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Author Topic: 30 Years Of Angolan Independence
Willowdale Wizard
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posted 13 November 2005 06:38 AM      Profile for Willowdale Wizard   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
i'm currently reading "another day in the life," by ryszard kapuscinski, about the angolan civil war and the end of portuguese colonial rule.

11 Nov 1975 marked independence from portugal for angola, and the BBC has put together a series of pages on it.

bbc news (1)

bbc news (2)

photos of the benguela railway (newly re-opened)

quote:
An IMF report in 2002 suggested that $4bn in Angola's oil money was unaccounted for over the previous five years. Soaring global oil prices have raised the question of what Angola is doing with its extra income.

"Although some improvements have been noted over the past year, the government's record on corruption and transparency remains poor," was the opinion of a recent annual review of the Angolan diamond industry.

Golden in winter, green in summer, the fertile highlands of central Angola were a prize asset for Portuguese colonialists in the early 20th century. Angolans found themselves robbed of land and forcibly removed. Decades of war forced millions more to leave their homes in the countryside. It became hard to know who owned what land - and the coming of peace has heralded new battles for the soil.

The government has drafted new land legislation, supposedly to clarify land rights. But Development Workshop, an organisation that works on land issues, believes the new law "weakens small holders' and peasants' tenure rights... in favour of large commercial farmers with registered land titles".

"Most of the former soldiers are still living well below the poverty line and many are struggling to survive," warns the International Organisation for Migration. "Disgruntlement among the former soldiers across the country is on the rise."

"The war makes deep scars on some people and in my province - Bie - which was totally destroyed, people were badly affected, youths started to drink a lot," says student Roja Cawaia.

"It's only in these last three years of peace that people are starting to recompose themselves psychologically."



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