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Angola: Countries
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From 1975 to 1989, Angola was aligned with the Soviet Union and Cuba. Since then, it has focused on improving relationships with Western countries, cultivating links with other Portuguese-speaking countries, and asserting its own national interests in Central Africa through military and diplomatic intervention. It has entered the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in order to improve its ties with its largely anglophone neighbors to the south. In 1997, Zimbabwe and Namibia joined Angola in its military intervention in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where Angolan troops fought in support of the Laurent and Joseph Kabila governments. It ... has intervened in the Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville) in support of President Sassou-Nguesso. Angola has also engaged in a more robust economic relationship with the People's Republic of China.
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Angola's high growth rate is driven by its oil sector, with record oil prices and rising petroleum production. Oil production and its supporting activities contribute about half of GDP and 90% of exports. Increased oil production supported 12% growth in 2004, 19% growth in 2005, and nearly 14% growth in 2006. A postwar reconstruction boom and resettlement of displaced persons has led to high rates of growth in construction and agriculture as well. Much of the country's infrastructure is still damaged or undeveloped from the 27-year-long civil war. Remnants of the conflict such as widespread land mines still mar the countryside even though an apparently durable peace was established after the death of rebel leader Jonas SAVIMBI in February 2002.
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Having gained their country’s independence from Portugal in 1975, Angola's guerrilla groups vied for its control. The Communist-backed MPLA won the upper hand and in 1979 José Eduardo dos Santos, its leader, became Angola’s president. This led America and South Africa to back and arm UNITA, a rival guerrilla group led by Jonas Savimbi, in a destructive civil war. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 saw the MPLA drop Marxism in favour of social democracy and gain American support. A peace deal with UNITA and free elections followed, but Mr Savimbi rejected the results and resumed his guerrilla war in 1992. In 1996 a power-sharing deal monitored by UN peacekeepers collapsed and full-scale fighting resumed in 1998.
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As a counter to the UNITA's previous monopoly on Angola's diamond industry, the Angolan diamond corporation, Endiama established a partnership With the powerful South African diamond corporation, De Beers (Gordon 14). Inan effort to protect their joint diamond ventures De Beers and Endiama have hired hundreds of South African mercenaries to guard their legitimate diamond enterprises against UNITA attacks (Duke A:23). The goal of De Beers is to buy up the illegally produced gems before they leave the country. In 1995,De Beers bought only $80 million worth of diamonds (Gordon 14). From 1992to 1993 De Beers bought $500 million to $800 million worth of diamonds from UNITA to maintain its grip on prices, despite having contracts with the Angolan government (Matloff 1). De Beers receives its diamonds through agents in the Lundas and Zaire.
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Angola's first nationwide elections were held on the last two days of September 1992. They provided the first opportunity for Angolans to express their will in what the U.N. and other foreign observers concluded was a "generally free and fair" process.3 With a turnout of more than 91 per cent (4.4 million) of registered voters, President dos Santos, the MPLA's candidate, received 49.6 per cent of the vote against 40.7 per cent for Savimbi. In the election for the legislature, the MPLA won 54 per cent of the vote, against UNITA's 34 per cent. Under Angolan law, failure of the winner in the presidential election to receive more than 50 per cent of the votes cast required an election runoff. However, a runoff was not held. Instead UNITA rejected the results and returned the country to civil war by remobilising its forces across the country.
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Angola is located on the South Atlantic Coast of West Africa between Namibia and the Republic of the Congo. It ... is bordered by the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north and east and Zambia to the east. The country is divided into an arid coastal strip stretching from Namibia to Luanda; a wet, interior highland; a dry savanna in the interior south and southeast; and rain forest in the north and in Cabinda. The upper reaches of the Zambezi River pass through Angola, and several tributaries of the Congo River have their sources in Angola. The coastal strip is tempered by the cool Benguela current, resulting in a climate similar to coastal Baja California. The hot, humid rainy season lasts from November to April, followed by a moderate dry season from May to October.
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