The central argument of this chapter is that Leopoldville (nowadays Kinshasa) became the epicentre of the Angolan independence struggle. This strategic positioning leveraged three factors that will be analysed. Firstly, the city hosted various Angolan political forces, with emphasis on the two main rivals at that period—the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA) and the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA). The city also welcomed the Angolan population fleeing the violent retaliation of the Portuguese military, at the beginning of the armed struggle for liberation in 1961. The presence of Angolan refugees made room for the second factor: the expansion of the recruitment of militants from the two main liberation movements. Despite this growth, accusations of all kinds, arrests, exchanges of gunfire and murders would lead to the third factor, that of acute and irreversible crises between these movements and within each of them. The expulsion of the MPLA from Leopoldville was an important victory for the FNLA, but it did not translate into the growth of its military actions. Congolese political tensions and strategic objectives played a fundamental and, in a way, limiting role in the conduct of the liberation struggle by the FNLA.