Angola
After 16 years of civil war reconstruction of this beautiful country is an immediate priority. Although facilities are still limited, Angola is an exciting destination to visit.
Angola is bordered by the Democratic Rebuplic of Congo(DR 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 northern plateau is thickly vegetated while to the south the country becomes increasingly arid.
In Luanda the main places to visit are the fortress, the National Museums of Anthropology, and the Museum of Slavery along the coast from Luanda.
The KISSAMA NATIONAL PARKS lies 70km south of Luanda and is home to a great variety of game. Angola has superb beaches. Luanda itself is built around a bay and there are bathing beaches five minutes from the city centre. Watersports are possible on the Mussulo Peninsula. The beach at Paleirinhas, 45 km south of Luanda is worth a visit. Fishing here and Santiago, north of Lunada is very good.
Many hotels have recently undergone refurbishment and there are several nightclubs and cinemas in Luanda.
Population
Angola has an estimated population of 11,9 million people with an average density of 8,6 people per square kilometre
Language
The official language is Portuguese but Umbundu, Kimbundu, Kikongo Tchokwe, Ovambo are also spoken
Capital City
Luanda
Angola is situated on the west coast of southern Africa, bordered in the north by the Democratic Republic of Congo, with Zambia on the east and Namibia to the south. The country has a total area of 1 246 700km² and a 1 600km coastline, and is the second largest country in southern Africa.
Most of Angola consists of a north-south orientated plateau ranging in altitude from 1 300 to 2 000m. The tropical forests in the north are in stark contrast to the barren desert country in the south. In the north, the terrain consists of heavily wooded hills and mountains while in the south dry bush and desert occur.
Roughly 60 percent of this beautiful but war-ravaged land consists of a plateau that is separated from the Atlantic Ocean on the west by low-lying plains ranging in width from 50 to 160km.
As a result of the plentiful rainfall, major rivers rise in the centre of the plateau and flow towards the Atlantic Ocean, with the exception of the mighty Zambezi, which has its source in the northern highlands and runs east to feed the Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe
There are three major ethnic groups to be found in Angola: the Ovimbundu, who make up about 37 percent of the population and live in the south and central highlands. The Mbundu form about 25 percent of the population and live around Luanda and to the east and in the north the Kongo form about 13 percent. There are approximately 80 000 Portuguese still living in the country whose roots go back to the colonial period.
Art and Crafts
Angola is known for the artistic abilities of its people. As with most African art, the wooden masks and sculptures of Angola are not merely aesthetic creations. They play an important role in cultural rituals, representing life and death, the passage from childhood to adulthood, the celebration of a new harvest and the marking of the hunting season. Angolan artisans work in wood, bronze, ivory, malachite or ceramic. Each ethnic group in Angola has its own unique artistic traits. Perhaps the single most famous piece of Angolan art is the Cokwe thinker, a masterpiece of harmony and symmetry of line.
Religion
Catholicism is the predominant religion, although many among the rural population follow traditional African beliefs as well.
The Head of State is President José Eduardo dos Santos and the Prime Minister is Fernando França Van-Dúnem. The last elections took place in 1992 and the next ones have been suspended until peace is achieved. The main political parties are The Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), which is the ruling party and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) led by Jonas Savimbi, which is in armed uprising against the central government.
The capital was established in 1575 by the Portuguese explorer Paulo Dias Novias and it retains the atmosphere of a Portuguese colonial city. There are several buildings of historical significance and a number of churches that date back to the 17th century.
Luanda is divided into two parts, the baixa or old city and the cidade alta or new part. The baixa is situated close to the port and has narrow streets and old colonial buildings. The cidade alta was established this century and is a fascinating mix of old and new. The colonial architecture of the old buildings imparts a certain graciousness to Luanda in spite of the fact that many areas are run down and neglected. The city's roads, in particular, are in a bad state of repair and traffic congestion aggravates an already severe pot-hole problem.
During its pre-colonial history, Angola was made part of the Congo Kingdom in the 14th century by Wene and was flourishing a century later when the first Portuguese explorers reached the country. Relations between the Europeans and the Congo kings were good and missionaries were sent over. The kings' sons were sent to Lisbon for education until the 17th century, after which the slave trade soured all trust between the two countries.
An estimated one million slaves were shipped to Portuguese Brazil between the 16th and 17th century. The formal abolition of the slave trade in 1836 following the loss of Brazil resulted in the Portuguese intensifying colonisation of its other territories, including Angola.
In post-colonial history, the country has been split by warring factions and external interference. An unsuccessful rebellion in 1961 by supporters of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and a party later known as the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA) was followed by severe repression. In 1964 dissident members of the FNLA formed the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). The independence movements fought a guerrilla war against the colonial government until 1974 and the overthrow of the Caetano dictatorship in Portugal.
The new radical military government in Lisbon opted for rapid decolonisation, effected in 1975. The tenuous tripartite agreement between the rival independence movements collapsed and civil war followed, pitting the MPLA (supported by the then USSR and Cuba) against the FNLA and UNITA (backed by South Africa, the US and the UK). The MPLA achieved formal victory in February 1976 but never fully defeated UNITA who, with South African support, sustained a continuous guerrilla war in the south and centre of the country.
This has since become Africa's longest civil war, at a cost of 500 000 lives. Tortuous negotiations finally produced a political settlement at the end of May 1991. The main provision of the accord stipulated the holding of national legislative and presidential elections, scheduled for the autumn of 1992. Although 18 parties contested the poll, it was in truth a straight fight between the MPLA and UNITA. The MPLA won a majority both in the legislature and the presidency. However, despite the overwhelming opinion of international observers that the election had been free and fair, UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi refused to accept the result and, alleging widespread fraud and malpractice, resumed the war.
Heavy fighting continued through the latter part of 1993 and most of 1994 until talks brokered by, among others, President Mandela of South Africa, produced the Lusaka peace accord in 1994.
Despite small pockets of fighting, particularly in diamond-mining areas, the country has since remained largely at peace: partly a result of UNAVEM which one of the UN's largest-ever peacekeeping operations. Implementation of the Lusaka accord has proved a protracted business. The UN has placed most of the blame at the door of Jonas Savimbi, the charismatic but erratic UNITA leader, who, despite the accord, refuses to come to the capital, Luanda, and take the measures necessary to make the Lusaka accord work. These included the creation of a government of national reconciliation, which was set to begin work in January 1997 when UNITA's representatives pulled out at the last minute (although several dozen have since returned) and Savimbi refused to accept the vice-presidency offered to him. Over the next few months, UNITA forces once again overran large parts of the country, including diamond mining areas which have long been the movement's main source of income.
Angola has vast reserves of mineral resources such as oil, diamonds and iron ore. Almost all mining except for oil production has been halted by the civil war, which also contributed greatly to the destruction of the infrastructure. The off-shore fishing industry had almost come to a standstill for the same reason but is now in the process of being revived. The other industry of significance is diamond mining and this has been an important source of revenue for the country.
Angola exports oil, diamonds, minerals, coffee, fish, timber, cotton, sisal and other agricultural products. Its main export destinations are Germany, China, Belgium and the USA. It imports food, beverages, vegetable products, capital goods, transportation and electrical equipment. Imports primarily come from the USA, Portugal, France and South Africa. There is no stock exchange in Angola.
Despite the possibility of being one of the continent's richest nations thanks to its resources of oil and diamonds, the Angolan industrial infrastructure has been seriously damaged by the long civil war, which has also brought starvation to its people with the disruption of agriculture and cross-country movement of refugees. While the government has been forced to spend heavily on military equipment, the rebels have cut off a large part of the revenue from diamond mining, which they have used to finance their own campaign.