Geography:
Cabinda is a small territory of 7,283 square kilometers in west central Africa with a population of about 300,000. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Republic of Congo to the north, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) to the east and south. A narrow strip of DR Congo territory along the north bank of the Congo River separates Cabinda from the Angolan province of Zaire. More than 20,000 Cabinda people live in refugee camps in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in the Republic of Congo.

People:

Economy

Much of Cabinda is covered by rainforest. Most of the local population lives from subsistence agriculture and hunting or fishing. Timber cultivation is also a source of revenue for some.

The vast majority of the wealth produced in Cabinda, however, comes from petroleum. Adjacent to Cabinda’s coast lie some of the world's richest oil fields. Cabinda currently produces 700,000 barrels of crude oil each day, generating some 60 percent of the revenue which Angola receives from the petroleum industry. Today the Cabinda Gulf Oil Company in association with Sonangol, Agip Angola Ltd.

And ELF Petroleum Angola Ltd. is operator of the offshore concession of Cabinda. The most active oil companies in Cabinda at the moment are Sonangol (41%), Chevron (39,2%), Elf (10%) and Agip (9,8%).


History

The Enclave of Cabinda originates from the old Kingdoms of Makongo, Mangoyo and Maluangu. These regions were attractive to colonialists and disputes regarding influence and possession arose among European countries such as France, Holland, Germany and Portugal in the 18th and 19th century.

Cabinda was first recognised as a political entity by the 1885 Treaty of Simulambuco, signed between local traditional leaders and the Portuguese Crown. The treaty guaranteed Portuguese protection over the people of the region to counter colonial expansion in the Congo Basin carried out by Belgium's King Leopold II.

Portugal had already established colonial outposts along the coast between the Cunene and Congo Rivers. Following the Berlin Conference of 1885, these outposts were consolidated into the colony of Angola, which eventually grew to encompass the contiguous area that today makes up seventeen of Angola’s eighteen provinces. Cabinda was initially administered separately from Angola, as a protectorate rather than as a colony.

In the 1930s, the Portuguese dictator António de Oliveira Salazar sought to exercise tighter control over the country’s overseas possessions. Angola was declared a province of Portugal, and Cabinda was brought under the same administrative structure as Angola.

As other European colonial powers prepared to grant independence to their colonies in the 1960s, Portugal showed no willingness to relinquish control of its African territories. This gave rise to competing armed independence movements such as the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA), the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA).

While these groups competed for influence in the rest of Angola, the Front for the Liberation of the Cabinda Enclave (FLEC) sought independence for Cabinda.

When a change of regime in Lisbon prompted moves toward independence for the Portuguese colonies, the Portuguese government engaged in talks with the FNLA, MPLA, and UNITA, but not with FLEC. The MPLA, which took power on November 11, 1975, soon extended its control to Cabinda.

Since then, Cabinda has been administered as a province of Angola, with government officials appointed directly from Angola's capital, Luanda. The current Angolan constitution does not allow for the election of officials at the provincial and local levels.
Since 1975, FLEC has fought for Cabindan independence, enjoying the support of Mobutu Sese Seko in what was then Zaire. At various times, FLEC has controlled substantial parts of the interior, while Cuban troops acting in alliance with the Angolan government guarded the coastal oil installations.

In 1992, FLEC supported a boycott of Angola’s first and only multiparty presidential and parliamentary elections, and most Cabindans stayed away from the polls.

Until the death of UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi in 2002, the Angolan government was primarily concerned with defeating UNITA’s rebel army. Following Savimbi's death, the government and UNITA reached a peace agreement and an estimated 30,000 troops of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) who had been engaged in combat against Savimbi’s forces in eastern Angola were transferred to Cabinda. Increased military presence and operations in the province unleashed the wave of human rights abuses first documented in the report “Terror in Cabinda,” published in December 2002.

This follow up report indicates that the abuses have continued unabated in 2003. Although the FAA has destroyed much of FLEC’s command structure, pockets of guerrilla resistance remain in the heavily forested regions of the province.

Current situation

Talks between the government and the leaders of FLEC’s various factions have so far been limited, clandestine, and without tangible results.

However, in August 2004 the “Forum Cabindes para o Dialogo” was established, gathering Cabinda representatives from FLEC and local civil society.

The aim of this initiative is to establish a common interlocutor to negotiate conflict resolution and the future political status of Cabinda with the Angolan government.


On March 22, 2005, The UNHCR reported “given the delicate security situation, UNHCR is not promoting repatriation of refugees to Cabinda yet.”

The continuing threat of conflict between separatist fighters and the Angolan army concretised itself into violence when on May 26th 2005 the Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN), reported renewed clashes between separatists forces and governmental forces. On July 6, 2005, IRIN reported that a "major offensive" against separatist rebels was underway in the interior of the province.


Organizations:
Cabinda, represented by the Frente de Libertação do Enclave de Cabinda/Forças Armadas de Cabinda (FLEC/FAC), joined the UNPO in April 1997. Its goals are the expulsion of all Angolan military forces and authorities from the Cabindan territory, a referendum on self-determination of the Cabindans and the installation of a parliament and a government in Cabinda.

Statistics: