Angolan Government Research Articles

‘It took courage to die in Angola’: Umkhonto we Sizwe’s War versus UNITA, 1975–89

Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the armed wing of the African National Congress, is reputed to have been a largely ineffective guerrilla army which hardly challenged the apartheid war machine. Instead, this army in exile was mostly confined to its bases in post-independence Angola, thousands of kilometres from the land they sought to liberate. While in Angola, MK forces were largely kept on the defensive as they were compelled to join the Angolan government in its war against the armed group UNITA, which received extensive support from the South African apartheid regime and the United States. Yet within this context, on the periphery of the Cold War and the anti-apartheid struggle, MK managed a degree of battlefield success against UNITA, thus helping to pave the way for negotiations with South Africa. Although constrained by structural factors, MK nevertheless managed to assert an agency that has largely gone untold in the history of southern Africa’s national liberation movements. This article reinterprets MK’s military history by putting its Angolan battles at its heart. Relying on oral testimonies and memoirs of former MK combatants as well as scholarly sources, I argue that MK’s containment of UNITA offensives in northern and eastern Angola has been overlooked as an important battlefield contribution that helped Angola’s MPLA government to endure the apartheid regime’s onslaught and shaped the Cold War endgame in southern Africa. Moreover, combat narratives from Angola have proved pivotal in shaping the memories and identities of former MK personnel, even as contemporary South African elites have deployed these narratives for their own political ends.

Preventing chronic malnutrition in children under 2 years in rural Angola (MuCCUA trial): protocol for the economic evaluation of a three-arm community cluster randomised controlled trial

IntroductionChronic malnutrition is a serious problem in southern Angola with a prevalence of 49.9% and 37.2% in the provinces of Huila and Cunene, respectively. The MuCCUA (Mother and Child Chronic...

The Policy Agenda Setting in Angolan Education Policies: Analysis of the Project for the Creation of Reference Schools

This study analyzes the policy agenda-setting process of the Project for the Creation of Reference Schools in Angola, based on analytical models from the Political Science field referring to agenda-setting, seeking to understand the elements considered for the formulation of this project and identify the visible and invisible participants that intervened or influenced the process. With a qualitative bias, supported by documents and bibliographic references, the study fits into the field of research on policies and programs, based on the analysis of the policy-making process. The political analysis of the project indicates that the modality adopted for defining the policy agenda was top-down, that is, having the State as the main component, as visible participants through politicians, namely, the President of the Republic and his auxiliary bodies, with emphasis on the Office of the Minister of State for Economic Coordination, which signals some deviation in the pattern of public policies formulation of the Angolan government, given that this responsibility lies with the Ministry of Education, in interaction with its social partners. On the other hand, it was found that for the formulation of the project, the government considered elements related to the need for democratization access to schools and improvement of education quality in the country, to respond to international agendas by itself subscribed.

Giulia Bonacci, Adrien Delmas, and Kali Argyriadis eds. Cuba and Africa, 1959–1994: Writing an alternative Atlantic history.

In classrooms, conferences, and dinner table discussions, I have often recounted the scene in 1980s Angola where Cuban troops defended American-owned oil installations from attack by US-backed UNITA troops, who were fighting the Angolan government in a civil war. It is a tidy example that shows US business and state interests do not always overlap. Reading Cuba and Africa, 1959–1994, a new volume edited by Giulia Bonacci, Adrien Delmas, and Kali Argyriadis, offers many other surprising and instructive scenarios. Among them is the fact that Cuban exiles (Miami-based veterans of the Bay of Pigs) fought the Cuban troops sent by Castro to support the post-Lumumba nationalists in the Congo and the MPLA (People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola) in Angola. The support the Castro government offered African states, especially its intervention in Angola, is not new to me. But learning of anti-Castro Cubans choosing Central Africa as a theater to fight Castro was. While this is the example that most surprised me, the book as a whole offers fresh perspectives on Cuban-African relations. Cultural exchanges, civil and social scientific cooperation, and religious affiliations and imaginations, read alongside histories of more familiar military and political support, enrich a literature that has focused on the geopolitics of the Cold War and Cuba’s well-known military interventions on the African continent.

Políticas de investimentos agrícolas em Angola: projetos em concorrência e as tendências do século XXI

For approximately four decades, the Angolan gov-ernment has favored investment policies based on national corporations, policies which are changing in recent years due to the appeal for foreign direct investment. In this context, this article intends to reflect on agricultural investment policies in Angola, aiming above all to understand the growth trend of agribusiness and the various competing projects for agricultural development. This reflection implies considerations about these projects and the agricul-tural policies implemented over the past 40 years and the effects of the recent government developments to promote private investment in agriculture in the post-civil war period.

Cooperation in the medical sector between Vietnam and Angola

Vietnam and Angola have established official diplomatic relations since November 12, 1975. After 47 years of cooperation, Angola has become one of the important partners of Vietnam in the African region. Medical cooperation between the two countries has been established since the signing of the Agreement on Cooperation in the health sector in 1984. By analysing the relevant sources of documents, the research aims to evaluate the status of medical cooperation between the two countries in areas such as exchange of experts, medical equipment support, and cooperation in disease prevention and control, thereby drawing out lessons learned about the potential of cooperation between Vietnam and Angola in the future. At present, the Angolan government is still in need of expanding and further promoting cooperation in the exchange of medical experts, mobilising the support of medical equipment and disease prevention and control from Vietnam. In the coming time, if barriers can be minimised and potentials and prospects can be promoted, bilateral cooperation in the healthcare sector will be more successful.

Covid-19’s Impact in the Angolan Higher Education Subsystem

Pandemic caused by Covid-19 revealed the weaknesses of many governments management. The classes shutdown showed the Angolan government the importance of distance learning for a society development. This work aimed to check challenges the Angolan State faced, in order to carry on the curriculum plans during this pandemic period, as well as some obstacles faced by students and teachers, as main protagonists in the teaching-learning process, as the lessons they took from it. Thus, a conversation with some students from the province of Huíla in Angola, was organized. It was oriented by a teacher locally and monitored by the author. The author spoke with some teachers too. We could conclude that the pandemic really showed the lack of investment the Angolan State in education. In case they want to have a quality education, it is essential more investment in education, and especially in teachers education and their motivation. Not forgetting the need to invest more in technology, which is relevant nowadays for the non-stoppage of education and, consequently, the country's development.

Hunting techniques and their harvest as indicators of mammal diversity and threat in Northern Angola

Over-exploitation of wildlife especially bushmeat trade is the second most important threat to animal biodiversity. This also applies to Northern Angola but data on bushmeat and hunting techniques for this region are rare. Therefore, we study the most common hunting techniques, frequently captured species, and their economic value, and discuss the local resource use in relation to Angolan law and urgent global crises like the loss of biodiversity, the food supply in South African countries, and the risk of zoonoses. We recorded bushmeat hunting in 27 localities in the province of Uíge, accompanied hunters along their snare lines and interviewed additional 20 locals. Seven main types of snares and traps and their characteristics were defined. Hunters own on average 92 ± 128.7 snares and traps and capture about 25.3 ± 23.6 animals monthly. In total, respondents recognized 28 species of mammals of which one is considered as extinct and two as very rare. The majority of recorded species are hunted regularly. Rodents are most commonly caught followed by primates and duikers. Harvesting rates decrease with species’ body size, leading to high economic value of and achievable prices for rare, large animals. Overall, our results document the hunting pressure on mammals and the persisting popularity of bushmeat in Northern Angola which poses an imminent threat to remaining mammal populations. Moreover, it endangers ecosystem integrity, rural livelihoods, and human health through the risk of new zoonoses. Our findings underscore the urgent need for sustainable solutions. The Angolan government should play a more active role in enforcing existing hunting legislation to reduce illegal bushmeat trade.

Medical faculty profile is an important determinant of student profile and future practice expectations of medical students in Angola

BackgroundAngola is among one of the most deprived countries in the world in terms of medical professionals. In the past decade, the Angolan Government has invested in the expansion of faculties of medicine in the country. We analysed the profiles of medical students in Angola according to four clusters of medical schools: older faculty in the country, private faculties, Cuban sponsored faculties and military faculty; under the assumption that the organizational culture of the different faculties might influence the expectations and decisions towards future professional life of medical students regarding where they want to work (community versus hospital) and in which sector (exclusively public versus not exclusively public).MethodsObservational cross-sectional study. Piloted, standardized questionnaire to final year medical students or higher year of training in the first four-month of 2014 (N = 402). Data were entered into a SPSS v.20 database and descriptive statistics computed. Statistical significance for categorical variables was tested by Pearson chi-square, Fisher exact or likelihood ratio tests as appropriate. Comparison of means was tested with Anova. Backward elimination binary logistic regression was used to test the hypothesis that type of faculty of medicine is an important determinant of future professional practice, i.e., level (hospital vs. community) or sector of practice (exclusive public sector vs. private or private and public), while controlling for confounders.ResultsAfter controlling for age, sex, marital status, place of birth and place of primary and secondary education, type of family and family influence, students were more likely to choose community over hospital practice and to prefer exclusive public practice if attending a Cuba supported faculty of medicine.ConclusionsMedical education cannot be isolated from planning of the medical workforce. Some important and impactful careers choices, like choosing rural over urban practice, public over private sector practice, have deep influences in the medical professionals’ labour market. Some of these decisions are shaped even before the end of the medical training. As such, the monitoring of future professional intentions in medical schools should be done regularly to accommodate both the health system needs and the hopes and dreams of medical trainees.

Dental education and proportion of inhabitants by Dentist in Angola

The objective was to verify the proportion of dentists in relation to the Angolan population, to undergraduate and graduate courses in dentistry, and to analyze the pedagogical projects of the existing courses. This is a descriptive, exploratory and documentary study that analyzed data on the population and the number of dentists in Angola, obtained through information from the National Statistics Institute and the Order of Doctors of Angola. An application for cell phones called “Qualificar”, made available by the Angolan government, was used to collect information about the existing courses. The websites of the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation; National Institute for Evaluation, Accreditation and Recognition of Higher Education Studies in Angola; and the National Press were consulted to collect data related to higher education in Angola. Information on pedagogical projects was obtained directly from Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Angola has 701 dentists registered for a population of 30,175,553 inhabitants, that is, a proportion of 1/43,460. Among the eighty existing HEIs, only ten were authorized by the government to offer undergraduate courses in dentistry: six were located in the country's capital and four were distributed in other provinces, with workload varying from 4,688 to 5,536 hours. It was concluded that of the seven academic regions in the country, 4 do not have courses in dentistry; the number of dentists is not compatible with the population of Angola; no HEI offered postgraduate courses in dentistry and there is no standardization of pedagogical projects among the existing undergraduate courses.

China's Energy Policy in Africa

China's interest in Sub-Saharan Africa, which can be summarized within the framework of 2 main objectives as the acquisition of fossil resources such as oil and natural gas, which are needed as a result of rapidly increasing production, as well as the marketing and supply of products obtained as a result of production, was first carried out with Angola, which has a very rich position in terms of oil. started as a result of contacts. Within the framework of the agreements made between the Chinese government and the Angolan government, which was selected as the pilot country in the opening towards the region, the long-term transfer of the oil extracted in Angola to China was ensured; In return for this sale, China made dams, power plants, electricity transmission, and distribution lines and various transportation infrastructure investments in the region. Key words: Africa, China, energy, resource, policy

Em tempos de guerra e de paz: a Educação Especial em Angola

Este estudo investiga a construção das políticas educacionais voltadas à Educação Especial no Sistema Educacional de Ensino (SEE) angolano. A análise parte da inexistência dessa política desde o regime colonial às iniciativas constituídas a partir da independência do país tanto nos períodos de guerra civil como em tempos de paz. Analisa-se a trajetória do ensino especial tendo por fonte os documentos oficiais do governo angolano com o intuito de identificar os significados das formulações em relação à conjuntura política e econômica nos diferentes momentos da história do país. Metodologicamente, trata-se de pesquisa qualitativa, na qual os documentos oficiais são analisados sob a ótica da análise crítica do discurso. A temática do ensino especial foi contemplada no âmbito dos aspectos normativos institucionais durante a I e a II República, caracterizando marcos históricos à compreensão dos rumos da Educação Especial. Contudo, o desenvolvimento educacional em meio à instabilidade política e econômica devido à guerra civil fragilizou a implementação das políticas de Educação Especial. Com a instauração da paz, o governo angolano investiu na elaboração e aprovação de documentos e legislações voltados ao ensino especial e registrou, nos doze anos do pós-guerra (2002-2014), um aumento expressivo de 284% dos alunos da Educação Especial matriculados. Pode-se afirmar que a efetiva implementação da Educação Especial ocorre com o fim da guerra civil, com a formação de professores, com a aprovação de políticas públicas e a influência advinda de parcerias com as agências das Nações Unidas, além de cooperações técnicas com o chamado Sul Global.

An Evaluation of the Angolan Government Strategies in the Resolution of the Internal Armed Conflict (1992-2002)

An evaluation of the Angolan Government Strategies in the Resolution of the Internal Armed Conflict, although research has been done showing that the conflict in Africa in general and in Sub-Sahara region, and in Angola particular has caused harm to the Angolan population and the international humanitarian intervention was necessary to minimize the conflict negative effects, although it was not sufficient to stop the calamity that decimate thousands of Angolans. The main objective for the call was intended to awaken international community to the danger that African countries and its Sub-regions were undergoing so that they could help to find resolutions for peace agreements for this region in particular and for Africa as a whole. This work is not only breaking the ground but save to bridge to the gap between what others researchers had coved and recent challenge that are bedevilling the conflict in African countries in general and in Angola in particular. The study however gives an emphasis, open new ways and increase the value for further researches that wish to venture on this field of study. This study is resumed in a dialogue between the researcher, the participants and other stakeholders whose contribution was relevant for the success of this research. Qualitative was the methodology approach. It is an attempt to understand the perception and perspectives of the various key players and all other stakeholders. Is believed that the participants have the idea of how important their suggestions so that the decision makers bring up mechanisms and policies that can benefit the suffered communities. The data collection devices were important though there were advantages and disadvantages. In this study the researcher used questionnaire, interviews, and observation analysis. In undertaking this study, the researcher encounters challenges mainly with the governmental institutions and officials who have kept the important information. Participants were chosen using the random sampling approach. The samples were appropriate for the purpose of the study and met the desired outcome. Interviews were important by generating empirical data. This research came to add value to the body of knowledge on the topic and to bridge the existing gape on the field of study. The practical and theoretical applications, findings and implications can be useful for future researches.

Conflict diamonds and the Angolan Civil War (1992–2002)

In the early 1990s several rebel groups turned to natural resource extraction to pay for war. A key form of this is rebel diamond production, commonly referred to as conflict diamonds, which is widely perceived as being highly beneficial to insurgent organisations. Yet in the Angolan Civil War (1992–2002), the use of conflict diamonds by the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) resulted in a decisive insurgent defeat. How can this outcome be explained? Offering a nuanced understanding of how conflict diamonds affect civil war, this article shows that although diamonds generated considerable revenue for UNITA, they were not an effective method for them to take on the Angolan government. This was for two reasons: internally, the rebels greatly struggled to convert their diamond proceeds into sufficient goods and services; and externally, it left the group highly vulnerable to international countermeasures in the form of United Nations Security Council sanctions. Natural resource extraction may therefore not be as useful to rebel groups as is frequently believed.

Vaccination Policies and State Building in Post-war Angola

The article explores how public health policies may be used by the state to (re)gain its legitimacy. The author examines this through the example of the use of vaccination policies in Angola, a Southern African country torn apart by thirty years of civil war. In particular, the author looks at how the Angolan government has managed to regain control of the country, understood as both a territory and a population, and focuses on the construction of the Angolan nation and the key role of women in this tactic. Vaccination policies have been used with four non-medical purposes: to reconquer the territory, to frame the nursing workforce, to shape motherhood, and, through the use of statistics, to reinforce and integrate the Angolan health system into the global one. Women as the primary carers of children and as health workers are instrumental to the Angolan state's strategy for winning back the territory and the population.

Políticas públicas de educação em contextos em desenvolvimento percebidas na complexidade do Glocal

This article wishes to assess public policies of education in Angola, carried out in cooperation procedures for post 2015 development, namely, social partnerships established between the Angolan Government and organizations of the second and third sectors in the area of adult literacy in a professional environment. References are made to some conclusions of a study carried out within a PhD in Educational Sciences, which according to the theory of a Situated Epistemology of Development Cooperation understands that policies are presented at different levels, such as mega site, macro site and meso site. It is concluded that such social partnerships make sense and become more consistent when perceived in the context of dialogic cooperation, where the parties involved present certain provisions that partners tend to present when properly justified in a local network of partnerships.

Efficacy and safety of artemether\u2013lumefantrine, artesunate\u2013amodiaquine, and dihydroartemisinin\u2013piperaquine for the treatment of uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in three provinces in Angola, 2017

BackgroundThe Angolan government recommends three artemisinin-based combinations for the treatment of uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria: artemether–lumefantrine (AL), artesunate–amodiaquine (ASAQ), and dihydroartemisinin–piperaquine (DP). Due to the threat of emerging anti-malarial drug resistance, it is important to periodically monitor the efficacy of artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT). This study evaluated these medications’ therapeutic efficacy in Benguela, Lunda Sul, and Zaire Provinces.MethodsEnrollment occurred between March and July 2017. Study participants were children with P. falciparum monoinfection from each provincial capital. Participants received a 3-day course of a quality-assured artemisinin-based combination and were monitored for 28 (AL and ASAQ arms) or 42 days (DP arm). Each ACT was assessed in two provinces. The primary study endpoints were: (1) follow-up without complications and (2) failure to respond to treatment or development of recurrent P. falciparum infection. Parasites from each patient experiencing recurrent infection were genotyped to differentiate new infection from recrudescence of persistent parasitaemia. These parasites were also analysed for molecular markers associated with ACT resistance.ResultsOf 608 children enrolled in the study, 540 (89%) reached a primary study endpoint. Parasitaemia was cleared within 3 days of medication administration in all participants, and no early treatment failures were observed. After exclusion of reinfections, the corrected efficacy of AL was 96% (91–100%, 95% confidence interval) in Zaire and 97% (93–100%) in Lunda Sul. The corrected efficacy of ASAQ was 100% (97–100%) in Benguela and 93% (88–99%) in Zaire. The corrected efficacy of DP was 100% (96–100%) in Benguela and 100% in Lunda Sul. No mutations associated with artemisinin resistance were identified in the pfk13 gene in the 38 cases of recurrent P. falciparum infection. All 33 treatment failures in the AL and ASAQ arms carried pfmdr1 or pfcrt mutations associated with lumefantrine and amodiaquine resistance, respectively, on day of failure.ConclusionsAL, ASAQ, and DP continue to be efficacious against P. falciparum malaria in these provinces of Angola. Rapid parasite clearance and the absence of genetic evidence of artemisinin resistance are consistent with full susceptibility to artemisinin derivatives. Periodic monitoring of in vivo drug efficacy remains a priority routine activity for Angola.

Agroclimatic zoning for coffee crop in Angola

ABSTRACT The Angolan Government intends to recover its 1970s expressive production of coffee by means of agricultural financing programs, mainly directed to family farmers. This study aimed to perform the agroclimatic zoning for the coffee crop in the Angolan territory. Data or estimates of annual temperature, effective and total rainfall rates, climatic water balance and annual water deficit were evaluated for all the 163 Angolan municipalities. The effective and total precipitation data were used for the agroclimatic zoning of the coffee crop in the country. Based on the effective precipitation data, 1 %, 20 % and 79 % of the Angolan territory were respectively considered suitable, marginal and unsuitable for the Arabica coffee, while, for the Robusta coffee, the same rates were, respectively, 1 %, 8 % and 91 %. Based on the total precipitation data, these rates were 2 %, 27.5 % and 70.5 % for the Arabica coffee and 1 %, 11.8 % and 87.2 % for the Robusta coffee. The areas considered marginal and unsuitable for the coffee crop in Angola are related to water deficit conditions, mainly in the southwestern region and along the coastal strip. The results obtained from the climatic water balance show that most part of the Angolan territory is marginal or unsuitable for the coffee crop.

Intertextuality across Angolan medium of instruction policy texts, discourses, and practices

ABSTRACTPortuguese is the mother tongue for many Angolans yet a majority continue to use African languages in everyday interactions and schools struggle to provide equal educational opportunities for students whose first language is not Portuguese. Recognizing this challenge, the Angolan government has created a language policy that will introduce six African languages into the school system. For a country that has maintained a monolingual education system for over 32 years, the new policy is perhaps a milestone achievement. This study examines the historical and ideological processes that gave rise to new medium of instruction policies in Angola. Then, interview data collected from policymakers, educators, and students are examined to illuminate how these language policies are interpreted and appropriated in schools and communities. We argue that, while recent language policies create ideological spaces for multilingual education, the hegemonic status of Portuguese, and the growing influence of English, are formidable obstacles.

Politics of power and hierarchies of citizenship in Angola

This article discusses citizenship and belonging with reference to processes of post-war state formation, namely: the MPLA’s political hegemony and the centralisation of power in the presidency. It argues this political arrangement imposes upon individuals an oscillation between different ‘levels’ or hierarchies of citizenship with a tendency towards marginalisation, formally allowing them to access both but under the specific circumstances dictated by the MPLA party state. Without a strong political opposition with a plausible alternative citizenship doctrine and with little incentives to improve the terms of citizenship it provides to the population, the Angolan government constructed a system of interests whereby the MPLA functions as a gatekeeper. Both in control of the state and of the distribution of citizenship, the regime regulates the flow of resources to the bottom through strategies of poverty and dependency, which increase the distance between the state and the population and sponsors the marginalisation of the majority.