Angola

Angola’s national anthem is Angola Avante translated in Portuguese as ‘Forward Angola’ – but Angola will be going backwards after their first game and first finals appearance against former colonists Portugal. How Angola managed an away draw at Nigeria and a win at Rwanda in their last game ended up creating more history than their 1975 Independence from Portugal. The 27 years after 1975 was of unbridled passion for Civil war but in simple terms there was a conflict between ‘oil’ and ‘diamond’ thugs under political guises which dominated the attention of Cubans, Namibians, South Africans and once again the USA.

In the 17th century the Portuguese retook Angola from the Dutch – the slave trade flourished but it took 300 years to claim Angola as a province of Portugal. The former province of Portugal after 1975 hosted three independent movements – the MPLA (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola) who were the ‘oil boys’. The FNLA (National Liberation Front of Angola) – who were US backed; and UNITA (National Union for Total Independence of Angola) – the ‘diamond dogs’. So out went the slave-trading Portuguese in exchange for Civil war where South African troops supported UNITA and Cuban troops the MPLA. Within a year the FNLA was defeated so the US switched allegiance to UNITA to assist in beating the Cuban backed MPLA. The illegal movement of oil and diamonds went on for the next 14 years in exchange for armaments. The 27 years of unrest was intermixed with attempts at national unity – but by the time it was all over, millions of people were left homeless and afflicted; minefields littered the land; ambushes and kidnappings were a daily occurrence and finally a death toll of some 300 – 400 thousand lives are thought to have been lost during Angola’s attempts at democracy or was it just plain lunacy? Why Angola wants to take revenge against Portugal at the World Cup seems odd compared to the most recent atrocities – and even more odd is that the Angolan Federation is poaching players from Portugal with any inkling heritage of Angolan blood (-on-their-hands).

Angola will be the laughing stock at the World Cup and so will their scheduled elections in 2006, their first since 1992. Akwa the captain is the player to watch along with the many mercenary Angolan players who play in the oil rich nations of the Middle East – Angola deserves no support at the World Cup especially the dignitaries that will sit within the FIFA confines at games.

The future? Bottom of group D, minefields to be cleared, child slavery on the rise and the impossibility of a ‘fair’ election. How many of those Cuban soldiers returned home?
Bottomless pit ranking? Under 500 000 lives, but a potential to climb again.