Angola Profile - An Overview

One of Africa's major oil producers, Angola is also one of the world's poorest countries.

•   Full name: The Republic of Angola
•   Population: 18.9 million (UN, 2010)
•   Capital: Luanda
•   Area: 1.25m sq km (481,354 sq miles)
•   Major languages: Portuguese (official), Umbundu, Kimbundu, Kikongo
•   Major religion: Christianity
•   Life expectancy: 47 years (men), 51 years (women) (UN)
•   Monetary unit: 1 kwanza = 100 lwei
•   Main exports: Oil, diamonds, minerals, coffee, fish, timber
•   GNI per capita: US $3,490 (World Bank, 2009)
•   Internet domain: .ao
•   International dialling code: +244

It is striving to tackle the physical, social and political legacy of the 27-year civil war that ravaged the country after independence.

The ruling Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the rebel group Unita were bitter rivals even before the country gained independence from Portugal in 1975.

The Soviet Union and Cuba supported the then-Marxist MPLA, while the US and white-ruled South Africa backed Unita as a bulwark against Soviet influence in Africa.

After 16 years of fighting, which killed up to 300,000 people, a peace deal led to elections. But Unita rejected the outcome and resumed the war, in which hundreds of thousands more were killed. Another peace accord was signed in 1994 and the UN sent in peacekeepers.

But the fighting steadily worsened again and in 1999 the peacekeepers withdrew, leaving behind a country rich in natural resources but littered with landmines and the ruins of war.

BBC

An overview

Attribution: CNN, BBC and IOL Africa.