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
Santa Cruz, Angola Santa Cruz, Angola Santa Cruz (also called Milunga ) is a city and a county in Angola . Santa Cruz was one of the first objectives of the independence movement UPA ( "União das Populações do Norte de Angola" , from 1962 FNLA ), which began in March 1961, the Portuguese colonial war in Angola. The popular resistance of the local population, which consisted largely of Portuguese settlers, was propagated by Portuguese propaganda as a feat against terrorist attacks by insurgents who were sinking abroad. After Angola's independence in 1975, Santa Cruz, like many other places, abandoned its Portuguese place