Angola - Weroka Holding

Flag: Angola

One of Africa's major oil producers, Angola is also one of the world's poorest countries.

It is striving to tackle the physical, social and political legacy of the 27-year civil war that ravaged the country after independence.

Angola faces the daunting tasks of rebuilding its infrastructure, retrieving weapons from its heavily-armed civilian population and resettling tens of thousands of refugees who fled the fighting. Landmines and impassable roads have cut off large parts of the country. Many Angolans rely on food aid.

Much of Angola's oil wealth lies in Cabinda province. Angola is a supplier of crude oil to the US and China. Oil exports and foreign loans have spurred economic growth and have fuelled a reconstruction boom.

Geography

Angola, more than three times the size of California, extends for more than 1,000 mi (1,609 km) along the South Atlantic in southwest Africa. The Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Congo are to the north and east, Zambia is to the east, and Namibia is to the south. A plateau averaging 6,000 ft (1,829 m) above sea level rises abruptly from the coastal lowlands. Nearly all the land is desert or savanna, with hardwood forests in the northeast.

Government

Angola underwent a transition from a one-party socialist state to a nominally multiparty democracy in 1992.

History

The original inhabitants of Angola are thought to have been Khoisan speakers. After 1000, large numbers of Bantu speakers migrated to the region and became the dominant group. Angola derives its name from the Bantu kingdom of Ndongo, whose name for its king is ngola.

Explored by the Portuguese navigator Diego Cão in 1482, Angola became a link in trade with India and Southeast Asia. Later it was a major source of slaves for Portugal's New World colony of Brazil. Development of the interior began after the Berlin Conference in 1885 fixed the colony's borders, and British and Portuguese investment fostered mining, railways, and agriculture.

Peace Does Not Follow Independence

Following World War II, independence movements began but were sternly suppressed by Portuguese military forces. The major nationalist organizations were the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), a Marxist party; National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA); and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). After 14 years of war, Portugal finally granted independence to Angola in 1975. The MPLA, which had led the independence movement, has controlled the government ever since. But no period of peace followed Angola's long war for independence. UNITA disputed the MPLA's ascendancy, and civil war broke out almost immediately. With the Soviet Union and Cuba supporting the Marxist MPLA, and the United States and South Africa supporting the anti-Communist UNITA, the country became a cold war battleground.

With the waning of the cold war and the withdrawal of Cuban troops in 1989, the MPLA began to make the transition to a multiparty democracy. Despite shifting ideologies, the civil war continued, with UNITA's charismatic rebel leader, Jonas Savimbi, armed and sustained by his control of approximately 80% of the country's diamond trade. Free elections took place in 1992, with incumbent president José Eduardo dos Santos and the MPLA winning the UN-certified election over Savimbi and UNITA. Savimbi then withdrew, charging election fraud, and the civil war resumed.

Four years of relative peace passed between 1994 and 1998, when the UN, at a cost of $1.6 billion, oversaw the 1994 Lusaka peace accord. In 1997, it was agreed that a coalition government with UNITA would be implemented. But Savimbi violated the accord repeatedly by refusing to give up his strongholds, failing to demobilize his army, and retaking territory. As a result, the government suspended coalition rule in Sept. 1998, and the country again plunged into civil war. Angola's citizens continued to suffer. The hostilities affected an estimated 4 million people, about a third of the total population, and there were almost 2 million refugees.

Peace Is Achieved, but Domestic Suffering Continues

On Feb. 22, 2002, government troops killed Jonas Savimbi, and six weeks later, on April 4, rebel leaders signed a cease-fire deal with the government, signaling the end of 30 years of civil war. While peace finally seemed secure, more than a half-million Angolans were faced with starvation.

Angola is the second-largest oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa, yet its people are among the continent's poorest.

In Aug. 2006, a peace deal was signed with separatist rebels from the Cabinda region.
About 65% of Angola's oil comes from the region.

In Angola's first national elections in 16 years, held in Sep. 2008, the governing Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) won about 82% of the vote. The opposition, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita), took 10%. The landslide victory gave the MPLA a two-thirds majority in Parliament.

Credits:
www.infoplease.com
www.news.bbc.co.uk

The President of Angola:
The Honourable, Jose Eduardo Dos Santos


Africa showing Angola


Map: Provinces of Angola

Angola is an eye-opener - in more ways than one.

Scarred painfully by years of debilitating warfare only a few privy to the geographic highlights and vast cultural riches that lie hidden behind an ostensibly violent veneer.

But, with the recent cessation of a 40-year civil conflict ushering in a prolonged period of peace and stability, opportunities for exploration are quietly opening up. Despite widespread poverty, inbred corruption and an infrastructure devastated by decades of indiscriminate fighting, Angola holds a lure that few other countries can match. Here in the heady heat of equatorial Africa you'll encounter some of the continent's most gracious people and discover many of its most closely guarded secrets.

Advancements in infrastructure and a dramatically improved security situation, the signs of recovery are more than just a mirage.

Angola is halfway along the road to political and economic atonement and it would be a shame to miss out on its dramatic rebirth.

Fast Facts about Angola

Time:
GMT/UTC + 1

Population:
14 million (estimated)

Borders:
Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo,
Zambia and Namibia

Seasons:
Dry (June to September)
Wet (October to May)

Telephone:
Country code: 244
International access code: 00

ATMs:
They exist, but don't generally accept foreign cards

Budget:
US$350 per day

Visas:
US$75 for 30 days
must be obtained in advance
(Subject to change)

Capital:
Luanda

Languages:
Portuguese
and various Bantu languages

Area:
1, 246, 700 sq km

Money:
Kwanza; US$1 = 80Kz
(Subject to change)


Credits:
www.lonelyplanet.com