SUMMARY
FLEC-R (Frente da Libertação do Enclave de Cabinda – Renovada, Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda – Renewed; alternatively Front for the Liberation of the Cabinda Enclave, FLEC) was a separatist rebel group that fought an intrastate armed conflict over territory against the Government of Angola (see Angola: Cabinda). FLEC-R goal was to achieve independence for Cabinda, a province and exclave of Angola with abundant oil reserves.
The separatist movement in Cabinda began to materialize in the 1960s, and was originally pursued by groups such as the MLEC (Movement for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda), CUAC (Comite d’Action d’Union Nationale de Cabindais) and Alliama (Alliance of the Mayombe). The President of Congo-Brazzaville, Fulbert Youlou, pushed hard for the unification of Cabinda’s separatist movements, which resulted in the merger these groups into FLEC (Frente da Libertação do Enclave de Cabinda) in 1963; the leader of FLEC was Ranque Franque. In 1967, FLEC created a “government of Cabinda in exile”, which failed to receive any substantial international recognition. The FLEC would however receive considerable moral, organizational, and material support from the neighboring states Zaire (now DR Congo) and Congo-Brazzaville. FLEC was not invited to the 1975 talks between the other Angolan liberation movements (MPLA, FNLA, and UNITA) and Portugal, where the matters of Angola’s independence were discussed. Following this, FLEC engaged in a low-intensity guerilla struggle against the Government of Angola. In 1975, FLEC fractionalized into several splinter groups (the “Franque”, “Nzita”, and “Lubota” factions respectively), and then again in 1977 to create the CMLC (Military Command for the Liberation of Cabinda). FLEC-Nzita later transformed into the FLEC-FAC. FLEC-R, originally under the name FLEC-PM (Posicâo Militaire), splintered from the FLEC-FAC, in either 1983 or 1984.
Being a splinter group from the FLEC-FAC, the FLEC-R shared its goal of achieving independence for Cabinda. The group emphasized the uniqueness of Cabinda’s historical, particularly colonial, experience (Cabinda was a Portuguese protectorate for only 90 years, whereas Angola was colonized for over 400 years), and the Cabindans’ separate identity and culture. All Cabindan separatist groups claimed that the MPLA-led Government of Angola illegally occupied the region after Angola’s independence in 1975. While the FLEC-R was militarily weaker than other factions, such as the FLEC-FAC, it was considered to have a strong political organization. FLEC-R specialized in abducting expatriate workers involved in the oil production in Cabinda; these kidnappings were mainly conducted in order to attract international attention to the conflict.
Led at the outset by Arture Tchibassa, the FLEC-R changed its name from FLEC-PM in 1990. By 1992, the leadership of the group had switched to Jose Tiburcio Luemba and in either 1996 or 1997, it was passed on to Antonio Bento Bembe. The constant fractionalization of the group has made it impossible to exactly account for FLEC-R’s leadership from the early 2000s and onwards. It has for example been suggested that in the early 2000s, the FLEC-R had in fact split in two separate factions. Bembe would then have been the leader of a splinter faction called FLEC-Platform, while the actual FLEC-R was controlled by the group’s “government in exile”, led by Prime Minister Anny Antonio da Silva Kitembo (source: Porto 2004). However, Bembe appears to have represented FLEC-R during the 2004 negotiations between several Cabinda factions in the Netherlands. In any case, Bembe was referred to as the leader of FLEC-R at this time. Bembe then served some time in prison between 2004 and 2005, before disappearing only to reemerge in time to participate in the 2005-2006 peace negotiations with the Government of Angola. However, some sources (HRW) label Bembe as former FLEC-R leader at the time when the peace agreement was signed in 2006; his legitimacy was also questioned by other Cabinda factions, such as FLEC-FAC. What is known is that Bembe was the chief representative of the so-called “Cabinda Forum for Dialogue”, the primary Cabindan signatory to the agreement.
In July 1991, FLEC-R unsuccessfully attempted to merge with the other Cabindan separatist factions such as FLEC-Lubota, CCC (Communist Committee of Cabinda), and UNLC (National Union for the Liberation of Cabinda) to mention a few relevant examples. In 2004, an attempt was made to merge FLEC-R and FLEC-FAC into a unified group (called FLEC) under the leadership of FLEC-FAC’s leader Tiaho Nzita; Bembe was appointed Secretary General of the unified group. FLEC was intended to present a unified Cabindan front in negotiations with the Government of Angola, which however failed and the two factions broke apart in 2005. In 2006, a coalition of various Cabindan groups, called the “Cabinda Forum for Dialogue”, was created on Bembe’s initiative to facilitate negotiations with the Government of Angola. The result of these negotiations was the signing of the “Memorandum of Understanding on Peace and National Reconciliation in Cabinda province” on 1 August 2006.
The FLEC-R, like several other FLEC factions, used bases located on territory in Republic of Congo and the DR Congo (Zaire) to organize its operations. However, no evidence has been found that the FLEC-R, unlike the original FLEC, received any direct support from these states. The various FLEC factions has also on multiple occasion attempted to engage Portugal in its cause, but such attempts have been unsuccessful; Portugal considered the conflict in Cabinda to be an internal Angolan matter.
