Cuando Cubango Province

Map of Angola with the province highlighted

Cuando Cubango is a province of Angola and it has an area of 199,049 km² and a population of approximately 140,000. Menongue is the capital of the province. The governor of the province is João Baptista Tchindandi. According to 1988 US government statistics, the provincial population was 125,600, with just 3,600 living in urban areas. Municipalities in this province include Cuchi, Cuangar, Cuito, Rivungo, Cuanavale, Mavinga, Calai, Dirico and Longa.

The name of the province derives from that of the Cuando and Cubango rivers, which flow through the eastern and western edges of the province, respectively.

Contents

Natural history

Considerable natural habitat previously existed within the province, although much of these areas has been destroyed during the period 1965 to 1991 during the Cuban intervention years.[1][2] In particular, the area was previously suitable habitat for the endangered Painted Hunting Dog, Lycaon pictus, which is now deemed extirpated in the local area.[3]

Jonas Savimbi and UNITA

Throughout much of the 1980s and 1990s, Cuando Cubango served as the location for the primary base camp of Angola's UNITA rebel movement, led by Jonas Savimbi. The rebel movement received support from the United States as part of the Cold War conflict against Angola's Marxist government, which was supported by the Soviet Union, Cuba and other communist states.

Savimbi and UNITA maintained a large and clandestine base camp in the Cubando Cubango town of Jamba. The camp was protected by anti-aircraft weapons and included an air strip, which was used for the delivery of military and other supplies, which typically arrived from neighboring Zaire. The Angolan Civil War ultimately became one of the most prominent conflicts of the Cold War, with both the United States and the Soviet Union depicting its outcome as important to the global balance of power.

References

Grove Press, ISBN 0-8021-4068-8, 9780802140685 496 pages

Line notes

  1. ↑ John Frederick Walker. 2004
  2. ↑ Edward George. 2005
  3. ↑ C. Michael Hogan. 2009

External links

Provinces of Angola

Bengo · Benguela · Bié · Cabinda · Cuando Cubango · Cuanza Norte · Cuanza Sul · Cunene · Huambo · Huíla · Luanda · Lunda Norte · Lunda Sul · Malanje · Moxico · Namibe · Uíge · Zaire

 Angola