Independence of Angola

After the Carnation Revolution Portugal withdrew from Guinea-Bissau by the end of 1974; by the Lusaka Accord Mozambique became independent on 25 June 1975, and Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe followed the same year. For Angola, the Alvor Agreement of 15 January 1975 set up a transitional government of Portugal and the three rival movements — the MPLA, the FNLA and UNITA — and fixed independence for 11 November. The coalition soon broke down: in July the MPLA drove the FNLA out of Luanda, and the war spread, with Cuba and the Soviet Union backing the MPLA and South Africa and the United States supporting its rivals.

On 10 November the Portuguese left Angola; the next day Neto proclaimed independence in Luanda, while UNITA and the FNLA proclaimed a rival republic in Huambo. Hundreds of thousands of settlers — the retornados — had already fled Angola and Mozambique for Portugal. In Asia, East Timor declared independence at the end of 1975 but was soon invaded by Indonesia.