Overview
One of Africa's major oil producers, 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 after independence from Portugal.
It is estimated that up to 1.5 million people were killed, and four million people displaced, in the quarter century of fighting.
Recently oil exports and foreign loans have spurred economic growth and have fuelled a reconstruction boom, and its economy grew by an impressive 16 per cent last year.
But Angola faces the daunting tasks of rebuilding its infrastructure, retrieving weapons, integrating former combatants and resettling tens of thousands of refugees who fled the fighting.
Landmines and impassable roads have cut off large parts of the country. Angola remains one of the most heavily mined countries in the world.
Some experts put the figure at somewhere between 500,000 and one million, while others say there may be as many as six million. No body knows for sure.
The worst affected province in Angola is Bie, which bore the brunt of the conflict between Angolan government forces and Unita rebels. Nearly half of the land in Angola is considered too dangerous to walk on. Read more...
