Angola
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Country
names & abbreviations |
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Country name
short: Angola
Country name long: Republic of Angola
Local name short: Angola
Local name long: Republica de Angola
Former name: People's Republic of Angola
Abbrevation:
Olympia: ANG
ISO_numerisch: 024
3er Codierung: AGO
2er Codierung: AO
CIA-Kuerzel: AO
Internet id: .ao
Vorwahl: +244
Nationality plate: ANG
Dependency Status: independant
Dependant Areas:
Independence: 11 November 1975 (from Portugal)
National Holiday: Independence Day, 11 November (1975)
Nationality noun: Angolan(s)
Nationality adjective: Angolan
Capital: Luanda
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Background |
Angola is rebuilding its country after the end of a 27-year civil war in 2002. Fighting between the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), led by Jose Eduardo DOS SANTOS, and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), led by Jonas SAVIMBI, followed independence from Portugal in 1975. Peace seemed imminent in 1992 when Angola held national elections, but fighting picked up again by 1996. Up to 1.5 million lives may have been lost - and 4 million people displaced - in the quarter century of fighting. SAVIMBI's death in 2002 ended UNITA's insurgency and strengthened the MPLA's hold on power. President DOS SANTOS held legislative elections in September 2008 and, despite promising to hold presidential elections in 2009, has since made a presidential poll contingent on the drafting of a new constitution.
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Flag |
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two equal horizontal bands of red (top) and black with a centered yellow emblem consisting of a five-pointed star within half a cogwheel crossed by a machete (in the style of a hammer and sickle) |
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International
disputes |
90,000 Angolan refugees were repatriated by 2004, the remaining refugees in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia are expected to return in 2005; many Cabinda exclave secessionists have sought shelter in neighboring states
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Illicit drugs |
used as a transshipment point for cocaine destined for Western Europe and other African states
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Refugees and IDPs |
IDPs: 40,000-60,000 (27-year civil war ending in 2002; 4 million IDPs already have returned) (2004)
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