The Conflict

A civil war has brutalized Angola, raging since the 1960s fight for independence from Portugal. Over the years, other countries, including Cuba and South Africa, have funded the rebels or fought in Angola. Currently, the government is fighting National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) rebels.

Ethnic

• The FNLA is predominately Kongo and anti-communist.
• The MPLA is predominately Mbunda and Creole, or Mestiço, and communist.
• UNITA is predominately Ovimbundu and was a major anti-colonial force.
• During colonization, Creoles were more likely to speak Portuguese and be educated; Africans of the interior—predominately the other ethnic groups—were more likely to be poor and uneducated.

Economic

• During colonization, ethnic divisions were made larger through increased economic differences. Creoles were developed by Portuguese rulers as an elite and were intermediaries in the slave trade. Kongo and Ovimbundu...