Angola achieved independence from Portugal in 1975. Two guerrilla groups, the communist People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), played important roles in the armed campaign against Portuguese colonisation. The Angolan Civil War began almost soon after independence, when a power struggle between the two parties erupted. The MPLA gained control in the capital, Luanda.
With just a few breaks in the combat, the conflict would continue 27 years. The battle is reported to have killed over 500,000 civilians, displaced over a million people, and hampered economic progress for decades.
The war was viewed as a proxy struggle for the Cold War, with the Soviet Union supporting the MPLA and UNITA side with the United States. While the Cold struggle thawed in the early 1990s, the MPLA rejected part of its Communist doctrine; yet, the struggle would last another decade.
In February 2002, government soldiers murdered UNITA commander Jonas Savimbi. This caused the administration to halt its military activities. This drew the combatants to the bargaining table.
On April 4th, 2002, the Angolan armed forces and the armed faction of the UNITA party signed a peace accord, thereby ending the conflict.
