Angola–Cuba Declaration of 1984 Angola–Cuba Declaration of 1984 In the Angola–Cuba Declaration of 1984, signed 19 March 1984 in Havana by president José Eduardo Dos Santos of Angola and Fidel Castro, premier of Cuba, the two countries agreed to the withdrawal of Cuban forces from Angola after the withdrawal of South African troops from Angola and Namibia, and after UN-Security Council resolution 435 on Namibian independence was strictly applied. Soon after getting independence from Portugal in 1975, civil war was fought among the three leading groups in Angola. Angola's three main guerrilla groups agreed to establish a transitional government in January 1975. Within two
Angola–Namibia relations the fighting in Namibia would eventually drive at least 43,000 Namibian refugees into exile in Angola, many of whom joined PLAN. Following Angolan independence in 1975, SWAPO established a formal alliance with Angola's new ruling party, the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA). After being expelled from Zambia between 1976 and 1979, PLAN was permitted by the MPLA to establish its regional headquarters inside Angola. Access to bases inside Angola provided PLAN with opportunities to train its forces in secure sanctuaries and infiltrate insurgents and supplies across Namibia's northern border. The MPLA government also permitted shipments of arms