Angolan Embassy

19,088,106 (July 2014 est.)

Southern Africa, bordering the South Atlantic Ocean, between Namibia and Democratic Republic of the Congo

Africa

LUANDA (capital) 5.068 million; Huambo 1.098 million (2011)

Portuguese (official), Bantu and other African languages

Ovimbundu 37%, Kimbundu 25%, Bakongo 13%, mestico (mixed European and native African) 2%, European 1%, other 22%

indigenous beliefs 47%, Roman Catholic 38%, Protestant 15% (1998 est.)

Angola is still rebuilding its country since the end of a 27-year civil war in 2002. Fighting between the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), led by Jose Eduardo DOS SANTOS, and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), led by Jonas SAVIMBI, followed independence from Portugal in 1975. Peace seemed imminent in 1992 when Angola held national elections, but fighting picked up again in 1993. Up to 1.5 million lives may have been lost - and 4 million people displaced - during the more than a quarter century of fighting. SAVIMBI's death in 2002 ended UNITA's insurgency and cemented the MPLA's hold on power. President DOS SANTOS pushed through a new constitution in 2010; elections held in 2012 saw him installed as president.

1,600 km

semiarid in south and along coast to Luanda; north has cool, dry season (May to October) and hot, rainy season (November to April)

narrow coastal plain rises abruptly to vast interior plateau

petroleum, diamonds, iron ore, phosphates, copper, feldspar, gold, bauxite, uranium