Abstract
Examines the conflict between American business interests in Angola and the Reagan Administration's opposition to the Marxist government regime.
Description
Following independence from Portugal in 1975, Angola entered a 27 year-long civil war that pitted the Marxist Cuban-backed regime of Jose Eduardo dos Santos and his Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) against the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), led by Jonas Savimbi. Yet despite the government's Marxist ideology, the dos Santos regime proved eager to do business with American companies, most notably those in the oil industry, and by 1980 taxes and royalties paid by Gulf Oil alone composed roughly one sixth of Angola's GDP. In addition to funding Angolan development projects, these American dollars also helped to foot the bill for Cuban missionaries, putting the Reagan Administration at loggerheads with the American business community. In this episode, guests Dr. Charles Ebinger of the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Dr. Scott Thompson of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy discuss American business interests in Angola as well as U.S. involvement in the country's civil war, a matter complicated by the Clark Amendment of 1976, which prohibited government aid to organizations engaged in paramilitary operations in Angola. Given the Angolan government's communist alignment, should the United States back the anti-Marxist forces of Jonas Savimbi, or should it yield to the interests of the American business community?
Location
Africa; Southern Africa; Angola;
