| | In 2001 it seems almost a ceremonial ritual to begin a discussion of Angola by noting the tragedy of how this country, so 'fabulously endowed but massively wrecked by conflict', has come to occupy its present 'position' on the contemporary map of African politics. Hajari and Mabry, for example, describe Angola as the 'worst country in the world' and outline the now familiar story of how one of Africa's potentially richest countries now teeters on the 'edge of the abyss'. For others, like Anthony Goldman of the Economist Intelligence Unit, this is the 'longest and most miserable civil war' that Africa has ever known but, more importantly, it has also been amongst 'the most misrepresented and misunderstood'. Various contributions to this issue of ROAPE also make a number of observations about how the conflict in Angola has been ascribed particular (simplistic) 'causes', singular explanatory factors which are somehow held to account for the conflict and its prolongation. As Goldman observes: At various stages, the violence has been characterised as anti-imperial and revolutionary, a Cold War proxy, or a brutal competition between rival elites for a wealth of natural resources. |
