Cabinda: Notes on a soon-to-be-forgotten war

This paper gives a detailed account of events in Cabinda, providing an introduction of some of the issues that have fuelled this forgotten conflict

Although the civil war in mainland Angola formally ended on 4 April 2002, a secessionist conflict with grave humanitarian consequences remained unabated in the oil-rich enclave province of Cabinda for much of 2002. However, reports from Cabinda’s battlefields suggest that the war may be approaching its end, if it is not already over by now. As with the end of war with UNITA, the defeat of Cabinda’s insurgency has come at a high price, including the displacement and indiscriminate abuse of civilians, summary executions, incidents of rape and torture, destruction of property and pillage of villages. This paper gives a detailed account of the order of events in Cabinda, providing an introductory discussion of some of the issues that have fuelled this forgotten conflict.

Author

João Gomes Porto, (PhD) is head of the African Security Analysis Programme at the Institute for Security Studies.