to 1975 (Geneva: ICRC, 2016), 30. See also Marie-Luce Desgrandchamps, ‘“Organising the Unpredictable”: The Nigeria-Biafra War and its Impact on the ICRC,’ International Review of the Red Cross 94, no. 888 (2012), 1409–32; Desgrandchamps, L’humanitaire en guerre civile: Une histoire des opérations de secours au Nigeria-Biafra (1967–1970) (doctoral thesis, University of Geneva, 2014), particularly 409–49.
35 Note from Pierre Barbey (DIO), to Franz Muheim (DIO), Aide à l’Angola (sur le plan médical), 21 July 1975, E2003A#1988/15#650*, SFA.
36 Note from Barbey to René Keller, chief of DIO, demande du CICR tendant à une participation de la Confédération à l’affrètement d’un avion pour l’Angola, 27 August 1975, E2003A#1988/15#650*, SFA.
37 Dominik Matter, ‘SOS Biafra’. Die Schweizerischen Aussenbeziehungen im Spannungsfeld des nigerianischen Bürgerkriegs 1967–1970 (Bern: Diplomatische Dokumente der Schweiz (DDS), 2015) especially 54, 57.
38 SB, minutes of the ICRC Task Force Angola’s meeting no 15 on 22 October 1975, 5 November 1975, 3, B AG 200 013-005.03, ICRC Archives (hereafter AICRC), Geneva, Switzerland.
39 Paul Reynard (ICRC), minutes of a telephone conversation with Erik Lang (AD) on 26 September 1975, 29 September 1975, B AG 252 013-009, AICRC.
40 Meier (AD), Décision, Affectation de M. Jürg STREULI à une mission de délégué du CICR à Carmona (Angola), 06 October 1975, E2003A#1988/15#766*, SFA; Lang, Décision. Affectation de M. Peter VOGLER à une mission de délégué du CICR à Luanda (Angola), 08.10.1975, ibid.
41 See, for example, Barbey’s questions during a visit to the ICRC: SB, minutes of the ICRC Task Force Angola’s meeting no 15 on 22 October 1975, 5 November 1975, 5, B AG 200 013-005.03, AICRC.
42 Telegram from Roger Gallopin, President of the ICRC’s Executive Council, report no 5, 24 October 1975, 1, E2003A#1988/15#650*, SFA.
43 Note from Jürg Iselin to the DIO, Aide à l’Angola, 20 October 1975, E2003A#1988/15#650*, SFA.
44 [Hansruedi Karlen, Swiss consul in Angola], Angola: Tätigkeit des IKRK. Einsatz der SWISSAIR und BALAIR, 2 October 1975, attached to Karlen to the DPA and AD, Mission in Angola: Schlussbericht, 2 October 1975, E2001E-01#1987/78#4650*, SFA.
45 See, for example, Barbey, memorandum, Aide à l’Angola, 15 August 1975, E2003A#1988/15#650*, SFA.
46 JME/CCz (ICRC), minutes of the ICRC Task Force Angola’s meeting no 20.1 on 10 December 1975, no date, 1, B AG 200 013-005.03, AICRC.
47 Peter von Graffenried (DIO), memorandum, Visite de M. J.-P. Hocké, CICR. Tour d’horizon des activités opérationnelles du CICR 14 janvier 1976, 20 January 1976, E2003A#1990/3#677*, SFA.
48 Telegram from Gallopin (ICRC) to Arthur Bill (DIO), Herrmann Jossen (DPA), and Keller, report no 9, 26 April 1976, E2003A#1990/3#633*, SFA.
49 Gleijeses, Conflicting Missions, 311; MacQueen, The Decolonization of Portuguese Africa, 197.
50 Heinz Klarer, Die schweizerische Praxis der völkerrechtlichen Anerkennung (PhD dissertation, University of Zürich: Schulthess Polygraphischer Verlag, 1981), 294. On Swiss recognition policy, see also Urban Kaufmann, ‘“Nicht die ersten sein, aber vor den letzten handeln”. Grundsätze und Praxis der Anerkennung von Staaten und Regierungen durch die Schweiz (1945–1961),’ in Die Schweiz und Deutschland 1945–1961, ed. Antoine Fleury, Horst Möller, and Hans-Peter Schwarz (München: R. Oldenbourg, 2004), 69–87.
51 See Janick Marina Schaufelbuehl, Marco Wyss, and Sandra Bott, ‘Choosing Sides in the Global Cold War: Switzerland, Neutrality, and the Divided States of Korea and Vietnam,’ The International History Review 37, no. 5 (2015): 1014–36.
52 Huguenin, memorandum, visite d’une délégation du MPLA le 7 novembre 1975, 11 November 1975, 4, E2001E-01#1987/78#1683*, SFA.
53 Telegram no. 95 from Iselin to the Swiss embassy in Zaire, 10 November 1975, E2001E-01#1987/78#1684*, SFA.
54 Telegram from Henry Kissinger to all diplomatic posts, Angolan Recognition, 8 November 1975, Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS), vol. XXVIII, Southern Africa, doc. 135, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v28/d135 (accessed December 8, 2017).
55 Telegram from Odell (US Embassy Bern) to the Secretary of State, Angolan Recognition, 10 November 1975, Access to Archival Databases (AAD) of the National Archives and Records Administration (hereafter NARA), College Park, Maryland, US, Electronic Telegrams 1975, doc. 1975BERN04636, https://aad.archives.gov/aad/createpdf?rid=261329&dt=2476&dl=1345 (accessed December 8, 2017).
56 See FPD, information telegram to all diplomatic posts, divisions, and to the Trade Division, extrait de l’exposé de M. Pierre Graber, Président de la Confédération au Congrès d’automne du parti socialiste neuchâtelois, les Brenets, le 15 novembre 1975, 17 November 1975, E2005A#1985/101#230*, SFA.
57 See, for example, Langenbacher to the DPA, urgent, Rhodesien-Sanktionen, 24 June 1974, E2001E-01#1987/78#4329, SFA; Richard Pestalozzi, Swiss ambassador in Kenya, to the DPA, OAU-Konferenz der Staatschefs in Kampala, 24 June 1975, E2200.185-02#1987/123#44*, SFA.
58 See, for example, Hansjakob Kaufmann, deputy chief of DPA’s African, Asian, Middle Eastern and Latin American Division, memorandum, Besuch Eteki, Generalsekretär OAU, 12 September 1975, E2001E-01#1987/78#705*, SFA.
59 Gleijeses, Conflicting Missions, 370; Westad, The Global Cold War, 236.
60 Théodore Curchod, Swiss ambassador in South Africa, political report (PR) no. 16, L’Afrique du Sud et l’Angola, 2 December 1975, 3-4, E2001E-01#1987/78#1687*, SFA; Pestalozzi, PR no 21, Worum es in Angola geht, 5 December 1975, 4, 6-7, ibid.
61 Jürg Streuli (DTC), Die politische und militärische Lage in Angola Ende November 1975, no date, confidential, 2-3, attached to François de Ziegler to the Swiss Embassy in Portugal, Die politische und militärische Lage in Angola Ende November 1975, 8 December 1975, confidential, E2001E-01#1987/78#1687*, SFA.
62 C. O. C. Amate, Inside the OAU: Pan-Africanism in Practice (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1986), 253; Klaas van Walraven, Dreams of Power: The Role of the Organisation of African Unity in the Politics of Africa. 1963–1993 (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 1999), 253.
63 Note from Kaufmann to Graber, Angola: Frage der Anerkennung, 8 January 1976, 2, E2001E-01#1988/16#1907*, SFA.
64 Ibid.
65 Hohl, RP no 2, Angola, 14 January 1975, 2, E2300-01#1988/91#80*, SFA; see also Susan M. Klingaman, memorandum of conversation [with Alfred Hohl, on 13 January 1976], Angola, undated, P-Reel Printouts 1976, doc. P760007-1930, NARA.
66 Kaufmann, memorandum, Vorsprache Arsalan Humbaraci (H.), ‘persönlicher Beauftragter’ Netos (MPLA), 26 January 1976, E2001E-01#1988/16#1907*, SFA.
67 See the note from Huguenin to Iselin, Arsalan Humbaraci, 1 June 1976, E2001E-01#1988/16#1907*, SFA.
68 Draft letter by the DPA to José Eduardo dos Santos, MPLA Foreign Minister, 28 January 1976, E2001E-01#1988/16#1907*, SFA.
69 Bernard Turettini, Swiss Ambassador in Sweden, to the DPA, Représentants du MPLA en Suède, 22 January 1976, E2001E-01#1988/16#1907*, SFA.
70 N. Aspin (Foreign and Commonwealth Office FCO), Angola: Recognition of the MPLA, 12 February 1976, FCO 45/1884, The National Archives (TNA), Kew, United Kingdom.
71 Walraven, Dreams of Power, 251–7; Amate, Inside the OAU, 249–54.
72 Minutes of the Commission of Foreign Affairs of the Council of States’ meeting on 12 February 1976, 28 February 1976, 22, E1050.12#1995/512#10*, SFA.
73 Sabina Widmer, ‘D’une ‘neutralité abstentionniste’ à une solidarité instrumentalisée: L’établissement de relations diplomatiques entre la Suisse et le Mozambique,’ Relations internationales 163, vol. 3 (2015), 81–94 (90–92).
74 Telegram from Nathaniel Davis, US Ambassador in Switzerland, to the Secretary of State, Angola, 12 February 1976, AAD telegrams 1976, doc. 1976BERN00665.
75 Telegram no. 5029 from Iselin to the Swiss embassies in Stockholm, Oslo, Vienna, Lisbon, and Madrid, 13 February 1976, E2001E-01#1988/16#1907*, SFA; telegram no 5030 from Iselin to the embassies in Brussels, London, Paris, Rome, Cologne, The Hague, Copenhagen, and Dublin, 13 February 1976, ibid.
76 Telegram no 1 from Kaufmann to the Swiss embassy in Luxembourg, 16 February 1976, E2001E-01#1988/16#1907*, SFA.
77 France justified its autonomous recognition of Angola with the pressure of its moderate African allies, but observers believed it to be an attempt to compensate for its former negative attitude towards the MPLA and its support of the FNLA: telegram no. 18 from Walter Jaeggi, Swiss Ambassador in Denmark, to the FPD, 18 February 1976, E2001E-01#1988/16#1907*, SFA; telegram no. 18 from Auguste Hurni, Ambassador in Belgium, to the FPD, 24 February 976, ibid.
78 Presentation by Iselin held on 3 September 1976, Die bilateralen Beziehungen der Schweiz zum Südlichen Afrika, appendix no. 20 of the minutes of the Annual Conference of Ambassadors, 1 September 1976-3 September 1976, no date, 6, E2010-01A#1990/5#9*, SFA.
79 Note from Iselin to Graber, Anerkennung von Angola, 18 February 1976, 2, E2001E-01#1988/16#1907*, SFA.
80 Note from Albert Weitnauer, FPD Secretary General, to Graber, 18 February 1976, E2001E-01#1988/16#1907*, SFA.
81 Telegram from Graber to dos Santos, 18 February 1976, E2001E-01#1988/16#1907*, SFA.
82 However, Jonas Savimbi would soon resume the armed struggle and fight the MPLA government until his death in 2002: Westad, The Global Cold War, 237, 390–2.
83 See telegram no. 128 from Raymond Probst, Swiss Ambassador to the US, to the FPD, 19 February 1976, 1, E2001E-01#1988/16#1907*, SFA; US Department of State, Office of the Historian, A Guide to the United States’ History of Recognition, Diplomatic, and Consular Relations, by Country, since 1776: Angola, https://history.state.gov/countries/angola (accessed December 8, 2017), 19 February 2016.
84 See Huguenin, memorandum, Angola, 9 April 1976, 1, E2001E-01#1988/16#1920*, SFA.
85 Erwin Bischof (FPD), press review, Die Anerkennung der Volksrepublik Angola durch die Schweiz, 24 February 1976, E2003A#1990/3#633*, SFA.