Second Cold War in Africa, Middle East and Americas
Horn of Africa - Ethiopia and Somalia: Tinzu
Afghanistan: Oskari
Chile: Elsa
Mozambique: Jade
Angola: Heta
Nigaragua: Sebastian
Common features
Independence in 1975 after the Portuguese Revolution (1974).
Developments in Ethiopia
Gorilla war
Haile Selassie, the emperor of Ethiopia since 1930, was overthrown in 1974 by a revolutionary populist movement and their coup. Selassie had been long supported by the US.
Anti communist being covertly supported by the American CIA,
The US was alarmed of the events which were occurring in the Horn of Africa, as USSR and Chinese involvement in the area began to increase. This caused the Horn of Africa (Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea) to turn into a Cold War hotspot in the second half of the 1970s.
1958: a socialist-communist coalition gets 1/3 of the votes in the presidental election
Destabilization
Their candidate was a Marxist doctoe, Salvador Allende
FSLN (Sandinista National Liberation Front)
Selassie and his government failed to raise the standard of living in Ethiopia, leading to economic crisis and famine. This eventually lead to a mutiny among the people of Ethiopia.
1964: Allende runs for president again
The CIA gives financial support to Allende’s opponent
A left wing partisan party
The Derg, a commitee of low ranking officers soon established a communist dictatorship in the country under the leadership of Mengitsu Haile Mariam
Allende doesn’t win, but does get more votes this time
Sept. 1973: The Chilean Coup
The US was alrmed at how much support the communists got
Civil War starting in 1977
The USSR supported the new government, despite the violent aspects of Megitsu's rule
Kidnappings of government corrupt officials.
Anti-communists (Mozambican National Resistance, RENAMO)
THe US State Department makes Chile a model of the Alliance for Progress aid program
The Nicaraguan government razed villages in search of potential FSLN supporters.
Marxist-Leninists (Liberation Front of Mozambique, FRELIMO)
The program (together with the Agency for international development) sent over $20 billion in loans to Latin America to promote democracy and social reforms, especially making land ownership accessible
The country tipped into full-scale civil war with the 1978 murder of Pedro Chamorro, who had opposed violence against the current regime.
USSR financial support for Ethiopia increase due to the invasion of Ogaden, furthering the concerns of the US
Supported by South Africa and Rhodesia
USSR sent troops to Afghanistan to support a pro-Soviet government in 1979
The USSR aided the new Ethiopian government in their attempt to expel Somalia, a former USSR ally, from Ogaden, which had begun with the Somalian invasion of the region.
1970: Allende wins the presidental election
Popular Unity is formed
A bombing order had been placed against the Sandinistas.
A coalition which is dedicated to leading Chile to socialism
Supported by Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Malawi, as well as Romania
Financial support was also given to Megitsu's government to suppress the independence movements in Eritrea in 1978.
1971: The Popular Unity gains record number of votes in the midterm elections
Soviet invasion was widely condemned
The U.S. media grew increasingly unfavorable against the current regime in Nicaragua as the decisions of the government lead to increasing support of the Sandinistas.
A former Portuguese colony in Africa that was granted independence in 1975
USSR removed (killed) Hafizullah Amin from power
Allende’s own army arranges a coup
Responsible for prior attempts of insurrection from Portuguese rule
Allende refuses to flee the coutry and is killed under attack of his own forces in his office
Castro also provided 17 000 combat troops for the effort
With its involvement in the Horn of Africa, the USSR was able to finally gain naval bases outside of its own territory, closing the gap between the US.
In May 1979, another general strike was called on the Sandinistas but this time the Sandinistas launched a major push to take control of the country. By mid July they had Somoza the leader of Nicaragua and the National guard isolated in Managua.
Military equipment from China and the USSR
The bloodiest coup in the history of Latin America
Thousands of supporters of Popular Unity were forced into the Santiago soccer stadium and were tortured and murdered.
Bodies were buried in mass graves
Portugal accepted FRELIMO's request of transferring the power to them without elections
A 17 year loing military dictatorship begins
Some historians still argue that in the long run, the financial aid did not help the USSR.
General Augusto Pinochet governs the country
Sandinista period begins 1979-1990.
USSR's involment provoked a strong response from the US and the West
The US also became more determined to undermine Castro, which did not benefit the USSR
The Nicaragua's government had collapsed and fallen under the control of the Sandinistas
The U.S (Cold War ally of Portugal) thought this would add Soviet influence in Africa
A major reason for the ending of détente
The Sandinistas would over time turn the nation communist and align themselves with communist states like North Korea and USSR.
Afghanistan's communist party took control in 1978
Before 1979, the US had trained Islamic Mujahideen combatants and provided them with supplies
Once the Sandinistas took over the Nicaraguan government President Jimmy Carter cut off aid to the nation.
People's Republic of Mozambique
Since 1985, during Reagan's second term, the US involvement (through military aid) within Afghanistan increased
With the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, relations between the United States and the Sandinista regime became an active fron in the Cold War.
Foreign aid was essential to Ethiopia winning the war, though the country was still ripped apart and demoralized. The seeds of the Ethiopian Civil War were planted her.
It’s generally accepted that the US government was heavily involved
Nicaragua being the first socialist country to build its empire on dollar imperialism the US placed sanctions on it and a trade embargo.
The logic behind the coup is still debated by academics
Connections to apartheid
One theory cives gredit to:
Increased hostility and lack of communication between the US and USSR, as the invasion was widely condemned by the western world
President Nixon
His advisor Henry Kissinger
Containment policy
Kissinger was concerned with Chile long before the coup
He’s on record saying things like ”We will not let Chile go down the drain” (drain=communism)
Afghanistan was originally of no strategic importance to the US, so the communist takeover was not seen as a major threat
The statemets suggest Kissinger’s willingness to take action to ’save’ Chile from communism and demonstrate Kissinger’s fear of communism spreading in Latin America
Influence in Mozambique was strategically important (ports at the coast)
Since Kissinger was a national security advisor, his fears would have influenced the president’s decisions
Eritrea, which had been struggling to gain independence for decades, utilized the Ogaden war to launch its own war of attrition with support from the CCP. This struggle for independence lasted for over a decade, with Eritrea becoming independent in 1991.
These fears were spread by other advisors and after Allende rose to power a memo was shared with plans with the goal of making Allende lose his power
The new leader, Kamal, requests Soviet intervention
Nixon thought that Allende’s government was anti-American, justifying the coup
Kissinger said (to Nixon) ”Our hand doesn’t show on this one though”, refering to how they had covertly influenced Chile and policies against Allende’s government
The reason for wanting to hide the US’s participation in the coup is likely an attempt to keep the general public’s view of him positive
Initial disagreements with Cuba
Eventually, Cuba provided aid to FRELIMO
Somalia wanted to gain control of desert area, as groups of ethnic Somalis were living there
In 1966, even supported by the U.S through subsidies (however, the U.S refused requests for military aid)
President Carter described the invasion as "the greatest threat to the world peave since the Second World War."
Nixon also had fears of communism spreading to Latin America
He called a meeting with national security leaders in 1970 following Allende’s election
During Johnson's reign of power in 1968, all financial ties were cut
Chile was involved with the Soviets and Cuba
Supporting the coup would be in accordance to the containment policies
It was generally thought by government officials that if communism was to spread into Chile, it would be problematic for the US
Worst of all, the US and many of its allies boycotted the 1980 olympics. USSR and its allies in turn boycotted the 1984 olympics.
Led by Eduardo Mondlane
The general attitude towards Allende and communism in Chile in general has many features of containment policies
The US tried to maintain relations with the new government, as they still lacked a sense of cohesion in their economic policies and ideology.
Led by Afonso Dhalakama
Som say that the containment policies (or the US government) were not possilble and that executing the coup was required from stopping a full-blown civil war
Developments in Somalia
Somalia had been overtaken in a coup in 1969, with Mohammed Siad Barre establishing a socialist republic.
Allende had won the presidental election with only 36% of the vote, since two conservative candidates split the rest of the votes
They signed Friendship and Cooperation Treaty with the USSR in 1974.
This coup was in the end more harmful than benefitical to the USSR
However, as Ethiopia too, became a communist state and the ally of the USSR, Somalia, which had been planning to overtake Ogaden, resented this connection.
Because of this political tensions were high in Chile surronding the elections
Causes the USSR to be more involved in Afghanistan
Due to economic and social difficulties, a civil war broke out in 1975 between the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA, backed by the USSR), the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA, backed by the US and, for a time, China) and the União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola (UNITA, backed by China, South Africa, Israel, and later the US)
The US and the USSR wanted to control Angola's diamond and oil reserves
During the civil war, UNITA was able to capture major diamond mines. They were important resources for financing arms and fuel, and funding the liberation movement's guerrilla campaign against the MPLA
The MPLA was initially victorious, which concerned the US
The MPLA controlled Luanda, Angola's capital city, and declared itself the new government of independent Angola
The MPLA got support and recognition from other African countries
The FNLA attempted a overthrow of the MPLA but did not succeed because its internal support had deteriorated
The FNLA and UNITA established a rival government in Huambo and got assistance from the South African forces
Castro sent 36 000 Cuban troops with artillery, tanks and missile systems to Angola in 1976 to help the MPLA resist the South African forces
They won a victory over the South African Defence Force during the battle for control of Cuito Cuanavale (the biggest conventional battle on the African continent since WWII) in 1987-88
This ensured the independence of Angola
In 1977, the MPLA established itself as a Marxist-Leninist party and started pursuing economic communism
External support played a major role in the funding of the civil war
As a consequence of the Cold War, UNITA was funded by the West
The MPLA received a bulk of its funding from the USSR, Cuba and the People's Republic of Congo
It received US$15-20 million annually in weapons, medicine, logistics and training from the United States' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
A proxy war between the USSR and the US
The US uses funds from the Iran-Iraq war arms deals.
Anti communists were reportedly unsuccessful at overthrowing the communist government made by the FSLN.
Later on democratic votes were had where the Nicaraguan people themselves voted the communists out.
The MPLA government signed a treaty of cooperation and friendship with the USSR in 1976
Asked for US assistance to, and eventually expelled Soviets
The leaders of Somalia took advantage of the fragmented society in Ethopia, and gained the upper hand in the first stages of the attack.
Consequences
Trigger for further conflict regarding the third world
Problems in Zaire, Yemen, Cuba
Eventually, the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, which ended the SALT II Treaty
Massive casualties
Execution of refugees, and extreme increase in rape (Ethiopian and Cuban soldiers)
Cuban influence remained in Ethiopia to protect the socialist government
US allyship with Somalia
Brezhnev Doctrine
Called for Soviet Union to intervene where socialist rule was under threat.
Soviet actions in Afghanistan were in line with this policy
"Afghanistan had been unofficially accepted by the West as of special concern to the Soviet Union's security, given their common borders."
The US president Gerald Ford dropped the word "détente" from his vocabulary
The USSR disapproved Castro's actions, as it was trying to improve its relationship with the US
Ended in 1992
Now, both FRELIMO, RENAMO and other parties coexist
Collapse of the Soviet Union
Sometimes referred as the USSR's Vietnam War
US did not take direct part in the war, however.