Angola Totally Explained

Angola is a country in south-central Africa bordering Namibia to the south, Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, and Zambia to the east, and with a west coast along the Atlantic Ocean. The exclave province Cabinda has a border with the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic 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 (pronounced, ).

History

The earliest people of the area were Khoisan hunter-gatherers. They were largely replaced by Bantu tribes during Bantu migrations, though small numbers of Khoisan remain in parts of southern Angola to the present day.
The geographical area now designated as Angola first became the subject to incursions by Europeans in the late 15th century. In 1483 Portugal established a base 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 Cabinda based on slave trade. Slavery, a local ancient institution in Africa even before the Portuguese have arrived, provided a large number of black slaves to a slave market supplied by well-established slave trade networks controlled by local tribes. The Portuguese gradually took control of the coastal strip throughout the sixteenth century by a series of treaties and wars forming the country 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 Congo 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 Congo 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 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 People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA).
South Africa soon became involved in the Angolan conflict, ostensibly to protect its interests in its territory of South West Africa, present-day Namibia. The South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) was fighting for independence from South Africa from bases inside Angola. In an attempt to prevent cross-border operations by SWAPO forces, the South African military, the South African Defense Forces, cleared a one-kilometer-wide strip in Angola along nearly half the length of the 1,376 km long border. 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 favour 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 People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) has remained in power. "In 1976, controversy over U.S. covert assistance to paramilitary forces in Angola led to legislative bans on such action."

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. 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. The international community largely blamed UNITA for the breakdown in the Lusaka peace process; as a consequence the UN Security Council imposed sanctions against them (Kevlihan, 2003). Despite the formation of a government of national unity, which included disaffected elements of UNITA (UNITA-Renovada), generally known by its Portuguese acronym of GURN, power remained with the MPLA, concentrated in particular in the hands of the President Dos Santos and his circle of close advisors.
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 (Chilliers & Dietrich, 2000, Le Billon, 2001). The Angolan government was heavily criticized by human rights organizations for a lack of transparency in the sources and uses of its oil revenue during this time (Global Witness (1999), Human Rights Watch (2004)); what detailed analysis was possible of Angola's expenditure on social services during the war highlighted the extremely low levels of expenditure on health and education, and the way in which large proportions of available budgets benefited elites through scholarships and access to health care overseas (Hodges, 2004). Meanwhile, Angola suffered from one of the highest caseloads of internally displaced persons in the world, displacement caused in large part by the military tactics of both UNITA and government forces (Lari & Kevlihan (2005), Médecins Sans Frontières (2002)).

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). While most of the internally displaced have now returned home, the general situation for most Angolans remains desperate, and the development facing the government challenging as a consequence (Lari (2004), Human Rights Watch (2005)).

Politics

Angola's motto is "Virtus Unita Fortior", a Latin phrase meaning "Virtue is stronger when united."
   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.

Provinces and municipalities

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

Military

The Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) is headed by a Chief of Staff who reports to the Minister of Defense.
There are three divisions--the Army, Navy (Marinha de Guerra, MdG), and Air and Air Defense Forces ( Força Aerea Nacional, FAN). Total manpower is about 110,000. The army is by far the largest of the services with about 100,000 men and women. The Navy numbers about 3,000 and operates several small patrol craft and barges. Air force personnel total about 7,000; its equipment includes Russian-manufactured fighters and transport planes.
A small number of FAA personnel are stationed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa) and the Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville).

Police

The National Police departments are : Public Order, Criminal Investigation, Traffic and Transport, Investigation and Inspection of Economic Activities, Taxation and Frontier Supervision, Riot Police and the Rapid Intervention Police. The National Police are in the process of standing up an air wing, which will provide helicopter support for police operations. The National Police are also developing their criminal investigation and forensic capabilities. The National Police has an estimated 6,000 patrol officers, 2,500 Taxation and Frontier Supervision officers, 182 criminal investigators and 100 financial crimes detectives and 90 Economic Activity Inspectors.
The National Police have implemented a modernization and development plan to increase the capabilities and efficiency of the total force. In addition to administrative reorganization; modernization projects include procurement of new vehicles, aircraft and equipment, construction of new police stations and forensic laboratories, restructured training programs and the replacement of AKM rifles with 9mm UZIs for police officers in urban areas.

Geography

At 481,321 mi² (1,246,700 km²),(External Link

) 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, or five times the area of the UK.
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, and has also limited the influence of the International Monetary Fund in the country.
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. 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.

Demography

Angola is composed of: Ovimbundu 37%, Kimbundu 25%, Bakongo 13%, mestico (mixed European and native African) 2%, European 1%, other 22%

Culture

Angola was ruled by Portugal and both countries share cultural aspects: language (Portuguese) and main religion (Roman Catholic Christianity). The Angolan culture is mostly native Bantu which was mixed with Portuguese culture.

Capoeira Angola

Once synonymous to slavery, outlaws and violence, Capoeira is now well known all over the world as an art form, and has fascinated thousands.
Capoeira is divided in two parts: Capoeira Regional and Capoeira Angola. Capoeira Regional is a modern and popular form of capoeira. Capoeira Angola is the original form, created in Brazil by African slaves. Capoeira Angola has roots in the wedding rituals of the Bantu tribe, where the Dance of the Zebra, the N´golo, was a sparring between young warriors. That is why the Zebra is part of the Capoeira Angola logo. Capoeira Angola is a sparring between friends, an exciting game in the middle of the "roda", a ring formed by musicians and singers. It is fight, dance, play, music and philosophy, all in one. For years Capoeira was practiced in secrecy and it wasn't lawful to practice and teach until after the 1930s; forty years after the abolition of slavery. Berimbau is an instrument related with capoeira, it commands the roda, and determines the kind of fight (Angola or Regional)

Public holidays

Angola has 15 public holidays over the year. These are:

January 1 - New Year's Day
January 4 - Day of the Fallen against the colonial repression
January 25 - Luanda's Day
February 4 - Day of the Armed Struggle
March 8 - International Women's Day
April 4 - Peace day
May 1 - Labour Day
May 25 - Africa's Day
June 1 - International Children's Day
September 17 - Agostinho Neto's Day and National Heroes Day
November 2 - Day of the Dead
December 25 - Christmas
December 31 - New Year's Eve

Movable public holidays:

Easter

Carnival

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