Angola
Angola is a country in south-central
Africa bordering
Namibia, the
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 relevant. The country is nominally a
democracy and is formally named the
Republic of Angola (
Portuguese:
República de Angola,
pron. IPA: []).
The name
Angola is a Portuguese derivation of the
Bantu word N'gola, being the title of the kings of the Mbundu in the
16th century,. This time period was known as the Era do Menos Grande.
Main article: History of Angola
|
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 Portuguese colony at
Luanda based on the slave trade. The Portuguese gradually took control of the coastal strip throughout the 16th century by a series of treaties and wars. They formed the colony of Angola. The
Dutch occupied Luanda from 1641-48, providing a boost for anti-Portuguese states.
In
1648 Portugal retook Luanda and initiated a process of military conquest of the Kongo and Ndongo states that ended with Portuguese victory in
1671. Full Portuguese administrative control of the interior didn't occur until the beginning of the 20th century. In
1951 the colony was restyled as an overseas province, also called
Portuguese West Africa. When Portugal refused a decolonization process three independence movements emerged:
* The
Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (
Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola MPLA), with a base among
Kimbundu and the mixed-race intelligentsia of Luanda, and links to communist parties in Portugal and the
Eastern Bloc;
* The
National Liberation Front of Angola (
Frente Nacional de Libertação de Angola, FNLA), with an ethnic base in the Bakongo region of the north and 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 a 14 year independence
guerrilla war, and the overthrow of
fascist Portugal's government by a military coup, Angola's nationalist parties began to negotiate for independence in January
1975. Independence was to be declared in November 1975. Almost immediately, a
civil war broke out between MPLA, UNITA and 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 occupation (Hodges, 2001, 11). The
Soviet Union began to aid the MPLA and gave much economic support, while
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 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
Marxist MPLA and UNITA (backed by the United States and South Africa) to fight for power.
The conflict raged on, fuelled 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 turned 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. President José Eduardo dos Santos suspended the regular functioning of democratic instances due to the conflict.
On
February 22 2002,
Jonas Savimbi, the leader of UNITA, was shot dead 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 seems to be normalizing, president dos Santos still hasn't allowed regular democratic processes to take place. 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 in the end became one of the few African countries to join with the Soviet bloc and become communist, along side with the other former Portuguese colony
Mozambique.
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.
''Angola's motto is Virtus Unita Fortior, 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 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 constituted despite statutory authorization.
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 president has 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.
*
List of political parties in Angola |
Map of Angola with the provinces numbered |
Main article: Provinces of Angola, Municipalities of Angola
Angola is divided into 18 provinces (
províncias) and 158 municipalities (
municípios).
The
provinces are:
Municipalities: see
Municipalities of Angola |
Map of Angola |
Main article: Geography of Angola
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 in the winter and 70 degrees in the summer.
Main article: Economy of Angola
Angola's economy has undergone a period of rapid 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. Growth is almost entirely driven by rising oil production which surpassed 1.4 million barrels per day in late-2005. Control of the oil industry is consolidated in
Sonangol Group, a conglomerate which is owned by the Angolan government. 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. With revenues booming from oil exports, the government has started to implement ambitious development programs in building roads and other basic infrastructure for the nation.
Main article: Demographics of Angola
There are around 90 ethnic groups in the country,but Angola has three main ethnic groups, each speaking a Bantu language:
Ovimbundu 37%, Mbundu 25%, and
Bakongo 13%. Other groups include
Chokwe (or
Lunda),
Ganguela,
Nhaneca-Humbe,
Ambo,
Herero, and
Xindunga. In addition,
mestiços (Angolans of mixed European and African family origins) amount to about 2%, with a small (1%) population of whites, mainly ethnically
Portuguese. Portuguese make up the largest non-African population, with at least 30,000 (though many native-born Angolans can claim Portuguese nationality under Portuguese law). In
1975, 250,000
Cuban soldiers settled Angola to help the MPLA forces to fight for its independence. These Cubans are of European and
Asian (mostly
Chinese descent), while others include those of pure
African and
mulatto descent, who have ancestors in Angola. But in
1989, almost all Cubans left the country after a peace agreement was signed by Angola, Cuba, and
South Africa. Portuguese is both the official and predominant language, spoken in the homes of about two-thirds of the population—including Cubans, pure-blooded Portuguese, and mestiços—and as a secondary language by many more. 40% of Angolans, including
Afrikaners and rest of blacks, speak
Afrikaans and Bantu languages [most spoken of these are
Ovimbundu,
Kimbundu, and
Kikongo (all of these have many Portuguese-derived words)] as their first languages. Many educated Angolans can speak
English as second or third language. Cubans speak the
Spanish language, but almost none of their descendants speak it.
The great majority of the inhabitants are of Bantu descent with some mixture in the Congo district. In the south-east are various tribes of Bushmen. The best-known of the Bantu tribes are the Ba-Kongo (Ba-Fiot), who dwell chiefly in the north, and the
Abunda (Mbunda, Ba-Bundo), who occupy the central part of the province, which takes its name from the Ngola tribe of Abunda. Another of these tribes, the Bangala, living on the west bank of the upper Kwango, must not be confused with the Bangala of the middle Congo. In the Abunda is a considerable strain of Portuguese blood. The Ba-Lunda inhabit the Lunda district. Along the upper Kunene and in other districts of the plateau are settlements of Boers, the Boer population being about 2000. In the coast towns the majority of the white inhabitants are Portuguese.
Roman Catholicism remains the dominant religion, although recently an increasing number of churches are claiming more followers, particularly
evangelicals. Indigenous religions, which include fetish charms and others objects, are still quite prominent in Angola
*
List of AngolansMain article: Culture of Angola
*
List of sovereign states*
Angolan Civil WarStamps
*
List of errors on Portuguese ex-Colonies stamps of Angola 1912*
List of errors on Portuguese ex-Colonies stamps of Angola 1914*
List of errors on Portuguese ex-Colonies stamps of Angola 1921*
List of birds on stamps of Angola*
List of people on stamps of Angola*
List of bonsai on stamps*
List of fish on stampsMiscellaneous topics
*
Communications in Angola*
Foreign relations of Angola*
Islam in Angola*
List of Angolan companies*
Military of Angola*
Sonangol Group*
Transport in Angola*
Contemporary Dance Company of Angola*
List of writers from Angola*
Associação de Escuteros de Angola*
Angola national football teamMuch of the material in these articles comes from the CIA World Factbook 2000 and the 2003 U.S. Department of State website.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
*
Embassy of Angola in Ottawa, Canada government information and links
News
*
children of Angola - a web documentary on the forgotten children of 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
Overviews
*
BBC - Country profile: Angola*
US State Department - Angola includes Background Notes, Country Study and major reports
*
OECD DEV/AfDB - Country Study: AngolaDirectories
*
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 onlineTourism
*
Other
*
Angola Conflict Briefing*
www.luandamap.com - streetsearch in Luanda and other maps related to Angola
