THE LARGE SMALL WAR IN ANGOLA

The Angolan conflict is no small war according to most criteria: lasti ng nearly 35 years, with a death toll exceeding half a million, it has involved the troops of four countries and the intervention of three s uperpowers. Four attempts have been made to negotiate an end to the co nflict, but they failed and in fact led to an even bloodier and more b rutal phase of the protracted conflict. This article will first define the intrastate nature and causes of the conflict, examining the media tion processes at Gbadolite, Zaire, and Bicesse, Portugal. Then the au thors identify how, due to a lack of requitement and a lack of accommo dations for all parties after elections, further escalation remained a possibility even after an agreement was signed. The third section ana lyzes how these attempts failed in terms of both construct and impleme ntation; it then discusses how these failures have led to a direct ree xamination of the conflict and redefinition of a mutually satisfactory and tenable resolution in the ongoing mediation process in Lusaka, Za mbia.