In 1971, the FAP started a counter-insurgency military campaign, that although provoking a number of civilian collateral damages in its first stage, effectively expelled the three guerrilla movements operating in the East of Angola to beyond the frontiers of the territory.
The last guerrillas lost hundreds of soldiers and left tons of equipment behind, disbanding chaotically to the neighboring foreign countries in the region or in some cases, joining or surrendering to the Portuguese authorities.
In order to gain the confidence of the local rural populations, and create conditions for their permanent and productive settlement in the region, the FAP organized massive vaccination campaigns, medical check-ups, water, sanitation and alimentary infrastructure.
The reorganization of populations in Angola took several forms that deserved the attention of journalists and writers, both foreign and national, that compared the development plans of the Portuguese authorities to what they knew what they did in the wars in Algeria and Vietnam.
In 1973, in the East were working five contracting firms with annual capacity to build 700 km of paved road and at the same time, the military engineering company proceeded to the opening and repair of trails with tactical operational interest.
[2] After the Portuguese withdrawal from Angola in 1974-75 due to the events of the Carnation Revolution military coup in Lisbon, the MPLA and UNITA splintered, and the Angolan Civil War began as the movements clashed militarily and ideologically.