POPULATION:	5 million
LITERACY RATE:	20% to 35%
SELF DEFENSE FORCES:	Angolan United Army
LANGUAGES:	Portuguese (official), Bantu and other African languages
ETHNIC GROUPS:	Ovimbundou, Mbundu, Kongo
BORDERING COUNTRIES:	Congo,  Namibia,  DRC,  Zambia

ANGOLA - After years of fierce civil war, disease and poverty Angola's warring factions fought themselves bankrupt.  A lasting treaty was finally signed in 2007 and after years of dealing unsuccessfully with USA, Russia, EC, and Cuba only China stepped in with aid.  Angola solidified and began building itself back up.  Namibia, anxious to take advantage of its destitute  neighbor began inching its militaries over the border into Angola .  This quickly led to war between the two countries, although it has mostly been border skirmishes with both sides posturing back and forth.  The Angolan military is very poorly trained and moral is low, they do however have superior weapons supplied by the Chinese, and that keeps the scales fairly well balanced between them and Namibia.

Angola is a very fertile, mineral rich country, with wooded hills and mountainous jungles in the north, to low dry bush areas and deserts in the south.  If war and famine hadn't been such a big problem and if the countries leaders had stopped fighting long enough to think, Angola would be a wealthy nation.  As it is Angola teeters on the brink of total collapse, and only its trade with China keeps it afloat.

Most of the country is illiterate and medical facilities are almost unheard of.  The roads are very poorly maintained, travel is dangerous.  Western visitors are besieged everywhere they go by mobs looking for a handout, and bandits prey upon the unwary.  Most of the population fled the es due to the long and numerous civil wars and have now reverted back to tribal living and nomadic wandering.  This too has caused bloody conflict over territory.  In addition, old beliefs still rise every now and then among the people of Angola and its possible another civil war could erupt in the next ten years.