Angola

República de Angola
República de Angola
	Coat of arms of Angola
	Motto: none
	Anthem: Angola Avante!; (Portuguese: Forward Angola!);
Capital; (and largest city)	Luanda; 8°50′S 13°20′E
Official languages	Portuguese
Government	Multi-party democracy
Independence
Area
Population
GDP (PPP)	2003 estimate
Currency	Kwanza (AOA)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
Internet TLD	.ao
Calling code	+244
	1 Estimate is based on regression; other PPP figures are extrapolated from the latest International Comparison Programme benchmark estimates.

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A former Portuguese colony, Angola, known formally as the Republic of Angola, was ravaged by a quarter-century of civil war between a pro-Soviet government that controlled the capital and coastal areas and a pro-democracy guerrilla movement that held the interior regions. After the death of guerrilla leader Jonas Savimbi in 1992, a multiparty republic was set up, but free elections have yet to be held. Political activity by the opposition has sometimes been met with violence, and the state controls most of the mass media. China has invested huge sums in reconstruction, and is now Angola's biggest oil export market. It thus wields considerable influence, and the opposition fears that the government is adopting the Chinese political and economic model. Though Angola has considerable natural resources, especially oil and diamonds, it remains among the world's poorest nations, and much needs to be done to reconstruct the infrastructure destroyed during the civil war.

The oil-rich province of Cabinda is separated from the rest of the nation by the Congo River and a narrow strip of land belonging to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Angolan government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with a Cabindese secessionist movement in August 2006.

History

  Background Note: Angola

In 1482, when the Portuguese first landed in what is now northern Angola, they encountered the Kingdom of the Congo, which stretched from modern Gabon in the north to the Kwanza River in the south. South of this kingdom were various important states. Ndongo was the most significant, and modern Angola derives its name from the word ngola (king) in Ndongo. The Portuguese gradually took control of the coastal strip throughout the sixteenth century by a series of treaties and wars and had conquered the Congo and Ndongo states by 1671. Full Portuguese administrative control of the interior did not occur until the beginning of the twentieth century.

Portugal's primary interest in Angola quickly turned to slavery, which began with the purchase from African chiefs of people to work on sugar plantations in São Tomé, Principé, and Brazil. Many scholars agree that by the nineteenth century, Angola was the largest source of slaves not only for Brazil but also the Americas, including the United States. By the end of the nineteenth century, a massive forced labor system had replaced formal slavery and would continue until outlawed in 1961. Forced labor provided the basis for development of a plantation economy and then the mining sector. It was also used, with British financing, to construct three railroads from the coast to the interior, the most important of which was the transcontinental Benguela railroad that linked the port of Lobito with the copper zones of the Belgian Congo and what is now Zambia, through which it connects to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.

Colonial economic development did not translate into social development for native Angolans. The Portuguese regime encouraged white immigration, especially after 1950, which intensified racial antagonisms. As decolonization progressed elsewhere in Africa, Portugal rejected independence and treated its African colonies as overseas provinces. Consequently, three independence movements emerged from the early 1960s: the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) led by Agostinho Neto, with a base among Kimbundu and the mixed-race intelligentsia of Luanda, and links to communist parties in Portugal and the East Bloc; the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA), led by Holden Roberto with an ethnic base in the Bakongo region of the north and links to the United States and the Mobutu regime in Kinshasa; and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), led by Jonas Savimbi with an ethnic and regional base in the Ovimbundu heartland in the center of the country.

After the 1974 coup in Portugal, the military government promptly agreed to hand over power to a coalition of the three movements. The ideological differences between the three movements eventually led to armed conflict, with FNLA and UNITA forces, encouraged by their respective international supporters, attempting to wrest control of Luanda from the MPLA. The intervention of troops from South Africa on behalf of UNITA and Zaire on behalf of the FNLA in September and October 1975 and the MPLA's importation of Cuban troops in November effectively internationalized the conflict. Retaining control of Luanda, the coastal strip, and increasingly lucrative oil fields in Cabinda, the MPLA declared independence on November 11, 1975, the day the Portuguese abandoned the capital. UNITA and the FNLA formed a rival coalition government based in the interior city of Huambo. Agostinho Neto became the first president of the MPLA government that was recognized by the United Nations in 1976. Upon his death in 1979, then-Planning Minister José Eduardo dos Santos became president, a position he still holds.

The FNLA's military failures led to its increasing marginalization and abandonment by international supporters. But civil war between UNITA and the MPLA continued until 1989. For much of this time, UNITA controlled vast swaths of the interior and was backed by U.S. resources and South African troops. Similarly, tens of thousands of Cuban troops remained to support the MPLA. A U.S.-brokered agreement resulted in withdrawal of foreign troops in 1989 and led to the Bicesse Accord in 1991, which spelled out an electoral process for a democratic Angola under the supervision of the United Nations. Savimbi rejected the results of the first round of the presidential election in 1992 (in which he won 40 percent of the votes to dos Santos's 49 percent, which meant a runoff), charging massive fraud, and returned to war. Another peace accord, known as the Lusaka Protocol, was brokered in Lusaka, Zambia, and signed in 1994. This agreement, too, collapsed into renewed conflict. The Angolan military launched a massive offensive in 1999, which destroyed UNITA's conventional capacity, and recaptured all the major cities previously held by Savimbi's forces. Savimbi then declared a return to guerrilla tactics, which continued until his death in combat in February 2002.

On April 4, 2002, the Angolan government and UNITA formalized the de facto cease-fire that had prevailed following Savimbi's death. On November 21, 2002, UNITA and the government declared all outstanding issues resolved and the Lusaka Protocol fully implemented.

The Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC), formed in 1974, rejected the Alvor Accords that included Cabinda as part of Angolan territory at independence. In 1975, FLEC began low-level guerilla attacks against government targets and kidnapped foreigners in an effort to press for an independent Cabindan state. The simmering revolt finally ended with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding in 2006.

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS Angola changed from a one-party Marxist-Leninist system ruled by the MPLA to a nominal multiparty democracy following the 1992 elections, in which President dos Santos won the first-round election with more than 49% of the vote to Jonas Savimbi's 40%; a runoff never took place. The Constitutional Law of 1992 establishes the broad outlines of government structure and delineates the rights and duties of citizens. The government is based on ordinances, decrees, and decisions issued by a president and his ministers or through legislation produced by the National Assembly and approved by the president. The parliament is generally subordinate to the executive.

Few opportunities exist for opposition parties to challenge MPLA dominance. President dos Santos had proposed that general elections be held in 2006; however, this is becoming increasingly unlikely. A multi-party constitutional reform process will resume following elections

Prior to the colonial period, Angola was ruled by two highly centralized native kingdoms, the Bantu in the north and the Mbundu in the south. Portuguese traders arrived in 1483. They established colonies and developed a lucrative slave trade. When the native peoples resisted, the Portuguese clamped down, killing, capturing, and exporting the natives, whose population declined dramatically until the mid-eighteenth century. After the Berlin Conference of 1884 officially allocated African regions to colonial European states, Portuguese settlement accelerated, as did the military campaign to subdue the kingdoms. Colonial exploitation continued until the mid-twentieth century.

Although Britain and France had begun abandoning their colonial empires, the Portuguese resisted peaceful de-colonization. In 1951 the colony was restyled as an overseas province, also called Portuguese West Africa. In 1956, the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) emerged as a coalition of nationalist rebel groups fighting for independence and against racial and imperialist exploitation. By the time the Portuguese government was overthrown in April 1974, three major rebel factions had developed:

the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola MPLA), with links to communist parties in Portugal and the Soviet bloc;
the National Liberation Front of Angola (Frente Nacional de Libertação de Angola, FNLA), with links to the United States and the Mobutu regime in Zaire; and
the National Union for Total Independence of Angola (União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola, UNITA), led by Jonas Malheiro Savimbi with an ethnic and regional base in the Ovimbundu heartland in the center of the country.

After Portugal's government fell, Angola's nationalist parties began to negotiate for independence, which was set for November 1975. But almost immediately, a civil war broke out among the MPLA, UNITA, and the FNLA, exacerbated by foreign intervention. South African troops struck an alliance of convenience with UNITA and invaded Angola in August 1975 to ensure that there would be no interference (by a newly independent Angolan state) in Namibia, which was then under South African control. Cuban troops came to the support of the MPLA in October 1975, enabling them to control the capital, Luanda, and hold off the South African forces. The MPLA declared itself the de facto government of the country when independence was formally declared in November, with Agostinho Neto as the first president.

In 1976, the FNLA was defeated by a combination of MPLA and Cuban troops, leaving the Marxist MPLA and UNITA (backed by the United States and South Africa) to fight for power.

The conflict raged on, fueled by the geopolitics of the Cold War and by the ability of both parties to access resources from Angola's natural resources. The MPLA drew upon the revenues of off-shore oil reserves, while UNITA obtained alluvial diamonds that were easily smuggled through the region's very porous borders.

In 1991, the factions agreed to turn Angola into a multiparty state, but after the current president José Eduardo dos Santos of MPLA won UN-supervised elections, UNITA claimed there was fraud and fighting broke out again. A 1994 peace accord (Lusaka protocol) between the government and UNITA provided for the integration of former UNITA insurgents into the government. A national unity government was installed in 1997, but serious fighting resumed in late 1998, rendering hundreds of thousands of people homeless.

On February 22, 2002, Savimbi was killed in a gunbattle and a cease-fire was reached. UNITA gave up its armed wing and assumed the role of major opposition party. Although the political situation of the country seems to be normalizing, President dos Santos still has not allowed regular democratic processes. Most mass media are state controlled.

Among Angola's major problems are a serious humanitarian crisis as a result of the prolonged war, the abundance of mine fields, and continued violence by guerrilla movements fighting for the independence of the northern enclave of Cabinda (Frente para a Libertação do Enclave de Cabinda).

Politics

The executive branch of the government is composed of the president, the prime minister, and a Council of Ministers. Currently, political power is concentrated in the presidency. The Council of Ministers, composed of government ministers and vice ministers, meets regularly to discuss policy issues. Governors of the eighteen provinces are appointed by the president. The Constitutional Law of 1992 establishes the broad outlines of government structure and delineates the rights and duties of citizens. The legal system is based on Portuguese and customary law but is weak and fragmented, and courts operate in only 12 of more than 140 municipalities. A Supreme Court serves as the appellate tribunal; a Constitutional Court with powers of judicial review has never been formed, despite its authorization.

The civil war ravaged the country's political and social institutions. The United Nations estimates there are 1.8 million internally displaced persons , while the accepted figure for war-affected people is 4 million. Daily conditions of life throughout the country and specifically Luanda (population approximately 4 million) mirror the collapse of administrative infrastructure as well as many social institutions. The ongoing grave economic situation largely prevents any government support for social institutions. Hospitals lack medicines or basic equipment, schools operate without books, and public employees often do without basic supplies for their day-to-day work.

The president announced the government's intention to hold elections in 2006. These elections would be the first since 1992 and would serve to elect both a new president and a new National Assembly.

Geography

Angola is bordered by Namibia to the south, Zambia to the east, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the northeast, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the west. The exclave of Cabinda also borders the Republic of the Congo to the north. Angola's capital, Luanda, lies on the Atlantic coast in the northwest of the country.

Angola is divided into an arid coastal strip stretching from Namibia to Luanda; a wet, interior highland; a dry savanna in the interior south and southeast; and rain forest in the north and in Cabinda. The Zambezi River and several tributaries of the Congo River have their sources in Angola.

Economy

Map of Angola

The economy remains in disarray because of the prolonged warfare. Despite its abundant natural resources, output per capita is among the world's lowest. Subsistence agriculture provides the main livelihood for 85 percent of the population. Oil production and its supporting activities are vital to the economy, contributing about 45 percent of GDP and 90 percent of exports. Control of the oil industry is consolidated in Sonangol Group, a conglomerate owned by the government. Despite the signing of a peace accord in November 1994, violence continues, millions of land mines remain, and many farmers are reluctant to return to their fields. As a result, half of the country's food must still be imported. The internal strife discourages investment outside the petroleum sector. Nevertheless, increased oil production supported 12 percent growth in 2004 and 19 percent growth in 2005.

A strategic partnership with China was set in motion with the advent of peace in 2002. Chinese companies have made huge investments, especially in the construction and metallurgical sectors. In 2005, the government started using a $2 billion line of credit from China to rebuild Angola's public infrastructure. Trade with China was worth $7 billion in 2005.

Consumer inflation declined from 325 percent in 2000 to about 18 percent in 2005, but the stabilization policy places pressure on international net liquidity. To fully take advantage of its rich national resources — gold, diamonds, extensive forests, Atlantic fisheries, and large oil deposits — Angola will need to continue reforming government policies and reducing corruption.

Demographics

Luanda, the Angolan capital

Angola has three main ethnic groups, each speaking a Bantu language: Ovimbundu 37 percent, Kimbundu 25 percent, and Bakongo 13 percent. Mestiços (Angolans of mixed European and African origins) amount to about 2 percent, with a small (1 percent) population of whites. Portuguese make up the largest non-Angolan population, with at least thirty thousand. Portuguese is both the official and predominant language, spoken in the homes of about two-thirds of the population and as a secondary language by many more.

Catholicism remains the dominant religion, although an increasing number of churches are claiming more followers, particularly evangelicals.

Culture

Government

Republic of Angola official government portal
National Assembly of Angola official site (in Portuguese)
Embassy of Angola in Washington DC government information and links

News

allAfrica - Angola news headline links
Angola Press government-controlled news agency (in Portuguese, French and English)
Angonoticias (in Portuguese) - A popular news source in Angola

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