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African Affairs 100:55-80 (2001)
© 2001 The Royal African Society

Article

Angola's political economy of war: The role of oil and diamonds, 1975–2000

Philippe le Billon

the School of Geography, University of Oxford

This article examines the significance of the political economy and geography of two valuable resources—oil and diamonds—for the course of the Angolan conflict. Matching the regional boundaries and ethnic differentiation articulated by the two competing parties—the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA)—the spatial distribution of these abundant resources guided and financed their military strategies. The exploitation of oil and diamonds not only financed and motivated military operations beyond their Cold War and South African context, but also affected the legitimacy of the government and the economy. This conjunction of politics, geography, and military strategies sustained—and was sustained by—financial flows linking fighters and war-profiteers to markets in industrialized countries. International corporations and foreign powers, for a long time sheltered from the direct impact of the conflict and the ethical dimension of their involvement, played an enabling role in the strategy of the belligerents. Detailing recent initiatives denouncing this role and attempts for reform, the article stresses the significance of resources in conflicts and calls for greater corporate and international responsibility in this regard during wartime and transition to peace.


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