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Angola: Civil War Anniversary

Angola: Civil War Anniversary Angola marked the 10th anniversary of the end of its three‐decade civil war on April 4th as President Jose Eduardo dos Santos unveiled a peace monument near the site in Moxico province capital, Luena, where long‐time UNITA rebel leader Jonas Savimbi was killed. The Angolan conflict became a Cold War proxy battle, with the Soviet Union and Cuba backing Dos Santos’ MPLA , while the United States and apartheid South Africa assisted UNITA. Since the war ended, oil exports have fuelled massive economic growth and billions of dollars have been poured into repairing roads, railways and airports. Dos Santos has been hailed as peacemaker who steered the oil‐fuelled economic boom but has through the past year faced criticism amid signs of mounting corruption within his regime. Authorities have also stamped out a series of youth‐led protests calling for reform (Vol.48 p. 19101) . Despite boasting one of the world’s fastest growing economies, poverty is still rampant in the country of 18.4m people. Nearly 2.4m people still live in areas riddled with landmines, according to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines . (© AFP, Luanda 4/4) After four decades of the struggle for independence in the oil‐rich Cabinda enclave, the last fighting faction has launched an offer of peace talks. The octogenarian, exiled leader of the Frente para a Libertação do Enclave de Cabinda ( FLEC ), Henrique N’Zita Tiago , needs to get his rivals behind him and to engage Luanda. The enclave, separated from the rest of Angola by a narrow strip of DR Congo , produces about half of the country’s 2 million barrels of oil per day. Yet it lacks basic amenities, medicine and infrastructure, and remains under the boot of the army. From far‐off Paris, Tiago sued for peace on April 5th in a dispatch to General Manuel Helder Vieira Dias Júnior ‘ Kopelipa ’, the head of the military bureau in the Presidency, and appointed an intermediary. The main question is whether it’s worthwhile for Luanda to make a deal with Tiago. FLEC has not posed a significant threat for years. (Africa Confidential 13/4) http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Africa Research Bulletin: Political, Social and Cultural Series Wiley

Angola: Civil War Anniversary

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Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 Wiley Subscription Services
ISSN
0001-9844
eISSN
1467-825X
DOI
10.1111/j.1467-825X.2012.04439.x
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Angola marked the 10th anniversary of the end of its three‐decade civil war on April 4th as President Jose Eduardo dos Santos unveiled a peace monument near the site in Moxico province capital, Luena, where long‐time UNITA rebel leader Jonas Savimbi was killed. The Angolan conflict became a Cold War proxy battle, with the Soviet Union and Cuba backing Dos Santos’ MPLA , while the United States and apartheid South Africa assisted UNITA. Since the war ended, oil exports have fuelled massive economic growth and billions of dollars have been poured into repairing roads, railways and airports. Dos Santos has been hailed as peacemaker who steered the oil‐fuelled economic boom but has through the past year faced criticism amid signs of mounting corruption within his regime. Authorities have also stamped out a series of youth‐led protests calling for reform (Vol.48 p. 19101) . Despite boasting one of the world’s fastest growing economies, poverty is still rampant in the country of 18.4m people. Nearly 2.4m people still live in areas riddled with landmines, according to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines . (© AFP, Luanda 4/4) After four decades of the struggle for independence in the oil‐rich Cabinda enclave, the last fighting faction has launched an offer of peace talks. The octogenarian, exiled leader of the Frente para a Libertação do Enclave de Cabinda ( FLEC ), Henrique N’Zita Tiago , needs to get his rivals behind him and to engage Luanda. The enclave, separated from the rest of Angola by a narrow strip of DR Congo , produces about half of the country’s 2 million barrels of oil per day. Yet it lacks basic amenities, medicine and infrastructure, and remains under the boot of the army. From far‐off Paris, Tiago sued for peace on April 5th in a dispatch to General Manuel Helder Vieira Dias Júnior ‘ Kopelipa ’, the head of the military bureau in the Presidency, and appointed an intermediary. The main question is whether it’s worthwhile for Luanda to make a deal with Tiago. FLEC has not posed a significant threat for years. (Africa Confidential 13/4)

Journal

Africa Research Bulletin: Political, Social and Cultural SeriesWiley

Published: Jan 1, 2012

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