One of Africa's major oil producers, the Republic of Angola is also one of the world's poorest countries. It is striving to tackle the physical, social, and political legacy of the 27-year civil war that ravaged the country following independence from Portugal in 1975. However, although most people still live on less than one US dollar a day, oil output is increasing rapidly and the country is experiencing a post-war reconstruction boom. In particular, China has promised substantial assistance; Angola is now one of its main oil suppliers.

Jose Eduardo dos Santos, of the ruling MPLA, has led Angola since 1979. In September 2008, dos Santos' party won a landslide victory in the first parliamentary elections for 16 years, and the main opposition UNITA party accepted the result. He had also won the previous poll in September 1992 (presidential and parliamentary elections) which had been certified by UN monitors at that time, however, the losing presidential candidate, UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi, had rejected the results and resumed guerrilla war. Angola has a National Assembly comprising a single chamber. Those elected in 1992 took their seats and, when it was not possible to hold parliamentary elections during the civil war, their terms were extended until elections were finally held in 2008.

Following the peaceful 2008 parliamentary elections, the Angolan government proposed that presidential elections be held in 2009. Earlier this year, however, President dos Santos declared that the approval of a new constitution was the highest priority for the MPLA during 2009. As at November 2009, no date for the Presidential poll had yet been announced.

Much of Angola's oil wealth lies in Cabinda province, where a decades-long separatist conflict simmers. This coastal enclave to the north does not share  a border with the rest of Angola, but is separated from it by the great Congo River and the DR Congo coastal province. The government has sent thousands of troops to subdue rebellion in the enclave, over the years, although a formal peace settlement was concluded in 2006. However, a 2009 Human Rights Watch Report has alleged serious abuses against civilians there.

A long civil war between the two parties who still dominate Angolan politics, the MPLA - Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola - and the rebel group, UNITA - the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (for the Portuguese - União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola) was finally ended in 2002.  This occurred soon after UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi was killed in a gunfight with government forces in February 2002. The army and rebels signed a ceasefire in April 2002 to end the conflict.

The MPLA and UNITA had been bitter rivals even before the country gained independence. After independence, the Soviet Union and Cuba had supported the then-Marxist MPLA (which became social democrat in 1991), while the US and white-ruled South Africa backed UNITA as a bulwark against Soviet influence. After 16 years of fighting, which killed up to 300,000 people, a peace deal led to the 1992 elections, but after UNITA rejected the outcome, the war resumed. Hundreds of thousands more were killed. Another peace accord was signed in 1994 and the UN sent in peacekeepers. But the fighting steadily worsened again and in 1999 the peacekeepers were withdrawn. The connection between the civil war and the unregulated diamond trade - or "blood diamonds" - has also been a source of international concern.

Angola now faces the daunting tasks of rebuilding its infrastructure, retrieving weapons from its heavily-armed civilian population and resettling tens of thousands of refugees who fled the fighting. Landmines and impassable roads effectively cut off large parts of the country. Many Angolans still rely on food aid.

Angola is a member of the African Union (AU) and of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS).

Sources: Adapted from the BBC News Angola Country Profile and Timeline (updated Aug. 2009), with additional information from Election Guide and the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

_{Last updated 20 November 2009}