Hispano-Lusitanian Pact of Africa

Hispano-Lusitanian Pact of Africa

“Dos naciones, un destino imperial.”

Formed in 1944, the Hispano-Lusitanian Pact of Africa is a political, economic, and military alliance between Spain and Portugal, designed to protect and coordinate their colonial holdings in Africa amid the growing threat of German expansion and regional instability.

Origins and Purpose

Though traditionally rivals in overseas colonization, Spain and Portugal found common cause in resisting the encroachment of the Reichskommissariat Mittelafrika, the ambitions of Italy in North and East Africa, and the rise of anti-colonial socialist insurgencies across the continent.

The pact was signed in Luanda, marking the beginning of a formal alliance between Madrid and Lisbon. It combines mutual defense guarantees with economic cooperation and shared administration zones in contested or unstable regions.

Key Goals

• Preserve Iberian colonial sovereignty in Africa.
• Coordinate military responses against insurgent or Axis-backed threats.
• Protect Catholic missions and cultural influence in Africa.
• Counterbalance German and Italian colonial presence, especially in Angola, Mozambique, and Spanish Sahara.

Structure and Governance

The alliance is directed by the Council of African Unity, a joint Iberian body headquartered in Santa Isabel, Spanish Guinea. It is composed of colonial governors, military commanders, and representatives from the foreign ministries of both nations.

Key elements include:

• Joint Security Forces, primarily gendarmerie and anti-partisan units.
• Combined naval patrols in the Gulf of Guinea and South Atlantic.
• Resource-sharing agreements, particularly in oil, rubber, and minerals.
• Cultural coordination, including Spanish-Portuguese language schools and propaganda efforts to foster loyalty among local populations.

Political Tensions

Though united by necessity, tensions remain:

• Portugal, more cautious and internationally neutral, often seeks quiet diplomacy with the Reich.
• Spain, under Franco, is more ideologically aligned with the Axis but increasingly distrustful of Berlin’s colonial ambitions.

These differences have led to internal disputes, particularly in matters of military command and long-term political vision for African governance.

Current Situation (1946)

The pact has succeeded in stabilizing Iberian holdings for now, though both nations are aware of the threat posed by RK-Mittelafrika and Axis-friendly fascist factions within their own borders.

There are growing resistance movements in Angola, Mozambique, and Western Sahara inspired by communist and nationalist ideologies.

Germany views the pact with suspicion, and Italian officials have publicly criticized it as a “dead dream of a faded empire.”