Angola: Towards peace and democracy (2002-2007) (coninued)

Education suffered during the war and a lack of skills hampered economic growth as well as individual economic opportunities and advancement (AfDB/OECD 2008, 133). Adult literacy stood at 67% in 2005, with huge disparities between male (82.9%) and female rates (54.2%) (UNDP 2007/8). In 2002 34% of the urban and 39% of the rural population had accesses to safe water, but by 2004 this had improved to 53% for the country as a whole, while in 2007 59% of the urban and 26% of the rural population had access to sanitation (UNDP 2007/8, AfDB/OECD 2007, 117). Where healthcare and educational services were available they were concentrated in the urban areas and the rural majority were excluded from accessing them (Human Rights Watch 2003a, 2).

Progress has been made on improving social infrastructure. In education, 50 000 teachers were employed between 2002 and 2007, while 112 primary schools and 7 secondary schools were constructed in 2007 alone; net primary school enrolment was 56% and secondary school enrolment rates 12.5 in 2005 (AfDB/OECD 2008, 136). In 2007, also, 4 hospitals and 32 health centres were built, but, reports AfDB/OECD (2008, 136): "Access to both health and education services remains problematic, however, because of high costs and poor quality… only 30-40 per cent of the population had access to health services, 30 per cent to treatment and 40 per cent to vaccination coverage". About 4 million people, most concentrated in Luanda, are without adequate housing and plans to build 120 000 in and 80 000 outside Luanda have been adopted (AfDB/OECD 2008, 135). However, between 2002 and 2006 20 000 poor people were forcibly evicted in Luanda, and their houses destroyed, to make way for development projects (AfDB/OECD 2008, 135).

The disjuncture between the booming economy and influx of oil wealth on the one hand and the failure to translate these into a meaningful improvement in living standards for the majority of Angolans is explained to some extent by the pervasiveness of corruption (Human Rights Watch 2003b). A Human Rights Watch (2003b) estimate suggested that between 1997 and 2002 over US$4.22 billion in state oil revenue went unaccounted for, while the International Monetary Fund said that between 2002 and 2008 a further the US$4 billion went missing (Angus Reid Global Monitor 2008). The consequence is that Transparency International has consistently ranked Angola amongst the most corrupt countries in the world, 151 of 158 countries in 2005, 142 of 163 in 2006 and 147 of 179 in 2007 (Amnesty International 2007).

In early 2004 the government announced that elections would be held in 2006, to provide sufficient time for a new constitution to be drafted, for electoral laws to be adopted, for a census to be conducted and for voters to be registered Opposition parties argued that the adoption of a new constitution should be the work of a new parliament, a position accepted by the government. In August 2005 electoral laws were adopted by the National Assembly covering the electoral process, citizenship and identification, voter registration, election observation and a code of conduct. The National Electoral Commission (CNE) was constituted in the same sitting (Angola Press 2005). To coordinate logistics, an inter-governmental commission was set up (LWB Undated).

Elections did not take place in 2006 as planned, due to the condition of national transport and communications infrastructure, and the registration of voters only commenced towards the end of 2006 and was completed in September 2007 (FCO 2007). Elections were postponed to 2007 and then again, with National Assembly elections scheduled to 5 and 6 September 2008 and presidential elections to 2009 (Columbia Encyclopedia 2008; FCO 2007).

References

AfDB/OECD 2008 "Angola" IN African Economic Outlook, [www] http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/3/49/40568599.pdf [PDF document, opens new window] (accessed 22 May 2008).

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL 2007 "Corruption Perceptions Index 2007" and pages following, [www] http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2007 [opens new window] (accessed 26 May 2008).

ANGOLA PRESS 2005, "Institutional Electoral Framework Complete - Ruling Party", August 18 [www] http://www.angolapress-angop.ao/noticia-e.asp?ID=366768 [opens new window] (accessed 22 May 2008).

ANGUS REID GLOBAL MONITOR 2008 "Angola" IN Election Tracker, [www] http://www.angus-reid.com/tracker/view/30116/angola_2008 [opens new window] (accessed 15 May 2008).

COLUMBIA ENCYCLOPEDIA 2008, Sixth Edition, [www] http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Angola.html [opens new window] (accessed 15 May 2008).

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HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH 2003a "Struggling through Peace: Return and Resettlement in Angola", August, [www] http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/angola0803/ [PDF document, opens new window] (accessed 15 May 2008).

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH 2003b "Summary" IN Some Transparency, No Accountability: The Use of Oil Revenue in Angola and Its Impact on Human Rights" [www] http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/angola0803/ [opens new window] (accessed 15 May 2008).

LWB UNDATED "Angola: A Brief History", [www] http://www.lwb-online.org/projects/Brief%20History%20of%20Angola.pdf [PDF document, opens new window] (accessed 15 May 2008).

UNDP 2007/8 "Angola", IN Human Development Report 2007/8, [www] http://hdrstats.undp.org/countries/data_sheets/cty_ds_AGO.html (accessed 21 Apr 2008) [opens new window].