|
Angola is bordered by the Democratic Republic of Congo to the north, Zambia to the east, Namibia to the south and the Atlantic
Ocean to the west. Mountains rise from the coast, levelling to a plateau which makes up most of the country. The country is
increasingly arid towards the south; the far south is on the edge of the Namib Desert. The northern plateau is thickly vegetated.
Cabinda is a small enclave to the north of Angola proper, surrounded by the territories of the Democratic Republic of Congo
and the Congo. The discovery of large oil deposits off the coast of the enclave has led to it becoming the centre of Angola’s
foreign business interests. The oil industry is based primarily at Malongo.
|
|
Republic. Gained independence from Portugal in 1975. Head of State: President José Eduardo dos Santos since 1979. Head of Government: Prime Minister Fernando Dias dos Santos since 2002. Recent history: Opposition to the Portuguese, who colonised Angola in the 15th Century, was relatively muted until the 1950s; when it did
emerge, however, the divisions between the liberation movements laid the foundations for the civil war, which has consumed
Angola for most of the past four decades. In 1976, the Marxist Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) formally achieved victory, although it never fully defeated the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), which, with South African support and the dominating leadership of Jonas Savimbi, sustained a continuous and effective
guerrilla war in the south and centre of the country. Cold war politics contributed to this becoming Africa’s longest civil
war, with an estimated cost of 500,000 lives.
But in February 2002, Savimbi was killed during a clash with the Angolan army. Within weeks of his death, military leaders
on both sides had signed a ceasefire, paving the way for a final political settlement. This was achieved within weeks and
the people and Government of Angola celebrated their first year of continuous peace for more than a quarter of a century in
April 2003. Although there is still some sporadic fighting, notably between Government forces and separatist groups in the
oil-rich Cabinda enclave, most of the country has now embarked upon the monumental task of reconstruction.
The next Parliamentary elections are scheduled for September 2006, possibly with Presidential elections the following year.
In preparation, a package of electoral laws was approved in April 2005, although a new constitution, already six years under
debate, has not yet been finalised. It is possible that local Government elections, the first ever, might take place in 2007,
although no final decision has been taken.
|
Overview 
