ANGOLA has the potential to be oneof Africa’s richest, most successfulcountries. Its 18 provinces boastenormous mineral wealth and thecountry is already the second-biggestoil producer on the continent, afterNigeria.

Following the peace agreementin 2002 that ended the 27-year civ-il war, President José Eduardo dosSantos and his government haveworked diligently through tryingtimes to find internal solutions thathave brought peace to the countryand promoted its presence at the in-ternational level.

Those efforts have already madea huge difference in the lives of or-dinary Angolans. Gross domesticproduct has grown rapidly, at an av-erage pace of more than 15% from2004 to 2007, and more than 10% in2008, before contracting slightly in2009 and 2010. The economy will ex-pand 4.8% this year and a further7.4% in 2011, according to the Econ-omist Intelligence Unit.

Dos Santos’s economicteam has also had great suc-cess in fighting inflation,which dispropor-tionately hurts thepoor by reducing thevalue of their alreadymeagre income and sav-ings. Price increasesplunged from an annual rateof 325% in 2000 to less than15% in 2010.

One of the government’s sig-nature efforts has been a na-tional reconstruction pro-gramme whose objective isto modernise the country’sinfrastructure after the war.The goal of the projects funded by theprogramme is to rebuild Angola’sbiggest and most important infra-structure assets, with the ultimateobjective of improving the quality oflife of the country’s residents.

The programme has been verysuccessful in spurring the rapid ac-celeration of economic growth. Whenthe country gained its independencefrom Portugal in 1975, it possessedone of Africa’s best and most exten-sive road networks. Rebuilding thecountry’s transport arteries is nowa priority because of their impor-tance to moving construction ma-terials for other projects around thecountryside.

There are other projects that willhelp Angolans even more directly.One of the government’s most am-bitious programmes aims to buildone million new houses around thecountry by 2012, for about $50 bil-

lion. Angolans havetaken note of all theseefforts and shown theirsupport for the govern-ment in recent elec-tions.

The governing partyis the Popular Move-ment for the Liberationof Angola, or the MPLA.The group has ruled thecountry since the endof the armed conflict in

2002, and its efforts have won thestrong support of Angolans. The par-ty won the national elections in Sep-tember of 2008 with about 80% ofthe vote, a huge margin signallingto the rest of the world that Angolais a stable democracy, dedicated toimproving the lives of its citizens.

Most of the economic growthrecorded in recent years has comefrom the country’s oil production,which represents about 85% of GDP.The government is aware of the coun-try’s dependence on oil, and the needfor a more varied economy to spurnew job creation, and has been work-ing to promote other industries, in-cluding tourism, mining and agri-culture.

Before the civil war that began in1975, following the country’s inde-pendence from Portugal, Angola wasan iron ore exporter and a diamondproducer. The war destroyed most of

the country’s iron mining infra-structure, but the industry has beenmaking a comeback in the past fewyears.

Diamond production, though great-ly reduced by the war, has been an-other success story since the end ofthe conflict. Angola is already theworld’s sixth-largest diamond pro-ducer, according to Endiama, thestate-owned monopoly.

Angola’s 18 provinces offer mar-vellous diversity. The seven provincesalong the country’s 1,000-mile-longcoast on the Atlantic Ocean range

from the lush jungles of Cabinda andZaire provinces in the north to theplains and deserts that predominatein the southern province of Namibe.Bengo, Benguela and Kwanza Sulare known for their beautiful beach-es, with Bengo closest to the Luan-da capital district.

The inland provinces also boastbeauty, for example in the dense rainforests of Uíge, along the Congo bor-

der, and Cuando Cubango, with itsabundant wildlife. They’re also wheremuch of the country’s under-exploitedmineral wealth lies, with the impor-tant exception of oil.

Lunda Norte and Lunda Sul areboth diamond-mining centres, whileUíge has deposits of copper andcobalt. Moxico has the country’s sec-ond-biggest timber industry, afterCabinda, and also contains exploitabledeposits of copper, gold, diamonds,uranium and other substances.

Other inland provinces includeKwanza Norte, one of Angola’s rich-

est agricultural areas, producing corn,peanuts, pineapples, peas, sweetpotatoes and a variety of beans. It isalso the home to the country’s largesthydroelectric station at the dam atCambambe, which supplies powerto local residents and businesses.

Huambo and Bie provinces haveexcellent hydroelectric potential be-cause of the numerous rivers thatcross them, while Huila province has

great tourist potential. Huila’s pic-turesque tablelands, small moun-tains, valleys and rushing streamsand rivers provide many sites thatvisitors might like to see.

No discussion of Angola’sprovinces would be complete with-out mentioning Cabinda. Cabinda isthe small, oil-rich part of Angola thatis separated from the rest of Ango-la by a 25-mile-wide strip of the De-mocratic Republic of Congo. Theprovince, which is also rich in othernatural resources, has undergone ahuge change for the better since2006, when a peace agreement witha separatist group was signed.

Cabinda is Angola’s biggest oil-producing province, with most ofthat production coming from off-shore wells. Cabinda keeps 10% ofthe oil income generated by the off-shore oilrigs that produce about halfof Angola’s total oil output. That rev-enue, combined with wise gover-nance on the part of the leaders inLuanda, Angola’s capital, and in Cabin-da City, are reshaping the province.

Angola has made great progressunder the governance of Presidentdos Santos, and has already begunto play a bigger part in internationalaffairs. As football fans already know,Angola hosted the CAN2010 Africanfootball championship tournamentthis year, which was won by Egypton January 31 in Luanda.

THE PROVINCE of Cabinda has a longand fascinating history, with thearea that now constitutes theprovince showing some politicalcohesion since it was a group ofprincipalities associated with theKongo kingdom in the 1500s. Thatwas when an adventurer namedDiogo Cao was sent by the Por-tuguese king to trade gifts with theKongo king, an exchange that be-gan the European country’s longhistory with Cabinda, which be-came an important trading postover the centuries. Cabinda and Angola eventually be-come colonies which were governedas separate entities by the Por-tuguese until 1956, when they wereunited and governed together un-til 1975, when Angola gained its in-dependence following the Carna-tion Revolution that overthrew Por-tugal’s dictatorship.Angola then suffered through 27years of civil war, and in Cabinda thecentral government also faced aseparatist movement. The war inAngola ended with an accord in2002, and the Cabindan separatistsagreed to put down their arms in

2006, leaving the entire country atpeace. The Memorandum of Understanding(MOU) signed on August 1, 2006 bythe government and the group rep-resenting the separatists, theCabinda Forum for Dialogue, markedthe beginning of a new era for theprovince, in which its considerablemineral wealth can now be used toimprove the lives of the region’speople.Four years ago, the provincial gov-ernment defined programmes withthree main priorities: providingpotable water throughout theprovince, providing electricity, andresolving people’s fundamentalhealth and education problems.The government has made greatprogress since then, increasingelectricity output to 62 megawattsper day from four in 2002, boost-ing water output to 920 cubic me-tres per hour, from 120 cubic me-tres before, and getting all theprovince’s children into the schoolsystem. The province’s oil wealth has helpedmake those advances possible,and so have the peace and stabil-

ity that the peace process broughtto Cabinda. In August 2009 the province cele-brated the second anniversary ofthe peace agreement. The Chief ofStaff of the Angolan Armed Forcessaid in October 2009 that theprovince is now enjoying a calmand stable environment, another

positive sign for Cabinda as itmoves forward. According to the provincial agencyin charge of helping reintegrate theformer separatist fighters into theprovince’s civil society, “this is anirreversible process that removesall negative factors from the past,to build a nation united in the val-

ues of democracy, social justiceand respect for human rights.”Reintegration was one of the mainpromises made by the central gov-ernment to the Cabinda Forum for Di-alogue, along with promising specialrights and guaranteeing Cabindanspositions in the president’s cabinet. To date the central government has

been diligent about fulfilling its re-sponsibilities under the MOU, ac-cording to Antonio Bento Bembe, thehead of the Forum. The province’s people are committedto forming an integral part of Ango-la’s future. Voters turned out in largenumbers to participate in the Sep-tember 2008 election, which wasjudged by European Union observersto be “peaceful and orderly,” as wellas transparent, though organisationalproblems caused a few polling stationsto stay open for a second day to per-mit all voters to cast their ballots. Political parties were able to carryout their activities without any im-pediment or irregularity, a strongindication that democracy is now afact in the country.The big winner in the elections wasthe governing party, the MPLA, whichwon about 80% of the vote at thenational level, with the biggest op-position party, UNITA, gaining 10%. In Cabinda, the result was a bit dif-ferent, as the MPLA won 63% andUnita was supported by 31%. Thebig turnout shows that Cabinda isnow more united than ever with therest of Angola.

Oil-rich Angola grows stronger and more stableeach and every day

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As economic development begins to take off in earnest in thisnorthern Angolan province, and as its oil production is steppedup, it is clear that this is the right moment for China to exploreand enhance its relations with and participation in Cabinda

CABINDA’S PROVINCIAL Gover-nor, Mawete João Baptista,has been on the job since No-vember, 2009, and has spentthe time since he moved intothe position getting to knowthe region, its local leaders,and the problems that need tobe dealt with to continue thework of improving the lives ofthe province’s residents.

In recent months Baptistahas held meetings with localchieftains, the leaders of aprovincial banking group andother regional organisations,and in February he started apolicy of meeting with citizensand civil servants every Tues-day in order to learn about andhelp solve the problems facingCabindans and the regionalgovernment.

Baptista’s government hasidentified several priorities,and has placed improving theprovince’s healthcare systemright at the top of the list.

“We’re going to open hospi-tals and medical clinics totreat malaria, tuberculosis, di-arrhoea and other illnesses,and provide women with ac-ceptable conditions at mater-nity wards around the region,”Baptista said during a speechin February.

His goal is always to offerthe region’s residents thebest, most efficient public ser-vices possible. He recentlytold Cabindans that he plansto oversee the operation ofpublic companies more close-ly, to make sure they’re man-aged correctly and for thebenefit of the people of theprovince.

As part of his intention tomake the provincial govern-ment more responsive to localneeds and events, Baptistawas quick to promise supportto the victims of March’s tor-rential rains that destroyed 65homes in the Cabindan townof Caio Litoral.

Baptista brings a great dealof experience to his posting.He was governor of Uígeprovince immediately beforetaking the same job in Cabin-da, and before that he was An-gola’s ambassador to the De-mocratic Republic of Congo(DRC) for ten years. Cabinda issurrounded on three sides byDRC, so his knowledge of theneighbouring country can beparticularly useful to theprovince.

Baptista’s ethnic back-ground, from the Bacongogroup that is present in Cabin-da, should help the governorgain the sympathy of many ofthe province’s residents.

After the long, post-inde-pendence period of civil strifein Cabinda and the rest of An-gola, the government is seri-ous about its responsibility toprovide its citizens with thenecessities of life, includingpolitical, social and economicstability, healthcare, educa-tion, and the opportunity toearn a living.

Cabinda has now enjoyedmore than three years of rela-tive peace following the sign-ing of the Memorandum of Un-derstanding (MOU) on August1, 2006 by the governmentand the group representingthe separatists, the CabindaForum for Dialogue.

That agreement marked thebeginning of a new era for the

province, in which its consid-erable mineral wealth is nowbeing used to improve thelives of the region’s people. Inthe time since the agreementwas signed, Cabinda hasmade great strides in that di-rection, but more must bedone and Cabindans need todo their part with a feeling ofsolidarity.

The welfare of the peoplehas been the government’spriority since the start, and ithas demonstrated that focusfor years. Cabinda’s childrenhave especially benefitedfrom these efforts, as newschools have been built allaround the province.

Students every year are giv-en uniforms and school sup-plies, and every day they’regiven a nutritious snack. En-suring their health is a majorgoal as well, and the provincehas established mobile healthclinics that go from school toschool, giving kids check-ups.

There have been polio vac-cine campaigns, and childrenreceive medicines to protectthem against parasites andother ailments. Making surethey have healthy teeth hasbeen the focus of another pro-gramme that provides everychild with a dental hygiene kit.

Cabinda’s adults have beenin need of help too, and thegovernment has not forgottenthem. Adult schooling hasbeen funded to educate peo-ple who were unable to go toschool as children because ofthe civil conflict. A special ef-fort is being made to help rein-tegrate the fighters from the

separatist groups that laiddown their arms with the sign-ing of the peace agreement.

Reintegration was a mainpromise made by the centralgovernment to the sepa-ratists, along with promisingCabinda certain special rightsand guaranteeing Cabindanspositions in the president’scabinet.

To date the central govern-ment has been diligent aboutfulfilling its responsibilitiesunder the MOU. The govern-ment has budgeted funds tocarry out two of the most im-portant tasks remaining,which are helping fightersfrom the Front for the Libera-tion of the Enclave of Cabindareturn to civilian life, and help-ing refugees still living in near-by countries return to theprovince.

A programme to help fight-ers handicapped by the warfind jobs has been successful,buying taxis that are sharedby various former fighters, andsupplying others with industri-al equipment they can use tostart up their own businesses.

Of course, the government’sprogrammes to improve thewell-being of Cabinda’s popula-tion extends far beyond build-ing schools and clinics. Build-ing up the province’s transportand sanitation infrastructurealso helps to foment stabilityin the region.

It also establishes the nec-essary ingredients for theprovincial government’sbiggest goal: to transformCabinda over the next four toten years into a province ofgreat economic importance,integrally strategic for Angolabeyond oil.

CabindaFFoorr ffuurrtthheerr iinnffoorrmmaattiioonn ccoonnttaacctt:: 1-7 Harley Street, London W1G 9QD - Tel: +44 207 291 4402 - Fax: +44 207 636 8789 - infoabu@asiabusinessunit.com - www.asiabusinessunit.com

The Cathedral of Our Lady Queen of the World, or Nossa Senhora Rainha do Mundo in Portuguese, provides a pleasantbackdrop for this sunny square in the provincial capital

With a population of over 350,000, the city of Cabinda boasts a growing industrial sector with a strong workforce

Carrying forwardCabinda’s legacy of progress� LOCATION:

An enclave of Angola,separated from themainland by theDemocratic Republic ofCongo and the CongoRiver

� CAPITAL:Cabinda City

� POPULATION:Approximately300,000, of which halfis rural and the otherhalf urban

� INDUSTRY:Oil extraction andrefining, constructionmaterials, foodproduce, wines, palmoil and palm oilproducts, tobacco,crude rubber,hardwoods, timber andfurniture

� AGRICULTURE:Mainly bananas,coffee, cacao andcassava

� AREA:7,823 km2 (3,020 sq mi)

� MUNICIPALITIES:Belize, Buco Zau,Cabinda and Cacongo

� FOUNDED:1885, by Portugueseexplorers

� INDEPENDENCE:1975. Cabinda was thescene of heavyfighting during the warfor independence fromPortugal (1961-75)

� GEOGRAPHY: Largely tropical forest

� RELIGION: 74.9%Catholic

� ETHNIC GROUPS:Bawoyo, Bacongo,Babaling, Bassundi,Bavili and Bacotche

� CLIMATE:Equatorial climate, theaverage temperaturebeing 25ºC (77ºF),with an altitude of 209metres (686 feet)

� GOVERNOR: MaweteJoão Baptista

AT AGLANCE

OOUURR TTEEAAMMIINN CCAABBIINNDDAA::

Brian Christinakis,Andrea Soifer and

Emma Stephan

A special thanks to the Government of President

Dos Santos and the AngolanEmbassy in Beijing, China for

their support and collaboration in this report

‘This province is an increasingly peaceful place to live and work’

Cabinda has hosted Portuguese,Dutch and English logging camps,trading posts and palm oil processingfactories over the years. Now, oil isthe magnet for international investors

Projects to feed, clothe and equip schoolchildren are now underway

ANGOLA’S history since gainingindependence from Portugal in1975 has largely been about civ-il wars and separatist movements.After the two main groups thathad been fighting signed a peaceagreement in 2002, the countryhas had the opportunity to moveforward and rebuild the damagedone by the conflict.

President José Eduardo dosSantos and his government haveworked non-stop to improve thelives of Angolans since the peaceagreement was signed on April 4,2002. Even with the signing ofthat agreement, however, the cen-tral government still had onearmed conflict to settle, in the oil-rich Cabinda province.

When the peace agreement be-tween the Angolan central gov-ernment and the Cabindan sepa-ratists was finally signed in 2006,it opened the door for foreign com-panies to come to the provinceand seek out potentially lucrativeinvestments.

President dos Santos sent ahandpicked team to negotiate thepeace pact, and it took them twoyears to reach an agreement withthe leaders of the separatist group.The province is already reaping thebenefits of the newfound stability.

The US has long had commercialrelations with Angola, based ini-tially on interest in the Africancountry’s abundant oil and gas re-sources, but more recently on thedesire to help spread peace anddevelopment across the continent.

American oil companies begantheir operations in Angola while itwas still a Portuguese colony, andthat involvement continued afterindependence in 1975 and dur-ing the civil conflict that wrackedthe country in the followingdecades.

The 2006 Memorandum of Un-derstanding signed by the Cabin-dan separatist forces and Ango-la’s central government finallybrought an end to the conflict inthe province, an advance the USstrongly supported, calling it a“significant step” towards peace.

“For the people of Cabinda, thisMemorandum of Understandingis more than just a document onpeace and reconciliation,” theWhite House said in a statementreleased at the time of the sign-ing. “It is the promise of econom-ic development and increased po-litical influence.”

The US has since then been ac-tively contributing to developmentin Cabinda. USAID has agreed tocontinue funding a non-govern-mental organisation called Searchfor Common Ground that is help-ing to reduce conflict in theprovince while also improving in-frastructure.

USAID agreed to increase itsfunding of the group to $600,000,from $490,000 in the previoustwo years, after judging that theNGO had managed the originalfunds satisfactorily.

Search for Common Groundholds seminars and other meet-ings intended to help people findpeaceful ways to resolve conflicts,and has also participated in fund-ing the construction of a 25,000-

liter water tank in the Cabindanvillage of Mandarin, and in im-proving local roads.

“This agreement we’re signingtoday to support Search for Com-mon Ground’s programme is al-so an opportunity to commemo-rate our mutual commitment forthe development of Cabinda,” saidSusan Brems, the then-director ofUSAID, during the signing.

USAID is also working with oth-er groups, including Chevron andits partners in the Block Zero oilfield, to help improve the lives ofCabindans. The oil companiesworking on the block agreed tocontribute $3 million, and USAID$1 million, to a project to promotecommercial agriculture.

The money is being used to

train farmers to improve produc-tivity and quality, and to help setup warehousing and distributioninfrastructure. The programmeis expected to create 5,000 newjobs spread across 1,000 farms.The goal is for at least some of theextra food produced to be sold toChevron’s Malongo oil terminal,located onshore in Cabinda.

“Chevron is determined to in-crease its purchase of suppliesfrom Angolan companies as muchas possible,” says Alan Kleier, gen-eral director of Chevron’s unit inAngola. “Companies here havebenefited in that way.”

USAID and several partners al-so participate in the MunicipalDevelopment Programme, whichis intended to promote partici-

pation in government and to makelocal governments more efficientas they work to meet citizens’needs.

The programme operates inseveral Angolan provinces, andwas first launched in the country

in the province of Cabinda, withfunding of more than $8 millionto improve local administrators’ability to plan, budget, implementand oversee local developmentprogrammes.

An interesting project startedin 2006, and funded by Chevronthrough the Cabinda AgribusinessDevelopment Alliance (CADA), ishelping to start up a local honey-producing industry. As part of theprogramme, CADA has brought inexperts to train beekeepers andteach them how to build and main-tain hives.

All of these efforts to help An-gola are part of the US’s desire toimprove relations with this keyAfrican country. During the ad-ministration of George W. Bush,

the US worked consistently to-ward that goal, and that work willcontinue under President BarackObama, according to US Ambas-sador Dan Mozena.

Angola, and in particular, Cabin-da, are the sites of some of thebiggest investments in oil madeby US companies abroad, and thenew administration will want towork to expand investments in-to other economic sectors, theambassador explains.

Angola can also play a largerrole in the rest of Africa, Mozenasays. It has one of the continent’sbiggest and most professionalarmies, and so has the ability toplay an important part in peace-keeping tasks in various con-flicts.

No stranger to foreign investmentCABINDA is open for businessand looking for investors. Theregion boasts abundant natur-al resources that can contributeto Cabinda’s economic growthand companies’ bottom lines.

Despite Cabinda’s many oth-er resources, petroleum has longbeen the focus of foreign in-vestment in the province, andthat will remain the case foryears to come. Angola is afterall Africa’s second-biggest oilproducer, after Nigeria and aheadof Libya, and Cabinda has longbeen the most important regionfor the country’s petroleum in-dustry.

Currently, the bulk of the re-gion’s oil production comes fromoffshore platforms, in the areasknown as Block Zero and Block14. Block Zero is one of the coun-try’s most productive areas,pumping about 370,000 barrelsper day in 2007.

Tombua Landana, an ambi-tious project which includes theconstruction of one of the talleststructures on the planet, pro-duced its first oil in Septemberof last year and is expected toreach peak production of100,000 barrels of oil next year.

At 474 metres, most of the oil-rig is submerged. The deepwa-ter drilling rig is taller than theSears Tower in Chicago anddwarfs the Eiffel Tower.

The total investment in theproject will be more than $3.8billion, which will include morethan $272 million of local con-tent spending. The project max-imises the use of Angolan engi-neering, procurement, con-struction and installation capa-bilities. Non-Angolan companiesthat won contracts as part ofthe project include Daewoo Ship-building & Marine EngineeringCo. and Vetco Gray of the UK, asupplier of equipment and ser-vices for onshore and offshoredrilling.

As part of its investment inCabinda, Chevron is spending$2 million to help fund the con-

struction of a maritime watertesting facility. The local gov-ernment and the Fishing Min-istry are also contributing to theproject, which will carry out bi-ological, chemical and heavymetal testing of the seawater inthe region.

For decades, most of the oil pro-duced in Cabinda came from off-shore wells because of securityconcerns that prevented investorsfrom exploring onshore areas. Nowthat peace has come to Angola,more is being spent to identifypromising areas and to developany interesting discoveries.

Estimates of the onshore re-serves in Cabinda vary, but ex-perts are very optimistic thatthe region contains large re-serves, possibly even largerthan the proven deposits off-shore. That has prompted someanalysts to dub the region the‘Kuwait of Africa’.

One field, called Massambala-1, was estimated last year tocontain 170 million barrels ofoil, more than five times theamount originally thought. RocOil of Australia, with a 60% stakein the Cabinda South blockwhere Massambala-1 is locat-

ed, has already begun explo-ration in other areas of theprovince.

Cabinda’s, and Angola’s, oilwealth has attracted investorsfrom all around the world. Chi-nese companies are also veryinterested in the area, and havelong been present all aroundthe country.

Earlier this year, China Pe-troleum and Chemical (Sinopec)signed an agreement with So-nangol to buy a stake in Ango-la Block 18, a deepwater wellthat has been in operation since2007.

Cabinda has long had an international presence on and off her shores

Foreign and domestic banks are increasing their presence in Cabinda

Peace has been achieved in the Angolan province, bringing with it new economic growth and FDI

Cabindans now enjoy pleasant public areas thanks to public works projects

The province benefits from thebanking boomANGOLA’S banks are gettingmore and more involved in fi-nancing the country’s expan-sion, according to a study pub-lished by consulting group KPMGAngola.

The Angolan government real-ized long ago the country’s pri-vate banking system wouldneed some help to financegrowth. The Banco de Desen-volvimento de Angola, or BDA,was set up in 2006 by the gov-ernment to “accelerate the bal-anced and sustainable develop-ment of Angola, by providing forthe creation of employment andincome, the modernization ofsocial and economic structuresand the increase of competitive-ness in the country.”

The BDA has been very activein Cabinda, particularly in fi-nancing the expansion of busi-

nesses that make constructionsupplies. Demand for such sup-plies is strong because themany infrastructure projectshave caused a boom in con-struction, and shortages ofmany supplies have been slow-ing some projects down.

One example is brick-makingbusiness EMPEBAT – EmpresaExploradora de Burgau, Areia eTerra. EMPEBAT borrowed $2 mil-lion to buy equipment to in-crease output and help supplymaterials for the construction ofnew housing in the province.

Another way that Angola’sgovernment has played a keypart in the growth of both thebanking sector and the econo-my itself has been by pursuingmacroeconomic stability and re-forming the country’s bankingregulations. That way the gov-

ernment has created the condi-tions necessary for the expan-sion to begin and to continue, allof which is benefiting regularAngolans.

The gains from the growth arealready being returned to theeconomy by private banks ingrowing proportions. In 2007,banks channeled 75% of de-posits back into the economy inthe form of credits, way up from2006, when just 43% of depositswere turned into credit.

Cabinda is also benefitingfrom the increased interest onthe part of banks in expandingwithin the country. The numberof banks with branches in theprovince is growing, with Bancode Poupança e Crédito (BPC),Banco de Comércio e Indústria(BCI), Banco Africano de Investi-mentos (BAI), Banco de Fomen-

to de Angola (BFA), Banco Tottade Angola (BTA), Banco Interna-cional de Crédito (BIC), BancoSol, Banco Espírito Santo Angolaand Banco Millennium alreadythere.

Angola’s banks have risenclose to the top of the rankingsfor African financial institutions,according to a report by theBNET Business Network. An-golan banks were three of thetop 10 banks on the BNET web-site’s Top 25 African Banks rank-ing, accompanied on the list byseven South African lenders.

BFA was the highest ranked,at number seven, followed byBAI in the eighth position, whileBPC came in at number ten. Allthese banks are growing rapidlyas they benefit from Angola’sstrong economy, BNET said in itsreport.

Secretary ofState Clintonhas givenAngola an ‘A’for everythingit is doingAngolan Ambassador Josefina PitraDiakite speaks about her country’sprogress and bilateral relations withthe US.

WWhhaatt aarree yyoouurr vviieewwss oonn AAnnggoollaa’’ssggrroowwtthh pprroossppeeccttss ffoorr tthhiiss yyeeaarr aannddnneexxtt??

I think the crisis that the oil sec-tor faced, between the reduction ofits prices in the international arenaand the global economic crisis, in away helped the Angolan govern-ment in terms of thinking to engagein the diversification of its economyas well as the recovery and mod-ernisation of infrastructure. Infra-structure has recovered, in terms ofconstruction, rehabilitation ofroads, education, agriculture,healthcare and housing.

The government pledged to buildone million new homes between2009 and 2012. Also, the diversifi-cation that is happening is not limit-ed only to Luanda, or even the maintowns like Benguela, Cabinda andHuambo or Huíla; infrastructure isbeing improved everywhere.

WWhhaatt iiss yyoouurr oouuttllooookk oonn UUSS--AAnnggoollaarreellaattiioonnss uunnddeerr tthhee OObbaammaa--BBiiddeennaaddmmiinniissttrraattiioonn??

Bilateral relations are very goodat this point and have developedeven faster than we’d expected.

Our Minister of Foreign Affairs, HEdos Anjos made an official visit tothe US and Secretary Clinton ex-pressed that the US wants to be apart of Angola’s rehabilitation, re-construction and the building of the‘New Angola’. In August 2009, Sec-retary Clinton visited Angola first onher African trip; not because itstarts with an ‘A’, she said, but be-cause Angola is getting an ‘A’ ineverything it is doing.

With peace has come increased economic stability in Cabinda

The US hasproven itscommitment toCabinda throughvarious USAIDprogrammes andfunding

FDI is expanding Cabinda’s rich oil supply with new technologies and more production areas

Josefina Pitra Diakite,Angolan Ambassador to the US

DAY 00, MONTH 2010 SSOOUUTTHH CCHHIINNAA MMOORRNNIINNGG PPOOSSTT22 SSPPOONNSSOORREEDD FFEEAATTUURREE

End of war means beginning of growth

Adapting the country’s oil & gas industry

New offshore tower anengineering feat

As a country with vast petroleum resources, Ango-la has a tremendous opportunity to use the funds gen-erated from oil to develop the country, providing itscitizens with the political and economic stability theydeserve. The previous administration took manysteps to make sure that Angola gets as much of thebenefit as possible from its oil wealth.

One of the most important ways the govern-ment has ensured Angola, and Cabinda, hold on toa big part of the revenue generated by their oil isto have Sonangol, the state-owned company found-ed in 1976 to manage the country’s hydrocarbonresource explorations, take important stakes in allthe oil blocks that are open for exploration anddevelopment.

Since its founding, Sonangol has taken a greatinterest in training Angolans to work in the oil in-dustry so that as much of the employment cre-ated by the sector as possible will go to the coun-try’s citizens. To that end, the company has sentworkers abroad for training and help set up the cur-ricula of technical schools that have opened inAngola.

Chevron Corp of the US and Sonangol are the twobiggest oil companies operating in Angola, andboth have been diligent in promoting the devel-opment of the local oil industry and training localstaff as much as possible.

Chevron has been very successful in this en-deavor. Angolans represent about 87% of the lo-cal company’s workforce, and 75% of profession-al and supervisory staff in the country are An-golans as well.

IN 1997 AND 2001, oil-industryscientists made a remarkable dis-covery. Under the seas off the An-golan province of Cabinda, theyfound the Tombua and Landana oiland gas fields, which hold overone billion barrels of crude oil.Preparing to draw from these deepundersea fields has been an enor-mous undertaking and a major en-gineering effort.

Petroleum giant Chevron haslinked up with global partners tomeet the technical challenges, andis training a workforce of Angolannationals to apply world-class skillsto the project. These oil and gas de-posits, which rank among the world’srichest, will be tapped with one ofthe largest man-made structures inthe world. The Tombua LandanaCompliant Piled Tower – a massivelattice of steel, anchored to theseabed and topped with a drillingand production platform that ex-tends out above the ocean surface– will pump up to 100,000 barrelsof crude oil per day.

Even among the giant towers and

platforms that already dot theworld’s oceans, the Tombua Lan-dana structure is impressive. Onland, the tower would stand 474metres tall – over 150 metres tallerthan the Eiffel Tower, and almost31 metres taller than the EmpireState Building. The tower, only thefourth of its type yet built, will serveas a hub for extracting undersea oiland gas. At the surface, the plat-form will house control rooms tomanage drilling, processing andstorage, while on the seafloor, net-works of pipes and conduits will ex-tend from the tower’s base. Somepipes will carry the oil and gas outfrom the deposits underneath theseabed, while others will be used toinject water into the subterranean

reservoirs. Injecting water into thedeposits will increase their pres-sure, allowing the wells to extractthe most oil possible from the reser-voirs and helping to push the thickcrude oil up to the platform abovethe sea.

Injection can consume millionsof gallons of water, so practices thathelp maintain water quality are animportant part of the overall envi-ronmental commitment made bythe Tombua Landana partners. Mostwater used for injection will be “pro-duced water”, found mixed in nat-urally with – and contaminated by– the undersea oil and gas. TheTombua Landana project will recy-cle its produced water, injecting itback into the underground reser-

voirs, helping to reduce dischargesof contaminated water into the sur-rounding ocean.

The facilities are also designed tohelp protect air quality by avoiding“flaring”, the practice of burning offthe excess natural gas that is pro-duced while extracting oil. Insteadof wastefully releasing its millionsof pounds of CO2 into the atmos-phere, the gas will be processedand stored in empty undergroundreservoirs. Later on, when the nat-ural-gas component of Tombua Lan-dana is fully operational, the gascan be tapped and sold – a win-winsolution for the atmosphere as wellas the project’s bottom line.

Tombua Landana isn’t just an ef-fort to develop natural resources. It’sabout cultivating human resourcesas well. The established Angolan pe-troleum industry training centre inMalongo is running at capacity tosupply qualified workers for the oiland gas sector. To relieve the pres-sure on the Malongo facility, Chevronis sending some Angolan traineesto its deepwater training centre inLafayette, Louisiana, where theywill acquire the specialised skillsthat are used on deepwater rigs inthe Gulf of Mexico. Other Angolansare visiting and working on Gulf ofMexico deepwater platforms, gain-ing firsthand experience abroad andbuilding the skills needed on TombuaLandana back at home.

Companies look to maintain thespirit of Angola in their oil and gasoperations

Off Cabinda’s coast,the giant Tombua Lan-dana tower will helptap into what aresome of the world’srichest deposits

THE RAPID economic growth inthe past decade in countries suchas China, India and Brazil has ledto an ever-increasing demand formore energy, which in turn hasspurred more and more invest-ment in the exploration for newoil deposits, and in finding moreefficient ways to exploit currentlydeveloped deposits.

Angola, and Cabinda, have wel-comed this flow of investmentinto the oil industry, and are do-ing all they can to encouragemore. Many different companies,including Chevron, Total, ENI,Pluspetrol International, ROC andAngola’s state-owned Sonangolare eager to take up the chal-lenge and find more oil.

Cabinda’s local governmentkeeps 10% of the income fromlocal production to help fund itsown projects, with the remain-der going to the central govern-ment. That means that the moreoil that companies can extractand export, the better for An-golans and Cabindans, who ben-efit from programmes to build upthe infrastructure and improvethe health and education of theprovince’s population.

Chevron Corp of the US is thebiggest foreign oil producer oper-ating in Cabinda. Its local unit,Cabinda Gulf Oil Company, or CAB-GOC, has a 31% share in Block 14production and a 39% stake inBlock Zero. The two blocks cur-rently produce the bulk of Cabin-da’s oil.

Production from Block 14, oneof Cabinda’s most important de-posits, is scheduled to increasein the next few years. While dai-ly production levels at the Kuitofield is declining, output from the Benguela-Belize-Lobito-Tomboco project (BBLT) proba-bly peaked in 2008.

The Tombua Landana project,a $3.8 billion oil production plat-form within Block 14 that in-cluded the construction of one ofthe tallest man-made structureson the planet, started produc-tion in September of last yearand is expected to reach peakproduction of 100,000 barrels ofoil per day in 2011.

In July 2009, Chevron an-nounced that the company andits partners had started crudeproduction ahead of schedule atthe Mafumeira Norte project,within Block Zero. The project isexpected to reach its maximumproduction of 30,000 barrels ofcrude and 30 million cubic feetof natural gas per day some timenext year.

Chevron also continues toprospect for new fields to devel-

op in Cabinda’s offshore blocks.In August of last year the US oilcompany announced that it hadmade another successful dis-covery in Block Zero, whichChevron co-owns with Sonangol(41%), France’s Total (10%) andItalian oil company ENI (9.8%).

Much of the oil already pro-duced in Cabinda is exportedthrough Chevron’s Malongo ter-minal, a largely self-sufficientencampment on the coast whoseloading terminal can accommo-date Very Large Crude Carriers(VLCCs). The VLCCs can hold asmuch as 950,000 barrels ofcrude oil.

Chevron is in fact one of thebiggest oil producers in all of An-gola, with a total daily produc-tion of more than 171,000 barrelsof oil. It’s the country’s biggestforeign oil-industry employer,with about 2,700 Angolans onthe staff, or about 87% of the lo-cal company’s total workforce.Angolans make up 75% ofChevron’s professional and su-pervisory staff in the country.

While Chevron has been pre-sent in Angola for decades, thearrival of stability in the countrywith the signing of the 2002 and2006 peace pacts has attractedmore foreign companies to thearea to seek out promising newdeposits.

Almost all of the oil producedin Cabinda comes from its off-shore wells. That production rep-resents approximately half of An-gola’s total oil output of about1.85 million barrels per day, andhas helped make the country oneof Africa’s top three oil producers.

After the 2006 agreement withCabindan separatist movements,oil prospectors have startedscouring the province for onshoredeposits that can be exploited.

The Lower Congo Basin, whereCabinda is located, has long beenknown to be rich in petroleumresources, and the prospectingcarried out so far has shown theonshore area to have great po-tential for development.

ROC Oil of Australia began ex-ploration in the Cabinda Southblock in 2005, and its effortshave already been greatly re-warded. One field, known as Mas-sambala-1, was estimated in

2008 to contain 170 million bar-rels of oil, more than five timesthe amount originally thought.

ROC, through its wholly ownedsubsidiary Lacula Oil CompanyLtd, announced in November oflast year that it had started drillingexploration wells in the Castanha-1 and Coco-1 fields. Castanha-1was the first exploration well inROC’s 2009 drilling programme inthe Cabinda South block.

The Cabinda South block in-cludes the Massambala field andothers, including Coco, Milho, Ce-vada and Soja, which mean co-conut, corn, barley and soy inPortuguese.

ROC, who originally owned a 60%interest in the Cabinda South block,last year agreed to farm out a 45%stake to Pluspetrol Angola Corp, aHouston, Texas-based company,which then took over as operator.ROC then farmed out another 5%stake to Cuba Petroleo, leaving theAussie company with a 10% inter-est in the block.

The entire block is located with-in 31 miles of Chevron’s Malon-go terminal, which will make iteasier to export its oil once pro-duction starts.

Cabinda’s people stand to gainfrom the increase in onshore ex-ploration, as well as from the pro-duction offshore, as programmesto hire more workers from theregion benefit the province’seconomy, and as the decline ofcivil strife permits expatriateworkers to mix with the localsand further add to growth.

Chevron has long been activein helping the community inCabinda and the rest of Angola inmany ways, not just by provid-ing thousands of well-paid jobs,but also by helping reduce pover-ty and spur economic growth inother ways as well.

The Angola Partnership initia-tive, a cooperative effor tlaunched in 2002 to promotepeace and stability and improvethe country’s education andhealthcare infrastructure, set upa micro lending bank in 2004,called NovoBanco.

Since opening, NovoBanco hasgranted more than $27 millionof loans to more than 5,500 mi-cro and small enterprises. An-other part of the initiative hasprovided seeds, tools and food toapproximately two million peoplespread across six provinces.

Chevron expects to invest anadditional $2.5 million each yearthrough 2012 in programmesthat are intended to help makelocal governments more efficientby improving their organisation-al and administrative skills, andto further reduce poverty by en-couraging the growth of small-and medium-sized businesses.

All of the exploration anddrilling activity, as well as theprogrammes funded by Chevron,its partners, and the local andnational governments, are addingto the amount of money invest-ed in Cabinda each year.

That inflow means more directjobs for Angolans and Cabindanswho are hired to build the struc-tures needed to explore and pro-duce oil, and for the people whobenefit from the spending that willresult from more locals havingmore money in their pockets.

So even as big multinationalcorporations such as Chevron,Total and Pluspetrol gain fromCabinda’s abundant petroleumresources, Cabinda’s residentswill also directly gain from thenew jobs created by the projects,and indirectly from the moneythat will flow into governmentcoffers.

From oil processing to construction, global companies are setting up shop in Cabinda thanksto its tax incentives and labour force

Proven reserves are constantly on the rise, which translates directly into greater attention and investment from around the globe

Cabinda’s oil industry providesthousands of jobs. And as oil outputincreases, more jobs will be createdboth directly and indirectly since theinfrastructure will also have to grow

Reducing flaring to capture more natural gasThe burning flares that used tobe visible atop many oil wells,and can still be seen in someareas, are fuelled by naturalgas, as oil producers dispose ofan unwanted by-product in thecheapest way possible. About150 billion cubic metres of nat-ural gas are burned in this wayevery year, equal to one-quar-ter of all the gas used in the USeach year. However, natural gashas grown in value as a sourceof energy, encouraging oil com-panies around the world to cap-ture it for sale.

Chevron and its partners inCabinda’s Block Zero field, So-nangol, Eni SpA and Total SA,recently inaugurated the TakulaGas Processing Plant (TGPP) toeliminate the need to burn off

gas and to permit it to beprocessed, stored and trans-ported so that it can either beexported or used to generateelectricity in Angola.

“TGPP represents a major ac-complishment for the Area Aproject as it will provide addi-tional compression and gassweetening in Block Zero,” saidChevron Project Manager BobKing, referring to his compa-ny’s local long-term Area A GasManagement Program, or AAGM.

The AAGM consists of threeparts, including TGPP, the Cabin-da Gas Plant and the Flare andRelief Modification project,which together will eliminate theroutine burning of natural gas inthe area by permitting the fuelto be collected and processed.

TGPP can process approxi-mately 100 million standardcubic feet per day of gas, whichwill be delivered to the new gasfacility onshore in Cabinda.Chevron and partners are alsobuilding a natural gas liquefac-tion plant in a nearby provincethat will permit the export ofthe gas. The gas plant is fore-cast to process about one bil-lion cubic feet of natural gas aday and to produce about 5.2million metric tonnes a year ofLNG and related products.

TGPP, located offshore in theTakula field, stands in waterthat is about 186 feet deep.The support structure was builtlocally, in Lobito in Angola’snearby Benguela province,while the processing plant was

built in South Korea by Sam-sung Heavy Industries andthen transported to the site.The giant, four-story facility willallow Chevron to meet Angolanenvironmental regulations andwill help contribute to the eco-nomic development of thecountry by providing anotherenergy source and export rev-enue.

Sonangol and the Angolangovernment have been work-ing to reduce the burning ofnatural gas with the goal ofcutting pollution and increas-ing revenue. Angola’s boomingeconomy also requires moreenergy, and the gas can beused to produce electricity forhomes, businesses and manu-facturers.

The Tombua and Landana fields hold over one billion barrels of crude oil

Sonangol ensures that oil & gas revenues are wisely invested in the communities

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Outside investment rollsinto Cabinda as scale ofproduction rises

Modernising the Port of Cabinda

CABINDA’S INFRASTRUCTURE hadbeen neglected for so long duringthe period of civil strife and sep-aratism that when peace returnedto the province in 2006, the gov-ernment had to spread its effortsto improve the lives of its resi-dents around many different pro-jects. Over the next few years the peo-ple of Cabinda will enjoy a hugeimprovement in the various dif-ferent parts of the province’s in-frastructure as the governmentinvests more and more on roads,new buses, a new ferry, waterand sanitation. The work on the port and the air-port and plans to build a bridge tothe rest of Angola are detailed in

articles below, but the governmentis improving much more than thosevital networks. For example, com-munications between Cabinda andthe rest of Angola have long beena problem for the province, which

is located about 124 miles fromthe country’s capital. The national government is work-ing to resolve those difficultiesby installing a new system ofsatellite communications thatlinks together the widespread re-

gions of the country and permitsfaster transmission of voice, in-ternet, data, television and ra-dio. The provincial governmenthas already taken great stridesto improve its own communica-

tions with the rest of the world. Work has finished on a subma-rine cable that will vastly improveCabinda’s connection to the restof the world. The end result is amodern telecommunications in-frastructure that is the envy of

many countries in the region.Helping Cabindans get around theprovince more easily is anotherpriority. The province is alreadymuch more than halfway througha $190 million project to improve170 miles of roads connecting theprovincial capital of Cabinda Cityto other parts of the enclave andto the frontier with the Democra-tic Republic of Congo (DRC). The provincial government hasimported 152 new buses to takeadvantage of the new roads andimprove connections betweenCabinda City and other parts ofthe area. The new vehicles aremaking travel within the provincequicker, cheaper and easier forresidents and visitors alike.

Cabinda already has a new air-port, which has been operatingfor more than two years. The fa-cility has a 1.5-mile runway thatcan accommodate planes of allsizes, and now handles more than100 takeoff/landing operations aday. The port of Cabinda has also ben-efited from several improvements.A $100-million expansion plan in-cludes a 29.5-foot-deep ma-noeuvring basin and a 262-footaccess channel that will allowships carrying over 1,000 tonnesof cargo to use the port. The newfacilities will permit increased useof the port and provide new em-ployment opportunities.Another hugely important project

has been the improvement andexpansion of Cabinda’s water sup-ply network. Residents of coun-tries with modern, normally func-tioning water systems can’t fath-om the amount of time and ener-gy that is used in seeking out andcarrying fresh water from itssource to the home, for cooking,cleaning and other forms of san-itation. The water project alonewill vastly improve residents’ lives. The province has already madelarge and effective investmentsto improve the water system,which have increased Cabinda’ssupply capacity from 120 cubicmetres of the vital liquid per hourin 2002 to more than 990 cubicmetres per hour today.

CABINDA’S GOVERNMENT has anambitious plan to make CabindaCity a transport and trade hub forthe region. Part of that plan in-cludes the rebuilding and ex-pansion of the seaport. The portreceived a $100 million grantfrom the national government in2007 to fund the project.

As part of the plan, the porthas been given a deeper ma-neuvering basin to permit shipswith a loading capacity of morethan 1,000 tonnes to use the fa-cility, and a wider access chan-nel so that two ships may passat the same time.

Since new management tookover the port in 2004, there hasalso been a concerted effort torenovate and modernize its equip-ment to make it cheaper and more

competitive with other ports andforms of transportation.

The new management, whichwas led by the former port di-rector general Osvaldo Lobo doNascimento, didn’t just renovatethe facility’s physical side, though.The port’s operators have alsoworked to improve its adminis-tration, legal set-up, and its mar-keting to gain more business.

The port’s equipment and phys-ical state, including its container-moving cranes and its pier, weredeteriorated and needed muchrenovation to bring them up tomodern standards. That work is

well advanced, and should be fin-ished within the next year. Thepier, when finished, will have ca-pacity to handle five 12,000-tonne ships at the same time.Five new cranes have been pur-chased that can stack contain-ers higher than previously pos-sible at the port, which will in-stantly increase storage capaci-ty, while also allowing faster andnimbler movement of containers.

The port already has a group ofworkers who know how to oper-ate the new loading cranes, whichhave been named after formerworkers at the port who have con-tributed outstanding work, anda training programme will in-crease the number of operators.

The port’s cargo holding area isbeing enlarged, which will furtherincrease its storage capacity. Ce-ment silos and flour silos are be-ing built in the holding area toadd to the type of products thatcan be efficiently moved throughthe facility.

The holding area and piers willalso benefit from the constructionof a new electric network that willprovide power to the whole area,as well as the addition of an in-tranet communications network,all of which will further increaseproductivity and efficiency.

A properly functioning port re-quires more than just modernequipment, of course. Efficientadministration is also necessary,and do Nascimento and his teamdidn’t ignore that area. They hirednew people, increased workertraining, and changed the port’slegal structure as part of theirstrategic plan. They also devel-oped a marketing plan intendedto attract more business from ar-eas near Cabinda.

Shipping imports and exports are moving more efficiently through the province

Bridges and roads get special attention as the province invests nearly $100 million

A country’s infrastructure isabsolutely vital to itseconomic success, and thegovernments of Cabinda andAngola, are well aware of this.Both have dedicated hugeefforts and ample resources tobuilding up the country’sroads, airports, ports andother important networks.

Those areas are among thegovernments’ priorities, buthealth, education, energy,water and telecommunicationsinfrastructures are also beingtransformed by investment.The objective is to giveresidents of the region a higherquality of life by giving themeasier access to clean water,improving their health throughthe construction andrenovation of sewage systemsand helping people andbusinesses go about their dailylives by reducing transport andtelecommunications times andcosts.

The provincial and nationalgovernments are working onnumerous projects that willincrease the province’selectrical supply, and extend itfurther from Cabinda City intothe rest of the region. Theproject will use Cabinda’senergy resources to provideresidents with moreelectricity. Power productionhas already increased, from4MW at the start of the project,to 42MW today.

Two recently purchased gasturbines are in the final stagesof being installed, which willtake advantage of the naturalgas that is extracted alongwith Cabinda’s oil. Takentogether, the different projectswill have a great impact on theprovince’s residents andbusinesses by increasing theamount of energy available tothem.

A recently announcedenergy project, which could becompleted in as little as twoyears, would link Cabinda’senergy grid to the Inga Dam inthe Democratic Republic ofCongo (DRC). The proposedpower line would give theprovince another source ofelectricity, making the powersupply more dependable.

Another project intended tohelp residents and businesseswill link Cabinda, which is cutoff from mainland Angola bythe DRC, with the rest of thecountry via a 12.4-mile roadthat will include a bridge overthe Zaire River. The road andbridge will cost an estimated$2.55 billion and will connectCabinda to the town of Soyo, inZaire province.

Transport to Soyo and thenational capital of Luandahave already improved. A new,faster ferry has begunoperation, cutting travel timesfrom Cabinda to Soyo to onehour from three, and to Luandafrom 15 hours to six. The newship can carry almost fourtimes as many people aspreviously fit on the old ferry.

By seaCabinda has long faceddifficulties because of itsdistance from the rest ofAngola, with ferries acting asthe principle mode oftransportation for most peopletraveling between the enclaveand the nearest part of therest of the country, which isthe city of Soyo.

Angola’s central governmenthas contributed to the effortsto improve transportationbetween Cabinda and otherparts of the country by buyinga new ferry called the Ebo,which is already speeding upthe trip.

The new ship’s turbineengines give it a maximumspeed of 42 knots, whichpermit it to make the tripbetween Cabinda City andSoyo, in Angola’s Zaireprovince, in one hour, insteadof the three hours that theprevious ship on that routetook. The travel time betweenCabinda and the nationalcapital of Luanda has beenreduced to six hours, from 15hours previously.

The Ebo is a much largership than the Lueji, which wasthe ferry on the route before.The Ebo is 154 feet long and42 feet wide. It can carry 370people and cargo. The Luejihad capacity to carry just 96people.

“The Ebo is a modern, high-speed ship,” says João PedroPaxe, captain of the new ship.“Our population is used tocarrying merchandise withthem when they travel, and it’salways easier to take moreweight on a ship than on aplane. So when the Ebo startsoperating, it will more thanmeet those needs.”

The Ebo has two classes fortravelers, economy andexecutive. The trip betweenCabinda City and Soyo costs2,000 kwanzas ($22) ineconomy class, and 3,000kwanzas ($33) in executiveclass. The trip to Luanda costs4,500 kwanzas ($50) ineconomic and 6,000 kwanzas($66) in executive. The shipwas bought in Italy by Angola’sMinistry of Transport, and thepurchase price included amaintenance contract.

By landCabinda is separated from therest of Angola by the ZaireRiver and a narrow strip of theDemocratic Republic of Congo.That separation has left theprovince isolated from the restof the country, but within afew years the problem will besolved by a new bridge.

An audacious project tobring Cabinda closer to Angolawill build a $2.55 billion bridgeand roadway to link the twoareas by land. The bridge overthe Zaire River will be about 12miles long, and a stretch ofhighway will complete theconnection. Construction onthe bridge began in 2008 andis expected to be completed inOctober, 2012.

The bridge is part of a biggergovernment programme that,when finished, will leave all ofAngola with a much improvedtransportation network.

Angolan and Cabindanofficials held meetings withtheir counterparts from theDemocratic Republic of Congo,which separates the two partsof Angola, to decide on thebest route and the bestcombination ofbridge/causeway/roadway tobenefit the residents of thearea in both countries.

Once a final decision on theproject’s parameters is made,a Chinese constructioncompany, the China Road andBridge Corporation, will startthe process of building theroadway.

The government isn’tneglecting local roads inCabinda, of course. Hundredsof miles of roadways havebeen built, rebuilt andimproved in recent years,with more activity planned.The final goal is to give theprovince a local road networkthat will link its towns andsmaller villages to CabindaCity, and to the bridge thatwill join them to the rest ofAngola.

Linking Cabinda to Angola

Huge investments have been made in upgrading road infrastructure, in addition to water supply, the airport and telecommunications

The Port of Cabinda is an important gateway to the rest of AfricaSoon, Cabinda will be connected directly to mainland Angola at Soyo, thanksto a $2.55 billion road and bridge project

Cabinda renovatesits airportCabinda’s government has beenworking to improve theprovince’s economy by focusingon improving its transportationinfrastructure. The internationalairport, where renovations arenow complete, is an excellentexample of how those effortsare already having a positive ef-fect on people and businesses.Travelers to Cabinda can nowchoose from several scheduleddaily flights to Luanda, Angola’scapital, on the country’s nation-al carrier, TAAG, which flies toother international destinationsas well. Another option would beto arrange for a charter flight toand from the airport with a pri-vate company. The renovations to the facilitywere finished in 2007, leavingCabinda with Angola’s secondbiggest airport and a 1.5-mile-long runway, capable of han-dling planes as large as a Boe-ing 737. The airport’s waiting room hasbeen enlarged to handle up to300 passengers at peak hours,

and baggage-handling equip-ment has been modernized aswell, helping make passengers’transit through the facilityfaster and more comfortable. New equipment has been in-stalled in the control tower andin security areas, making trav-eling from the airport safer. Offi-cials from the International CivilAviation Organization agree.They have inspected the airport,and given a positive opinion ofthe improvements. One of the most recent improve-ments is the renovation of theairport’s meteorological, com-pleted in early May of this year.Pilots now receive more accu-rate data on weather conditionsthrough Cabinda Airport’s airtraffic control tower.The airport is a big employer inCabinda, providing about 60 di-rect jobs and about 270 indirectpositions. There are alreadyplans afoot for more enlarge-ments and improvements,which would mean even morework for Cabindans.

The Civil Aviation Organisation gave Cabinda Airport’s improvements thethumbs up. The next step in the modernisation process will include buildinga new cargo terminal

The province is improving 170 miles of roads connecting the capital ofCabinda to other regions

Once completed,the new pier willhave the capacityto handle five12,000-tonneships at a time

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Boosting the economy throughimproved infrastructure

CABINDA’S OIL resources are asource of great wealth for theprovince and for the entire country,providing funds that are being usedto build schools, hospitals, roadsand other infrastructure that havealready vastly improved the livesof Angolans.

The economy is highly depen-dent on the petroleum industry,though, and that needs to changein order to reduce the country’s re-liance on one sector and to pro-mote the creation of new jobs. Theprovincial and central governmentsboth recognise the need for morediversity in the economy, and areworking to spur development andinvestment in other sectors.

One area that has already re-ceived a lot of attention is agricul-ture. Cabinda’s farmers and theprovincial government are workingtogether to help boost agriculturalproduction with two goals in mind.One is to increase farm employ-

ment, and help create new jobs inrelated sectors, and the other is toprovide the region with enough ofthe basic foods that are the staplesof the local diet.

Within Cabinda’s natural re-sources, there lies much potential– and interest – in developing cerealcultivation, soy, fishing and fruit.

The goals for agricultural pro-duction have been rising each year,with the objective for the2007/2008 farming campaign in-creased to 48,592 tonnes of foods– including bananas, corn, peanuts,mandioca, macunde beans andsweet potatoes – from the 37,498tonnes produced in the previousyear’s harvest.

Earlier efforts to boost outputhave already helped, and Cabindanow produces surpluses of man-dioca, banana and ginguba, whichare exported. The region is also self-sufficient in peanut production, andall the positive results are the fruitof the success of government pro-grammes to encourage their culti-vation.

The production of mandioca is aspecial success because the plantwas nearly wiped out in recent yearsby disease. The government helped

introduce new varieties of the plant,enabling the gratifying comebackof the crop.

The government reaches out tohelp farmers in the rural parts of thecountry through Agrarian Develop-ment Stations, which offer techni-cal advice on how to increase pro-duction and improve the quality ofcrops. Cabinda has four of the newstations, which are spread aroundthe province to make sure they’reas close to the farmers as possible.

The new stations cost 11 millionkwanzas ($122,500) to build andequip, and each has a warehouseto hold equipment, seeds, fertilis-er and other items. The region isworking to produce other crops,some for local consumption andsome for export.

Cabinda already grows pineap-ples for export, though increasingsuch exports is difficult at the mo-ment because of a lack of trans-port infrastructure. A better strat-egy now is to produce vegetablesfor the nearby Chevron oil camp atMalongo.

In 2008, the camp bought pro-duce worth $400,000, and that fig-ure can be increased as more reg-ular production and delivery arrange-

ments are made. The regional gov-ernment is buying greenhouses,and has sent a technician to Brazilto learn their greenhouse productiontechniques to help with this effort.A liquefied natural gas plant that isunder construction in the nearbyprovince of Zaire will also boost de-mand for local produce once it hasbeen finished and staffed.

The local and national govern-ments have several different pro-grammes to help farmers increaseproduction. The national govern-ment has for years provided farm-ers throughout the country withmicro credits to help them acquireequipment and seeds, and the lo-cal government recently started asimilar programme for Cabinda’scoffee farmers. Since 2007, morethan 22,000 farmers from aroundthe country have formed coopera-tives to benefit from micro-creditprogrammes.

The programmes lend between$100 and $1,500 to the coopera-tives, which consist of at least sev-en farmers each. Over $6 millionhas been lent so far to buy farmingequipment, of which more than$700,000 has already been repaid.

The programme has been ex-

tended to all the provinces in Angola,with about 1,078 Cabindan farm-ers involved. Another project spon-sored by the government is im-porting cattle into the province. InOctober of 2008, 1,000 head of cat-tle arrived in the region from theDemocratic Republic of Congo, andmore were imported in 2009, boost-ing the total number of cattle inCabinda to more than 2,400.

A previous attempt to introducemore cattle to the region was un-successful because the animalscame from southern Angola, wherethe climactic conditions are differ-ent from in Cabinda. The Congolesecattle are expected to fare better be-cause they’re more accustomed tothe local weather.

Now that Cabinda is close to pro-ducing enough food for the localpopulation, other agricultural pro-jects are starting. Construction ofa palm oil refining and bottling planthas already begun, and oil palmtrees have been planted to providesupplies.

Angola’s central government isworking on several fronts to boostthe country’s fishing catch as well,to help people become more self-sufficient in their food supply.

In Cabinda that has meant thedonation of 20 boats in recentyears to fishing cooperatives inthe province, many sent from Chi-na, along with other equipmentincluding 25 stern engines, 12central engines, 17 canoes andlarge numbers of nets.

The local fishermen are limitedin where they can fish because ofthe prevalence of oil platforms offCabinda’s coast. The governmentgave the cooperatives the boatsand engines so they could travelfarther and carry more fish.

Now the supply of fish is greaterthan a few years ago because thenew boats can carry four or fivetonnes of fish. Cabindan fisher-man have also benefited from theopening of two new ice factories,one in Cabinda City and the oth-er in Cacongo, as well as from aseries of engine repair shops thatare being built along the coast tohelp boats suffering from me-chanical difficulties. The deliveryof canoes and fishing nets has al-so helped increase the province’sfishing catch by permitting fish-ermen in Cabinda’s interior to ex-ploit the province’s rivers andlakes.

Sectors such as timberand agriculture aregetting a boost fromgovernment subsidies

Cabinda’s crops include surplusses of mandioca, banana, inguba, pineapples, peanuts, corn, macunde beans and sweet potatoes

Angola’s government is eager todiversify the province’s econo-my to reduce its dependenceon oil. Timber is Cabinda’s sec-ond biggest industry after pe-troleum. The nation’s economy,which expanded at a real paceof more than 16% in 2007, hasspurred demand for wood amidits extended rebuilding pro-gramme and the governmenthas shown great interest in re-cent years in boosting Cabin-da’s timber to add to the coun-try’s reconstruction. In 2007, Angola and its formercolonial ruler, Portugal, signedan agreement to help promotethe African country’s timbersector, with a special emphasison Cabinda. The province willprovide valuable support for thetimber industry in the rest ofAngola, according to the termsof the agreement. Also in 2007,then Agriculture and Rural De-velopment Minister Afonso Pe-dro Canga came to the provinceto meet with former provincialgovernor Anibal Rocha and withlocal timber merchants to dis-cuss regulation, production andexport strategies. After years of neglect due tothe civil turmoil that punishedthe province until the end of thecivil war in 2002, the govern-ment and private banks arestarting to lend to companies inthe sector to make sure the lo-cal timber industry has accessto financing to fund continuedgrowth. The Banco de Desenvolvimentode Angola, or BDA, is a state-owned lender set up in 2006 tohelp finance private business-es. In 2007, the bank loanedmoney to So Cargas to buy twonew industrial saws, which willpermit the company to in-crease output and quality andto satisfy more of its cus-tomers’ needs. Last August the BDA made an-other loan, of about $200,000,to a furniture maker. That loanis also being used to buy newequipment, including saws, agenerator and other woodwork-ing machinery, to help the com-pany increase its productivityand its output, according toowner Luis Gomes Sambo.

The private sector is clearly re-sponding to the incentives toexpand the timber industry inthe province. In August furni-ture maker Abilio de Amorim re-opened a factory that had beeninactive since 2002, with a newindustrial saw worth $1 millioncapable of cutting 30,000 cubicmetres of wood per day. The provincial government is al-so boosting efforts to improvethe health of Cabinda’s forests

as well as its economy. Any investing in the timber sec-tor unquestionably needs to becarried out under conditionsthat ensure the production ofwood is sustainable. For exam-ple, felling without reforesta-tion is not permitted. Areas that had previously beendeforested are being replanted,often with eucalyptus trees. Eu-calyptus is a fast-growingplant, so it will help to quicklyreplenish the province’s stockof trees. New plantations nearCabinda City are growing a vari-ety of eucalyptus that is bettersuited to the local climate, afterearlier, less successful effortswith trees from the southernpart of Angola.

All timberproduction inthe province isrequired to besustainable andfelling withoutreforestation isnot permitted

The development of a non-oil based economy

SSOOUUTTHH CCHHIINNAA MMOORRNNIINNGG PPOOSSTT DAY 00, MONTH 2010

What wood would do for the economy

SSPPOONNSSOORREEDD FFEEAATTUURREE 55

EVERY COUNTRY’S future dependson its children and their education.After more than a quarter centuryof civil strife throughout Angola,its provinces are working hard torebuild and improve their educa-tional systems to give kids a bet-ter chance to work their way outof poverty.

The educational system in Cabin-da has made great strides since thesigning of the peace agreement in2002, which permits the govern-ment to dedicate more resourcesto the needs of the country’s citi-zens.

The Cabindan government isworking to rebuild and restore in-frastructure, and and has intro-duced social support programmes.For example, every day grammarschool students in urban and rur-al areas are given lunch.”

The programme of social help isespecially important for theyoungest students, and it’s herewhere the government has madea special effort. Of the approxi-mately 130,000 students in theprimary education system, about89,000 participate in various aidprogrammes.

The children in the programmesget milk and nutritious biscuitsevery day. They also receive twoschool uniforms and a pair of san-dals per year, as well as a backpackcontaining six notebooks, pens,pencils and a pencil sharpener.

Starting last year, kids also re-ceive an oral hygiene kit. The pro-gramme provides every child inschool with a toothbrush, tooth-paste and a pamphlet explainingto children what they need to doto take care of their teeth.

Even without all those pro-grammes, the situation for prima-ry education has improved tremen-dously since the end of the war. Thenumber of students in Cabinda, in-cluding at the secondary and adultlevel, has risen to 150,000, from70,000 in 2002.

In that same year, the region need-ed 400 more classrooms than it had,a figure that was cut to 100 this yearand will be reduced to 50 next yearas new schools are built and exist-ing facilities are expanded.

“We’ve identified the problemand we continue to work to in-crease the number of classrooms,”says João Chissina Mabiala, Di-rector of Cabinda’s education, cul-ture, science and technology de-

partment. “The government hasprogrammes to eliminate thedeficit by 2010 by building moreclassrooms.”

The government is getting a help-ing hand in building new schoolsfrom Chevron Gulf Oil Companyand its partners in Bloc 0. In Feb-ruary two new schools were inau-gurated in the Cabindan munici-palities of Iabe and Tshinsua, andbuilt with funding from the petro-leum companies.

The new schools have six class-rooms each, as well as adminis-trative areas, teachers’ residencesand other spaces, and can housea total of 840 students. Chevronand its partners have also fundedthe construction of a kindergartenin Cabinda, as well as a teachers’college and a boarding school else-where in Angola.

Between the end of the war, theexpansion of facilities and the num-ber of teachers at work, the gov-ernment has been able to slowlyraise the number of years prima-ry students go to classes. Prima-ry education now goes through thesixth grade instead of the fourthgrade, and the plan is to furtherextend the programme.

Teachers have also benefitedfrom the reforms to the educationsystem. Their salary has tripledsince 2002, and the total numberof instructors has also increased,to 4,200 from 3,600 six years ago.

Training programmes, for teach-ers and administrators, have im-proved, helping their students re-ceive a better education as well.The goal is to give teachers andadministrators more up-to-datetraining so they can better meetthe new realities of the needs oftheir students, Mabiala says.

The regional government is al-so working on expanding the ed-ucational offerings for theprovince’s residents. Work has al-ready begun on an ambitious planto build a 90-hectare universitycampus south of the provincialcapital, with the first brick laid inAugust of 2007 by Public WorksMinister Higino Carneiro.

The university complex will en-compass ten colleges, recreation-al areas, student residences andeven a maritime wildlife reserve.The campus’s main building willhouse administrative offices, thecentral library and the main lec-ture hall.

The university project is for thelong term, but the government hasmore immediate plans that are al-ready helping students startingfrom primary school through tothe level of technical preparationfor employment purposes.

The province will inaugurate anew technical school in 2009. Theschool, which will be located in Chi-

azi, 12 kilometres north of Cabin-da City, is being built as part of aprogramme to open a network of21 technical schools throughoutthe country.

The facility in Chiazi will have 17classrooms, each one with the ca-pacity for 36 students. The schoolwill have workshops, laboratories,boarding facilities for 200 students,and residences for ten teachersand for the school’s director.

The school will be the biggest

high school in the province, andwill start up with ten classes of10th graders, and graduate its firstclass in 2011. Students will be ableto take courses to gain specialisedtraining in areas including petro-chemicals, ecological studies, in-dustrial maintenance and metal-working.

The central government is also

working to encourage school con-struction. The Vice Minister of Ed-ucation for Social Action, Generaland Specialised Teaching, AnaPaulo Fernandes, visited theprovince in February to inspectthe progress the regional govern-ment has made in building newschools.

Fernandes visited all the mu-nicipalities in Cabinda, and saidshe was very satisfied with the re-sults of the building programme

so far and that Cabinda’s schoolsystem sets the standard for theother provinces.

The provincial government isproud of its successes in improv-ing Cabinda’s educational system,and is doing more than just build-ing schools. It has got children whohad been outside the system backinto school, and is also sendingtop students abroad to take ad-vantage of learning opportunitiesthat aren’t yet available in Angola.

According to the government,today Cabinda has no children out-side the school system. The provin-cial government has been givingscholarships and grants to stu-dents who do well, spending morethan $2.5 million every year onscholarships.

Those students have spreadthroughout the world to learn attop universities in countries in-cluding the US, Germany, SouthAfrica, Brazil, Portugal and Russia.Some stay within Angola but trav-el to Luanda to study in the capi-tal’s universities.

The national and provincial gov-ernments, while focusing strong-ly on educating children, haven’tforgotten the generation that wasleft behind during Angola’s long

civil conflict, and are working toeducate, reintegrate and help findjobs for them.

The country has many formersoldiers with disabilities that thegovernment is working to reinte-grate into society. The NationalAssociation of Handicapped An-golese (ANDA) is setting up pro-grammes that will provide workfor the soldiers.

ANDA opened a sewing shop inthe province last year that will pro-vide jobs for 25 people. The work-

shop is equipped with nine sewingmachines, including an industri-al sewing machine that will beused to make shirts and African-style clothing for women.

Another cooperative project hasprovided ten taxis that will be usedby two people each, providing an-other 20 jobs for former soldiers.ANDA recently opened a carpen-try workshop and a sawmill, cre-ating more employment for thehandicapped of Cabinda.

Cabinda’s regional government,

with help from the central govern-ment and private sector, has al-ready made huge strides by in-creasing educational opportuni-ties, and with more help from in-ternational partners, is ready tomake even more advances.

“The difficulties that still existin the education sector can be re-moved quickly if we can count onthe sincere help of all friendlycountries and people who wantpeace and development,” saysMabiala.

School enrolment in Cabinda is the highest of allAngolan provinces, and efforts are underway to buildmore classrooms, expand existing facilities andensure that all school children have the basics

Increasing access to computers, internet and training schools is helping to prepare the Cabindan workforce for a wide variety of jobs

Mobile healthcare reaching everyone

THE CABINDAN government hasbeen dedicating more and morefunding to improving theprovince’s healthcare system.New hospital and health centresare being opened around thecountry, some of them with ad-vanced medical equipment. Thenew facilities can spare peoplefrom the region a trip to the na-tional capital of Luanda, or fur-ther, for many treatments.

In addition to renovating Cabin-da’s Central Hospital and open-ing a municipal hospital, the gov-ernment is now finishing workon the Alzira Fonseca regionalhospital, which boasts state-of-the-art technology from GeneralElectric. The new equipment per-mits the facility to carry out car-diovascular, kidney, and diabetestreatments, as well as other pro-cedures.

As in other areas, the region’schildren are a special focus ofthe increased spending. A vacci-

nation programme begun in 2007has inoculated more than130,000 children against polio.The kids also receive a vitamin Asupplement and an anti-parasitemedicine while getting theirshots.

A programme administeredjointly by the education and healthdepartments has treated morethan 100,000 school children be-tween the ages of five and 14 forparasites over the past two years.In 2007 alone, the programmetreated 87,000 kids. The childrenreceive a drug called Albendazol,which will help rid them of thepests that can gravely affect theirhealth and their ability to learn.

The government has begun toacquire mobile healthcare clinicsthat also help improve the healthof the region’s youngest residents.The units travel from school toschool to do check-ups, diagnoseillnesses, and aid in the preventionof malaria and parasites.

Another programme to vacci-nate people of all ages againstpolio and malaria, and sponsoredby Chevron, is aimed at residentsof the region’s rural areas. Drugsare administered by mobile clin-ics to make it easier to reach themost isolated residents.

The rest of the population is al-so benefiting from the increasein spending, of course. In additionto the new hospital, an older hos-pital has been renovated and newclinics are being opened uparound the province that will bringdoctors and treatment closer toall Cabindans.

The 40-bed hospital at Ca-congo has been completely ren-ovated and provided with newequipment. With a staff of fivedoctors and 32 nurses, the hos-pital specializes in pediatricsand maternity care, as well asgeneral medicine and AIDS treat-ment.

New clinics have also been

opened in the Massabi and San-ga Planicie areas. The Massabi fa-cility has 25 beds, and can carryout clinical analyses that werenot previously available in thearea. The people of Sanga Plani-cie have gained a facility with amaternity ward and a vaccina-tion clinic that will improve thehealth and the lives of the localpopulation.

One indication of the improve-ment in healthcare in recent yearsis the fact that no new cases ofleprosy have been reported since2005. Coordinator for publichealth in the regional govern-ment, Fuete Henry da Costa, saysthe success of the region’s lep-rosy programme can be attrib-uted to the residents of the regiontaking advantage of all the newhealthcare facilities being offered.The region’s leprosy programmecurrently manages 35 outpa-tients who suffer from the dis-ease.

Children especially benefit from these mobile health clinics, receiving vaccinations and vital check-ups

A good part of the province’s oilrevenues are reinvested into schools,medical centres and other socialinstitutions, and better managementof the funds is bringing better results

The province of Cabinda’s Director of Education, Cul-ture, Science & Technology João Chissina Mabiala dis-cusses the changes that are being made to improveevery local child’s education.

AAnnggoollaa iiss eexxppeerriieenncciinngg aa ppeerriioodd ooff ppeeaaccee aanndd ppoo--lliittiiccaall ssttaabbiilliittyy,, aass wwaass ddeemmoonnssttrraatteedd bbyy tthhee ccaallmm--nneessss wwiitthh wwhhiicchh tthhee eelleeccttiioonnss wweerree hheelldd iinn SSeepp--tteemmbbeerr ooff llaasstt yyeeaarr.. WWhhaatt pprrooggrreessss hhaass bbeeeenn mmaaddeebbyy tthhee pprroovviinncciiaall ggoovveerrnnmmeenntt iinn tthhee aarreeaa ooff eedduu--ccaattiioonn ssiinnccee tthheenn??

In addition to the efforts that we carried out re-garding building and renovating the physical infra-structure, we also launched new programmes, in-cluding one to improve transport for teachers in rur-al areas, and the oral hygiene kit for primary schoolstudents, which is included with other programmessuch as the school lunch and school kits we alreadygive out. Regarding the private sector, of the nearly20 private schools, about 40% have been legalised.

WWhhaatt iiss tthhee rroollee ooff tthhee pprriivvaattee sscchhoooollss iinn tthhee eedduu--ccaattiioonn ssyysstteemm iinn tthhee pprroovviinnccee,, aanndd hhooww wwoouulldd yyoouu rraattee tthheeiirr qquuaalliittyy?? HHooww iiss tthhee pprroocceessss ooff llee--ggaalliissaattiioonn pprrooggrreessssiinngg??

The private schools are the government’s partnerin reaching out to the communities to educate thenext generations. While their quality isn’t better, itisn’t very different from the public schools, becausethey follow the orientation that comes from the Min-istry of Education. As for legalisation, the situationhas improved considerably.

TThhee ggoovveerrnnmmeenntt iinn CCaabbiinnddaa aaddddeedd 5588 nneeww ccllaassss--rroooommss ffoorr tthhee 22000099 sscchhooooll yyeeaarr,, bbuutt tthheerree’’ss ssttiillll aanneeeedd ffoorr mmoorree.. WWhhaatt mmeeaassuurreess aarree bbeeiinngg ttaakkeenn ttoorreedduuccee tthhaatt ddeeffiicciitt,, aanndd wwhheenn wwiillll tthheeyy bbee ppuutt iinnttooeeffffeecctt??

We’ve identified the problem and we continue towork to increase the number of classrooms. The gov-ernment has programmes to eliminate the deficitby 2010 by building more classrooms.

The Chinese construction company China Jiang-su has already added two impressive new primaryschools to the school network of the province ofCabinda, as part of the Public Investment Programme.

WWhhaatt ootthheerr pprroojjeeccttss aarree bbeeiinngg ccaarrrriieedd oouutt iinn tthheepprroovviinnccee wwiitthh tthhee ccooooppeerraattiioonn aanndd ffuunnddiinngg ooff CChhiinnaa??

In our sector we’re planning on building more pri-mary and secondary schools under the guidance ofthe provincial government. Some contracts have al-ready been decided, such as the Vitoria e Certa Neigh-bourhood School, which will have more than 24 class-rooms, and for the second phase of the PUNIV Buco-Ngoio pre-university programme.

WWhhaatt aarreeaass ddoo yyoouu tthhiinnkk wwoouulldd bbee ffeerrttiillee ggrroouunndd ffoorrmmoorree ccooooppeerraattiioonn bbeettwweeeenn CChhiinnaa aanndd CCaabbiinnddaa??

The experience of the Chinese people could bevery helpful to Cabinda in the areas of school sportsand technical-professional education.

HHooww ccaann CChhiinnaa hheellpp CCaabbiinnddaa aanndd AAnnggoollaa wwiitthh rree--ccoonnssttrruuccttiioonn,, iinn aaddddiittiioonn ttoo lliinneess ooff ccrreeddiitt??

I think we can put the technical capacity of the Chi-nese to use in the areas of human resources, in re-lation to teachers who should learn different tech-nical areas and practices.

AArree tthheerree mmoorree rreessoouurrcceess aavvaaiillaabbllee ffoorr eedduuccaattiioonnnnooww tthhaatt tthheerree iiss ppeeaaccee aanndd ssttaabbiilliittyy iinn CCaabbiinnddaa??

Yes, peace has brought great benefits because,though Cabinda hadn’t been one of the provincesmost affected by the armed conflict, the country’sresources were being used up at the national lev-el. It’s normal in that situation for other areas ofthe country to have limited resources becausethey’re being used for defence spending. Aftersigning the peace agreements, there have been sixyears in which we have begun to receive a biggerpart of the budget for the area that I direct. We’vebegun to build more infrastructure, in the form ofschools, etc. Before the signing of the agreements,Cabinda had about 245 schools, with 966 class-rooms. By 2004 we already had 278 schools with1,249 classrooms.

WWhhaatt aarree yyoouurr ggooaallss ffoorr tthhee ffuuttuurree ffoorr eedduuccaattiioonn,,aanndd hhooww ssoooonn ddoo yyoouu eexxppeecctt ttoo aacchhiieevvee tthheemm??

Our general goals are the same as in the rest ofthe country. By 2015 we want all children, at a na-tional level, to be within the school system. We’reworking hard to eliminate illiteracy, which is ourmain objective.

At this time we have obligatory schooling up un-til sixth grade, and our goal is to lengthen that pe-riod by 2015. Cabinda is a province with oil andwood, and also with good land. We have to invest toimprove other parts of the economy, and that willbe possible if we use the income from oil to educatepeople to develop other areas such as agriculture,fishing, the environment, etc.

WWhhaatt mmeessssaaggee wwoouulldd yyoouu lliikkee ttoo ttrraannssmmiitt ttoo tthheerreeaaddeerrss ooff tthhee SSoouutthh CChhiinnaa MMoorrnniinngg PPoosstt??

They should continue to believe in the future ofour country and our province, and they should helpus to build and rebuild our country. The difficultiesthat still exist in the education sector can be re-moved quickly if we can count on the sincere helpof all friendly countries and people who want peaceand development, including the readers of this im-portant international newspaper.

João Chissina Mabiala, Provincial Director ofEducation, Culture, Science & Technology

New medical clinics are kept busy, improving the living standards of rural Cabindans

‘Peace has brought great educational benefits to Cabinda’

More than100,000 schoolchildren havebeen treated forparasites over thepast two years

New hospitals arebeing built, oldones renovatedand mobile clinicsnow take health-care to under-served areas

DAY 00, MONTH 2010 SSOOUUTTHH CCHHIINNAA MMOORRNNIINNGG PPOOSSTT66 SSPPOONNSSOORREEDD FFEEAATTUURREE

Education is top priority for government

CAN 2010, Africa’s biggest football event,will put Cabinda in the spotlight

IN JANUARY 2010, Angola wasthe proud host of the CAN2010African Cup of Nations footballtournament. The final game wasplayed on January 31 at the na-tional stadium in the capital, Lu-anda.

Fifteen teams disputed thechampionship, including the An-golan national side and other topteams from the continent. Thefour cities that hostedmatches were Luan-da, Cabinda City,Benguela andLubango.

The opening cer-emony and thefirst gamewere alsoheld in Lu-a n d a ,w i t ht h e

Black Antelopes of Angola draw-ing against Mali 4-4. The otherteams in Group A were Malawiand Algeria. Group B, consistingof national teams from Ghana,Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire,played at Cabinda’s new, 20,000-seat Chiazi National Stadium.

Group C matches were playedin Benguela betweenEgypt, Benin, Mozam-

bique and Nigeria,and Group Dm a t c h e s

were held in Lubango by Gabon,Zambia, Cameroon and Tunisia.

The championship has beenplayed in its present formatsince 1968, when the organisersdecided to hold the event everysecond year. Since then it hasbeen hosted by countries suchas Ethiopia, Egypt and Mali. In2000, Nigeria and Ghana joined

together to co-host the tour-nament.

The Egyptian team hasdominated the lastthree tourna-ments: in 2006beating Côte

d’Ivoire in Egypt, in 2008 de-feating Cameroon in Ghana, andthis year, outscoring Ghana byone point.

A major construction plan pre-pared Cabinda for the event. The

stadium, for example, hasspecial seating

sections for204 VIPs, 100journalists, 65

places for thehandicappedand 100 park-ing places.Cabinda’s ho-tel offeringswere also im-proved.

Before An-gola won theright to hostthe event, theprovince of-fered about 280hotel rooms, afigure that roseto about 450rooms by thestart of the cham-pionship. Threenew hotels werebuilt to lodge fansand reporters.

The athletes,trainers and otherteam staff werehoused in separatefacilities, similar to

an Olympic Vil-lage. Thatarrangementwas alreadysucce s s f u l lyused for theathletes whocame to Cabin-da for theA f r o b a s k e t2007 competi-tion, and theAfrican handball

tournament in January 2008. The construction programme

and the influx of tourism helpedspur the local economy, whichis heavily dependent on oil atthe moment. The championshipcoincided with, and helpedboost, a government effort toattract more tourism to the re-gion and diversify sources ofgrowth.

A singular dark cloud over thetournament came on January8, when members of the Cabin-dan separatist group Front forthe Liberation of the Enclave ofCabinda (FLEC), erroneously at-tacked a bus that was trans-porting Togo’s national team toAngola. Three were killed by gun-fire and eight others were in-jured. Two arrests were prompt-ly made in Angola in relation tothe incident.

Apart from this unfortunateact of violence, the tournamentwill be seen as creating long-lasting benefits for the Angolanpeople, such as its effort to pro-mote football among theprovince’s youth, thereby dis-couraging a tendency towardsfalling into extremist groupssuch as Flec.

Residents of Cabinda will al-so be able to make use of the fa-cilities built for CAN2010, andyoung people, low-income Cabin-dans, and injured war veteranshad special access to reduced-price tickets to see matches.

When Angola won its bid tohost the tournament, the or-ganisers’ goal was to promotesport and show the world thatthe country has progressedrapidly since the end of the civ-il war in 2002. The success ofthe event has shown that Angolais now a country that is readyto take its place in African af-fairs.

CABINDA’S CULTURAL heritage isprofound but not widely knownbeyond Angola’s borders. For theinhabitants of the Congo Riverdelta enclave, the traditional per-formers known as Bakamas arean essential part of how Cabin-dan communities commemorateimportant events. Appearing tohelp Cabindans mourn, celebrateor show respect, the Bakamasperform ritual dances while wear-ing special garments, decorationsand masks. While their true iden-tity and hidden rituals are a close-ly guarded secret, it is clear thatthe Bakamas are an essentialpart of the cultural and spirituallife of Cabinda’s people.

As worshippers of Lusunzi – aninvisible deity that protects thepeople’s virtue and purity – Baka-mas are honoured as guardiansof the community’s moral val-ues. Cabindans believe that Baka-mas intercede between the peo-ple and the gods, reconciling theliving and the dead and com-bating evil spirits. These beliefsare most prevalent in southernCabinda, where the villages ofTchizo, Ngoyo, Povo Grande, Tch-inzazi, and Susso are home tothe strongest Bakama traditions.While getting ready to perform,the Bakamas seclude them-selves to maintain their secretrituals.

For five days before a dance,the Bakamas will not eat foodprepared by a female, and theyisolate themselves from theirfamilies. The preparations for theperformance are carried out insecret, in a hidden place whereothers are not admitted. Thus,their identities as Bakamas arekept hidden from the communi-ty, and the roles they play are amystery even to their own kin.

In costume, Bakamas hide theirfaces with rough-hewn andbrightly painted wooden masks,wrapped in layers of colourfulfabric, and cover their bodies withgarlands of dried banana leaves.The leaves are burnt after everyappearance, and the masks andwrappings are hidden deep in-side the forest.

Traditional Cabindan beliefshold that anyone who tries to findthem will go blind. When they doappear in public, Bakamas marksignificant moments in the lifeof individual Cabindans and theirfamilies. Bakamas dance to give

thanks for good times, like the in-vestiture of a new chief or to con-secrate a new building, and tonote the bad times, such as nat-ural disasters, illness or death.

At the event, a group of Baka-mas will typically include nine ortwelve members, varying theirnumbers and roles according tothe nature of the celebration.While the Bakamas themselveslead the dance, with each maskeddancer led by a guide, support-ers sing along and keep time.African drums, made from treetrunks and covered with animalskins, set the beat.

Only four cities were chosen to host the tournament matches and Cabinda is proud to be among them

WITH ITS SANDY beaches, lushforests and abundant, exotic wildlife,Cabinda has huge tourism potential.The local government is already pro-moting the province as an enticingdestination and is preparing tospend more on the infrastructurethat is needed to attract visitors.

The region’s biggest tourist at-traction is the Mayombe forest andthe gorilla population that lives there.The government has plans to de-velop parts of the forest to make itmore hospitable for visitors and moreproductive for residents, all in anenvironmentally sound way. May-ombe is one of the largest animal andplant reserves on the planet, secondin size only to the Amazon.

Visitors to the forest preservewill be able to see a wide variety ofwild animals, along with rare and ex-otic plants that have many differ-ent uses for the people who live inand around the park, according toGeraldo Ndubo Paulo, Cabinda’s Di-rector of the Department of Indus-try, Trade and Tourism.

“The Mayombe Forest has manyanimal species, such as gorillas,chimpanzees, monkeys, elephantsand others, and plants and treessuch as longhi, undanunu and oth-er plants that are used in medicines,food and in construction,” says MrPaulo. “It’s a dense, virgin forest.”

Cabinda’s beaches are anotherpart of the region’s many attrac-tions. Mandarim beach is a popularspot for bathers, sport fishermenand for campers and canoeists aswell. Landana is a beautiful, cleansandy beach where tourists and lo-cals alike gather at the area’s barsand restaurants.

Futila beach is close to the oil in-stallations of Malongo, and so at-tracts many of the expatriates whowork there. Malongo is one of the re-gion’s more developed beaches,with restaurants, bars and suitesavailable for bathers.

At Malongo, sun worshippersmight find themselves sharing thebeach with the rare Olive Ridley seaturtles, which have been discov-ered nesting there. This find pre-sents the opportunity to study thebreeding habits of an internationallylisted endangered species that is be-ing taken up by Environment Min-

istry scientists and researchersfrom Chevron.

To reduce the threat to the turtles,the research project has partneredwith local fishermen who are deepwells of untapped knowledge aboutocean fauna and who can take aleadership role in increasing aware-ness among the community. Thiseffort to tag, track and protect thevulnerable turtles has already iden-tified 700 nests and observed 5,300hatchlings since the project began.

Cabinda has much to offer scu-

ba divers and snorkelers as well.Where the Congo meets the sea,not far from the Cabindan border,the river has carved an underseacanyon more than a mile deep in-to the ocean floor, extending some125 miles out from the coastline.

Dolphins are commonly seen inAngolan waters. These famouslyfriendly and inquisitive marinemammals can be found in the openocean, but prefer the shallows closeto the coast, where reefs and bedsof sea grass harbour the small fish,crustaceans and squid that makeup the bulk of their diet.

The turtles and other wildlife,

along with Cabindans and thosewho visit, are benefiting greatlyfrom the end of the insurgency inthe province. After a spell of peace,life in the area has just about re-turned to normal.

“Peace guaranteed the free cir-culation of people and goodsthroughout the province. It permit-ted investment in improvementsin infrastructure and access routes,such as highways, and opened upopportunities in hotels and similarplaces. It also brought an increase

in tourism and eco-tourism busi-nesses, with the exploration of nat-urally touristic areas like lakes andforests,” says Mr Paulo.

The regional and national gov-ernments are committed to im-proving Cabinda’s infrastructure tobenefit tourists and residents alike.The budget for building and im-proving airports, highways, portsand other projects has more thantripled in recent years, rising to$250 million this year, from $72million not long ago.

“We’re committed to increasingfacilities for lodgings, leisure, restau-rants, and to increasing promotion

of the province’s tourism potential,”says Mr Paulo. “This promotion isdone via our magazine Turnorte aswell as in the tourism guide. We’recalling on investors to come andtake part in this area because theoccupancy rate is still as high as 150per cent per year.”

The government is also promot-ing the region abroad. Angola had apavilion at the international exhibi-tion held last year in Zaragoza, Spain.The focus of Expo Zaragoza 2008was water, and it included repre-sentations of Bakama dancers fromCabinda. Bakama ritual dancers wearmasks and are present at manyCabindan festivals. They representspirits that are a link between theworlds of the living and the dead,and were included in the expo be-cause of their ecological background.The spirits are said to interact withplants and animals without caus-ing them any harm. Angola has beenpresent this year at Expo Shanghai,as well, with two main displays: therelationship between nation and wa-ter, and the sustainability of urbandevelopment.

As part of a growing focus onCabindan culture, the local govern-ment is investing in the renovationof the Cabinda Regional Museum.Among the museum’s numerousexhibits are displays of typical cloth-ing, jewellery, household items,medicine, tools and weapons. Themuseum is also one of the mostimportant centres for the study ofCabinda’s rich oral history tradition.

Although the tourism industrycan’t hope to equal the importanceto the regional economy of the oilindustry, it is growing and em-ploying more and more people. In2006 the tourism sector’s salesrose to 39 million kwanzas, 12 mil-lion of which came from hotels.

The province already benefitsfrom a part of its oil wealth. A pro-portion of the revenue the oil in-dustry generates stays in the re-gion to fund the local budget. Thegovernment is wisely dedicatingsome of that money to improvingCabinda’s tourism industry, in aneffort that will attract increasingnumbers of visitors, whose spend-ing will boost employment and spurthe region’s economic growth.

Cabinda is home to one of the world’s largest rain forests. In addition, the local colour and flavour ofthe many villages, the tranquil beaches and the opportunities for ecotourism activities make thisprovince a real contender for leading the region in tourism

Because of the civil war, Angola was left out of the race to capture the attention of global travellers. Now that the war is a thing of the past, Cabinda is movingforward and showcasing its beauty, talent and overall potential to be a travel destination

With its modern and good sizedairport, ever-improving roads and thefuture bridge crossing into themainland, getting to and aroundCabinda has never been easier

The Bakamas performers wear costumes made of dried banana leavesand brightly painted wooden masks to hide their identitiesAngola hosted the 28th edition of the Africa Cup Nations (CAN), the biennial football championship of the African continent

Bakamas a highlight ofCabinda’s unique cultureHelping communities to mourn, to celebrate and to pay respect, Cabin-da’s Bakamas are a long and rich cultural tradition

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Natural beauty, yetanother natural resource

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