The Cabinda War is an ongoing separatist insurgency, waged by the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC) against the government of Angola. FLEC aims at the restoration of the self-proclaimed Republic of Cabinda, located within the borders of the Cabinda province of Angola.

The first Western exploration of the area of modern-day Cabinda was undertaken by navigator Diogo Cão in 1483, later falling under Portuguese influence. In 1853 a delegation of Cabindan chiefs unsuccessfully requested the extension of Portuguese administration from the colony of Angola to Cabinda. Local chiefs continued their attempts at cooperating with Portugal until the 1884 Berlin Conference and the 1885 Treaty of Simulambuco, following which the Cabindan enclave became a Portuguese protectorate. Despite the fact that Cabinda held a semi independent status, a new Portuguese government elected in 1956 transferred the region's administration to Angola without a prior agreement with Cabinda's local leadership.

The population of Cabinda are primarily Kikongo-speakers and a part oif the larger Kongo ethnic group that inhabits the region from the Dande River north of Luanda. There are six main subgroups that live in Cabinda, the Vili, Kakongo, Woyo on the coast, and the Linge, Sundi and Yombe in the interior. These groups also spill over into the Congo. The links between Cabindans and their neighbours North and South of the Congo River derive from diaspora, people travelling from their homeland to find work.

The first Cabindan separatist movement known as Associação dos Indígenas do Enclave de Cabinda (AlEC) was formed in 1956, AIEC advocated the creation of a union between Cabinda and Belgian Congo or French Congo. Associação dos Ressortissants do Enclave de Cabinda (AREC) was founded in 1959 as humanitarian organisation, AREC was renamed into Freedom Movement for the State of Cabinda (MLEC), shifting its role into a political movement promoting self-determination. The National Action Committee of the Cabindan People (CAUNC) and the Mayombé Alliance (ALLIAMA) joined the growing political scene in the same year. In 1963, MLEC, ALLIAMA and CAUNC merged into the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC), which had since been the largest self-determination movement in the region.

On the same year, the Organisation of African Unity declared that Cabinda is an independently governed state with its own independence movement. On 10 January 1967, FLEC formed a government in exile based in the town of Tshela, Zaire. In August 1974, FLEC absorbed the Democratic Union of Cabindan Peoples and the Democratic Party of Cabinda, becoming the sole political organisation in Cabinda.

In January 1975 under pressure from Angolan liberation movements, Portugal accepted Cabinda as part of Angola in the Alvor Agreement where the 3 Angolan independence movements (MPLA, UNITA and FNLA) were present, denying Cabinda the right to self-determination previously granted by the U.N. Chart/Right to Self-determination and the Treaty of Simulambuco. On 1 August 1975, FLEC president Luis Ranque Franque announced the formation of the Republic of Cabinda, an independent state. The MPLA troops controlling the region at the time ignored the statement. In November 1975, Angola gained independence from Portugal, claiming Cabinda as part of its territory. The provisional Cabindan government, led by the FLEC, was overturned. On 8 November 1975, FLEC responded by initiating armed struggle, aiming at creating a separate Cabindan state.

In the course of the Angolan Civil War, FLEC split into five independent factions. FLEC-Posição Militar (FLEC-PM) was later renamed into FLEC-Renovada (FLEC-R), FLEC-N'Zita, FLEC-Lubota, União Nacional de Libertação de Cabinda (UNLC) and the Communist Committee of Cabinda. As the war continued the MPLA led government attempted to gain the support of the various FLEC factions and enter negotiations. On the other hand, UNITA rebels directly collaborated with FLEC-FAC, while seeking to broaden its alliance with the group. The above did not stop UNITA from occasionally collaborating with MPLA in anti-FLEC operations. In 2002, the Angolan government signed a peace deal with UNITA officially ending the civil war.

On August 5th 1975, South African troops invaded 10 miles into Southern Angola, which was followed by further waves on the 14th and 23rd of October 1975. This intervention triggered the involvement of Cuba, in the form of 480 Cuban instructors, alongside armoured troop carriers and artillery. Further threats to the MPLA in the capital arrived in the form of Zahiran units crossing the Northern border into Angola through a joint operation with the FNLA, heading towards Caxito, within 30 miles of Luanda. On November 5th 1975, the Cuban Central committee held a meeting to decide and subsequently dispatch the first Cuban fighting units to Angolan territory. 650 men in 3 Cuban military planes were dispatched by Fidel Castro with the aim to stop South African and Zahiran troops from reaching Luanda. By this date Zaire had 11,000 troops within Northern Angola and 6,000 South African troops were advancing from the South. On the 10th of November 1975, the Zarian’s, alongside a 26-man South African team, launched an attack on Quifangondo, the main water supply for the capital Luanda, 15 miles outside of the city. Simultaneously the Zahiran army launched an attack on the oil reserves of Cabinda in support of the FLEC.