Operation Savannah (Angola) Operation Savannah (Angola) Operation Savannah was the South African Defence Force's 1975–1976 covert intervention in the Angolan War of Independence, and the subsequent Angolan Civil War. The so-called "Carnation Revolution" of the 25th April 1974 ended Portugal's colonial government, but Angola's three main independence forces, National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA), National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) began competing for dominance in the country. Fighting began in November 1974, starting in the capital city, Luanda, and spreading quickly across all of Angola, which was soon divided among
1960s in Angola 1960s in Angola The 1960s in Angola were marked by the War of Independence (1961–1975). Portuguese police arrested Agostinho Neto of the MPLA and future President of Angola (1975–1979) in 1960 for the third time. Delegates discussed Cabinda's self-determination in relation to Angola at the 4th Commission of the United Nations on Decolonization in New York in 1962. Cabinda became a member of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) as the 39th colonized country in 1964. Angola's industries grew by an annual average rate of 17% in the 1960s as ethnic Europeans seized natives' lands and increased mineral production. Mineral