As the world discovers Angola’s potential, the country faces the challenge of implementing innovative and effective strategies for embracing investment
| President dos Santos is focusing on strengthening relations with international partners |
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he devastation caused by Angola’s long civil war continues to dominate its peacetime. Generations that have known nothing but the war struggle to grasp this new facet of their lives, while survival continues to be their main concern. Fighting has given way to politics and the victims of the conflict need assistance. Millions are dependent on international food aid. But the roads and bridges necessary to deliver this aid no longer exist and there are still millions of landmines in the fields remaining to be cleared. There is hunger and rampant unemployment.
There
is disease and poverty. But in Angola these days there is also a lasting
peace, and with that, hope.
The resilience and optimism of the Angolan people is literally inextinguishable,
and two years after the peace treaty, as the country slowly begins to
rebuild itself and as the government faces one challenge after another,
there is still a pride and a feeling of success in the air that lets
one know that with Angola, it is just a matter of time. President José
Eduardo dos Santos states, “Peace, which was conquered at a great
cost for all Angolans, is firmly in place in our country. Having experienced
the horrors of a recent war, Angolans today treasure this peace as one
of their most valuable assets. We have all learned that it is incomparably
better to live in peace and to be able to freely discuss our differences,
than it is to live permanently in unsafe conditions.”
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And in Angola these past two years, there has been progress. Rebuilding the country is a major task, and one that will carry the nation into the next decade, but the government has managed to stabilise and liberalise the economy, and millions of displaced persons have returned to their homes. The help of the international community in the reintegration of these people and the reconstruction of infrastructure is essential. Although two crucial years have passed without significant foreign aid, frustrating efforts by the Angolan government to effectively realise significant social gains, it seems that an international donors conference will finally be held next year. Prime Minister Fernado Dias dos Santos, known as “Nando”, comments, “Our greatest and most immediate challenge in Angola is hunger, but to combat this we must reconstruct the country and we cannot do that alone. We have asked for international aid but it has been slow in arriving.”
Peace has opened the gates to promising prospects of growth and stability
The increased likelihood of a donor conference is the result of significant headway that the government has made in implementing macroeconomic and fiscal reforms recommended by the International Monetary Fund since the signing of the peace treaty in April 2002 – reforms that have tamed inflation and brought wildly fluctuating exchange rates under control. Additionally, President dos Santos says that these gains will now allow his administration to focus more effectively on reducing poverty. He states, “The government now plans to consolidate this economic stability, undertake a more efficient fight against poverty and create the conditions for strengthening investor confidence in order to promote private sector growth and boost employment.”
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Former Chief of the Angolan Armed Forces and First Angolan Ambassador to the US, General N’Dalu played an instrumental role in Angola’s peace negotiations. He emphasises the government’s desire to diversify the economy, and rebuild its agricultural sector, which suffered neglect due to the war. He says, “I believe that the future of Angola lies in its agricultural sector, as 60% of the country’s land is fertile. During the Portuguese colonization, agriculture was our strongest sector; we were the world’s third largest producer of coffee, and also a major producer of corn and milk.” Although the Angolan government is now heavily dependent on its oil revenues, General N’Dalu says that this has been a result of the war as most oil discoveries were located offshore, away from the conflict, and thus avoided the damage that was wrought in other sectors located on the mainland. He also comments that the government has acted wisely in its development of the oil sector – there are no monopolies, and the presence of a varied number of international companies has always been encouraged.
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Debilitated infrastructure, both in the transport sector and on a state administrative level, has also inhibited the holding of new presidential elections. Prime Minister Fernado Dias dos Santos explains, “The government has been working on expanding and normalising the state administration in the national territory in order to guarantee the free circulation of people and goods. Although we have made progress on the reinsertion of ex-combatants, we still have not managed to register the population for voting.”
Isaías Samakuva, President of the leading opposition party, UNITA (the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola), has been pressing the government to speed up the election process, which has also been held up due to the drafting of a new constitution, in order to fully launch the country’s new democracy. He comments, “We cannot continue with this oligarchy so the first thing that we have to do is hold the election. The country also needs a new constitution, but the process of constitutional revision can last six years so this should not stop the elections from taking place.” President dos Santos has said that he hopes to have the new constitution and the electoral law approved this year, build voter registration and electoral capacity in 2005, and hold new elections in 2006.
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