Original subtitles

History is not an exact science. It is never set in stone.

As time passes,

knowledge of the past is refined and evolves.

But by definition, received ideas have thick skins

and are hard to shift.

To understand the realities of the world, you sometimes have

to shake them up and decipher

the facts by looking at them another way.

In our collective consciousness, the Cold War is remembered as

a global conflict between

the USSR and the USA, centred in Europe and Asia. And yet...

On April 18, 1955, Bandung in Indonesia

became the focal point of the world.

30 heads of state from Africa and Asia,

gather there for an exceptional event.

- "This is the first intercontinental conference of colored

peoples, so-called colored people,

in the history of mankind."

- In Bandung, the third world burst onto the international scene.

The people of India, China, and Vietnam were determined to

get their voices heard, and

were encouraging subjugated nations to shake off their oppressors.

Following the Second World War, European powers were forced

to relinquish their colonies.

After Asia, it was Africa's turn.

Its new states had to find their place in an international

order shaped by the Cold

war between the Americans and the Soviets.

March 1957.

On the streets of Accra, the capital of the Gold Coast,

the people were ecstatic.

The former British colony had just proclaimed its

independence, adopting the new name of

Ghana.

- # Ghana, we now have freedom #

# Ghana, land of freedom, toils of the brave #

# and the sweat of their labours #

# toils of the brave, which have brought freedom #

- It's not every day that a new name is written on the map...

Ghana. The first African colony to achieve full independence.

- The architect of independence was Dr Kwame Nkrumah,

who had been an anti-colonial activist

since his youth and had trained as an economist.

- Well, this is, an opportunity for the African.

To demonstrate to the world,

that the African, given the chance, can manage his own affairs.

And with the experience we've had, I'm quite sure

that we shall be able to live up to this opportunity.

- The new president's dream was to lift his

country out of its underdevelopment

through modernisation.

But his optimism collided with the harsh reality.

For over a century, 200 million Africans lived under the

domination of colonial powers.

Great Britain, France, Belgium, Spain and Portugal exploited

Africa's people and resources,

its territories and destroyed its local cultures to

satisfy their own needs.

In the 1950s, Africa was in turmoil.

Much still needed to be done.

This required resources that Ghana simply didn't have.

And neither did the countries that took part

in the Bandung Conference, whose promises

of cooperation were never honored.

The economic and technological resources needed for

modernization could be found in the United States

and the Soviet Union.

Since 1945, the two superpowers were dividing up the world and

establishing an impassable border in the middle of Europe.

The Americans promised freedom and abundance.

The Soviets social justice and a five-year plan.

The two opposing ideologies competed in every sector;

the economy, sports, culture,

and even nuclear power.

The goal?

Prove the superiority of their system and export it to

the rest of the world.

During this conflict, known as the Cold War,

it seemed almost impossible not to choose sides.

A former student in the United States, the Ghanaian president

first turned to America.

He sought support for a major dam project on Lake Volta,

which would enable his country

to develop its electricity grid.

For President Eisenhower, the emerging African states

represented new markets,

reservoirs of raw materials, and strategically valuable regions.

They would also provide the United States with additional

allies and extra votes in

international organisations -a windfall that they did

not want to lose to Moscow.

The dam project would be signed.

In the Kremlin, Communist Party First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev

was also closely following

the awakening of the peoples of Africa.

"This is a remarkable phenomenon of our

time," he proclaimed.

"Communists are revolutionaries, and it would be

unfortunate if they did not take

advantage of these new opportunities."

To realise his ambitions, he ordered the creation of new

departments responsible for international relations.

The special services, the KGB and the GRU, received special

briefings on the situation in Africa.

The scramble for the continent was on.

But this time, Africans were attempting to set their own rules.

To prevent further colonization, Nkrumah decided to

play the competition.

Back from Washington, he contacted Moscow and asked for

help with a second project.

The construction of a hydroelectric power station.

What's more, Nkrumah was seduced by the Soviet growth model based

on centralism, collectivization,

and mass mobilization.

Indifferent to the sensitivities of his American partners,

the Ghanaian president declared,

"Capitalism is too complicated a system for a newly independent nation.

That's why we need a socialist society."

A rapprochement that made Uncle Sam cringe.

But withdrawing aid from Ghana would be tantamount to throwing the

country into the arms of the Kremlin.

That was out of the question.

Nkrumah entered the Cold War without restricting himself to a single side.

To multiply his alliances, the Ghanaian head of state also

turned to the Chinese premier Zhou Enlai,

and cultivated relations with his

former British colonists.

His method was emulated on the African continent,

notably in the Congo, a former Belgian colony,

King Baudouin announced independence.

- The right man for the job was Patrice Lumumba.

After years of struggle and a spell in prison, the 35-year-old former trade

unionist became the Prime Minister of a free Congo.

Full of idealism, his appeal sounded like wishful thinking.

In reality, nothing was in place for a successful transition.

And some of the Belgian colonialists were not ready to

relinquish their power.

Five days after Lumumba's announcement, a mutiny by black

soldiers against white officers erupted.

It turned into a general strike and led to violent demonstrations.

Many whites fled the country.

Lumumba tried to control the situation by ridding the army of

its Belgian officers.

But he was faced with another, even more serious conflict.

The secessionist struggle in the southern province of Katanga.

Its governor, Moise Tchombe, called in mercenaries to gain

independence for his province.

A crisis that the Americans and Soviets were following closely.

After all, Katanga boasted large reserves of uranium

essential for the nuclear programs

being pursued by both superpowers.

Thanks to an agreement with the Belgian colonists,

the Americans had hitherto enjoyed the right to mine it.

Uranium from Katanga was even used to make the bombs dropped

on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

But now that the Congo had become independent, there was nothing

to stop Lumumba doing business

with Moscow, even if the Prime Minister denied any

collusion with the Kremlin.

But in the context of the Cold War, these words did little to ease

the fears of the Western powers.

Encouraged by its American ally, Brussels sent 10,000

troops to the Congo.

Officially, they came to protect the white population against violence.

In reality, some Belgians lent a hand to the Katanga secessionists.

A month later,

Belgium signed an agreement with the province's governor,

de facto recognising

its independence.

Responding to the infringement of his country's sovereignty,

Lumumba appealed to the UN for

military aid against Belgian aggression.

The UN sent peacekeepers to restore order, but not to stop the Belgians.

Backed into a corner, the Congolese Prime Minister decided to

go all out and requested

Soviet support.

The Kremlin saw an opportunity to win a new African ally.

As a sign of support, a Soviet embassy opened in Leopoldville.

The U.S.S.R. strongly condemned the Belgian interference,

accusing Brussels of neo-colonialism.

Lumumba became a symbol of the struggle against American imperialism.

Confronted with this new development, Washington wondered

what course to take.

Lumumba's rapprochement with Moscow was worrying, and Secret

Service reports were alarming.

Larry Devlin, CIA Station Chief in Leopoldville, wrote,

"We believe he will become a strong man, eliminate moderate

opposition and establish

a regime under the influence of, if not totally

controlled by, the Commies."

The response was swift.

CIA Chief Allen Dulles made a radical decision.

"Lumumba's removal is our most important objective."

##

To achieve its ends, the USA recruited a high-ranking member of the

Congolese army, and a former Lumumba protege.

His name was Joseph Mobutu, and he was fiercely opposed to

communism and consumed by the desire

to rule the Congo.

Backed by Uncle Sam's military and financial power,

Mobutu did the dirty work.

He deposed Lumumba, placed him under house arrest, and

cleaned up the country.

- Hiding in a small car,

Lumumba managed to escape from his residence.

A week later, he was caught by Mobutu's men

and handed over to the Katanga rebels.

The Congolese prime minister was executed

on January the 17th, 1961.

His body was dissolved in acid to avoid any commemoration.

For the Americans,

Mobutu was the perfect candidate to replace him.

"It is in our interest to support Colonel Mobutu as a

counter-power," Larry Devlin wrote to the CIA.

"He is waiting for our instructions, now and

in the coming days."

Washington had won a round in the Congo.

The Americans had put a pro-Western pawn in office and ousted the Soviets.

Freshly elected to the White House,

President Kennedy personally congratulated Mobutu for his help.

"General, without you, this whole thing would have failed

and the Communists would have taken power."

CIA archives would later reveal that nearly $20 million had

been transferred to Mobutu

without any accounting records.

Lumumba's death sparked a worldwide wave of indignation.

At the United Nations, African -American activists burst into

a Security Council meeting and

and accused the United States of assassinating the

Congolese Prime Minister.

Demonstrations against US imperialism multiplied,

as did hostile declarations by African leaders.

In Ghana, Nkrumah's fierce speeches even jeopardised funding for his dam.

The United States wasn't managing to win people over on

the African continent.

All the more so, as it continued to support South Africa and

its apartheid regime,

a system of strict racial segregation created by the white minority,

who were convinced that they

had been chosen by God to rule over black people.

Segregation was enforced through violent repression.

The political party the African National Congress had been

banned since 1960, its leaders forced

into exile in neighbouring countries, and others sentenced

to long prison terms.

The most famous among them was Nelson Mandela.

Despite international outrage,

America had no intention of abandoning its precious ally.

South Africa was its anti -communist gendarme in the region.

It also had reserves of uranium, diamond mines,

and precious metals such as gold.

The ANC, which continued its action from abroad,

had no choice but to turn to the Soviet Union for help.

An opportunity for the Kremlin to take a leading role.

Moscow offered to train ANC leaders and fully exploited this

support, while accusing America

of racism.

In the early 1960s, the USSR enjoyed an excellent reputation

on the African continent.

- [NEWSREEL] Soviet Union's top salesman of communist doctrine gets

the VIP treatment in Ghana,

as he arrives with a briefcase full of promises.

- African and Soviet dignitaries met regularly

and new projects were approved.

Almost 40 African countries benefited

from the presence of the 40,000 engineers,

political and military advisors sent by the Kremlin.

And that's not all.

In Moscow, the People's Friendship University, aptly renamed

Patrice Lumumba University,

offered generous scholarships to African students.

The program included language courses...

... a visit to Lenin's mausoleum on Red Square

and a taste of the Russian winter.

The seduction operation was well underway.

Magnanimous, Khrushchev declared to the students,

"We won't be saddened if you don't become communists,

yet you will always remain honest if you devote your lives

to the faithful service of your people,

and not to the money bag, the gold coin."

Faced with the Soviet onslaught, the Kennedy administration had to react.

The African continent could not be left to the USSR.

- We can welcome diversity, the communists cannot.

For we offer a world of choice, and they offer a world of coercion.

- The centrepiece at the heart of the new American soft

power was the Peace Corps,

young volunteers on humanitarian missions to teach

English, mechanics and medicine.

##

- Our Peace Corps, I want to emphasize, is not designed as a

weapon of propaganda, is not

designed as a tool in the Cold War.

It is a genuine effort by the people of the United States to

play their part in working for peace.

They will live at the same level as the citizens of the country

which they're sent to, doing

the same work, eating the same food, speaking the same language.

- The need to restore the image of the United States was all the

more urgent after the outbreak of the Vietnam War,

which had slowed the scramble for Africa and

revived the spectre of American colonialism.

Embroiled in the conflict in Asia, America gave up on new

adventures in the tropics.

All the more so because in Africa, everything had gone wrong.

Just a decade after the first wave of independence, the people of

Africa were disillusioned with

their leaders, who had failed to deliver on the promises of

social justice and growth.

Some, like Nkrumah, even took an authoritarian turn,

establishing a single party and imposing

a personality cult.

The Ghanaian leader, a leading figure of decolonisation, was

ousted in a coup d'etat in 1966.

His statue removed.

And his writings burned.

- [NEWS REPORT] The cost of Nkrumahism became

too great for the people to bear.

Vast prestige projects sapped the country's dwindling wealth.

The rulers lived in opulence, while the average Ghanaian worker

would be lucky to earn forty dollars a month.

- In the late 1960s, a new generation of African

nationalist leaders emerged.

One of these was Somali General Mohamed Siad Barre.

In 1969, he instigated a putsch against the pro-Western

government in Mogadishu.

In the aftermath, he declared, "To guarantee the interests of

the Somali people, we declare

that Somalia will henceforth be a socialist state."

To back up his statements, the General circulated placards and

symbols that left no doubt about

his convictions.

It was an invitation that the Kremlin leadership, and its new

strongman Leonid Brezhnev, couldn't ignore.

From a geostrategic point of view, Somalia was a very valuable country.

Its ports controlled the major maritime trade routes between

the Suez Canal and the Indian Ocean.

In 1974 a co-operation agreement was signed.

Soviet engineers arrived to build a missile base and a naval

centre near the Red Sea.

The Somali Democratic Republic thus became the most

substantial Soviet investment in Africa.

That same year, Europe's last colonial power, Portugal, freed itself

from 40 years of dictatorship

with the Carnation Revolution.

The new democratic government decided to withdraw from Angola,

which it had occupied since the

16th century.

The first colony on the African continent and a former

hub of the slave trade would

be one of the last to regain its independence.

The date was set a year and a half later, for November 11th 1975.

In accordance with the agreement signed with the Portuguese,

the MPLA, the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola,

was to take power.

The party was led by the socialist Agosto Neto.

A medical student in the Portuguese capital, he was trusted

by the former colonists.

But his position as leader was fragile.

- The foreign forces were represented by two other factions vying for power:

in the north, FNLA, the National Liberation Front for Angola,

and in the south, Jonas Savimbi's UNITA.

Both parties were backed by the United States and Mobutu's

Congo, now known as Zaire.

Their aim?

To prevent the establishment of a socialist government in Angola.

Civil war broke out between the three factions.

Whoever took control of the capital Luanda on November 11th 1975,

the day independence was to be announced, would win power.

For the two rival blocs, a new opportunity to gain

ground in Africa opened up.

The only obstacle to their expansionist ambitions was the

policy of detente that Moscow and

Washington had been pursuing over the past ten years.

Given this, actively intervening in Angola would be seen as a

provocation by both sides.

After a brief period of hesitation, Moscow decided to become

involved in the conflict.

To avoid jeopardising the rapprochement, sending

troops was out of the question.

Instead, the Kremlin opted for logistical and material support.

Soviet weapons enabled Agosto Neto's troops to take

Luanda in June 1975.

The White House was in panic.

- The Soviet Union had sent close to $200 million worth of

military equipment to Angola.

Soviet actions in Angola, if continued, are bound to affect

the general relationship with

the United States.

- In response, Henry Kissinger, advisor to the U.S. President,

and Bill Colby, head of the CIA,

met in the Oval Office.

The MPLA had to be stopped at all costs.

The CIA set up a secret operation to send $50m worth of

equipment to Neto's opponents.

The deliveries were routed through Mobutu's Zaire, an American ally.

He wasn't the only supporter on the continent that the USA rallied around.

It was also South Africa.

Pretoria sent 3,000 soldiers to Angola.

And so began one of the bloodiest

confrontations of the Cold War.

Armed with American equipment, rebel troops advanced from the

north and south towards

the capital.

The Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski described the

tension in Luanda as the troops approached.

"Who is going to get there first?

The FNLA is a brutal army.

A few days ago they took the town of Lucala.

Not a single survivor was left.

Women's heads were scattered along the road, bodies with

hearts and livers cut out."

On November 2nd, a week before the date of independence,

the rebel armies were only 30 kilometres from Luanda.

Neto's MPLA soldiers were surrounded.

He sent an urgent telegram to Moscow asking for help.

When the Kremlin refused, Neto turned to another Communist ally,

Fidel Castro in Cuba.

With Moscow's tacit agreement, Castro launched Operation Carlota

two days later, the last-ditch

rescue of a socialist Angola.

Three Cuban army planes made 70 round flights between the

island and Luanda, a total of

18,000 kilometres each way, transporting almost 4,000

volunteer soldiers and weapons.

In Angola, thousands of kilometres from their homes, the

Soviets and Americans were waging

a hot war through proxy armies.

The fighting ended in a resounding Cuban victory, allowing

Agosto Neto's MPLA to take power.

On 11 November 1975, Neto proclaimed the country's independence

and became its president.

Although Moscow officially distanced itself from the

conflict, no one was fooled.

The USSR had won, a triumph that was difficult for its

American rival to accept.

- We don't think the Russians are going to have any permanent

foothold in Africa, in

Angola or anywhere else.

The whole record of the African countries is that while

they may smile for once in a

while on Russian help, they get rid of them as soon as they're able to.

- Moscow savoured its triumph.

"The tide is finally turning in our direction," claimed

a Kremlin official.

The Americans, on the other hand, were humiliated by the outcome of the war.

They were also widely criticised for their support of the

South African regime.

Some elites were convinced that their country was losing

the battle for Africa.

Galvanized by their success, the Soviets continued their

offensive on the African continent.

Their new target, Ethiopia in East Africa.

Ethiopia was never colonized.

It was one of the oldest monarchies in the world.

Its king, Haile Selassie, had been reigning like a despot for decades,

ruling over a people

living in poverty, with only five percent of the

population able to read and write.

In 1974, a revolution broke out.

A movement called the Derg overthrew and executed the king.

At the head of the movement was Mengistu Haile Mariam,

a military officer from a working-class background.

He announced his intention to transform the country according to

the principles of Marxism-Leninism.

Addis Ababa University, funded by the USA since the 1950s,

became the focal point of the revolution.

Mengistu also launched a campaign against his opponents.

During a public speech, the new Ethiopian leader broke a

bottle of red liquid to show

that he intended to spill the blood of counter-revolutionaries.

A wave of terror swept through the country.

Over the next two years, 500,000 men, women and children were

rounded up and executed.

The atrocities did not prevent Moscow from supporting the

country's socialist transformation.

Ethiopia nationalized its enterprises and

collectivized its land,

all under the benevolent eye of its Soviet big brother.

Though the Kremlin turned a blind eye to the Red Terror,

it would have to take a position

in the conflict between Ethiopia and the Somalia of Siad Barre,

another of its African proteges.

On July 23, 1977, Somali troops invaded their Ethiopian neighbour.

The cause of this attack? The Ogaden Desert.

Located in Ethiopia, it was claimed by Somalia.

The Kremlin had to weigh up the pros and cons in choosing sides.

There was Somalia on the one hand, with its favorable

geo-strategic location.

Siad Barre was aware of this asset, and made sure he wasn't confined

to a relationship with the USSR.

He also cultivated ties with China, Saudi Arabia,

and even the United States.

On the other hand, there was Ethiopia, which was more

ideologically compliant.

Mengistu went so far as to erect a statue of Lenin in the

center of Addis Ababa,

the largest outside of Europe.

The Ethiopian leader also sparked enthusiasm among some

European communist leaders, notably the East

German Erich Honecker.

But it wasn't all about ideology.

Ethiopia would be useful in alleviating some of the

shortcomings of the East German economy.

In particular a shortage of coffee, which made the GDR

leaders fear a popular revolt.

Mengistu agreed to exchange precious coffee beans for East German weapons.

Honecker was convinced.

Fidel Castro also wanted to make his position clear.

After a meeting with Somalia's Siad Barre and Ethiopia's

Mengistu, Castro concluded,

"Siad Barre is above all a nationalist,

and the socialism he espouses is an empty shell.

Mengistu, on the other hand, is a calm, serious and sincere man,

aware of the power of the masses."

But it was up to Brezhnev to decide.

In the war for the Ogaden desert, he gave priority to Mengistu's Ethiopia.

The Red Army undertook its biggest foreign military intervention

since the Korean War in the 1950s.

In just six months, up to the summer of 1978,

Weapons and equipment, valued at over a billion dollars,

were sent to Ethiopia.

Fidel Castro added 11,000 of his own soldiers,

a huge military force that crushed the US-backed Somali army.

Once again, the proxy battle between the two superpowers

ended in a Soviet victory.

But the USSR's relationship with the United States had

reached a breaking point.

Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Jimmy Carter's National Security

Advisor, later wrote,

"Detente was lost in the Ogaden Desert.

It was time for America to strike back.

In 1981, Ronald Reagan became the new occupant of the White House.

For him, the USSR was nothing less than an evil empire that

had to be destroyed at all costs.

And it seemed like a good time to strike.

For the past two years, the Soviet Union had been bogged

down in Afghanistan,

where it was draining precious resources.

Reagan wanted to deliver the death blow and launched a new

arms race, dubbed "Star Wars."

"The Strategic Defense Initiative, an extensive research

and development program,

designed to explore ways of defending America and its allies

from ballistic missile attack.

Great progress has been made since the program began."

- Freed from the burden of Vietnam, the Americans were able to

focus on the African continent again.

Reagan received Jonas Zavimbi of Angola's UNITA, an

opponent of the existing socialist

government in power, and reaffirmed his support.

Washington also reviewed its relations with South Africa, where

the apartheid policy was

becoming increasingly problematic.

Numerous riots broke out in the townships where the black

population was concentrated.

The South African army violently suppressed them.

Under pressure from the black civil rights movements, the

United States had to distance

itself from this repression.

South African politicians, westerners, and ANC opposition leaders

secretly began negotiations.

For the first time, white leaders contemplated abolishing apartheid.

And in exchange, the ANC, hitherto supported by Moscow,

promised to abandon its socialist policies.

By the mid-1980s, communism was no longer inspiring African people.

On the contrary, its record had been disastrous.

Notably with the faithful comrade Mengistu in Ethiopia.

Land collectivization led to terrible famine.

In the northeastern province of Wollo alone, it claimed the

lives of over 500,000 people.

In Moscow, the ageing political class had no answer to the

erosion of its influence.

The Red Empire had its own economic problems to contend with.

Appointed head of the Communist Party in 1985,

Mikhail Gorbachev recognised his country's difficulties.

Under his leadership, the USSR began to withdraw from Africa.

So, when Eritrean independence fighters threatened to break

away in Northern Ethiopia, Gorbachev

did not support Mengistu.

This was partly due to a lack of resources, but above all it

was because good relations

with Europe and the United States had become his priority.

Commenting on Africa, Andrei Kozyrov, the soon-to-be Minister

of Foreign Affairs, said

"The majority of developing countries do not suffer so much

from capitalism as from

its absence."

An admission of failure in 1988 that heralded the definitive

end of the Soviet project in Africa.

One year later, the Berlin Wall fell.

And two years later, the Soviet Union was dismantled.

The Cold War was over.

And on the African continent, the alliances that had been

woven over more than 30 years

collapsed like a house of cards.

America successively dropped its anti-communist pawns,

Mobutu in Zaire and Zavimbi in Angola.

In Ethiopia, Mengistu declared his intention to abandon

communism and opened up the country

to a mixed economy.

An opportunistic change of heart that did nothing to prevent

the breakup of Eritrea,

the last African country to gain its independence in 1993.

In 1994, after 27 years in prison, Nelson Mandela became the

first president of a new South Africa.

Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski wrote,

"In Africa, the Cold War was waged in a particularly

brutal and cynical way.

And Africa was incapable of doing anything to stop the slaughter."

The end of the Cold War provided Africa with the opportunity

to regain control of its fate.

In 2002, the Organisation of African Unity became the African Union,

a new tool for economic

and political cooperation, and a deterrent to the foreign

greed that continues to prey on Africa.

Americans, Europeans, Russians, and Chinese alike are investing

in the continent to exploit

its precious resources.

To mark the 60th anniversary of the African Union in 2023,

its president warned against

a potentially dangerous future.

The challenge for Africa is to confront the new forces of imperialism

and prevent history from repeating itself.