Henrique N'zita Tiago

Henrique N'zita Tiago (14 July 1927^[1] – 3 June 2016)^[2][3] was a commander of the Armed Forces of Cabinda, a rebel guerrilla group that fights for the independence of Cabinda from Angola.^[4] He died in Paris on 3 June 2016.^[2][5] It was reported that Tiago was 88 years old when he died, and that he was buried in France.^[6][5]

Henrique N'zita Tiago
N'zita in 2011
Commander of the Armed Forces of Cabinda
In office 1969 – 3 June 2016
Succeeded by	Emmanuel N'zita
Personal details
Born	(1927-07-14)14 July 1927 Cabinda, Portuguese Angola
Died	3 June 2016(2016-06-03) (aged 88) Paris, France
Political party	FLEC
Children	Emmanuel N'zita, Antoine N'zita, Jean-Claude N'zita

Biography

N'zita in Cabinda, 1978

He was born on July 14, 1927,^[1] at the mission of San Jose de Luali in the region of Dinge,^[7] or in Mboma Lubinda,^[3] Cabinda, into a modest family.^[7]

In 1963, he co-founded the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC), a political organization that fought, at the time, against Portuguese colonial rule.^[2] Because he was part of the FLEC, he was arrested in 1970 by the colonial PIDE.^[8] He served his sentence in the São Nicolau jail in Bentiaba.^[9] He was released in 1974, opened a FLEC office in Tchiowa, the capital of Cabinda;^[9] and a year later, he was appointed chairman of the FLEC.^[10]

Upon learning that the Portuguese government was planning to include Cabinda as part of Angola, N'zita started an armed conflict against Angola's pro-independence armed groups.^[3] His intransigent position in negotiations on the status of Cabinda, opting solely for military means, caused FLEC to fragment into different factions.^[9]

He went into exile to France.^[5] N'zita died in Paris on June 3, 2016.^[2][3] His funeral was on June 10.^[6] Upon his death, his son, Emmanuel N'zita, succeeded him as Commander of the Armed Forces of Cabinda a few days later.^[11][2]

See also

• Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda
• Angolan Civil War

References

1. "Vers un Congo Cabinda indépendant: Le Cabinda serait-il une colonie Angolaise après avoir été une colonie portugaise ? L'appel de Monsieur NZITA TIAGO Henrique, Président du FLEC". cabinda.skyrock.com (in French). Archived from the original on 14 September 2016. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
2. "Nzita Tiago, leader historique du mouvement séparatiste de Cabinda, est mort à Paris" (in French). VOA Afrique. 3 June 2016. Retrieved 4 June 2016.
3. "Morreu Nzita Tiago" (in Portuguese). VOA Português. 3 June 2016. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
4. Taylor & Francis Group (2003). Murison, Katherine (ed.). Africa South of the Sahara 2004. London: Europa Publications. p. 40. ISBN 978-1-857-43183-4.
5. "Africa highlights: Tuesday 7 June 2016, as it happened". BBC News. 7 June 2016. Retrieved 7 June 2016. The leader of a rebel movement seeking independence for Angola's oil-rich region of Cabinda has died in exile in France, Reuters quotes a statement from the group as saying. Flec said Nzita Henriques Tiago, 88, would be buried in France on Friday as he only wanted his body taken back to Cabinda if it was an independent state, Reuters reported. It did not say exactly when Mr Tiago, who was president and co-founder of Flec, died. The group – in one form or another – has been fighting a low-level insurgency since the 1960s. It first took up arms against the colonial power Portugal. Then when Angola gained independence in 1975 and Cabinda was absorbed into Angola, Flec rebels continued to fight against the Luanda government.
6. "Funeral de Nzita Tiago em Paris, mas trasladação para Cabinda só com a independência" (in Portuguese). Angola 24 Horas. 8 June 2016. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
7. "È morto Nzita Henriques Tiago, una vita per l'indipendenza di Cabinda". africarivista.it (in Italian). Africa, La rivista del continente vero. Internationalia srl. 3 June 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2024. Ai lettori italiani forse questo nome dirà poco. In realtà, la sua è una delle ultime figure del movimento di indipendenza dei Paesi africani al quale ha partecipato come leader della lotta per l'autodeterminazione di Cabinda, l'enclave angolana, ricca di petrolio, incastonata tra la Rd Congo e la Repubblica del Congo. Translation: Perhaps this name will mean little to Italian readers. In reality, he is one of the last figures of the independence movement of African countries in which he participated as leader of the struggle for self-determination in Cabinda, the Angolan enclave, rich in oil, nestled between the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo.
8. "Nzita Tiago é uma lenda política e tradicional" (in Portuguese). VOA Português. 3 June 2016. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
9. Da Rocha Alves Sampaio; Madalena, Maria (8 February 2013). "FLEC: 50 anos a afirmar "Cabinda não é Angola"" (in Portuguese). DW. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
10. "Um enclave entre os dois Congos" (in Portuguese). Público. 1 August 2006. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
11. "Emmanuel Nzita assume liderança da FLEC/FAC" (in Portuguese). VOA Português. 7 June 2016. Retrieved 10 April 2021.