Politics
The executive branch of the government is composed of the President, the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers. Currently, political power is concentrated in the Presidency. The Council of Ministers, composed of all government ministers and vice ministers, meets regularly to discuss policy issues. Governors of the 18 provinces are appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the president. The Constitutional Law of 1992 establishes the broad outlines of government structure and delineates the rights and duties of citizens. The legal system is based on Portuguese and customary law but is weak and fragmented, and courts operate in only twelve of more than 140 municipalities. A Supreme Court serves as the appellate tribunal; a Constitutional Court with powers of judicial review has never been constituted despite statutory authorization.
The 27-year-long Angolan Civil War ravaged the country's political and social institutions. The UN estimates of 1.8 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), while generally the accepted figure for war-affected people is 4 million. Daily conditions of life throughout the country and specifically Luanda (population approximately 4 million) mirror the collapse of administrative infrastructure as well as many social institutions. The ongoing grave economic situation largely prevents any government support for social institutions. Hospitals are without medicines or basic equipment, schools are without books and public employees often lack the basic supplies for their day-to-day work.
The current government has announced an intention to hold elections in 2008. These elections would be the first since 1992 and would serve to elect both a new president and a new National Assembly.
Military
Defence responsibilities are vested in the Armed Popular Forces for the Liberation of Angola (Forças Amadas Populares de Libertação de Angola -FAPLA), now divided into an army, navy, air and air defence force, and territorial troops (a militia). The defence budget for 1997, the last year reported, was $1.2 billion, or 22% of GDP.
In 2002, the army had a total of 90,000 active personnel armed with 400 main battle tanks; the navy had 4,000 personnel and 7 vessels; and the air defence forces had 6,000 personnel and 104 combat aircraft and 40 armed helicopters.
Police
The National Police are responsible for all primary law enforcement within Angola. The National Police operates at 3 levels: the General Command, Provincial Command and Provincial Command. This organisation is broken down further into the following areas and departments:
- Public Order
- Criminal Investigation
- Traffic and Transport
- Investigation and Inspection of Economic Activities
- Taxation and Frontier Supervision Roit Police
- Rapid Intervention Police
The National Police has an estimated 6,000 patrol officers, 2,500 Taxation and Frontier Supervision officers, 182 criminal investigators and 100 financial crimes detectives and 90 Economic Activity Inspectors.
The National Police have implemented a modernisation and development plan to increase the capabilities and efficiency of the total force. In addition to administrative reorganisation; modernisation projects include construction of new police stations and forensic laboratories, procurement of new vehicles, aircraft and equipment, restructured training programs and the replacement of AKM rifles with 9mm UZIs for police officers in urban areas.
