The foreign relations of Angola are based on Angola's strong support of U.S. foreign policy as the Angolan economy is dependent on U.S. foreign aid.
From 1975 to 1989, Angola was aligned with the Eastern bloc, in particular the Soviet Union,[1]Libya,[citation needed] and Cuba.[1] 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.[1] In 1993, it established formal diplomatic relations with the United States.[1] It has entered the Southern African Development Community as a vehicle for improving ties with its largely Anglophone neighbors to the south.[1]Zimbabwe and Namibia joined Angola in its military intervention in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where Angolan troops remain in support of the Joseph Kabila government.[1] It also has intervened in the Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville) in support of Denis Sassou-Nguesso in the civil war.[1]
Since 1998, Angola has successfully worked with the United Nations Security Council to impose and carry out sanctions on UNITA.[2] More recently, it has extended those efforts to controls on conflict diamonds, the primary source of revenue for UNITA during the Civil War that ended in 2002.[2] At the same time, Angola has promoted the revival of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP) as a forum for cultural exchange and expanding ties with Portugal (its former ruler) and Brazil (which shares many cultural affinities with Angola) in particular.[1][2] Angola is a member of the Port Management Association of Eastern and Southern Africa (PMAESA).
Diplomatic relations
List of countries which Angola maintains diplomatic relations with:[3][4]
Cape Verde signed a friendship accord with Angola in December 1975, shortly after Angola gained its independence. Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau served as stop-over points for Cuban troops on their way to Angola to fight UNITA rebels and South African troops. Prime Minister Pedro Pires sent FARP soldiers to Angola where they served as the personal bodyguards of Angolan PresidentJosé Eduardo dos Santos.[84]
Many thousands of Angolans fled the country after the civil war. More than 20,000 people were forced to leave the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2009, an action the DR Congo said was in retaliation for regular expulsion of Congolese diamond miners who were in Angola illegally. Angola sent a delegation to DR Congo's capital Kinshasa and succeeded in stopping government-forced expulsions which had become a "tit-for-tat"[85] immigration dispute. "Congo and Angola have agreed to suspend expulsions from both sides of the border," said Lambert Mende, DR Congo information minister, in October 2009.[86] "We never challenged the expulsions themselves; we challenged the way they were being conducted – all the beating of people and looting their goods, even sometimes their clothes," Mende said.[85]
Namibia borders Angola to the south. In 1999, Namibia signed a mutual defense pact with its northern neighbor Angola.[87]
This affected the Angolan Civil War that had been ongoing since Angola's independence in 1975. Namibia's ruling party SWAPO sought to support the ruling party MPLA in Angola against the rebel movement UNITA, whose stronghold is in southern Angola, bordering to Namibia. The defence pact allowed Angolan troops to use Namibian territory when attacking Jonas Savimbi's UNITA.
Angola-South Africa relations are quite strong as the ruling parties in both nations, the African National Congress in South Africa and the MPLA in Angola, fought together during the Angolan Civil War and South African Border War. They fought against UNITA rebels, based in Angola, and the apartheid-era government in South Africa who supported them. Nelson Mandela mediated between the MPLA and UNITA factions during the last years of Angola's civil war.
Commercial and economic ties dominate the relations of each country. Parts of both countries were part of the Portuguese Empire from the early 16th century until Brazil's independence in 1822. As of November 2007, "trade between the two countries is booming as never before"[89]
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 1 February 1978[90]
Canada-Angola relations were established in 1978, and Canada is accredited to Angola from its embassy in Harare, Zimbabwe. Ties have grown since the end of the civil war in 2002, with increased engagement in areas of mutual interest. As Chair of the United Nations Security Council's Angola Sanctions Committee, Canada limited the ability of UNITA to continue its military campaign, sanctions helped to bring a ceasefire agreement to end Angola's conflict.
Angola is accredited to Canada from its embassy in Washington, D.C., United States.
Canada is accredited to Angola from its embassy in Harare, Zimbabwe and maintains an honorary consulate in Luanda.
During Angola's civil war Cuban forces fought to install a Marxist–Leninist MPLA-PT government, against Western-backed UNITA and FLNA guerrillas and the South-African army.[91]
From the mid-1980s through at least 1992, the United States was the primary source of military and other support for the UNITA rebel movement, which was led from its creation through 2002 by Jonas Savimbi. The U.S. refused to recognize Angola diplomatically during this period.
Chinese prime minister Wen Jiabao visited Angola in June 2006, offering a US$9 billion loan for infrastructure improvements in return for petroleum. The PRC has invested heavily in Angola since the end of the civil war in 2002.[97]João Manuel Bernardo, the current ambassador of Angola to China, visited the PRC in November 2007.[98]
Angola has an embassy in Beijing and a consulate-general in Macau.
Angola-Israel relations, primarily based on trade and pro-United States foreign policies, are excellent. In March 2006, the trade volume between the two countries amounted to $400 million. In 2005, President José Eduardo dos Santos visited Israel.
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 20 October 1977[25]
The Government of Angola called for the support of Pakistan for the candidature of Angola to the seat of non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, whose election is set for September this year, during the 69th session of the General Assembly of United Nations. On the fringes of the ceremony, the Angolan diplomat also met with officials in charge of the economic and commercial policy of Pakistan, to assess the business opportunities between the two states. It asked to discuss aspects related to the cooperation on several domains of common interest.
Relations between the two countries have not always been cordial due to the former French government's policy of supporting militant separatists in Angola's Cabinda province and the international Angolagate scandal embarrassed both governments by exposing corruption and illicit arms deals. Following French president Nicolas Sarkozy's visit in 2008, relations have improved.
Angola-Portugal relations have significantly improved since the Angolan government abandoned communism and nominally embraced democracy in 1991, embracing a pro-U.S. and to a lesser degree pro-Europe foreign policy. Portugal ruled Angola for 400 years,[108] colonizing the territory from 1483 until independence in 1975. Angola's war for independence did not end in a military victory for either side, but was suspended as a result of a coup in Portugal that replaced the Caetano regime.
Angola has an embassy in Lisbon and a consulate-general in Porto.
Portugal has an embassy in Luanda and a consulate-general in Benguela.
The defence minister of Serbia, Dragan Šutanovac, stated in a 2011 meeting in Luanda that Serbia would negotiate with the Angolan military authorities for the construction of a new military hospital in Angola.[111]
Angola supports Serbia's stance on Kosovo, and recognizes Serbia's territorial integrity.[112]
^Petruf, Pavol. Československá zahraničná politika 1945 – 1992 (in Slovak). p. 112.
^Summary of World Broadcasts Non-Arab Africa · Issues 5021-5096. British Broadcasting Corporation. Monitoring Service. 1975. ... broadcast by Conakry radio on 11th November, President Sekou Toure announced Guinea's recognition of the government set up in Luanda by the MPLA and the establishment of diplomatic relations " from today ".
^Le Mois en Afrique – Issues 170–179 (in French). Le Mois en Afrique. 1980. p. 138. Le chef de l'Etat angolais , M. José Eduardo Dos Santos , a reçu les lettres de créance des nouveaux ambassa- deurs du Niger et des Pays – Bas ,
^Summary of World Broadcasts Non-Arab Africa · Issues 6511–6563. British Broadcasting Corporation. Monitoring Service · 1980. p. 8.
^Facts & Reports. Vol. 12. The Comité. 1970. p. 3.
^Sub-Saharan Africa Report – Issues 2800–2803. Foreign Broadcast Information Service. 1983. p. 12.
^Le mois en Afrique – Issues 211–216 (in French). 1983. p. 170.
^News Review on USSR/Europe. Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. 1988. p. 547.
^Press release. Permanent Mission of the People's Republic of Angola to the United Nations. 1988. p. 1.
^ abcdNewsBulletin. Vol. 87–114. ANGOP. 1988. pp. 10 and 14.
^Thorsteinsson, Pétur J. (1992). Utanríkisþjónusta Íslands og utanríkismál: sögulegt yfirlit (in Icelandic). p. 1066.
^Kalley, Jacqueline Audrey; Schoeman, Elna; Andor, Lydia Eve (1999). Southern African Political History: A Chronology of Key Political Events from Independence to Mid-1997. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 47.
^Filasṭīn al-thawrah, 881–889 (in Arabic). Munaẓẓamat al-Taḥrīr al-Filasṭīnīyah. 1992. p. 9. .سفير فلسطين لدى انغولا قدم الاخ امين ابو حصيرة يوم (۲/۲۸) اوراق اعتماده كسفير