Republic of Angola - The profile country in a chronology of key events

A chronology of key events:

1300s - Kongo kingdom consolidates in the north.

1483 - Portuguese arrive.

1575 - Portuguese found Luanda.

17th and 18th centuries - Angola becomes a major Portuguese trading arena for slaves. Between 1580 and 1680 a million plus are shipped to Brazil.

1836 - Slave trade officially abolished by the Portuguese government.

1885-1930 - Portugal consolidates colonial control over Angola, local resistance persists.

1951 - Angola's status changes from colony to overseas province.

1956 - The early beginnings of the socialist guerrilla independence movement, the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), based in northern Congo.

1950s-1961 - Nationalist movement develops, guerrilla war begins.

1961 - Forced labour abolished after revolts on coffee plantations leave 50,000 dead. The fight for independence is bolstered.

1974 - Revolution in Portugal, colonial empire collapses.

Independence

1976 - MPLA gains upper hand.

1979 - MPLA leader Agostinho Neto dies. Jose Eduardo dos Santos takes over as president.

1987 - South African forces enter Angola to support Unita.

1988 - South Africa agrees to Namibian independence in exchange for removal of Cuban troops from Angola.

1989 - Dos Santos, Unita leader Jonas Savimbi agree cease-fire, which collapses soon afterwards and guerrilla activity resumes.

Towards peace

1991 April - MPLA drops Marxism-Leninism in favour of social democracy.

1991 May - Dos Santos, Savimbi sign peace deal in Lisbon which results in a new multiparty constitution.

1992 September - Presidential and parliamentary polls certified by UN monitors as generally free and fair. Dos Santo gains more votes than Savimbi, who rejects results and resumes guerrilla war.

1993 - UN imposes sanctions against Unita. The US acknowledges the MPLA.

1994 - Government, Unita sign Lusaka Protocol peace accord.

1995 - Dos Santos, Savimbi meet, confirm commitment to peace. First of 7,000 UN peacekeepers arrive.

1996 - Dos Santos, Savimbi agree to form unity government join forces into national army.

1997 April - Unified government inaugurated, with Savimbi declining post in unity government and failing to attend inauguration ceremony.

1997 May - Tension mounts, with few Unita troops having integrated into army.

1998 - Full-scale fighting resumes. Thousands killed in next four years of fighting.

Angola intervenes in civil war in Democratic Republic of Congo on the side of President Laurent-Desire Kabila.

1999 - UN ends its peacekeeping mission.

2002 February - Savimbi killed by government troops. Government, Unita sign ceasefire shortly afterwards.

Demobilisation

2002 May - Unita's military commander says 85% of his troops have gathered at demobilisation camps. There are concerns that food shortages in the camps could threaten the peace process.

2002 June - UN appeals for aid for thousands of refugees heading home after the ceasefire.

Medical charity Medecins sans Frontieres says half a million Angolans are facing starvation, a legacy of civil war.

2002 August - Unita scraps its armed wing. "The war has ended," proclaims Angola's defence minister.

2003 February - UN mission overseeing the peace process winds up.

2003 June - Unita - now a political party - elects Isaias Samakuva as its new leader.

2004 April onwards - Tens of thousands of illegal foreign diamond miners are expelled in a crackdown on illegal mining and trafficking. In December the government says 300,000 foreign diamond dealers have been expelled.

2004 September - Oil production reaches one million barrels per day.

2005 March-May - Marburg virus, which is deadlier than Ebola, kills more than 300 people, most of them in the north.

2005 June - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visits, promises to extend more than $2 billion in new credit, in addition to a $3 billion credit line Beijing has already given Luanda.

2006 August - The government signs a peace deal with a separatist group in the northern enclave of Cabinda.

2006 October - The UN refugee agency begins "final repatriation" of Angolans who fled the civil war to the neighbouring DR Congo.

2007 February - President dos Santos says parliamentary elections will be held in 2008 and presidential polls in 2009.

2008 September - First parliamentary elections for 16 years.

2009 March - Pope Benedict celebrates mass in front of more than a million people in Luanda.

2009 October - Angola expels illegal Congolese diamond miners. Democratic Republic of Congo responds by expelling some 20,000 Angolans.

2009 December - President dos Santos suggests presidential elections will have to wait another three years.

State oil firm Sonangol signs a deal to produce oil in Iraq.

Constitutional change

2010 January - Angola hosts African Nations Cup, continent's most popular sporting event. Bus carrying Togo football team is attacked by Cabinda separatists.

Parliament approves new constitution strengthening the presidency and abolishing direct elections for the post.

2010 September - President of DR Congo, Joseph Kabila, visits Angola. Ties between the two neighbours deteriorated in 2009 when Angola began expelling illegal Congolese immigrants and Congo retaliated.

2010 October - UN report into killing of Hutus in DR Congo between 1993 and 2003 says they may constitute "crimes of genocide". It implicates Angola, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and Zimbabwe.

2010 November - Convoy carrying Chinese mine workers attacked in the region of Cabinda. A faction of the Cabinda separatist movement Flec claims responsibility.

US urges Angola to investigate alleged rape of women recently deported to DR Congo.

2011 March - More than 20,000 people rally in support for President Dos Santos in response to a reported social media campaign calling on people to demonstrate against the government. Human Rights Watch accuses the government of a "campaign of intimidation" to suppress anti-government protests.

From BBC/Wikipedia and Others

Republic of Angola: Ambrósio de Lemos, police Chief Concerned About Illegal Immigration

Cabinda/Angop — The general commissioner of the Angolan National Police (PNA), Ambrósio de Lemos has expressed concern about the illegal immigration, calling for redoubling of mechanism to combat the phenomenon.

The Police general commander expressed this worry Thursday in northern Cabinda province at the opening of meeting that gathered members of Consultative Council of Provincial Command and local Branch Office of Interior Ministry (MINT).

He underlined that the visit to the northern region has to do with the government concern, both central and local, on the illegal immigration recorded in Cabinda.

Ambrósio de Lemos warned that the situation is worrying despite the response by police forces.

He said that the phenomenon brings harmful effects to the country's economic, social and cultural sectors.

The general commander associated the criminality with the illegal immigration.

During his stay in Cabinda province, Ambrósio de Lemos will be informed about the daily operative and public security situation, as well as the organisational and operational state of the local police command.

On Friday, the general commander will visit the border checkpoint of Ema, the station of the border police in Ntó locality and the land aimed at building social houses and police command of Cacongo district.

The delegation of the general commander is comprised by the commissioner in chief Alberto Jorge Antunes "Jojo", commander of the border police, national directors of finance, human resources, logistics and transports, as well as the advisor of the northern police region and other staff.

Can Japan Afford Recovery? Yes. Japan Does Not Need Tax Hikes or Charity

The press is filled with speculation about the impact of Japan's earthquake and its nuclear disaster on government finances. Prime Minister Naoto Kan said that his government is exploring sources of funding, and two-thirds of surveyed citizens are willing to accept higher taxes to pay for relief. Corporate tax cuts might be rescinded, and Japan has always favored consumption tax surcharges to reduce budget deficits. Recovery spending might add $250 to $300 billion to the government's likely budget of $1 trillion. (See here) As everyone knows, Japan's government debt is already 200% of GDP, and with the extra spending as well as loss of tax revenue due to the economic slowdown that is likely to befall the economy (at least temporarily), the budget shortfall will get bigger.

In a touching display of charity, the global community has responded by promising to provide funds for relief. Everyone's favorite auto-tune singer, Britney Spears, is donating some VIP tickets to her concert; My Chemical Romance is donating a song; Adam Ant is headlining a relief show; and sports stars around the world are leading efforts to raise funds. Now, I do not want to be a killjoy, but even after two decades of economic depression, the “secret savings” of Japanese wives still average over $37,000 per household. (See here) Folks, this is not Haiti or the New Orleans that was abandoned by President Bush. This is one of the richest societies that has ever graced planet earth. What the Japanese do not need is money from abroad. They do need expertise and supplies. I was horrified to find that some of my friends in California were downing iodine pills. OMG—send THOSE to Japan, not greenbacks, songs, or concert tickets.

I do not intend to minimize Japan's real problems, after suffering from a triple whammy of Biblical proportions: earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown. It will take a very long time to recover.

But, it would only add insult to injury to raise taxes now. It would make economic recovery much harder to attain and sustain. As a sovereign nation with its own sovereign currency, Japan can “afford” recovery—government can afford to buy anything for sale in yen that might help in the relief efforts. Japan has unemployed labor and other idle resources—both for sale in yen. To be sure, the massive destruction will create bottlenecks—it will take time to reopen some factories, to get workers back into a stable home environment so that they can work, and to mobilize productive capacity. Japan will need to increase imports of some strategic materials and supplies. But it has all the yen it needs to undertake the massive recovery effort. As in all sovereign nations, the Japanese government spends by keystrokes and so long as it can find electrons, it can credit balance sheets. And if it needs to buy some stuff in dollars, it's got those, too.

If the recovery really gets underway, aggregate demand (to replace housing, autos, factories, and infrastructure lost in the catastrophe) could superheat the economy. Inflation pressures might build. Now, THAT would be the time to raise taxes. Not to “pay for” government spending, but to take some of the fire out of an overheated economy. Better yet, relief and reconstruction will need to be planned. Yes, I know that scares the pants off the neolibs, but neither war nor reconstruction can be left to “market forces”. The aforementioned bottlenecks will generate price pressures—and, worse, price gouging—long before full employment is reached. Coordination together with wage and price controls (or “guidelines”) will let the economy generate sufficient steam to rebuild the nation without excessive inflation.

Unfortunately, Japanese policymakers have shown over the past two decades that they usually lose nerve long before they produce a sustainable recovery. They frequently adopt consumption taxes and/or spending constraints, and rely on monetary policy to overcome fiscal drag. It never does. Japan has been test-running Chairman Bernanke's quantitative easing for 20 years, with exactly the same results that we observe now in the US: nada, zip, niente. Zero interest rates, if anything, depress the economy—especially if you have a whole lot of household saving (and no debt) in the form of government bonds that earn you little income. Sound familiar? If Helicopter Ben has his way, we will see another 17 years of this in the US.

But what about the mountains of Japanese government debt? There is no solvency risk—it is sovereign debt, denominated in yen and serviced by keystrokes. Isn't that inflationary? Need you ask, after 20 years of deflation? Doesn't it cause currency depreciation? If only it would! Burden the grandkids? They are inheriting the treasuries—all they want is for the BOJ to raise interest rates so they can clip some coupons.

Clearly, it is not all hunky dory in Japan. Aside from the current calamity, Japan is aging and losing its workforce. Its firms have been offshoring production for four decades so that even the non-elderly are not working. Jimmy Carter's “national malaise” jumped the American ship and took up home in Japan—with households responding by ramping up savings. If it weren't for American consumers, Japan Inc. would have practically no markets.

But these problems cannot be resolved by efforts to downsize government and its deficit. Indeed, the rational response to both the immediate problems as well as the longer-term trends is more government spending and less taxes.

L. Randall Wray is a Professor of Economics, University of Missouri—Kansas City. A student of Hyman Minsky, his research focuses on monetary and fiscal policy as well as unemployment and job creation. He writes a weekly column for Benzinga every Tuesday. He also blogs at New Economic Perspectives, and is a BrainTruster at New Deal 2.0. He is a senior scholar at the Levy Economics Institute, and has been a visiting professor at the University of Rome (La Sapienza), UNAM (Mexico City), University of Paris (South), and the University of Bologna (Italy).

The ETF market can be confusing and hard to beat, but ETF Professor's trading ideas help you make profit consistently

(c) 2011 Benzinga.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published in its entirety or redistributed without the approval of Benzinga

L. Randall Wray

Somali Prisoners Complain Against Inhuman Treatment By Angolan Policemen

These youngsters, who are currently detained in Angola, contacted Shabelle radio to expose the tribulations they have encountered since they were jailed by the Angolan police.

Best books - Memoir Short Takes: Lost Sense, Self-Destruction, and the College Admissions Process

 

• Author Q&A: Wayne Arthurson on Fall from Grace
  LJ’s Teresa Jacobsen catches up with Wayne Arthurson at the 2011 Left Coast Crime, on the eve of the release of his mystery debut, Fall from Grace. more >>>

 

• Memoir Short Takes: Lost Sense, Self-Destruction, and the College Admissions Process
  This batch of memoirs grapples with trauma and strives for recovery; especially notable is Molly Birnbaum’s gripping account of her anosmia. more >>>

 

• Classic Returns: Reprints, Updates, & Bargains
  In this installment, we bring you Gilligan’s Island, sleazy erotica, and literary giants Tennessee Williams, Ray Bradbury, and Philip K. Dick. Also, gnomes. Can’t forget the gnomes. more >>>

Ugandan protesters in support of Libyan President Moammar Gadhafi

Ugandan protesters shout slogans in support of Libyan President Moammar Gadhafi as they display banners with his image, at the Pan African Freedom Square in Uganda capital Kampala, Tuesday March 29, 2011.

 

A woman shouts slogans in support of Libyan President Moammar Gadhafi as she carries his photo, at the Pan African Freedom Square, in Uganda capital Kampala Tuesday March 29, 2011. Police in Uganda say they stopped supporters of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi from marching toward and possibly attacking U.S. and other embassies in Kampala. A group of several hundred Africans from countries like Kenya, Somalia, and Tanzania held an anti-U.S. rally where they held signs like "Down with America" and "Down with Obama." (AP Photo/Stephen Wandera)

 

 

 

A man holding a placard shouts slogans in support of Libyan President Moammar Gadhafi, at the Pan African Freedom Square, in Uganda capital Kampala Tuesday March 29, 2011. Police in Uganda say they stopped supporters of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi from marching toward and possibly attacking U.S. and other embassies in Kampala. A group of several hundred Africans from countries like Kenya, Somalia, and Tanzania held an anti-U.S. rally where they held signs like "Down with America" and "Down with Obama." (AP Photo/Stephen Wandera)

Republic of Angola: The History – All about

History

The area was inhabited in prehistoric times, as attested by remains found in Luanda, Congo and the Namibe desert, but it was only thousands of years later, at the beginning of recorded history that more developed peoples arrived.

The first to settle were the Bushmen, great hunters, similar to pygmies in stature and with light brown skin. At the beginning of the sixth century AD, more advanced peoples with black skin, already in possession of metal-working technology, began one of the greatest migrations in history. They were the Bantu, and they came from the north, probably from somewhere near the present day Republic of Cameroon. When they reached what is now Angola they encountered the Bushmen and other groups considerably less advanced than themselves, who they easily dominated with their superior knowledge of metal-working, ceramic and agriculture. The establishment of the Bantu took many centuries and gave rise to various groupings who took on different ethnic characteristics, some of which persist to this day. The first large political entity in the area, known to history as the Kingdom of Congo, appeared in the thirteenth century and stretched from Gabon in the north to the river Kwanza in the south, and from the Atlantic in the west to the river Cuango in the east.

Their wealth came mainly from agriculture. Power was in the hands of the Mani, aristocrats who occupied key positions in the kingdom and who answered only to the all-powerful King of the Congo. Mbanza was the name given to a territorial unit administered and ruled by a Mani; Mbanza Congo, the capital, had a population of over fifty thousand in the sixteenth century.

The Kingdom of Congo was divided into six provinces and included some dependent kingdoms, such as Ndongo to the south. Trade was the main activity, based on highly productive agriculture and increasing exploitation of mineral wealth. In 1482, Portuguese caravels commanded by Diogo Cão arrived in the Congo. Other expeditions followed, and close relations were soon established between the two states. The Portuguese brought firearms and an interesting religion; in return, the King of the Congo could offer slaves, ivory, and minerals.

The King of the Congo was soon converted to Christianity, and adopted a similar political structure to the Europeans; he became a well-known figure in Europe, to the point of receiving missives from the Pope himself.

To the south of the Kingdom of the Congo, around the river Kwanza, there were various important states, of which the Kingdom of Ndongo, ruled by the Ngola (King), was the most significant. At the time of the arrival of the Portuguese, Ngola Kiluange was in power, and by maintaining a policy of alliances with neighbouring states, managed to hold out against the foreigners for several decades. Eventually he was beheaded in Luanda. Years later, the Ndongo rose to prominence again when Jinga Mbandi, known as Queen Jinga, took power. A wily politician, she kept the Portuguese in check with carefully-prepared agreements. After undertaking various journeys she succeeded in 1635 in forming a grand coalition with the states of Matamba and Ndongo, Congo, Kassanje, Dembos and Kissamas. At the head of this formidable alliance, she forced the Portuguese to retreat.

Meanwhile, Portugal had been occupied by Spain, and their overseas territories had taken second place. The Dutch took advantage of this situation and occupied Luanda in 1641. Jinga entered into an alliance with the Dutch, thereby strengthening her coalition and confining the Portuguese to Massangano, which they fortified strongly, sallying forth on occasion to capture slaves in the Kuata! Kuata! Wars. Slaves from Angola were essential to the development of the colony of Brazil, but the traffic had been interrupted by these events. In 1648 a large force from Brazil under the command of Salvador Correia de Sá retook Luanda, leading to the return of the Portuguese in large numbers.

Jinga’s coalition began to fall apart; the absence of their Dutch allies with their firearms, and the strong position of Correia de Sá, delivered a deadly blow to the morale of the native forces. Jinga died in 1663; two years later, the King of the Congo committed all his forces to an attempt to capture the island of Luanda, occupied by Correia de Sá, but they were defeated and lost their independence. The Kingdom of Ndongo likewise submitted to the Portuguese Crown in 1671.

The Portuguese colony of Angola was founded in 1575 with the arrival of Novais with a hundred families of colonist and four hundred soldiers. Luanda was granted the status of city in 1605.

Trade was mostly with Brazil; Brazilian ships were the most numerous in the ports of Luanda and Benguela.

Angola, a Portuguese colony, was in fact a colony of Brazil, paradoxically another Portuguese colony. A strong Brazilian influence was also exercised by the Jesuits in religion and education. The philosophy of war gradually gave way to the philosophy of trade. The great trade routes and the agreements that made them possible were the driving force for activities between the different areas; warlike states become states ready to produce and to sell. In the Planalto (the high plains), the most important states were those of Bié and Bailundo, the latter being noted for its production so foodstuffs and rubber. However, the colonial power, becoming ever richer and more powerful, would not tolerate the development of these states and subjugated them one by one, so that by the beginning of this century the Portuguese had complete control over the area.

From 1764 onwards, there was a gradual change from a slave-based society to one based on production for domestic consumption. By 1850 Luanda was a great city, full of trading companies, exporting (together with Benguela) palm and peanut oil, wax, copal, timber, ivory, cotton, coffee, and cocoa, among other products. Maize, tobacco, dried meat and cassava flour also began to be produced locally. The Angolan bourgeoisie was born.

Meanwhile, the slave trade was abolished in 1836, and in 1844 Angola’s ports were opened to foreign shipping.

The Berlin Conference compelled Portugal to move towards the immediate occupation of all its colonial territories. The territory of Cabinda, to the north of the river Zaire, was also ceded to Portugal on the legal basis of the Treat y of Simulambuko Protectorate, concluded between the Portuguese Crown and the princes of Cabinda in 1885. After a difficult and complicated process of implementation, the end of the nineteenth century saw the establishment of a colonial administration based directly on the territory and the people to be ruled.

With regard to the economy, colonial strategy was based on agriculture and the export of raw materials. Trade in rubber and ivory, together with the taxes imposed on the population, brought vast income to Lisbon.
Portuguese policy in Angola was modified by certain reforms introduced at the beginning of the twentieth century. The fall of the Portuguese monarchy and a favourable international climate led to reforms in administration, agriculture, and education. With the advent of the New State, extended to the colony, Angola becomes a province of Portugal (Ultramarine Province).

The situation appeared calm and stable. But in the second half of the twentieth century, this calm was disrupted by the appearance of the first nationalist movements. More overtly political organisations first appeared in the 1950s, and began to make organised demands for their rights, initiating diplomatic campaigns throughout the world in their fight for independence. The colonial power, meanwhile, refused to accede to the nationalist’s demands, thereby provoking the armed conflict that came to be known as the ‘Armed Struggle’.

In this struggle, the principal protagonist were the MPLA (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola), founded in 1956, the FNLA (National Front for The Liberation of Angola), which appeared in 1961, and UNITA (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola), founded in 1966. After many years of conflict, the nation gained its independence on 11 November 1975.