STATE DEPARTMENT ISSUES BACKGROUND NOTE ON ANGOLA

The U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Intelligence and Research Electronic Affairs Publication Office issued the following Background Note:

PROFILE

OFFICIAL NAME: Republic of Angola

Geography

Area: 1,246,700 sq. km. (481,400 sq. mi), about twice the size of Texas.

Cities: Capital - Luanda (pop. 4.0 million); Huambo (750,000); Benguela (600,000).

Terrain: A narrow, dry coastal strip extending from Luanda to Namibia; well-watered agricultural highlands; savanna in the far east and south; and rain forest in the north and Cabinda.

Climate: Tropical and tropical highland.

People

Nationality: Noun and adjective - Angolan(s).

Population (December 2003 est.): 14,300,000.

Annual population growth rate (2002): 2.9%.

Ethnic groups: Ovimbundu 37%, Kimbundu 25%, Bakongo 13%, mixed racial 2%, European 1%.

Religions (2001 official est.): Roman Catholic 68%, various Protestant 20%; indigenous beliefs 12%.

Languages: Portuguese (official), Ovimbundu, Kimbundu, Bakongo, and others.

Education: Years compulsory - 8. Enrollment (2003 est.) - primary school 55%, secondary 30%, and post-secondary 3%. Literacy (total population over 15 that can read and write, 2002 est.) - 42% (male 56%, female 28%).

Health: Life expectancy (2002 est.) - total population 46.7 years. Infant mortality rate (2003 est.) - 154/1,000.

Work force (2003 est. 5.6 million): Agriculture - 85%; industry and commerce - 15%; services - 6%.

Government

Type: Republic.

Independence: November 11, 1975.

Branches: Executive - elected president (chief of state), appointed prime minister, and 30 appointed civilian ministers. Legislative - elected National Assembly (233 seats). Judicial - Supreme Court (a Constitutional Court, provided for in the 1992 constitution, has never been established).

Administrative subdivisions: Province, municipality, commune.

Political parties: 123 with legal status; in 1992, 12 won seats in the National Assembly. Pro-government - Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA). Opposition - National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), Social Renewal Party (PRS), National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA), Party for Democratic Progress - Angola National Alliance (PDP-ANA), Democratic Renewal Party (PRD), Party of the Alliance of Youth, Workers, and Peasants (PAJOCA), Liberal Democratic Party (PLD), Democratic Alliance (AD), Angolan Democratic Forum (FDA), Social Democratic Party (PSD), and the Angolan National Democratic Party (PNDA).

Suffrage: Universal age 18 and over.

Economy

GDP (2004 est. using purchasing power parity): $35.1 billion.

GDP (2004 est. using Atlas method): $14.3 billion.

Annual real GDP growth rate (2004 est.): 11.4%.

Per capita GDP (2004 est. using purchasing power parity): $2,525.

Per capita GDP (2004 est. using Atlas method): $951.

Avg. inflation rate (2003): 95.2%

Natural resources: Petroleum, diamonds, iron ore, phosphates, bauxite, uranium, gold, granite, copper, feldspar.

Agriculture: Products - bananas, sugarcane, coffee, sisal, corn, cotton, manioc, tobacco, vegetables, plantains; livestock; forest products; fisheries products.

Industry: Types - petroleum drilling and refining, mining, cement, basic metal products, fish processing, food processing, brewing, tobacco products, sugar refining, textiles.

Trade: Exports (2003 est.) - $9.8 billion: crude oil (90.3%), diamonds (8.4%), refined petroleum products (1.0%), gas (0.2%), coffee, sisal, fish and fisheries products, timber, cotton. Major markets (2002) - U.S. (35.8%), China (11.6%), France (6.9%), Belgium (5.4%), South Korea. Imports (2003 est.) - $4.1 billion, machinery, electrical equipment, vehicles and spare parts, medicines, food, textiles. Major sources (2002) - Portugal (26%), U.S. (17.9%), South Africa (15.9%), France (8.6%), South Korea, Brazil.

GEOGRAPHY

Angola is located on the South Atlantic Coast of West Africa between Namibia and the Republic of the Congo. It also is bordered by the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia to the east. The country is divided into an arid coastal strip stretching from Namibia to Luanda; a wet, interior highland; a dry savanna in the interior south and southeast; and rain forest in the north and in Cabinda. The Zambezi River and several tributaries of the Congo River have their sources in Angola. The coastal strip is tempered by the cool Benguela current, resulting in a climate similar to coastal Peru or Baja California. There is a short rainy season lasting from February to April. Summers are hot and dry, while winters are mild. The interior highlands have a mild climate with a rainy season from November through April followed by a cool dry season from May to October. Elevations generally range from 3,000 to 6,000 feet. The far north and Cabinda enjoy rain throughout much of the year.

PEOPLE

Angola has three main ethnic groups, each speaking a Bantu language: Ovimbundu 37%, Kimbundu 25%, and Bakongo 13%. Other groups include Chokwe, Lunda, Ganguela, Nhaneca-Humbe, Ambo, Herero, and Xindunga. In addition, mixed racial (European and African) people amount to about 2%, with a small (1%) population of whites, mainly ethnically Portuguese. Portuguese make up the largest non-Angolan population, with at least 30,000 (though many native-born Angolans can claim Portuguese nationality under Portuguese law). Portuguese is both the official and predominant language.

HISTORY

In 1482, when the Portuguese first landed in what is now northern Angola, they encountered the Kingdom of the Congo, which stretched from modern Gabon in the north to the Kwanza River in the south. Mbanza Congo, the capital, had a population of 50,000 people. South of this kingdom were various important states, of which the Kingdom of Ndongo, ruled by the ngola (king), was most significant. Modern Angola derives its name from the king of Ndongo. The Portuguese gradually took control of the coastal strip throughout the 16th century by a series of treaties and wars. The Dutch occupied Luanda from 1641-48, providing a boost for anti-Portuguese states. In 1648, Brazilian-based Portuguese forces re-took Luanda and initiated a process of military conquest of the Congo and Ndongo states that ended with Portuguese victory in 1671. Full Portuguese administrative control of the interior did not occur until the beginning of the 20th century.

Portugal's primary interest in Angola quickly turned to slavery. The slaving system began early in the 16th century with the purchase from African chiefs of people to work on sugar plantations in S?o Tomé, Principé, and Brazil. Many scholars agree that by the 19th century, Angola was the largest source of slaves not only for Brazil, but also for the Americas, including the United States. By the end of the 19th century, a massive forced labor system had replaced formal slavery and would continue until outlawed in 1961. It was this forced labor that provided the basis for development of a plantation economy and, by the mid-20th century, a major mining sector. Forced labor combined with British financing to construct three railroads from the coast to the interior, the most important of which was the transcontinental Benguela railroad that linked the port of Lobito with the copper zones of the Belgian Congo and what is now Zambia.

Colonial economic development did not translate into social development for native Angolans. The Portuguese regime encouraged white immigration, especially after 1950, which intensified racial antagonisms. As decolonization progressed elsewhere in Africa, Portugal, under the Salazar and Caetano dictatorships, rejected independence and treated its African colonies as overseas provinces. Consequently, three independence movements emerged: the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) led by Agostinho Neto, with a base among Kimbundu and the mixed-race intelligentsia of Luanda, and links to communist parties in Portugal and the East Bloc; the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA), led by Holden Roberto with an ethnic base in the Bakongo region of the north and links to the United States and the Mobutu regime in Kinshasa; and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), led by Jonas Malheiro Savimbi with an ethnic and regional base in the Ovimbundu heartland in the center of the country and links to the People's Republic of China and apartheid South Africa.

From the early 1960s, elements of these movements fought against the Portuguese. A 1974 coup d'etat in Portugal established a military government that promptly ceased the war and agreed, in the Alvor Accords, to hand over power to a coalition of the three movements. The ideological differences between the three movements eventually led to armed conflict, with FNLA and UNITA forces, encouraged by their respective international supporters, attempting to wrest control of Luanda from the MPLA. The intervention of troops from South Africa on behalf of UNITA and Zaire on behalf of the FNLA in September and October 1975 and the MPLA's importation of Cuban troops in November effectively internationalized the conflict. Retaining control of Luanda, the coastal strip, and increasingly lucrative oil fields in Cabinda, the MPLA declared independence on November 11, 1975, the day the Portuguese abandoned the capital. UNITA and the FNLA formed a rival coalition government based in the interior city of Huambo. Agostinho Neto became the first president of the MPLA government that was recognized by the United Nations in 1976. Upon Neto's death from cancer in 1979, then-Planning Minister José Eduardo dos Santos ascended to the presidency.

The FNLA's military failures led to its increasing marginalization, internal divisions, and abandonment by international supporters. An internationalized conventional civil war between UNITA and the MPLA continued until 1989. For much of this time, UNITA controlled vast swaths of the interior and was backed by U.S. resources and South African troops. Similarly, tens of thousands of Cuban troops remained in support of the MPLA, often fighting South Africans on the front lines. A U.S.-brokered agreement resulted in withdrawal of foreign troops in 1989 and led to the Bicesse Accord in 1991, which spelled out an electoral process for a democratic Angola under the supervision of the United Nations. When UNITA's Jonas Savimbi failed to win the first round of the presidential election in 1992 (he won 40% to dos Santos's 49%, which meant a runoff), he called the election fraudulent and returned to war. Another peace accord, known as the Lusaka Protocol, was brokered in Lusaka, Zambia, and signed in 1994. This agreement, too, collapsed into renewed conflict. The UN Security Council voted on August 28, 1997 to impose sanctions on UNITA. The Angolan military launched a massive offensive in 1999, which destroyed UNITA's conventional capacity and recaptured all major cities previously held by Savimbi's forces. Savimbi then declared a return to guerrilla tactics, which continued until his death in combat in February 2002.

On April 4, 2002, the Angolan Government and UNITA signed the Luena Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which formalized the de facto cease-fire that prevailed following Savimbi's death. In accordance with the MOU, UNITA recommitted to the peace framework in the 1994 Lusaka Protocol, returned all remaining territory to Angolan Government control, quartered all military personnel in predetermined locations, and relinquished all arms. In August 2002, UNITA demobilized all military personnel and in September 2002, together with the government, reconstituted the UN-sponsored Joint Commission to resolve all outstanding political issues under the Lusaka Protocol. On November 21, 2002, UNITA and the government declared all outstanding issues resolved and the Lusaka Protocol fully implemented. UN Security Council sanctions on UNITA were lifted on December 9, 2002. In advance of national elections projected for 2005 or 2006, UNITA and the MPLA held their first post-war party congresses in June and December 2003, respectively. The UNITA Congress saw the democratic transfer of power from interim leader General Paulo Lukumba "Gato" to former UNITA representative in Paris Isaias Henriqué Samakuva, while the MPLA Congress reaffirmed President dos Santos' leadership of party structures.

The Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC), formed in 1974, rejects the Alvor Accords that included Cabinda as part of Angolan territory at independence. Since 1975, FLEC has engaged in low-level guerilla attacks against government targets and has periodically kidnapped foreigners in an effort to press for an independent Cabindan state. Leadership struggles within FLEC have led to its breakup into various splinter factions, two of which continue the movement's armed insurgency. The international community has rejected the notion of Cabindan independence. The Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) launched a major offensive against FLEC in November 2002. While the offensive was moderately successful, at least one of the FLEC factions retains a guerilla capability. Periodic, separate negotiations between the leadership of the two armed FLEC factions and the Angolan Government have failed to produce a settlement to the conflict.

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS

Angola changed from a one-party Marxist-Leninist system ruled by the MPLA to a nominal multiparty democracy following the 1992 elections, in which President dos Santos won the first-round election with more than 49% of the vote to Jonas Savimbi's 40%; a runoff never took place. The Constitutional Law of 1992 establishes the broad outlines of government structure and delineates the rights and duties of citizens. The government is based on ordinances, decrees, and decisions issued by a president and his ministers or through legislation produced by the National Assembly and approved by the president. The parliament is generally subordinate to the executive.

Few opportunities exist for opposition parties to challenge MPLA dominance. President dos Santos has proposed that general elections be held in 2006. A multi-party constitutional reform process will resume following elections.

Angola is governed by a president who is assisted by a prime minister and 30 cabinet ministers, all appointed by the president. Political power is concentrated in the presidency. The executive branch of the government is composed of the president (head of state and government), the prime minister, and the Council of Ministers. The Council of Ministers, composed of all government ministers and vice ministers, meets regularly to discuss policy issues. The President, the Council of Ministers, and individual ministers in their areas of competence have the ability to legislate by decree.

The National Assembly has 220 members elected in 1992 (three seats for Angolans living abroad have never been filled). They represent parties whose weight is determined by a formula that takes into account national tickets and provincial voting. The ruling MPLA controls 59% of the seats.

The central government administers the country through 18 provinces. Governors of the provinces are appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the president.

The legal system is based on Portuguese and customary law but is weak and fragmented. Courts operate in only a fraction of the 164 municipalities. A Supreme Court serves as the appellate tribunal; a Constitutional Court with powers of judicial review has never been constituted despite statutory authorization.

The 27-year-long civil war has ravaged the country's political and social institutions. The government estimates that 4.7 million people were internally displaced by the civil war. As of January 2004, 3.8 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) had returned to their communities. Reintegrating these returned IDPs, 195,000 returned refugees, and 450,000 former UNITA soldiers and their family members continues to pose serious challenges. Resettlement of the remaining internally displaced and the return of 200,000 refugees from neighboring countries is ongoing. Daily conditions of life throughout the country and specifically in Luanda (population approximately 4 million) mirror the collapse of administrative infrastructure as well as weak social institutions. Government support for social institutions is inadequate. Hospitals are without medicines or basic equipment, schools are without books, and public employees often lack the basic supplies for their day-to-day work.

Principal Government Officials

President - Jose Eduardo dos Santos

Prime Minister - Fernando da Piedad Dias dos Santos "Nando"

Deputy Prime Minister - Aguinaldo Jaime

Minister of External Affairs - Joao Bernardo de Miranda

Minister of the Interior - Osvaldo de Jesus Serr? Van D?nem

Minister of Finance - José Pedro de Morais

Minister of Defense - Kundi Paihama

Minister of Petroleum - Desidério da Graca Ver?ssimo da Costa

Minister of Planning - Ana Dias Lourenco

Ambassador to the United States - Josefina Perpetua Pitra Diakite

Permanent Representative to the United Nations - Ismael Gaspar Martins

Angola maintains an embassy in the United States at 2100-2108 16th St., NW, Washington, DC 20009 (tel. 202-785-1156; fax 202-785-1258; web: www.angola.org). Angola also maintains consulates in New York City (attached to its Permanent Mission to the United Nations) at 866 UN Plaza, 48th St., Suite 552, New York, NY 10017 (tel. 212-233-3588, ext. 15; fax 212-980-9606; web: www.un.int/angola) and in Houston at 3040 Post Oak Blvd., Suite 708, Houston, TX 77056 (tel. 713-212-3840; fax 713-212-3841).

ECONOMY

Angola has a fast-growing economy largely due to a major oil boom, but it also ranks in the bottom 10 of almost every socioeconomic indicator. Aside from the oil sector and diamonds, it is in economic disarray because of 27 years of nearly continuous warfare, corruption, and economic mismanagement. Despite abundant natural resources, output per capita remains among the world's lowest. Subsistence agriculture and dependence on humanitarian food assistance sustain the large majority of the population.

By contrast, the rapidly expanding petroleum industry - now producing over 1 million barrels per day (bpd), behind only Nigeria in Africa - accounts for 51.7% of GNP, 90% of exports, and 90% of government revenues. Oil production remains largely offshore and has few linkages with other sectors of the economy.

Block Zero, located in the enclave of Cabinda, currently provides the majority of Angola's crude oil production. ChevronTexaco, through its subsidiary Cabinda Gulf Oil Company, is the operator with a 39.2% share. Sonangol (the Angolan state oil company), TotalFinaElf, and ENI-Agip are partners in the concession. ChevronTexaco also operates Angola's first producing deepwater section, Block 14, which started pumping in January 2000 at the rate of 80,000 bpd and is scheduled to add 180,000 bdp in production by 2006. Production from these Cabinda fields will be eclipsed by deepwater production further south in the Kwanza Basin scheduled to come on-line between 2002 and 2010 that will more than double current production.

TotalFinaElf brought the first Kwanza Basin deepwater blocks on-line with production from its Block 17 concession that began in February 2002 and now produces up to 30,000 bpd. Additional sub-fields will begin production in 2006 at the rate of 200,000 bpd. ExxonMobil brought the first of its Block 15 sub-fields on-line in 2003 at the rate of 70,000 bpd. Two additional discoveries of 3 billion barrels in reserves each are to begin production in 2004 and 2005 at a rate of 250,000 bdp each. Both ExxonMobil and TotalFinaElf made new discoveries in these blocks in 2003. Exploration is ongoing in recently awarded ultra-deep water concessions and in deep water and shallow concessions in the Namibe Basin. BP made the first significant ultra-deep water find in its Block 31 concession in 2002 and followed up with two more in 2003. Marathon also drilled a successful well in its Block 32 ultra-deep water concession. TotalFinaElf operates Angola's one refinery (in Luanda) as a joint venture with Sonangol; plans for a second refinery in Lobito are moving forward. ChevronTexaco and Sonangol are exploring the feasibility of a liquefied natural gas plant at Soyo. The United States purchases more than half of Angola's petroleum production, by far the largest importer. Exports to Asian countries, particularly China, have grown rapidly in recent years.

Diamonds make up most of Angola's remaining exports. Despite increased corporate ownership of diamond fields, much production is currently in the hands of small-scale prospectors, often operating illegally. The government is making an increased effort to register and license these prospectors. Legal sales of rough diamonds may occur only through the government's diamond-buying parastatal, although many producers continue to try and bypass the system to obtain higher prices. The government has established an export certification scheme consistent with the "Kimberley Process" to identify legitimate production and sales. Other mineral resources, including gold, remain largely undeveloped.

In the last decade of the colonial period, Angola was a major African agricultural exporter. Because of severe wartime conditions, including extensive laying of landmines throughout the countryside, agricultural activities were brought to a near standstill, and the country is now forced to import much of its food. Small-scale agricultural production is increasing as IDPs are returning to the land. Some efforts at commercial agricultural recovery have gone forward, notably in fisheries, but most of the country's vast potential remains untapped. Coffee production, though a fraction of its pre-1975 level, is sufficient for domestic needs and some exports. Overlapping traditional land use rights, colonial-era land claims, and recent land grants must be sorted through before significant commercial agricultural development can move ahead.

An economic reform effort launched in 1998 was only marginally successful in addressing persistent fiscal mismanagement and corruption. In April 2000, Angola started an International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff-monitored program (SMP). The program lapsed in June 2001 over IMF concerns about lack of adequate Angolan progress. Under the program, the Government of Angola did succeed in unifying exchange rates and moving fuel, electricity, and water prices closer to market rates.

In December 2002 President dos Santos named a new economic team to oversee homegrown reform efforts. The new team has succeeded in decreasing overall government spending, rationalizing the Kwanza exchange rate, closing regulatory loopholes allowing off-budget expenditures, and capturing all revenues in the state budget. New procedures are being implemented to deposit all government revenues in a single Central Bank account. The Angolan Government has adopted a new investment code. Concerns remain about quasi-fiscal operations by the state oil company Sonangol, continued oil-backed commercial borrowing by the Angolan Government, and inadequate transparency and oversight in the management of public accounts. The Angolan commercial code, telecommunications law, and land tenure law all require substantial revision.

The Angolan Government has reopened dialogue with the IMF in order to negotiate a new staff-monitored program. In its published July 2003 Article IV report, the IMF endorsed four prerequisites to proceeding with formal negotiations: (1) disclosure of foreign debt data; (2) timely provision of macroeconomic statistics; (3) full implementation of the single government account at the Central Bank, and (4) additional dialogue on oil revenue management. A December 2003 IMF staff mission to Angola found some progress in these areas. In February 2004, the Angolan Government and the IMF reached agreement on the steps necessary to conclude SMP negotiations.

Angola is the third-largest trading partner of the United States in sub-Saharan Africa, largely because of its petroleum exports. About 5.1% of U.S. non-OPEC oil imports in 2002 were from Angola, a share that should continue to increase. By the same token, U.S. companies account for more than half the investment in Angola, with Chevron-Texaco and ExxonMobil leading the way. U.S. exports to Angola primarily consist of industrial goods and services - such as oilfield equipment, mining equipment, chemicals, aircraft, and food. On December 30, 2003, President Bush approved the designation of Angola as eligible for tariff preferences under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) for 2004.

DEFENSE

The Angolan Armed Forces, known by its Portuguese acronym FAA, are headed by a chief of staff who reports to the civilian minister of defense. There are three services - the army, navy, and air force. Total manpower is about 140,000. The army is by far the largest of the services with about 130,000 personnel. The navy numbers about 3,000 and operates several small patrol craft and barges. Air force personnel total about 7,000; its equipment includes Russian-manufactured fighters and transport planes. The "Casa Militar," or presidential guard, answers directly to the Office of the President and is separate from FAA command and control structures.

FOREIGN RELATIONS

From 1975 to 1989, Angola was aligned with the Soviet Union and Cuba. Since then, it has focused on improving relationships with Western countries, cultivating links with other Portuguese-speaking countries, and asserting its own national interests in Central Africa through military and diplomatic intervention. In 1993, it established formal diplomatic relations with the United States. It has entered the Southern African Development Community as a vehicle for improving ties with its largely anglophone neighbors to the south. In 1997, Zimbabwe and Namibia joined Angola in its military intervention in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where Angolan troops fought in support of the Laurent and Joseph Kabila governments. It also has intervened in the Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville) in support of President Sassou-Nguesso.

Multilaterally, Angola has promoted the revival of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP) as a forum for cultural exchange and a means of expanding ties with Portugal and Brazil. During the peace process, the government fully cooperated with the UN Mission in Angola (UNMA), which concluded its mandate in mid-February 2003. Angola concluded a 2-year term on the Security Council in December 2004.

U.S.-ANGOLAN RELATIONS

The United States established formal diplomatic relations with the Government of Angola in 1993. Before 1989, U.S.-Angolan relations were defined by the Cold War. The United States initially supported Holden Roberto's FNLA and later Jonas Savimbi's UNITA against the pro-Soviet and pro-Cuban MPLA government in Luanda. Since 1992, the bilateral relationship has steadily improved. In May 2004, President dos Santos met with President Bush during an official visit to Washington.

The U.S. Mission in Angola consists of four agencies - the Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Department of Defense, and the Department of Health and Human Services' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (HHS/CDC). In addition, a variety of federal agencies maintain relationships with the Angolan Government through ongoing projects, including the Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Commerce, and the Department of Energy. In FY 2003, U.S. Government assistance amounted to roughly $188 million.

USAID continues to provide emergency assistance to vulnerable populations with a particular emphasis on assisting the resettlement and reintegration of war-affected populations. Contributions from its Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, totaling $20 million, provided seeds, tools, and other critical resettlement supplies and helped rehabilitate critical health and water/sanitation infrastructure in returnee areas. Through the State Department an additional $13.2 million helped finance refugee repatriation and reintegration. USAID's Food for Peace office provided emergency food inputs valued at $106.7 million to feed vulnerable populations and help stimulate agricultural recovery. The State Department continued to support humanitarian demining and small arms/light weapons destruction valued at $3.5 million and $500,000, respectively.

USAID's development program worth $12.4 million focused on democratization, agricultural rehabilitation, economic reform, maternal and child health, and HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. Additional HIV/AIDS funding of just over $3 million from HHS/CDC, $1.7 million from the Defense Department, and $150,000 from the State Department helped expand surveillance, prevention, education, and voluntary counseling and testing activities. USAID's Office of Transition Initiatives provided $2.8 million to support civil society and independent media development. Additional democratization funding of $1.6 million was provided by the State Department to support civil society, political party strengthening, independent media, and judicial reform. An additional $80,000 was provided as small grants to local organizations to support democracy and human rights. To assist with economic reform, the State Department provided $2.2 million to work on land tenure, economic policy, and the financial sector. An additional $60,000 in grants were provided to community development projects. $152,000 in International Military Education and Training (IMET) funds was provided for English language training to the Angolan Armed Forces. Professional training for law enforcement personnel at the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) in Gaborone, Botswana continued. The Safe Skies for Africa program provided around $800,000 in equipment and training to the Angolan civil aviation authority. As part of its public diplomacy program, the Embassy provided nearly $434,000 in English language training, educational exchanges and fellowships, and information resource services.

At the same time, the energy-based U.S. trading relationship continues to expand and spark other ties. One offshoot has been the development of a Sister City relationship between Lafayette, Louisiana and Cabinda and between Houston, Texas and Luanda. The Catholic University of Luanda has close links with a number of American institutions and has received support from the Angola Educational Assistance Fund, a U.S. non-profit organization organized by Citizens Energy of Boston. Sonangol has a longstanding program of educating its professionals in U.S. universities, complementing ChevronTexaco's policy of U.S. training for its own growing pool of Angolan professionals. Long before oil was discovered, American missionary efforts from the early 19th century established several Protestant churches in the interior, which also provided much of the schooling that was available in rural colonial Angola; those historical links now are being revived with exchanges in both directions.

 Principal U.S. Officials

 Ambassador - Cynthia G. Efird

 Deputy Chief of Mission - James Knight

 USAID Director - Diana Swain

 Defense Attaché - MAJ Nicolas Lovelace, USA

 The U.S. Embassy is located at Rua Houari Boumedienne No. 32, Miramar, Luanda, Angola. International mail: Caixa Postal 6484, Luanda, Angola; Pouch: Department of State, 2550 Luanda Place, Washington, DC 20521-2550; telephone: (244)(2)445-481, 447-028; fax: (244)(2)446-924, 447-813.

TRAVEL AND BUSINESS INFORMATION

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