I spent a lot of time trying to wrap my mind around Angola for the dissertation, since it’s basically where Cuba got the ball rolling in terms of driving Apartheid out of Southern_Africa. Basically, when the dust settled from the First Angolan Civil War with the MPLA in control over most of the country1, it became a forward base from which Angolan and Cuban troops could (a) defend against SADF incursions, (b) train fighters from neighboring countries, and then (c) launch joint attacks against, for example, South African troops in Occupied Namibia.