ABSTRACT
Portugal’s African empire left a number of contrasting legacies. One dimension is found in the predominantly African shanties around Lisbon, in the different colors of people’s faces in the city’s streets, and in the added dash to the country’s cuisine. At the same time, there is a bitter side that will only heal with time. The ongoing importance Portugal attached to its relationship to Angola was underscored by Prime Minister Cavaco Silva’s first official visit to the African country in September 1991. This was observed as an important development, reflecting further Portuguese support for the peace process and democratization of Angola. Although Portugal functioned as the diplomatic middleman in Mozambique’s gradual opening to the West, Lisbon was unable to remain a primary diplomatic force. Portugal’s own limited resources and domestic economic problems in the late 1970s and early 1980s made it difficult for the former metropolitan power to be anything but a middleman between nations with stronger capabilities.
