Holden Roberto

Holden Roberto

Holden Álvaro Roberto (January 12, 1923 – August 2, 2007) founded and led the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA) from 1962 to 1999. His memoirs are unfinished.cite book|last=James|first=W. Martin|year=2004|title=Historical Dictionary of Angola|pages=141-142]

Early life

Roberto, son of Garci'a Diasiwa Roberto and Joana Lala Nekaka (and a descendant of the monarchy of the Kongo Kingdom. [cite book|last=Lamb|first=David|year=1987|title=The Africans|pages=178] ), was born in São Salvador, Angola. His family moved to Léopoldville, Zaire in 1925. In 1940 he graduated from a Baptist mission school. He worked for the Belgian Finance Ministry in Léopoldville, Bukavu, and Stanlyville for eight years. In 1951 he visited Angola and witnessed Portuguese officials abusing an old man, inspiring him to begin his political career.cite book|last=Hamann|first=Hilton|year=2001|title=Days of the Generals|pages=13]

Political career

Roberto and Barros Necaca founded the Union of Peoples of Northern Angola, later renamed the Union of Peoples of Angola, on July 14, 1956. Roberto, serving as UPNA President, represented Angola in the All-African Peoples Congress of Ghana which he secretly attended in Accra, Ghana in December 1958. There he met Patrice Lumumba, the future Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenneth Kaunda, the future President of Zambia, and Kenyan nationalist Tom Mboya. He acquired a Guinean passport and visited the United Nations.cite book|last=Rensburg|first=Abraham Paul Janse Van|year=1075|title=Contemporary Leaders of Africa|pages=303] Jonas Savimbi, the future leader of UNITA, joined the UPA in February 1961 at the urging of Mboya and Kenyan Prime Minister Jomo Kenyatta. Later that year Roberto appointed Savimbi Secretary-General of the UPA.cite book|last=|first=|year=1991|title=Current Biography|publisher=H.W. Wilson Company|pages=499] cite book|last=Walker|first=John Frederick|year=2004|title=A Certain Curve of Horn: The Hundred-Year Quest for the Giant Sable Antelope of Angola|pages=146-148]

The National Security Council of the U.S. government began giving Roberto aid in the 1950s, paying him $6,000 annually until 1962 when the NSC increased his salary to $10,000 for intelligence-gathering.

National Liberation Front of Angola

After visiting the United Nations he returned to Kinshasa and organized Bakongo militants. He launched an incursion into Angola on March 15, 1961, leading 4,000 to 5,000 militants. His forces took farms, government outposts, and trading centers, killing everyone they encountered. At least 1,000 whites and an unknown number of natives were killed.cite book|last=Edgerton|first=Robert Breckenridge|year=2002|title=Africa's Armies: From Honor to Infamy|pages=72] Commenting on the incursion, Roberto said, This time the slaves did not cower. They massacred everything.cite book|last=Walker|first=John Frederick|year=2004|title=A Certain Curve of Horn: The Hundred-Year Quest for the Giant Sable Antelope of Angola|pages=143]

Roberto met with United States President John F. Kennedy on April 25, 1961. When he applied for aid later that year from the Ghanaian government, President Kwame Nkrumah turned him down on the grounds that the U.S. government was already paying him.cite book|last=Elbaum|first=Max|year=2002|title=Revolution in the Air: From Malcolm and Martin to Lenin, Mao and Che|pages=217] Roberto merged the UPA with the Democratic Party of Angola to form the FNLA in March 1962 and a few weeks later established the Revolutionary Government of Angola in Exile (GRAE) on March 27, appointing Savimbi to the position of Foreign Minister. Roberto established a political alliance with Zairian President Mobutu Sese Seko by divorcing his wife and marrying Seko's sister-in-law.cite book|last=Tvedten|first=Inge|year=1997|title=Angola: Struggle for Peace and Reconstruction|pages=31] cite book|last=Davis|first=John Aubrey|year=1966|title=Southern Africa in Transition, American Society of African Culture|pages=170] Roberto visited Israel in the 1960s and received aid from the Israeli government from 1963 to 1969.cite book|last=Beit-Hallahmi|first=Benjamin|year=1988|title=The Israeli Connection: Whom Israel Arms and Why|pages=64] cite book|last=Figueiredo|first=António de|year=1961|title=Portugal and Its Empire: The Truth|pages=130]

Savimbi left the FNLA in 1964 and founded UNITA in response to Roberto's unwillingness to spread the war outside the traditional Kingdom of Kongo.

Zhou Enlai, Premier of the People's Republic of China, invited Roberto to visit the PRC in 1964. Roberto did not go because Moise Tshombe, the President of Katanga, told him he would not be allowed to return to the Congo.cite book|last=Nzongola-Ntalaja|first=Georges|year=1986|coauthors=Immanuel Maurice Wallerstein|title=The Crisis in Zaire|pages=194]

On the eve of Angola's independence from Portugal, Zaire, in a bid to install a pro-Kinshasa government and thwart the MPLA's drive for power, deployed armored car units, paratroops, and three battalions to Angola. [cite book|last=Meredith|first=Martin|year=2005|title=The Fate of Africa: From the Hopes of Freedom to the Heart of Despair, a History of Fifty Years of Independence|pages=316] However, the FNLA and Zaire's victory was narrowly averted by a massive influx of Cuban forces, who resoundingly defeated them. [cite book|last=Young|first=Crawford|cauthors=Thomas Turner|year=1985|title=The Rise and Decline of the Zairian State|pages=254] [cite web|author=|url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+zr0175|title=Involvement in the Angolan Civil War, Zaire: A Country Study|publisher-United States Library of Congress]

In 1976 the MPLA defeated the FNLA in the Battle of Dead Road and the FNLA retreated to Zaire.

While Roberto and Agostinho Neto's proposed policies for an independent Angola were similar, Roberto drew support from western Angola and Neto drew from eastern Angola. Neto, under the banner of nationalism and Communism, received support from the Soviet Union while Roberto, under the banner of nationalism and anti-Communism, received support from the United States, among other countries. Roberto staunchly opposed Neto's drive to unite the Angolan rebel groups in opposition to Portugal because Roberto believed the FNLA would be absorbed by the MPLA. The FNLA abducted MPLA members, deported them to Kinshasa, and killed them.

In 1991 the FNLA and MPLA agreed to the Bicesse Accords, allowing Roberto to return to Angola. He ran unsuccessfully for President, receiving only 2.1% of the vote. The FNLA won five seats in Parliament but refused to participate in the government.

Roberto died on August 2 2007 at his home in Luanda. [cite web|author=|year=2007|url=http://www.angolapress-angop.ao/noticia-e.asp?ID=550004|title=FNLA's Historic Leader Dies|publisher=Angola Press|accessdate=2007-11-18|accessyear=2007] [cite web|author=|year=2007|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/04/world/africa/04roberto.html|title=Holden Roberto Dies at 84; Fought to Free Angola From Portuguese Rule|publisher=New York Times|accessdate=2007-11-18|accessyear=2007] [cite web|author=|year=2007|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/africa/08/03/angola.death.reut/index.html|title=Angolan independence leader Holden Roberto dies|publisher=CNN|accessdate=2007-11-18|accessyear=2007] After Roberto's death, President José Eduardo dos Santos eulogized, "Holden Roberto was one of the pioneers of national liberation struggle, whose name encouraged a generation of Angolans to opt for resistance and combat for the country's independence," and released a decree appointing a commission to arrange for a funeral ceremony. [cite web|author=|year=2007|url=http://allafrica.com/stories/200708040047.html|title=Angola: Head of State Condoles With Death of FNLA Historic Leader|publisher=allAfrica.com|accessdate=2007-11-18|accessyear=2007]

References

Further reading

*Chris Dempster, "Fire Power" (first hand account of foreign mercenaries fighting on the side of the FNLA) [http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/227/227121_mercenary_past_of_shamed_councillor.html]


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  • Holden Roberto — était un homme politique angolais, né le 12 janvier 1923 à São Salvador (devenu Mbanza Kongo) et mort le 2 août 2007 à Luanda. Considéré comme l’un des pères de l’indépendance de l’Angola, il fonde dans les années 1950 l’Union des populations de… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Holden Roberto — En este artículo se detectaron los siguientes problemas: Carece de fuentes o referencias que aparezcan en una fuente acreditada. Parece ser una traducción defectuosa. Por favor …   Wikipedia Español

  • Holden Roberto — Holden Álvaro Roberto (* 12. Januar 1923 in São Salvador do Congo, heute M’banza Kongo, Angola; † 2. August 2007 in Luanda) war ein angolanischer Politiker und Guerilla Führer. Er gründete 1962 die Frente Nacional de Libertação de Angola (FNLA)… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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  • Roberto, Holden Alvaro — ▪ 2008       Angolan independence leader born Jan. 12, 1923, São Salvador [now M banza Congo], Angola died Aug. 2, 2007, Luanda, Angola founded Angola s first nationalist movement in 1956 and five years later led the first attack on colonial… …   Universalium

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  • Angolan War of Independence — Infobox Military Conflict caption= Portuguese troops on patrol in Angola conflict= Angolan War of Independence partof=The Portuguese Colonial Wars date=February 4, 1961 1974cite book|last=Rothchild|first=Donald S.|year=1997|title=Managing Ethnic… …   Wikipedia

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