By Karen Iley
LUANDA, Angola (Reuters) – Angola won independence from
Portugal 30 years ago but the southwest African country is only
celebrating properly now, as a cautious optimism takes hold
after the end of a devastating civil war.
Peace, signs of recovery, the prospect of political change
through elections scheduled for next year and even the soccer
team’s qualification for the World Cup for the first time mean
this year’s independence party promises to be bigger than ever.
Angola fought for 14 years against the Portuguese but
celebrations on November 11, 1975 to mark its liberation were
marred by fighting that was to last another 27 years.
“The war dashed all hopes that came with independence,”
said Cornelio Caley, professor in African sociology and history
at Luanda’s Agostinho Neto University, named after the
president who led the independence fight and died in 1979.
“In theory, we should be celebrating 30 years of
independence, but in practice, we’re only beginning celebrate
it now,” he told Reuters. “It has been delayed.”
This year’s anniversary is “not just a round number,” said
Ari de Carvalho, the director of Angola’s national private
investment agency ANIP.
“For me, independence marks the beginning of our rights as
citizens, as people of this country. It marks the end of a
painful and extremely destructive period in our history,” he
said. “This tastes a lot better because we are no longer
embroiled in conflict.”
DREAM OF FREEDOM
When Angola won its independence, people dreamed of
enjoying freedom for the first time since the Portuguese landed
on Angolan soil almost 500 years before.
But those dreams were short-lived. Civil war erupted and
over the next 27 years, around 1 million people were killed,
roads and bridges were destroyed and Angola’s health and
education systems fell to pieces.
“Angolans have suffered so much. There are parts of Angola,
and some Angolans, who will never recover physically,
spiritually and emotionally. But we have to leave that to a
chapter of history,” Caley said.
With the signing of a peace accord in April 2002, there was
a glimmer of hope that life would begin to improve.
But it took time for Angolans to believe that the weapons
had been silenced for good. Now, three years after the end of
the war, oil-rich Angola is finally taking some small steps on
the road to recovery.
The economy is booming and is expected to grow by almost 16
percent this year. Inflation is being brought under control
and oil output is set to reach 2 million barrels per day by
2008, cementing Angola’s position as a major crude supplier and
the second-largest producer in sub-Saharan Africa after
Nigeria.
Roads are being rebuilt, thanks largely to $2 billion
Chinese credit line, bullet-scarred buildings are being
refurbished and other industries outside of oil and diamonds
are beginning to prosper.
Foreign entrepreneurs involved in copper, granite,
agriculture, finance and construction, among others, are lining
up to grab a share of Angola’s anticipated growth.
SOCCER BOOST
Even the country’s sports teams are adding to the climate
of hope — the soccer squad has qualified for the World Cup
Finals in Germany next year and the basketball team was this
year crowned African champion for the eighth time.
“Most of the world looked on us as a bunch of people who
fought and are corrupt, but I can say this very proudly: We
achieved peace on our own when everyone told us we would
continue to fight,” de Carvalho said.
There is much still to be done. Angola languishes at or
near the bottom of almost every development index.
Government figures show that around two-thirds of Angola’s
13 million people still live on less than $1.70 a day and the
country has one of the world’s worst child mortality rates with
the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF estimating that one child
in
four will die before their fifth birthday.
Half the population does not have access to clean, safe
drinking water and preventable diseases like malaria and
tuberculosis continue to claim lives.
Yet, the green shoots of recovery are showing and plans for
parliamentary elections in 2006 — the first national
ballot in more than a decade — are adding to a mood of
cautious optimism.
With around 70 percent of Angola’s population under the age
of 24, young people will play a huge part in rebuilding the
country and everyone shares the responsibility, said Emanuel
Castro, who studied business in Lisbon.
“Our country is still like a child — it needs help from
people who know better, it needs to learn, it needs to be fed
and it needs to grow. It needs all kinds of people, people with
capital, people with good ideas, people who want to work,”
Castro said.
“This is not something we can do alone. Each one of us —
each and every Angolan — has to play his or her part.”
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