Oil, Gems, War, Graft, Kizomba: Five Things To Know About Angola
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Loading... - Colbie Messina
- 23 Aug 2022
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The southern African nation of Angola is awash with oil yet remains one of the poorest countries in the world.
As President Joao Lourenco seeks a second term in the upcoming August 24 election, here are five things to know about the country of 33 million people, which is almost twice as big as the US state of Texas.
Angola gained independence from Portugal in 1975 after a bitter war involving several different nationalist groups.
The pro-Soviet People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), to whom incumbent president Lourenco belongs, has been in power since independence.
It fought a long civil war against the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA) which only ended in 2002.
By the time the conflict ended and the army signed a ceasefire accord after UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi was killed in 2002, an estimated half a million people were dead.
Jose Eduardo dos Santos came to power following the death of post-independence leader Agostinho Neto in 1979. He ruled with an iron fist for 38 years, dominating every part of society.
His opponents were critical of his grip on the country and its economy and many major businesses were run by dos Santos family members or friends.
His successor Lourenco, elected in 2017, unleashed an anti-corruption drive that targeted dos Santos' family.
He fired Isabel dos Santos, the former president's eldest daughter and Africa's richest woman, according to Forbes, who is accused of corruption.
Dos Santos' son Jose Filomeno, was sentenced in 2020 to five years in prison for embezzling the sovereign wealth fund he managed up to 2018.
Lourenco's government says it has recovered nearly 10 billion euros of stolen public assets during its sweep.
Dos Santos died on July 8, 2022.
Angola, after Nigeria, is sub-Saharan Africa's number two oil exporter, but only produces a fifth of its needs in refined products.
Oil accounts for nearly 95 percent of Angola's exports, according to the World Bank.
In the decade that followed the civil war, Angola registered double-digit growth, thanks to its oil wealth. Read More...
