Angola

What are China’s objectives in Africa, how valid is the concept of ‘debt trap’ diplomacy, and what are China’s military ambitions in the region?

African leaders who went to St Petersburg expecting tangible results from Putin’s promised new programme of support for Africa will undoubtedly have concluded that Russia is unable to offer what they need.

What are China’s objectives in Africa, how valid is the concept of ‘debt trap’ diplomacy, and what are China’s military ambitions in the region?

The two countries are in contrasting states of democratic health, says James Orr, but their next rulers will both face debt, inflation and frustrated voters.

With voters impatient for better government, Angola’s parliamentary elections on 24 August will be the closest since democratic elections were first introduced.

Leah de Haan on the need to give young people a role in the formation of policy

Africa is confounding predictions of a COVID-19 apocalypse, but widespread anxiety remains. Valuable lessons must be taken forward from the successful national responses so far across public health, security, and the economy.

If southern Africa is to grow, one-party politics needs to give way to plurality argues James Hamill

It is critical that the Angolan authorities get a full picture of the efficiency shortcomings of past major investments, and that bold reforms are undertaken to make public investment more efficient.

Castro supported many independence leaders in Africa, but Cuba’s solidarity and sacrifice was greatest in Angola.

Africa has suffered two traumatic post elections experiences this year in Kenya and Zimbabwe. So the world will be watching closely as Angolans go to the polls in September for the first time in sixteen years and only the second time in the country’s history.

After almost three decades of civil war, post-conflict reconstruction is progressing quickly in Angola. The country has become a huge construction site. China in particular has played an important role in stimulating this building boom. Its private and state-owned firms are constructing schools, hospitals, low-cost housing and basic infrastructure, such as roads, bridges and railway networks. Development through infrastructure has worked in China, but will the boom have the desired effect in Angola where human and institutional capacity is so weak? Schools without teachers, or hospitals unable to operate, would not answer the public need.

Angola last hit the international headlines some fifteen months ago with the death of Jonas Savimbi and the end of his rebel movement. Now there seem to be three possible scenarios for the country: is it finally on course for a sustainable peace; are people catching breath after four civil wars and will the next big push come in the fullness of military time; or is Angola on the brink of revolution?

The death of rebel UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi on February 22 in Moxico province is a watershed. The Angolan government had become fixated upon Savimbi’s demise and the ceasefire that followed offers the best chance for peace in living memory. Luanda will now be increasingly under the international spotlight over democracy, corruption and how it spends the oil money.

Angola From Afro-Stalinism to Petro- Diamond Capitalism by Tony Hodges Published by James Currey/Indiana University Press, 2001.

The world has become all too accustomed to things in Angola falling apart. Accounts of dreadful human suffering, death and destruction over the last thirty-odd years have been interspersed with only brief glimmers of hope which have quickly been snuffed out. Whereas outsiders have the luxury of speculation about a basket case of distant strangers, life for some thirteen million Angolans is a daily struggle amid conflict, uncertainty and economic and social crisis.

Angola Unravels by Alex Vines Published by Human Rights Watch, 1999