SUMMARY

When Angola gained independence from Portugal in 1975, MPLA (Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola; Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola), one of the three groups that had been fighting Portugal for independence, succeeded in taking over control of the country. MPLA established a Marxist-inspired one-party state in Angola. However, Angolan policy gradually became less influenced by Marxist-Leninism and in 1990, the ideology was officially abandoned. Two years later the MPLA government in Angola held multiparty elections under the auspices of the United Nations. MPLA leader José Eduardo dos Santos, who had led the country since 1979, won the presidential elections in 1992. The next election, initially due for 1997, was delayed several times and Dos Santos kept hold on power well into the 21st century. In 2003, he was re-elected as chair of MPLA. In September 2017 dos Santos handed the Angolan presidency over to Joao Lourenco who also took over as president of the MPLA.

The MPLA government of Angola faced an intrastate conflict launched by the two other former pro-independence groups, UNITA (União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola; National Union for the Total Independence of Angola) and FNLA (Frente Nacional de Libertação de Angola; National Front for the Liberation of Angola). While FNLA was defeated after a couple of years, UNITA continued to fight the Angolan government until 2002. The government of Angola faced another intrastate conflict in the oil-rich Angolan exclave Cabinda that was periodically active in the 1990s and 2000s. There is evidence that the government made use of one-sided violence during the latter conflict.

The government of Angola has been involved in the intrastate and one-sided categories of UCDP organized violence.