African Entrepreneurship Record

Cabinda.

As an important port established by Portugal in Angola, Cabinda was established too late to be compared with Luanda or Benguela.

At present, Cabinda is actually a small village on the Atlantic coast left by the Portuguese, or a small military fortress. Not to mention the small area, all the infrastructure is imperfect.

Luanda and Benguela have been developed for more than a hundred years, while Cabinda is a northern coastal fortress city that the Portuguese only started to build in the 1980s. If the Berlin Conference had not been held and the Belgian colony was established, this coastal rainforest would have been lost. , the Portuguese were not interested at all.

Of course, Cabinda also has an important role, that is, to curb the outlet of the Congo River. Before, East Africa and Portugal had a hostile relationship, so the Portuguese developed Cabinda with the purpose of blocking East Africa's outlet from the Congo River.

Now East Africa has decided to expand and rebuild this west coast military town, which is only the size of a fishing village.

"The Portuguese stronghold in Cabinda was less than 300 meters long from east to west, with an approximate area of ​​more than 5,000 square meters. There were less than 300 buildings in this area, and about a thousand people lived there before."

East African urban designer Delca said to Cabinda's military governor Balko: "So the demolition of Cabinda is not difficult. The difficulty lies in the huge rainforest surrounding it, which is not conducive to urban construction, so a large number of manpower is needed first. Deforestation and destruction of rainforests to make room for the port of Cabinda.”

At present, Cabinda is the headquarters of the Fourth Regiment of the Second Brigade under the 331 Division. Balco is the commander of the regiment. During the South African War, the 331 Division captured this place. However, Cabinda is too small and can only accommodate a small number of troops, so the Fourth Regiment is Stayed here.

In fact, it is a bit reluctant for a regiment of troops to be stationed here, because it is really difficult to transport supplies here.

Previously, the 331st Division conquered Cabinda through land, which could be said to be a forced trail. Now this trail has been completely covered by vegetation, restoring the original appearance of the rainforest.

Now the main supplies of the Fourth Regiment are actually mainly transported by sea, from the New Hamburg Port around Cape Town and then to Cabinda.

In fact, this transportation route also includes ports and strongholds in Southwest Africa, mainly because sea transportation is more convenient and the cargo volume is large.

Luanda was more convenient, but Luanda destroyed all its ships before Portugal evacuated, and land transportation was inconvenient, especially the Congo River. Every time crossing the Congo River was actually an adventure.

The flow of water in the lower reaches of the Congo River is too turbulent and is not suitable for small ferries to pass. Of course, the fundamental reason is that the lower reaches of the Congo River are completely undeveloped. If East Africa wants to cross the river directly, it can only use local materials to build simple rafts. There is no problem with this kind of raft for temporary use. , after all, time was tight during the war. Of course, of course, the 331st Division's crossing of the river had been completed in Kinshasa. There was actually no difficulty in getting from Kinshasa to Brazzaville.

Of course, Kinshasa can also transport materials, but Kinshasa itself has limited capabilities. The cities of Bangui and Kisan upstream belong to remote areas in East Africa. If East Africa wants to build Cabinda, it is simply impossible to rely on these cities.

Therefore, the development of Cabinda will ultimately depend on Luanda, and then rely on sea transportation between Luanda and Cabinda.

But now the land route between Cabinda and Luanda is impassable, and the shipping conditions are not up to par, so East Africa can only make a big circle.

During peacetime, there was no need for East Africa to take risks and let soldiers cross the river on rafts. During the war, many soldiers going south and their rafts were washed into the Atlantic Ocean by the Congo River.

And although Luanda can now directly connect with the interior of East Africa through land, without railways, the time and energy consumed are not as convenient as sea transportation.

“Cabinda’s geographical location is very important. It is the beginning of the western coastline and the border area between our country and the Belgians. From Cabinda to Pointe-Noire, the capital of the Belgian Congo, the straight-line distance by sea is only 90 kilometers, and it is only 90 kilometers away from the French territory. Gabon’s Port of Chitil is only 600 kilometers away,” Balko said from a strategic perspective.

The capital of French Gabon is Libreville, which is also the largest port city in Gabon. Port Chitil is an important port in the central coastal area of ​​Gabon. It is currently the only two ports in French Gabon and was the largest port in Gabon in the past. two important ports.

As an old colonial empire, France has an impeccable vision in selecting colonial locations. The geographical conditions of both Libreville and Port Chitil far exceed those of ports in the Belgian Congo and the west coast of East Africa.

Lipperville is located at the outlet of the Como River and is supported by a natural harbor. It is a typical port with dual attributes of a bay port and an estuary port. It can not only undertake maritime transportation, but also connect Gabon's inland shipping.

Most ports in East Africa, such as Dar es Salaam and Mombasa, are bay ports, relying on bays to build ports. Bagamoyo is similar to Lipeville.

But Liperville and Bagamoyo are basically on the same level, and the Como River is not a small river that can be compared with the Little Rhine (Ruvo River).

Of course, in terms of economic attributes, Bagamoyo is currently far more valuable than Piberville. The large tropical rainforest area within the French Gabon colony is difficult to develop even if it has excellent ports and inland shipping value.

The economic value of Bagamoyo is based on the premise that the interior of East Africa has been effectively developed, while Cabinda on the west coast obviously cannot be compared with Lipperville or Port Chitil in all aspects.

The Portuguese did not encounter this problem before because Portugal itself is a maritime country, and most of the inland areas have been occupied by East Africa. Only developing the coast can meet their needs.

East Africa is obviously not satisfied with this. The purpose of East Africa is to connect Cabinda with the interior of East Africa and build Cabinda into a bridgehead for the future economic development of East Africa and Atlantic countries.

"In the future, this will be the center of communication between East Africa and the Belgian colonies. If we want to open this node, we must carry out all-round transformation of the current Cabinda, especially in terms of transportation."

"The easiest thing to achieve now in Cabinda is to restore maritime transportation. As for land transportation, there are many difficulties that need to be overcome, especially the Congo River, which is a natural chasm between Cabinda and Luanda. However, Kinshasa can be used as a temporary option for the time being. The only difference between Sa and Cabinda is a road.”

At present, Brazzaville on the other side of Kinshasa is a small military stronghold. Only one platoon is deployed there and it is under the jurisdiction of Kinshasa. Therefore, the road Balko mentioned was built from Brazzaville to Cabinda in the previous life. This is the current land transportation The only condition that can be considered.

When conditions are ripe, a road or even a railway can be built between Luanda and Cabinda. As for the Congo River, it can be temporarily solved by ferry.

This requires East Africa to first build shipyards and other facilities on the lower reaches of the Congo River, or directly introduce small ships and build ferries.

This will take a long time for the impoverished Angola region. Under Portuguese rule for hundreds of years, Angola has not been developed at all except for the development of a small part of the plantation industry. Especially the transportation problem is the biggest headache for East Africa. .

When fighting in Angola and Mozambique, the biggest headache for the East African army was transportation between the two areas. Fortunately, many places in these two areas are grasslands, which alleviated this problem.

However, the climate around Cabinda is a typical tropical rainforest. This is the biggest problem in developing Cabinda in East Africa.