Al J Venter, The Last of Africa’s Cold War Conflicts (Pen & Sword, 2020)
It’s the 1960s, and a guerilla war has broken out with communist-backed forces fighting mainly in the jungle against a western power. And it is all but ignored in the western media because this isn’t Vietnam; it is Portuguese Guinea and a conflict on the periphery of the Cold War and the dying embers of European colonialism. The brutal war will last for a decade until the Portuguese left. Al Venter was there reporting on the war, and this book is what he saw and what he thought about it.
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This book is not a typical narrative history of the war in Portuguese Guinea; rather, it is more of a series of despatches and essays covering a range of topics from local events to the global aspects of a proxy war fought against a Cold War backdrop. Venter opens with the build-up to the war. On one side, Portugal had colonised Guinea in the 1500s and was determined not to lose it. Ranged against them were two guerilla forces, the most important of which was the PAIGC, backed by neighbouring countries, the Soviet Union, and Cuba. Venter discusses the major problems that Portugal had to overcome, the foremost of which was their relative poverty compared to other western powers, but also the terrain, the evasiveness of their enemies, and desertion and draft-dodging amongst others. Venter’s ‘hero’ in all this is General Antonio de Spinola who arrived in 1968 to turn around what appeared to be a losing effort. Venter works through Spinola’s more enlightened approach to colonialism while hitting the PAIGC hard when the opportunity arose. Venter participated in patrols, with the ever present menace of landmines, and he visited Portuguese bases to get a feel for frontline conditions. He also provides commentary on the war effort and is scathing towards some of the Portuguese leaders who, Venter argues, sold their country down the river in Guinea.
If you are looking for an objective history of the war in Portuguese Guinea, this is not for you. Venter leans heavily towards the Portuguese, and it is their war he is mostly interested in despite his respect for the talented PAIGC leader Amilcar Cabral. There is no doubting Venter’s bravery, however, in seeking out his stories, and this book is at its best when he is reporting from the field. This book joins a long list of Venter’s wartime experiences in Africa and elsewhere, and it is well worth reading to gain insight into the nature of post-WWII colonial struggles in Africa albeit looking through the Portuguese lens.
