The Halloween Massacre refers to events which took place from October 30 to November 1, 1992 in Luanda, Angola as part of the Angolan Civil War. On May 1, 1991 the Bicesse Accords were signed by the MPLA, led by José Eduardo dos Santos and by UNITA, led by Jonas Savimbi. The accords were meant to bring about a political settlement between UNITA and the MPLA by establishing a cease fire, integrating the armed forces and holding democratic elections. The MPLA's victory in the 1992 Angolan general election would result in UNITA alleging fraud on the part of the MPLA and, in response, withdrawing from the accords and resuming their armed struggle against the government. The rising tensions following the September election resulted in a flare up of violence around Luanda where armed MPLA supporters and police harassed and murdered a signficant number of opposition party supporters.
Context
The Angolan Civil War
Main article: Angolan Civil War Ever since its independence from Portugual in 1975, Angola was gripped in a civil war between the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola. The war was intensified by the direct and indirect involvement of outside superpowers who saw the conflict through the eyes of the Cold War. The MPLA, which claimed allegiance to Marxist-Leninist ideology, received direct support from Cuba with the backing of the Soviet Union and other communist states. Meanwhile, the UNITA sold itself as an anti-communist organization, receiving direct military support from South Africa with help from the United States. Ferocious combat was waged during this time period but neither side was able to claim total victory over the other. By 1988, as the Cold War began to draw to a close, Cuba and South Africa withdrew their troops from the conflict. Their withdrawal, coupled with the inability for either side to achieve total victory over the other, forced the MPLA and UNITA to the negotiating table to negotiate a political settlement to the conflict.
The Bicesse Accords
Main article: Bicesse Accords Beginning in 1 May 1991, UNITA and MPLA forces agreed on a framework to beginning establishing peace in Angola between the two warring parties. This framework would evolve into the Bicesse Accords, signed by the People's Republic of Angola and UNITA on 31 May 1991 in Lisbon, Portugual. The United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics acted as observers, while Portugual mediated the talks. The accords set out a timetable and established certain conditions that each side agreed to meet by the specified dates. There were three key parts of the agreement. The first was the beginning of a cease fire, with the initial stages taking effect at the beginning of May and entering into force upon the signing of the accords. The second key part of agreement was the integration of UNITA forces into the Angolan armed forces, which was to occur upon the implementation of the cease fire agreement and had numerous provisions to establish the non-partisan nature of the armed forces. The third part of the agreement scheduled the date of a nationwide democratic election, which was to take place "between 1 September to 30 November 1992", roughly sixteen months after the signing of the agreement.
1992 Angolan general election
Main article: 1992 Angolan general election The 1992 elections, the first democratic elections held in Angola's history, took place from 29 September 1992 to 30 September 1992. The MPLA claimed victory in these elections, taking roughly fifty-three percent of the vote, gaining one hundred and twenty nine seats in the legislature. UNITA, under the leadership of Jonas Savimbi, claimed thirty four percent of the vote and gained seventy seats. For the presidency, José Eduardo dos Santos of the MPLA received forty-nine percent of the vote compared to UNITA Savimbi's forty percent. Despite having a higher percentage of the vote, dos Santos was just shy of the fifty percent majority required to be reelected. Because neither the MPLA nor UNITA obtained the required absolute majority of the presidential election, a follow-up election was necessary according to the constitution. Savimbi, in spite of the UN mission's declaration that the elections were generally free and fair, believed that the government had rigged the elections and began pulling UNITA's soldiers out of the new unified Angolan armed forces. This essentially marked the beginning of the end for the Bicesse Accords and rising tensions between the Angolan government and UNITA.
Killings in Luanda 30 October to 1 November
As both sides heightened war rhetoric, the MPLA attacked UNITA positions in Luanda on October 30th. According to some reports, the violence was not sporadic, but had been planned over the course of weeks. These included reports from residents of Luanda's suburbs "of arms were being distributed locally to government supporters and to former members of the security forces and militia" and even reports that "police stations served as centres of distribution", which demonstrates possible government complicity and encouragement of violence. UNITA supporters were targeted in house to house searches by both police and armed government supporters, with some supporters possessing lists of local UNITA supporters who were to be rounded up. Some were summarily executed while others were taken to police stations and later released, though often after receiving vicious beatings. Other people disappeared completely, some human rights reports detailing accounts of security forces carrying out executions of suspected UNITA supporters and clandestine graves. Many of the those targeted were of the Ovimbundu and Bakongo ethnic groups, which were the main supporters of the UNITA and considered to be potentially disloyal. Other opposition parties, which supported UNITA's claim that the 1992 election results were illegitimate, were also targeted in the violence. They included the Partido Social Democrata Angolano, Angolan Social Democratic Party, Partido Democrático para o Progresso-Aliança Nacional Angolana, Democratic Progress Party/Angolan National Alliance and the Convenção Nacional Democrática de Angola, Angolan National Democratic Convention.
Results
Several leading officials from UNITA were killed in the violence that occurred in Luanda. These included UNITA vice president Jeremias Chitunda, top negotiator Elias Salupeto Pena and party secretary Aliceres Mango. The total number of deaths ranges, with some sources saying the deaths numbered as high as 30,000. The repercussions of the massacre are difficult to determine, as UNITA's decision to pull out of the Angolan Armed Forces and their rejection of the election results shows that the political settlement reached in the Bicesse Accords had failed. However, the death of several high ranking UNITA officials, especially those who were directly involved in the peace negotiations, such as Pena, demonstrates that the return to hostilities was not a matter of if, but of when.
