Rural Angola Research Paper

Introduction:

Angola is a country located in Southern Africa that was plagued by civil war for decades. Over the many decades it has been estimated that four million Angolans were displaced having to leave their homes for to seek a safe environment. In 2012 these Angolan refugees, some of whom have been living abroad for decades, have lost their status as refugees in their host countries as a result of the improving conditions at home. However since the cessation of civil unrest the number of refugees and internally displaced Angolan persons has slowly been on the rise. Despite all of the improvements that have been made there still exists a very widespread poverty. Angola has been injured and scarred from the more than four decades of

conflict within its borders and has been further injured by more recent global economic crisis. Angolan refugees are attempting to return to their homes in a country that has been thus far unable to instate any sort of necessary proper infrastructure such as being able to provide food security and a reasonable cost of living.
Country Background:
After centuries of being a Portuguese colony Angola, at long last, gained its independence in 1975 after 14 years of civil uprising. This independence was granted to Angola by a new Portuguese government despite the prior regime having had established an advantage over the years of conflict. There were three separate pro-independence groups, the FNLA (Frente Nacional de Libertação de Angola; National Front for the Liberation of Angola), MPLA (Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola, Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola), and UNITA (União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola; National Union for the Total Independence of Angola). Upon gaining independence the three groups erupted in civil war in attempt to grab power of the newly independent Angola. MPLA was able to defeat FNLA in the late 1970’s but the conflict with UNITA continued on up until the death of the group’s leader Jonas Savimbi in 2002. Savimbi was killed in conflict. However UNITA was not the MPLAs only issue. A resource rich portion of the country had been seeking its own independence prior to the Portuguese relinquishing the colony. The further complication is described by the UNDP as: “The Angolan government faced another insurgency in the oil-rich Angolan exclave Cabinda, which is separated from the rest of the country by a sliver of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Cabinda produces around 60% of Angola's oil revenues. Hence, it is of great economic importance. As early as 1963, a pro-independence movement, FLEC (Frente para a Libertaçâo do Enclave de Cabinda, Front of Liberation of the State of Cabinda) formed, but was suppressed by the Portuguese and later the MPLA government in newly independent Angola. In the 1980s tensions within FLEC led to its fragmentation into several factions, among them FLEC-R (FLEC-Renovada, FLEC-Renewed) and FLEC-FAC (FLEC-Forces Amardas de Cabinda, FLEC-Armed Forces of Cabinda), which engaged in an armed struggle against the Angolan government. The intrastate conflict over Cabinda was periodically active in the 1990s and 2000s. The government of Angola resorted to one-sided violence during the conflict.” Ultimately the MPLA has been able to maintain government control in spite of being involved in conflicts with four other pro-independence groups.
The decades of war took a great toll on the entire region. The economy and infrastructure have been destroyed, which has left the majority of the county to live in complete poverty. Local agriculture is struggling and still nowhere near being able to meet the people’s food demands creating great food insecurity, particularly in areas most ravaged by war. This deficit of local produce only further drives up the enormous cost of living. Angola is currently relying on imports for nearly everything, including foods. In 2013 and 2014, the capital city Luanda was ranked the most expensive place in the world to try to live according to Mercer Cost of Living Survey.
Assessment:
Since 2011 the country of Angola has continued to rank increasingly worse, if only in slight increments on the FFP Country and Data Trends in each of the social and economic indicator trends. Prior to 2008 the country had been steadily improving but then the economic crisis of that year slowed down the country’s growth and brought progress to a stand still for the next several years. In 2011 Angola’s social and economic trends began to reverse and head back up. The Current Pressures Assessment of the FFP ranks Angola 43rd out of 178 countries on their fragile states index and categorizes the country as “very high warning.” The Rural Poverty Portal is a resource for information and statistics provided by the International Fund for Agricultural Development regarding human security issues, such as food, summarizes “Angola has experienced rapid economic expansion over the period 2003 to 2008 supported primarily by high global oil prices and increased oil production with an average growth rate in gross domestic product (GDP) of some 17 per cent. Following sharp drops in GDP due to the global economic crisis of 2008-2010, the country has experienced a return to growth driven primarily by an increase in oil prices as well as a public investment program targeting non-petroleum sectors. Growth in GDP over the next 5 years is projected to range between 6.4 and 6.9 percent. Despite the increasingly strong expansion in the non-oil sectors in recent years due to public investment programs, oil still represents 95 per cent of all exports and accounts for 79.5 per cent of fiscal revenues.” However; these projections of growth in GDP are of little consolation for vast number of Angolan people who are living under the poverty line now. Basic resources and needs such as food, housing and education are all limited and for those living below the poverty line, very expensive. For the refugees who have no choice but to be returning to their homeland by the tens of thousands, they are sadly returning to rural areas where there are few incentives to do so.

The rural economy that now exists in Angola has all but collapsed. These people are returning to a home where there are landmines and unexploded bombs that litter the countryside and are a danger to all those who want to return and cultivate the land in order to rebuild and establish a lucrative lifestyle where they can live and raise their families. The remaining remnants of the war are a constraint on economic and social recovery and until they are all removed will continue to stall the much needed forward motion of recovery. So many Angolan social and physical infrastructures are so very badly damaged and neglected causing difficult and sometimes insurmountable obstacles for those citizens who are diligently and desperately trying to rebuild their homes and their lives.
In particular the lack of roads and bridges, which allow the farmers access to marketplaces perpetually causes a major impediment to their access for trade. Farmers also lack access to agricultural inputs and other assets necessary to begin producing again. They need seeds, adequate tools to work the land, animals for traction and fertilizers for areas such as the central highlands, where soil fertility has been heartily depleted.” Rural Poverty Portal (2014). “Rural Poverty in Angola.” Retrieved from www.ruralpovertyportal.org
This land has not only been ravaged by war, but also by neglect as the men and women who once tended the land were unable to remain during the fighting.
The extent of the poverty is severe.

According to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) 38 percent of the population does not have access to safe water sources. Only some 30 percent of people have access to government health facilities. Life expectancy at birth is estimated at 47 years (2010) and only 54 percent of enrolled children complete primary education. These statistics are worse for those living in rural areas. In rural Angola it is estimated that 94 percent of the population is living in poverty. Throughout the years of conflict a vast number of those who were internally displaced from their homes, more than three million people, were the people from rural communities seeking safety in the larger towns and

cities.
When Portugal granted Angola its independence in 1975, they did it without establishing a new Angolan government. I think eventually if the government can better institutionalize and control rural areas, build back up the infrastructure and get agriculture going again before grievances end up causing more conflict than Angola will have a shot improving and achieving more stability, but it really needs to come together quickly because those people are poor, hungry, and dirty, living, in many cases, in extreme poverty while Angola is an enormously resource rich region. With the continuing lack of clean water, electricity, plumbing, housing and healthy food it is difficult and virtually insurmountable in many areas for the people to get a foothold and begin to rebuild. The state is failing and its people are continuing to be displaced at a very high rate.
Conclusion:
Prior to the civil war the local people were labor workers for the large Portuguese estates.

In the early 1970’s Angola supplied almost one-fifth of world coffee production, more than 200,000 tons of coffee beans each year. There exists a vast reserve of oil as well as vast reserves of natural diamonds. Their mineral resources are very desirable. This land provides a store of petroleum, diamonds, iron ore, phosphates, copper, feldspar, gold, bauxite and uranium. Each one of these natural resources can promise a flourishing economy for the people of Angola. Many of their once utilized resources are presently not able to be accessed. Take the fishing industry for example; once a lucrative business now at a virtual standstill. While Portugal was in control, wealthy Portuguese provided the boats, equipment and salaries for the Angolan fisherman. When Portugal gave the Angolans independence they sailed of in their ships. There is no longer enough boats to work with, there is little to no equipment therefore; this entire industry is unproductive in this region. These types of issues exist in more than one area of Angola’s economic situation. Investors from either outside of the country or the government, need to better fund this kind of industry as it will be have a healthy effect on the Angolan economy and reduce the amount of

refugees.
If the government can continue to improve the economy and work toward improving the quality of living for its people by reducing the number of those living in extreme poverty and often becoming displaced both internally and externally of the country then Angola has a lot to work with. It is a difficult situation for any government; the young men and women are needed to work in labor positions to meet the immediate needs of the populous and yet the betterment of the nation relies on the education of its young people. If stability can be maintained long enough to institutionalize the rural regions and establish better infrastructure than Angola will overtime be able to provide a proper environment free from the wants, fears and insecurities that continue to be the source of the nation’s refugee issues.