| Africa Series: Angola |
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| Monday, 09 January 2006 | |||||||||||||
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ANGOLA Formal Name: People's Republic of Angola. Term for Citizens: Angolans. Capital: Luanda. Population: 2,819,000. Date of independence: November 11, 1975, from Portugal. Major Cities: Luanda, Cabinda. Geography: Angola is located in South West Africa. Congo-Kinshasa, Congo-Brazzaville, Zambia, and Namibia border it. Angola is approximately 487, 353 square miles, including the enclave of Cabinda. The coastal area is lowland, ending at the Namib Desert South of Benguela. Hills and Mountains parallel the coast, divided by many rivers. Hot along the coast than in the mountains. Two seasons: wet and dry, rainy season from September to April and dry season from May to September. Coolest months July and August, Warm and wet in Cabinda. Society: The population is estimated at 13, 625, 000, most of which are concentrated in the Western part of the country. Ethnic Groups: Ovimbundu 37%, Kimbundu 25%, and Bakongo 13%. Other groups are Lunda-Chokwe, Nganguela, Nyaneka-Humbe, Ovambo, and Mestico and Europeans. Languages: Portuguese is the official language, with indigenous people speaking their various Bantu languages. Religion: Christians 90%, the remainder practices African religions. Education: Free and compulsory elementary education. Literacy rate is estimated at 42%. Economy: Extractive oil industry and agriculture play dominant role in the economy. GDP estimated: $16.9 billion; Per Capita: $1, 030. Monetary unit: New Kwanza. History and Government: Various African groups lived in what is now Angola. The Portuguese came around 1483 and eventually took over. The Portuguese considered Angola part of Portugal and did not want it independent. A large Portuguese population settled in the country and essentially transformed Africans into slaves working in their plantations. In 1961 a guerrilla war against the Portuguese colonialist began. Different African factions formed armies to fight their colonial masters. Portugal gave Angola independence in 1975, and thereafter a protracted civil war by the African factions ensued. The protracted civil war between MPLA, FNLA and UNITAS devastated the country. The end of that war has led to attempts at democratic elections but MPLA still exercises dominant role in politics with little opposition tolerated. An elected president who governs through a prime minister rules Angola. The country is divided into 18 provinces. ANGOLAN POLITICS Angola is an interesting African country. It had extended colonization by a European people to the extent that two thirds of Angolans speak Portuguese as their primary language. The Portuguese settled in Angola in 1483. They named the country, apparently, from the Ngola tribe. The Portuguese has more or less lived in Luanda since that time, except for a brief interregnum, 1641-1648, when the Dutch drove them out and controlled Angola. Portugal used Angola as its main slaving source for its South American colonies, particularly Brazil. Portugal considered Angola part of Portugal itself, an overseas province called Portuguese West Africa). During the post Second World War, a wind of changing blew across European colonized Africa. Portugal refused to acknowledge the wind and considered its African territories (Mozambique, Angola, Guinea Bissau etc) as part of itself. It felt that these territories were not foreign lands and, as such, not to be given independence, pretty much as France felt towards Algeria. However, the wind of change was not containable and Angola was no exception. Angolan groups formed political parties to fight for their country's independence. Unfortunately, as in many African countries the political parties were formed along ethnic lines. The Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (Movemento Popular de Libertacao de Angola) was organized around the capital of Luanda by the Mestico (mixed, white and black) and Kimbundu peoples. This party embraced socialism and had affiliations with European socialist parties. In the North was the National Liberation Front of Angola (Frente Nacional de Libertacao of Angola) FNLA; this party comprised mostly of the Bakongo peoples that exist both in the Congo and Angola, and was supported by Zaire's Mobutu and his American Ally. In the south was the Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Uniao Nacional para a Independencia Total de Angola) UNITA; this party comprised mainly of the Ovimbundu peoples. With Portugal's refusal to entertain the possibility of independence these three parties quickly became guerilla militias, each based in its ethnic area and a fourteen year war of independence ensued. In 1975, there was a military coup in Portugal and the Salazar dictatorship was overthrown. Portugal began negotiations with the three Angolan parties for independence and eventually gave Angola independence. The three parties could not agree on a unity government and became armed camps fighting one another for the control of Angola. MPLA in the capital area declared itself the national government and a civil war between it and its two rivals ensued, a war that did not end until 2002 when finally Jonas Savimbi, the leader of UNITA was killed. The Angolan civil war occasioned foreign powers jostling for control of Africa taking sides. The United States supported FNLA, the USSR and the communist block supported MPLA and South Africa supported UNITA. In 1976, FNLA was quickly disposed of by MPLA. But the war between MPLA and UNITA became an internationalized war with Cuba sending in troops to support MPLA and South Africa, acting as USA proxy, sending in troops to support UNITA. Each group depended on the resources in the area under its control to wage the war. MPLA had access to off shore (near the costal Luanda area it controlled) oil mining and UNITA controlled diamond mines in the Ovimbundu heartland, the center of the country. Several efforts were made at reconciling these parties to no avail. It was the end of the cold war that eventually brought about change in Angola. With end to the cold war, Russia and America had no use for proxy wars to control the rest of the world. Russia was dead and America became the sole superpower in the world. As the sole superpower, America essentially could care less for the welfare of Africans, so it no longer supported UNITA militarily. Mr. Savimbi was forced to negotiate, particularly when South Africa, his main arms supplier, negotiated for the African National Congress under Nelson Mandela to rule South Africa. Mr. Savimbi was left in the lurch and sued for peace. In 1994, a peace accord was reached by the warring parties at Lusaka. The Lusaka protocol called for a shared government between UNITA and MPLA and integration of their forces into one Angolan military. The two parties began negotiating for a national government. In 1992, an election of sorts was held and the result was contested. The official result claimed that Mr. Dos Santos narrowly beat Mr. Savimbi. Mr. Savimbi rejected the results. The negotiations to form a national government failed and fighting resumed between them in 1998, a fighting that did not end until Savimbi was killed in 2002. With the death of Savimbi, UNITA ceased fighting and essentially MPLA emerged victorious. Whereas what remains of UNITA and FNLA serve as opposition parties of sorts, essentially, Angola is ruled by MPLA in an unchallenged manner. A national election is scheduled for 2006. If this election is, in fact, held and a party wins it and transition is made to democratic government, Angola would have become a democratic polity. MPLA has essentially ruled Angola from 1975 to the present. When the first leader of MPLA, Agostinho Neto, died in 1979, Mr. Dos Santos took over the leadership of MPLA and nominally became the president of Angola. Mr. Dos Santos is still the president of Angola. The twenty seven years war between the three groups contesting for leadership of Angola led to tremendous devastation of Angola. Four million of the country's estimated fourteen million persons were internally displaced persons (refugees). The land was so heavily mined that people are still having their limbs blown up by exploding mines. Indeed, farmers are hesitant returning to farming, so that little farming is done in the country. Angola depends heavily on food importation. Much of the wealth it generates from oil (which is mainly in the enclave of Cabinda, a land almost surrounded by Congo) is either wasted or used to feed the people. Corruption is so rife in the country that in 2005 alone four billion dollars from oil revenue suddenly vanished from Angola's foreign accounts. In Cabinda the native population, who are Congolese, are fighting a guerrilla war to separate from Angola. Angola's current government is essentially government by MPLA and its leader Dos Santos. Mr. Santos is the nominal president of Angola. He is assisted by a prime minister, Mr. Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos. The prime minister supposedly heads a council of ministers and runs the day to day affairs of the country, but, in fact, the president is the unchallenged ruler of Angola. On paper, the usual institutions of democracy are in place but they are seldom used. There is a unicameral legislature that supposedly makes laws. The country is divided into 18 provinces. But the president appoints the governors of the provinces and they are beholden to him and there is no pretense of independent leadership by them. The country is divided into 140 municipalities, only 12 of which have operational courts. At the national level, there is a supreme court that acts as the appellate court of last resort. Its judges are appointed by the president and can hardly be said to be independent in their adjudication of law (what there is of it). Angola is the second largest oil producer in sub Saharan Africa. With a small population and rich mineral wealth, Angola ought to be one of the richest countries in the world. Instead, Angola is one of the poorest countries in the world, with a per capital income of US $1, 030 and life expectancy of 39 years for men and 42 years for women. Diseases are rampant and medical institutions, what there is, have little or no medicines and equipments to treat the sick. Schools are either closed and if functioning have little books. Government offices lack in equipments and supplies to do their work properly. Angola is another mismanaged Africa country. Much of the country's problems could be attributed to its prolonged war of independence and civil war. It remains to be seen if the country can make a transition to modern democracy and efficient management or whether it will continue to suffer the scourge of Africa, poor management of its resources and endemic corruption in all walks of her life. Ozodi@africainstituteseattle.org January 9, 06 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
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Posted by Robot| 11.03.2006 14:46