Since 1975, as many as 1 million people have been killed and Angola remains a flashpoint for continued civil
war. Despite gaining UN recognition, demonstrating popular support and prevailing in UN-monitored elections, the leftist MPLA
has faced constant US interference and efforts to destabilize the government, resulting from MPLA relations with Cuba.
The death of Unita leader Jonas Savimbi
in a gunfight with government forces in February 2002 raised the prospect of peace and the army and rebels signed a ceasefire
in April to end the conflict
Angola faces the daunting tasks of rebuilding its infrastructure, retrieving weapons from its heavily-armed civilian population
and resettling tens of thousands of refugees who fled the fighting. Landmines and impassable roads have cut off large parts
of the country. Many Angolans rely on food aid.
Every 5th Angolan Child is Exploited: some 900,000 of the approximately
5 million children of Angola are forced to work. Approximately 300,000 (of these) are forced to perform extremely hard
manual labour
95% of Angolan households in some parts of the country have
no running water, 10% cannot afford to connect to the electricity supply and there are no social services.
Child death rate in Angola continues on the rise with 250 deaths out of every
1000 children that are born alive every years in the country. The deaths are mainly associated with malaria, respiratory infections,
diarrhoeas, measles and neo-natal tetanus.
Malnutrition continues recording high death rates. The monthly rate of internment
of children with severe malnutrition is put at 1000, while chronic malnutrition responds for 45 percent of children of less
than five years of age.
On the other hand, 46.123 cases of malaria were recorded in the first half
of this year. 17.847 were notified in the first quarter and 27.276 in the second.
It is striving to tackle the physical, social and political legacy of the
27-year civil war that ravaged the country after independence.
