Tag Archives: Study in Angola

(República de Angola). Southwestern African state (1,246,700 km²). Capital: Luanda. Administrative division: provinces (18). Population: 18,497,600 (2008 estimate). Language: Portuguese (official), Bantu, Khoisan. Religion: Catholics 50.7%, Protestants 14.7%, other Christians 4.3%, others 30.3%. Monetary unit: kwanza (100 Iwei). Human Development Index: 0.564 (157th place). Borders: Dem. Rep. Of Congo (N and NE), Zambia (E), Namibia (S), Atlantic Ocean (W). Member of: UN, OPEC, SADC, UA and WTO, EU associate. According to COUNTRYAAH, Angola is a nation in Central Africa, the capital city of which is Luanda. The latest population of Angola is 32,866,283. REMZFAMILY: Lists and descriptions of main religions and beliefs in Angola, including religion demographics and statistics on Christianity, Islam, Judaism, etc.
HISTORY
The Angolan parliament decided in March 1991 to introduce a multi-party system; the MPLA now gave itself a social democratic orientation. On May 31, 1991, in Lisbon, MPLA and UNITA signed a peace treaty to end the civil war. Planned parliamentary elections under UN supervision. The elections, which took place after a new constitution was passed in November 1992 and which resulted in a success for the MPLA (54% of the vote), were not recognized by UNITA (34% of the vote) because of alleged electoral fraud. Heavy fighting then broke out, as a result of which UNITA was able to bring large parts of the country under its control. Despite international recognition from the MPLA government, Sanctions against UNITA and international mediation attempts escalated again the brutal civil war. On November 20, 1994, the parties to the civil war finally signed a peace agreement in the Zambian capital Lusaka, which included a ceasefire, the disarmament of UNITA associations, the establishment of a joint army, UNITA participation in the government and a repeat of the 1992 elections. However, UNITA repeatedly broke the peace treaty. The peace process initially advanced in 1997 with the formation of a government of national unity and reconciliation, which UNITA also joined. After Angola intervened in the civil war in the Republic of the Congo in 1997,L. Kabila fighting rebel units. Since the end of 1998 there were again armed conflicts in Angola between the army and UNITA units, which in January 2000 also spread to the neighboring countries of Namibia and Zambia. The Lusaka Peace Agreement (1994) was finally revoked by the government in 1998; the UNITA representatives were then expelled from the government. UNITA is now increasingly focusing on terrorist activities against the civilian population. UNITA’s military successes (including conquering an area in the north with rich diamond and oil deposits) prompted President J. E. dos Santos on January 31, 1999 to form an emergency government, in which he also took over the offices of Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, which existed until 2002. During the fighting between government troops and UNITA units, UNITA leader Savimbi was shot dead in February 2002. On April 4, 2002, a new ceasefire agreement was finally signed between the government and UNITA, which ended the civil war that had been going on for almost 30 years and claimed at least 1 million deaths and around 4 million refugees. The agreement regulated inter alia. the disarmament and demobilization of the estimated 50,000 UNITA fighters. At the end of 2002 the UN Security Council lifted the sanctions against UNITA. By August 2004, around 90% of the war refugees had returned to their homeland.

In the parliamentary elections in September 2008, the first election in 16 years, the ruling MPLA received around 82% of the vote from President J. E. dos Santos, according to official reports, while UNITA received around 10%. The opposition recognized their defeat; According to observers from the European Union, the election was chaotic, but largely free and transparent. The presidential elections originally planned for 2009 have been postponed. President J. E. dos Santos named the adoption of a new constitution as a prerequisite for setting an election date. In March 2009 Pope Benedict XVI visitedthe country. In 2010 parliament approved a new constitution that strengthened the power of the president. In 2011, opponents of the government organized various demonstrations against the president and called for his resignation. The security forces responded to the protests with arrests and massive violence. In the parliamentary elections on August 31, 2012, the MPLA suffered losses. But it still won 71.8% of the vote and 175 of the 220 seats. UNITA won 32 seats, 16 more than in 2008. According to the new constitution, J. E. dos Santos as MPLA top candidate was also confirmed in the presidency. He was sworn in on September 26, 2012 for a further term. The extremely unequal distribution of wealth and widespread corruption subsequently increased dissatisfaction with his governance. The drop in oil prices from 2014 onwards exacerbated social tensions. The decision made by the President in 2016 to sell his daughter, the entrepreneur Isabel dos Santos (* 1973), also met with criticism.to head the state-owned oil company Sonangol. The political leadership reacted to opposition efforts with increasing repression. In terms of foreign and economic policy, in addition to traditional cooperation with Portugal and Brazil, Angola increasingly relied on cooperation with the People’s Republic of China. In 2015/16, Angola was a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.