Report / Dec. 1, 1999

A Crude Awakening

Angola is sub-Saharan Africa’s second largest oil producer after Nigeria, with recent discoveries suggesting it could soon become the largest; this at a time when the 1999 UN Human Development Index (HDI) places Angola at 160 out of 174 countries, according to social indicators. Whilst Angola should be a country with a thriving economy, instead it is a country still at war, where a massive proportion of national wealth is unaccounted for, and where the well-being of the population appears no-longer to be a matter of priority for Government.