Brazil extends lifeline to African interests

Press, 23 February 1989, Page 13

Brazil extends lifeline to African interests

SUE BRANFORD

reports on Brazil’s move to extend

influence over the Portugese-speaking sector of Africa.

Brazil has launched a diplomatic initiative to renew its ageold links with Angola, the embattled former Portuguese colony. President Jose Sarney recently completed a four-day official visit to Angola. The trip, which comes at a difficult moment for Angola as it bids farewell to the Cuban troops, was clearly intended to express Brazil’s strong support for President Jose Eduardo dos Santos. It was also an important step in Brazil’s strategy for replacing Portugal as the main economic influence for Portuguese-speaking Africa. President Sarney said, repeatedly, that Brazil was keen to help Angola rebuild its economy, ravaged by over a decade of civil war. In return, President dos Santos spoke warmly of "our big brother, independent for the past 160 years” and said that Brazil could be considered a possible model for Angola’s development. Under agreements already concluded, Brazil has committed credits worth over one billion dollars. These cover a wide range of projects, ranging from short-term food purchases to long-term finance for telecommunications and housing. By seeking closer ties with Angola, Brazil is, to some extent, trying to relive the past. During colonial days, Angola, Mozambique and Brazil enjoyed close relations as part of the huge Portuguese Empire. Links between Brazil and Angola were particularly strong, with the countries conveniently situated on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Thousands of African slaves were sent from Angola to help Brazil set up its vast sugar plantations. In 1808, the Portuguese royal family fled to Brazil to escape the invasion led by Napoleon. With the overthrow of Napoleon, the Portuguese Emperor, John VI, returned, but his son, Pedro, stayed on in Brazil. Eventually, in 1822, Brazil became independent, though it remained a monarchy, under Pedro, by then known as Dom Pedro I. For a while it seemed that Brazil might annex Angola, wrenching it out of the grip of the Portuguese. In the end, this move, which would have dramatically changed the face of Southern Africa, did not occur. Brazil went its independent way and Angola had to wait another century and a half before it gained its independence. During this period, links between the two countries weakened. But Brazil held on to its dream of one day replacing Portugal as Angola’s main trading partner. The first chance to pursue this goal came with Angolan independence in 1975. Before it was clear that the revolutionary party, the MPLA, would win the war against the Unita rebels, Brazil recognised the new Government. This diplomatic move raised eyebrows at the time, partly because Brazil was, at that time, ruled by a Right-wing military Government, headed by General Ernesto Geisel, that shared few of the MPLA’s revolutionary goals. The Brazilian diplomatic move was far less important than the quick decision by the Cuban President, Fidel Castro, to

dispatch 15,000 troops. Without this military aid, the MPLA could well have been defeated by Unita, which had the backing not only of the South African Government, but of the United States as well.

But Brazil’s gesture provided President Agostinho Neto with a timely boost, partly, indeed, because it came from a Government with such different ideological views. It has ever since won the Brazilians a special place in Angolan affections. Since 1975, relations between the two countries have grown much closer once again. A Brazilian company, Norberto Oderbrecht, was chosen to build Angola’s largest hydro-electric dam. Braspetro, the overseas arm of Brazil’s State oil company, Petrobras, has been prospecting and drilling for oil on Angolan soil. Two-way trade between the two countries was worth just $l2 million in 1975. By 1987, it had shot up to $450 million. Brazil sold products worth $4OO million, mainly manufactured goods. In exchange, it imported Angolan products worth $l7O million, mostly oil. Just before Christmas last year, a Brazilian general was chosen to head the 70 military observers who have been monitoring the withdrawal of the Cuban troops. In many ways, he was the obvious choice, given the common language in the two countries. But this close Brazilian involvement is strengthening the links yet further. It is thus not unexpected that President Jose Sarney should

have chosen Angola as the first — and probably the only — African country that he will visit during his term of office. Even so, it was surprising that the visit took place at all. Now approaching the last of his five years in

office, President Sarney is in deep trouble at home. His Government has just announced a tough austerity programme to try to curb the country’s galloping inflation, running at almost 30 per cent a month. The package is currently being debated in Congress, amidst loud rumblings of discontent from the country’s main union bodies, threatening to bring the economy to a halt In protest strikes. Presidential elections are to be held later this year, and the ruling party’s popularity is at its lowest point ever. A Congressional inquiry last year produced evidence of the President’s close involvement in corruption. Congress will shortly decide whether or not to begin impeachment procedures against him based on these findings. Besieged on all sides, President Sarney is becoming increasingly dependent on his top military advisers. It was the military, during their 21 years of rule in Brazil, who first formulated the policy for rapprochement with Angola and the other former Portuguese colonies. That they should have encouraged the President to push ahead with this visit, despite the chaos at home, is a clear indication of the importance that they attach to this policy. Copyright London Observer Service.