Angola

República de Angola Republic of Angola
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: "Virtus Unita Fortior"  (Latin) "Unity Provides Strength"
Anthem: Angola Avante!  (Portuguese) "Forward Angola!"
Capital	Luanda
Largest city	Luanda
Official language	Portuguese
Government	Multi-party democracy
- President	José E. dos Santos
- Prime Minister	Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos
Independence	from Portugal
- Date	November 11 1975
Area
- Total	1,246,700 km² (23rd) 481,354 sq mi
- Water (%)	negligible
Population
- 2005 estimate	15,941,000 (61st)
- 1970 census	5,646,166
- Density	13/km² (199th) 34/sq mi
GDP (PPP)	2005 estimate
- Total	$43.362 billion (82nd)
- Per capita	$2,813 (126th)
HDI  (2004)	0.439 (low) (161st)
Currency	Kwanza (AOA)
Time zone	WAT (UTC+1)
- Summer (DST)	not observed (UTC+1)
Internet TLD	.ao
Calling code	+244
Other languages spoken: Umbundu, Kimbundu, Chokwe, Kikongo)

Angola is a country in south-central Africa bordering Namibia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Zambia, and with a west coast along the Atlantic Ocean. The exclave province Cabinda has a border with Republic of the Congo. A former Portuguese colony, it has considerable natural resources, among which oil and diamonds are the most significant. The country is nominally a democracy and is formally named the Republic of Angola ((Portuguese: República de Angola, pronounced IPA: [ʁɛ'publikɐ dɨ ɐ̃'gɔlɐ], )).

History

Queen Nzinga in peace negotiations with the Portuguese governor in Luanda, 1657.

The earliest inhabitants of the area were Khoisan hunter-gatherers. They were largely replaced by Bantu tribes during Bantu migrations. In present-day Angola, Portugal settled in 1483 at the river Congo, where the Kongo State, Ndongo and Lunda existed. The Kongo State stretched from modern Gabon in the north to the Kwanza River in the south. In 1575 Portugal established a colony at Luanda based on the slave trade. The Portuguese gradually took control of the coastal strip throughout the sixteenth century by a series of treaties and wars forming the colony of Angola. The Dutch occupied Luanda from 1641-1648, where they allied with local tribes to consolidate their colonial rule against the remaining Portuguese resistance.

Colonial era

In 1648, Portugal retook Luanda and initiated a process of reconquest of lost territories, which restored the pre-occupation possessions of Portugal by 1650. Treaties regulated relations with Kongo in 1649 and Njinga's Kingdom of Matamba and Ndongo in 1656. The conquest of Pungo Andongo in 1671 was the last great Portuguese expansion, as attempts to invade Kongo in 1670 and Matamba in 1681 failed.

Portugal expanded its territory behind the colony of Benguela in the eighteenth century, and began the attempt to occupy other regions in the mid-nineteenth century. The process resulted in few gains until the 1880s. Full Portuguese administrative control of the interior didn't occur until the beginning of the twentieth century. In 1951, the colony was restyled as an overseas province, also called Portuguese West Africa.

Portugal had a colonial presence in Angola for nearly five hundred years, and the population's initial reaction to calls for independence was mixed.

Independence

After the overthrow of colonial Portugal's government by a socialist-inspired military coup, Angola's nationalist parties began to negotiate for independence in January 1975. An agreement was reached with the Portuguese government, with independence to be declared in November 1975. Almost immediately, a civil war broke out between MPLA, UNITA and FNLA, exacerbated by foreign intervention. Upon independence from Portugal in 1975, Angola's capital and nominal government came under the one-party rule of the Popular Liberation Movement.

In order to defend the 1,376-kilometer Angolan border with its South West Africa possession against infiltration by South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) guerrillas based in Angola, South African Defence Forces cleared a one-kilometer-wide strip in Angola along nearly half the border's length. Zaire, which had provided support to FNLA guerrillas, soon began to furnish support for UNITA as well. In turn, the Soviet Union began to significantly increase military aid to MPLA, providing armored vehicles, aircraft, and advisors, while large numbers of Cuban troops were airlifted by Soviet transport planes into Angola in an undisguised effort to tip the military balance in favor of the MPLA. By October 1975, MPLA and Cuban forces took control of Luanda, and much of the country's infrastructure, forcing UNITA forces to revert to guerrilla actions. The MPLA declared itself unilaterally to be 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 Cuban troops, leaving the MPLA and UNITA (now backed by the United States and South Africa) to fight for power. Since 1979, Jose Eduardo dos Santos has been in control of the country's political leadership. Despite the introduction of a multi-party system in 1991, the Popular Liberation Movement-Labour Party has remained in power.

Civil war

The conflict between MPLA and UNITA raged on in the countryside, fueled by the geopolitics of the Cold War and by the ability of both parties to access Angola's natural resources. The MPLA drew upon the revenues of off-shore oil resources, while UNITA accessed alluvial diamonds that were easily smuggled through the region's very porous borders (LeBillon, 1999).

In 1991, the factions agreed to the Bicesse Accords which were intended to convert Angola from a one-party authoritarian government into a multiparty state with democratic elections in 1992. President dos Santos led the first round of the election with more than 49% of the vote to Jonas Savimbi's 40%. After claims of fraud, civil war again broke out, and the final runoff election never took place.

A 1994 peace accord (the 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. President dos Santos once again suspended moves towards a unity government. Despite the promise of a democratically-elected government and a multi-party system, the Popular Liberation Movement-Labour Party has remained in power.

Ceasefire with UNITA

On February 22 2002, Jonas Savimbi, the leader of UNITA, was killed in combat with government troops, and a cease-fire was reached by the two factions. UNITA gave up its armed wing and assumed the role of major opposition party. Although the political situation of the country began to stabilize, President dos Santos has so far refused to institute regular democratic processes. Among Angola's major problems are a serious humanitarian crisis (a result of the prolonged war), the abundance of minefields, and the actions of guerrilla movements fighting for the independence of the northern exclave of Cabinda (Frente para a Libertação do Enclave de Cabinda).

Angola, like many sub-Saharan nations, is subject to periodic outbreaks of infectious diseases. In April 2005, Angola was in the midst of an outbreak of the Marburg virus which was rapidly becoming the worst outbreak of a haemorrhagic fever in recorded history, with over 237 deaths recorded out of 261 reported cases, and having spread to 7 out of the 18 provinces as of April 19, 2005.

Politics

Angola's motto is "Virtus Unita Fortior", a Latin phrase meaning "Unity Provides Strength".

The executive branch of the government is composed of the President, the Prime Minister (currently Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos) and Council of Ministers. Currently, political power is concentrated in the Presidency. The Council of Ministers, composed of all government ministers and vice ministers, meets regularly to discuss policy issues. Governors of the 18 provinces are appointed by and serve at the pleasure of 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 twelve of more than 140 municipalities. A Supreme Court serves as the appellate tribunal; a Constitutional Court with powers of judicial review has never been constituted despite statutory authorization. Critics have drawn an ironic comparison between Angola's current one-party rule and the authoritarian regime of António de Oliveira Salazar of Portugal, under whose rule Angolans began their revolt for independence.

The 27-year-long Angolan Civil War ravaged the country's political and social institutions. The UN estimates of 1.8 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), while generally 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 are without medicines or basic equipment, schools are without books, and public employees often lack the basic supplies for their day-to-day work.

The current government has announced an intention to hold elections in 2008. These elections would be the first since 1992 and would serve to elect both a new president and a new National Assembly.

Administrative divisions

Angola is divided into eighteen provinces (províncias) and 158 municipalities (municípios). The provinces are:

Geography

Map of Angola.

Satellite image of Angola, generated from raster graphics data supplied by The Map Library

At 481,321 mi² (1,246,700 km²[1]), Angola is the world's twenty-third largest country (after Niger). It is comparable in size to Mali and is nearly twice the size of the US state of Texas.

Angola is bordered by Namibia to the south, Zambia to the east, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north-east, 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 north-west of the country. Angola's average temperature on the coast is 60 degrees Fahrenheit (16 °C) in the winter and 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 °C) in the summer.

Economy

Angola's economy has undergone a period of transformation in recent years, moving from the disarray caused by a quarter century of war to being the fastest growing economy in Africa and one of the fastest in the world. In 2004, China's Eximbank approved a $2 billion line of credit to Angola. The loan is being used to rebuild Angola's infrastructure, though it has also limited the influence of the International Monetary Fund in the country. [2]

Growth is almost entirely driven by rising oil production which surpassed 1.4 million barrels per day in late-2005 and which is expected to grow to 2 million barrels per day by 2007. Control of the oil industry is consolidated in Sonangol Group, a conglomerate which is owned by the Angolan government. In December 2006, Angola was admitted as a member of OPEC.^[1] The economy grew 18% in 2005; growth is expected to reach 26% in 2006 and stay above 10% for the rest of the decade. The security brought about by the 2002 peace settlement has led to the resettlement of 4 million displaced persons, thus resulting in large-scale increases in agriculture production.

Culture

See also

Lists

• List of Angolan companies
• List of writers from Angola
• List of Angola-related topics

References

External links

Government

• Republic of Angola (official government portal)
• (Portuguese) National Assembly of Angola
• Embassy of Angola in Washington DC
• Embassy of Angola in Ottawa, Canada

News

• Canal Angola ONLINE News about music from Angola and events
• children of Angola - a web documentary on the forgotten children of Angola.
• - Newspapers from Angola - The most important online newspapers from Angola.
• 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
• Mangole (in Portuguese) - A full news source in Angola and web directory of Angolan sites online
• Jornal de Angola (in Portuguese) - A popular newspaper in Angola
• 400 Years Ago - Washington Post news story on the possible fate of the first African slaves taken to US.

Politics

• Official webpage of MPLA
• Official webpage of JMPLA

Overviews

• BBC - Country profile: Angola
• CIA World Factbook entry on Angola
• US State Department - Angola includes Background Notes, Country Study and major reports
• OECD DEV/AfDB - Country Study: Angola
• Rural poverty in Angola (IFAD)

Directories

• Columbia University Libraries - Angola directory category of the WWW-VL
• Open Directory Project - Angola directory category
• Stanford University - Africa South of the Sahara: Angola directory category
• www.angolinks.com - webdirectory of Angolan sites online
• Encyclopedia of the Nations : Angola

Tourism

Other

• Angola Conflict Briefing
• Angola Constitution
• www.luandamap.com - streetsearch in Luanda and other maps related to Angola
• www.cidadeluanda.com - Portal and Directory of Luanda

Countries and territories on the South Atlantic Ocean
Africa: Angola • Democratic Republic of the Congo • Republic of the Congo • Gabon • Namibia • South Africa South America: Argentina • Brazil • Falkland Islands • Uruguay On the between: Ascension Island • Saint Helena • Tristan da Cunha

Member states of the African Union

Algeria · Angola · Benin · Botswana · Burkina Faso · Burundi · Cameroon · Cape Verde · Central African Republic · Chad · Comoros · Democratic Republic of the Congo · Republic of the Congo · Côte d'Ivoire · Djibouti · Egypt · Eritrea · Ethiopia · Equatorial Guinea · Gabon · The Gambia · Ghana · Guinea · Guinea-Bissau · Kenya · Lesotho · Liberia · Libya · Madagascar · Malawi · Mali · Mauritania · Mauritius · Mozambique · Namibia · Niger · Nigeria · Rwanda · São Tomé and Príncipe · Senegal · Seychelles · Sierra Leone · Somalia · South Africa · Sudan · Swaziland · Tanzania · Togo · Tunisia · Uganda · Western Sahara (SADR) · Zambia · Zimbabwe

Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP)
Angola • Brazil • Cape Verde • East Timor • Guinea-Bissau • Mozambique • Portugal • São Tomé and Príncipe