 British policy @-@ makers regarded Portugal as a traditional friend — the Anglo @-@ Portuguese Alliance dated back to 1386 , and both countries were in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ( NATO ) and the European Free Trade Association — but the combined strength of the communist bloc and the Afro @-@ Asian lobby in the United Nations forced the British to peel back their support for the <unk> Estado Novo ( " New State " ) during the early 1960s . Portugal 's Colonial War , starting in Angola in 1961 , pitted it against a number of guerrilla factions in its African territories , most of which subscribed to communist political thinking . Britain opposed communist encroachment into southern Africa , but knew it would become an international pariah if it publicly opposed general consensus at the UN , which roundly condemned colonialism in all forms and supported communist @-@ backed insurgencies across the region , regarding them as racial liberation movements . It therefore attempted an awkward balancing act whereby it would appear to oppose Portugal without meaningfully doing so . 
