Soviet intelligence gathering in Africa in the 1960s and early 1970s: a review article

The wave of independence in Africa in the late 1950s and early 1960s, combined with the 'thaw' after Khrushchev's denunciation of Stalin at the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, resulted in renewed Soviet interest after two decades of ignoring African affairs. Newly established diplomatic relations with liberation movements and independent states required the rapid training of middle-level cadres who could report back accurately to Moscow, as the USSR struggled to limit US and European influence in Africa. A volume in Russian of over 400 documents from the 1960s and early 1970s excludes the Arabic-speaking north, but allows readers to understand how intelligence was gathered on the ground by Soviet functionaries attempting to interpret local politics for power centres at home. This review article focuses on the political context in which African expertise was acquired, and analyses three cases from the volume - Ghana, Congo-Léopoldville in crisis, and Namibia in the early struggle for liberation.