Angola Profile

Accessibility Links bbc.co.uk Navigation - - RELATED BBC SITES LANGUAGES Last Updated: Saturday, 5 January 2008, 18:19 GMT Country profile: Angola One of Africa's major oil producers, Angola is also one of the world's poorest countries. It is striving to tackle the physical, social and political legacy of the 27-year civil war that ravaged the country after independence. OVERVIEW OVERVIEW 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. AT-A-GLANCE Politics: Presidential poll - the first since the end of civil war in 2002 - scheduled for 2009. Some speculation over the health of long-term President dos Santos Economy: One of Africa's leading oil producers, but most people still live on less than US $1 a day. Oil output increasing rapidly. Experiencing a post-war reconstruction boom International: China has promised substantial assistance to Angola, one of it's main oil suppliers 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 ...