Another Day Of Life: The Angolan Civil War

Confusão

When the world starts falling apart politically and economically, chaos ensues. This is a common occurrence throughout history and it was true of the Angolan Civil War. As the civil war raged on into the early 2000’s the disillusionment of the citizens wasn’t too severe and the fighting was more organized and fierce than it was at the beginning; however, During the 1970’s the colony was in such upheaval that almost no one knew what was going or what to do about it. It was during this period of confusion and chaos that the Portuguese journalist Ryszard Kapuściński writes his short memoir Another Day of Life.

Two resistance parties formed in Angola in opposition to Portuguese imperialism: the MPLA (Popular Movement for the Liberation

of Angola) and UNITA (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola) After the Portuguese pulled out of Angola in 1975 the two movements turned on each other in a war for control of the newly liberated, although undeclared, republic. Coming from Northern Angola was the FNLA (National Liberation Front of Angola) which fought along side UNITA. Kapuściński allies himself with the MPLA, naturally as he comes from Luanda, the capital of Angola.
Very few people in Angola understood what was going on and neither do we as Kapuściński throws us right into the middle of the confusion. Near the beginning of the book Kapuściński writes, “We were imprisoned in a besieged city” (p.3). I’m unclear about the time he writes this but it may well have been right after the MPLA took Luanda back from the FLNA. Upheaval rules the streets and little by little the small pieces of the Luandan Infrastructure begin to vanish. The Portuguese make up a considerable part of Luanda’s population and roughly 90% of them are leaving Angola, the land they thought, as colonialists, would be the “promised land” (p.13). They build their city of crates (p.13-17) and ship off for fear of being dead by November because of the war (p.12). The Angolans, with such a large number of their population gone, don’t know what to do because the Portuguese, having been in Angola since the 16th century had integrated themselves into the culture so seamlessly that their absence upset the economy immensely. Kap writes, “This country has been at war for five hundred years, ever since the Portuguese came” (p.33). There has always been war in Angola, caused primarily by Portuguese colonization, but now that the Portuguese are gone the citizen of Angola turn on one another for the rights to the country.
Consequently, the few people who remain in Luanda struggle to make a living as people no longer spend their precious resources on frivolities such as cars, books, hotels, etc. The only entertainment that exists is an absurd open air theatre, which is free. (p.101
To compliment the crumbling economy, Kapuściński adds, “there are many deaths, since fear, despair, and frustration lead people to the grave.” (p.21) Any form of communication from the outside world, such as the telegram in page 9 give hope, He says, “because it rescued me from feelings of loneliness and abandonment.” Luanda is cut off from the world, alone, impoverished and utterly disillusioned.
The citizens themselves are just living their days away with little hope of making it through the year since war rages all about them. Food runs short and so does water as Kapuściński writes, “the rains have stopped, the city is sunbaked and dry as sawdust” (p.24) and later in the book he says, “the last wells are running dry. When there’s nothing to drink, the city will have to give up” (p.92). If the fighting doesn’t kill them then starvation and dehydration will. It is just a matter of time.
The soldiers, also, are running out of supplies as well although they are better prepared and well equipped. The soldiers sole advantage is that they have a cause to live for, whereas the citizens have no say in the matters of war and cannot hope for much other than an easy death. Many soldiers came into the war ill-equipped – having little to no experience with weapons, no knowledge of war and, some with no uniform (p.46) and in the MPLA’s case, no firearms (p.97). Some are young, taken from school to fight for the cause (p.35) One such soldier, Carlotta, stands out as honorable and experienced with a strong sense of duty, but she is one of the few. The greatest enemy, for some of the young and inexperienced isn’t the opposing side but the fear within (p.32). Kapuściński speaks of the bull headedness of the MPLA soldiers and futility of the war by lamenting, “Our spirit will never weaken, our will to fight is as inflexible as steel, we do not know fear, we do not fear death, and we are perishing in the eyes of an admiring world.” (p.36) The soldiers fight with blind loyalty and minimal hope of surviving the onslaught. A band of foolishly brave school boys with guns who are more interested in “arguing over the result of yesterday’s soccer game” than fight for their country (p.40)
The war itself is a tumultuous wreck.

An Angolan soldier states, “Everything comes down to luck and happenstance. This war is a real mess. Nobody knows where they stand.” (p.83) Indeed, besides the leaders and an educated few, everyone who fought fought basically for the group they were most geographically akin to – the FNLA in the North, UNITA in the South and the MPLA spread out over the major populated areas. Combat boils down to the simple principle of kill or be killed (p.135 ) and loyalty runs only as deep as self-preservation. Kapuściński writes concerning a captured soldier that, “He knows it is shameful to fight for the FNLA” (p.39). The MPLA seems to have the most loyal and capable soldiers and leadership yet they have no way of asserting dominance because of their lack of guns, that is, until near the end when the Cubans come in and begin fighting with the MPLA for Luanda. Weapons are brought in and tension mounts as the out come of the battle for the city is uncertain. Our loyalty is decided for us in the book from Kap initial bias toward the MPLA but also from the description of the FLNA as “a cruel army.” As well as the fact that they practice slaughter and cannibalism. Both armies, towards the end of the book appear to be more organized than Kap described them at the beginning of the memoir, yet the FLNA and UNITA become suddenly barbaric and we, as readers, are now on the MPLA’s side with him.

Luanda is defended and the MPLA sets up a government there while at the same time the FLNA sets up a government in Huambo. Angola officially declares its independence from the Portuguese and what was once petty guerilla war becomes an organized war for Angola between the factions. Kap telegram to Warsaw sets up the ensuing conflict, “Both sides are getting stronger. There are more and more men, better-trained troops, and weapons of greater destructive power.” (p.130) This is essentially where he leaves

us.
At the end of the day, everyone involved felt the same way, “Another day of life.” (p.87) The blessing of staying alive was all anyone could hold onto.
The whole situation leaves the reader with very little closure and many questions about what was actually going on and who was involved. Confusão, which Kap tells about on page 125, perfectly describes how he felt and how we feel reading the book. Just like him, we are tourists, useless camaradas in a situation where “a person wants to do something, but it all falls to pieces in his hand; he wants to set something in motion, but some power paralyzes him” (p.125). Kap is powerless to affect the war, to save those who died, and to restore clarity to helpless situation. He wants us, the readers, to feel the same way. Sometimes there are situations which we have no control of and we can only sit back and watch events unravel. War, in many cases, is one of those situations. Kap also shows us the horror of war and the dreadful effect it has on people. The people first reading this memoir were curious about what was transpiring in Angola, whereas us, in the 21st century glean a shallow understanding for what it is like to experience such a conflict.
The limited closure we receive drives home the sense of confusion we felt in the beginning. Angola’s story goes on and all we can do is try to look back and understand. In life we do the same – look back and try to understand what has transpired and then shove forward without a clear understanding yet taking it by faith that everything will turn out alright.