1. Oil riches, economic rags

The oil boom has made Luanda into one of the most expensive capitals in the world — but rural areas remain almost untouched by the black gold boom. And despite the construction of roads and hospitals, the progress has benefited only a tiny part of the population of 25 million. According to the World Bank, national income per capita was just $3,440 in 2016. Corruption is also rife.

2. Civil war

Angola gained independence in 1975 after a bitter war involving several different nationalist groups following the departure of Portugal which had ruled since the 19th century. The winning faction — the pro-Soviet People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) — has been in power since independence. Once in power, the group fought a long civil war against the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA) which only ended in 2002.

3. ‘The princess’

Dos Santos’ opponents are critical of his grip on the country and its economy. Many major businesses are run by Dos Santos family members or friends. In 2013, his son Jose Filomeno became chairman of the country’s sovereign wealth fund. Dos Santos’s elder daughter Isabel — Africa’s richest woman according to Forbes magazine and dubbed “the princess” by her detractors — was appointed in June 2016 to lead the national oil firm Sonangol.

4. 38-year reign

Dos Santos came to power following the death of the country’s post-independence leader Agostinho Neto in 1979. Dos Santos has ruled with an iron fist, dominating every part of society.

5. Oil

Angola’s Cabinda province is separated from the rest of the country by a narrow strip of territory belonging to the Democratic Republic of Congo and produces three-fifths of Angola’s oil. The enclave has been rocked by a separatist insurgency since it officially became part of Angola at independence.

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2017