|
Angola
Map
of Angola
AT A GLANCE:
| Latitude/Longitude (at largest city) : |
08°82'S / 13°24'E |
| Area (km2) : |
1,246,700 |
| Total Population, 1995 est. : |
11,469,000 |
| Population Density (pop. per square km.)
: |
9 |
| Capital : |
Luanda |
| Major Language(s) : |
Portuguese, Umbundu, Mbundu, Congo |
| Largest City : |
Luanda |
| Largest City Population : |
2,207,000 |
| Currency : |
new kwanza |
| Life Expectancy (at birth): |
46 Years |
| Infant Mortality (under one): |
191 per 1,000 live births |
| Under Five Mortality: |
320 per 1,000 live births |
| Gross Domestic Product, Canadian dollars
1994 : |
5,530,000,000 |
| Gross Domestic Product Per Capita, Canadian
dollars, 1994 : |
518 |
Source: United Nations Statistics Division from the
World Statistics Pocketbook and Statistical Yearbook; CARE Angola
Land mines in Angola
The impact of the twenty years of civil war on Angola is discussed in greater
detail in Global Heroes Bullets to Buckets
.
In Angola, the civilian destruction caused by land mines has been extraordinary.
John MacInnis, Chief of the Mine Clearance and Policy Unit, at the
Department of Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations speaks about the political
rather than military objective of mining in Angola: "In Angola, it [laying
mines] was to drive them [the people] from the farmlands, to drive them
into the cities, to create havoc in the cities and to reduce the productivity
of the land themselves, in other words to undermine the economy for political
purposes."
Although no one is sure just how many mines have been deployed in Angola, currently
accepted estimates range from 9 million to 20 million. An estimated 70,000
Angolans have become amputees as a result of land mines and today 50,000
people require prostheses after amputation. See Newsflash
for an article by Rev. Elias Isaac of the Congregational Church of
Angola for a first hand account of the impact of land mines on Angola.
A full 20% of the population have been displaced from their homes by the
threat of land mines and are squatting in city slums in intolerable conditions.
Continue...
Cambodia
Bosnia
|
