The Portuguese responded to the uprising with bombs and machine guns. They bombed and strafed much of the countryside, including areas unaffected by the rebellion. In the words of one Baptist missionary. "The savagery of the Portuguese reaction kicked and scattered the fire until the whole of the North was ablaze."

Underarmed and poorly organized, both rebel groups found the uprising out of their control. The Portuguese, however, were able to isolate it to a few areas of the North within six months.

Since that time the rebellion has simmered in the North. The Portuguese keep it laidden from public viewas much as possible; the roads through the affected areas can only be traveled on in a military convoy.

THE MOST CRIPPLING factor for the rebel groups is their disunity which has persisted to this day. The UPA still concentrates its efforts in the North, and is recognized by Zaire (formerly the Belgian Congo). The MPLA has shifted its principal efforts to the vast, underpopulated areas of the East of Angola. It is supported by neighboring Zambia.

Fratricidal was between the groups has been frequent. An alliance has been reported in the making, but nothing has yet come of it.

Military progress has been slow. The groups say they have been concentrating on political work in the countryside. They say they are not vet at the stage where they can attack towns or strategic targets.

A third rebel group UNHA, or the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, was formed in 1962. It has concentrated its efforts in the East and the South. Friction with the MPLA has been constant, and UNHA claims that MPLA guerrillas have repeatedly attempted to eradicate their rival to the south.

All of the groups recognize that unity is essential for victory, but they have yet to agree on a way to attain the necessary cohesion. And the Portuguese aren't about to help out. They play off one group against the others, much as they fomented tribal wars in the previous five centuries of their involvement in Angola.

Former dictator Salazar ruled Portugal and its empire by the glorification of nationalism and the country's imperial heritage. He had a stroke in 1968 after an unsound deckchair he was sitting on collapsed. But it took him two years to die.

Portugal's empire had a stroke in 1961. When the disease will finally claim its victim is yet to be seen