Angola–France relations

Franco-Angolan relations are extremely poor due to the French government's decades-long policy of supporting militant separatists in Angola's Cabinda province. The international Angolagate scandal embarrassed both governments by exposing corruption and illicit arms deals.

President Nicolas Sarkozy plans to visit Angola in early 2008 to improve bilateral relations. Francis Blondet is the ambassador of France to Angola.cite web|author= |year=2007|url=http://allafrica.com/stories/200712110279.html|title=Angola: France, Country to Rebuild Ties After Decade|format=HTML|publisher=BuaNews via allAfrica|accessdate=2007-12-29]

Republic of Cabinda

Agostinho Neto, the leader of the MPLA, declared the independence of the People's Republic of Angola on November 11, 1975, in accordance with the Alvor Accords.cite book|last=Rothchild|first=Donald S.|year=1997|title=Managing Ethnic Conflict in Africa: Pressures and Incentives for Cooperation|pages=115–116] UNITA and the FNLA also declared Angolan independence as the Social Democratic Republic of Angola based in Huambo and the Democratic Republic of Angola based in Ambriz. The Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC), armed and backed by the French government, declared the independence of the Republic of Cabinda from Paris.cite book|last=Mwaura|first=Ndirangu|year=2005|title=Kenya Today: Breaking the Yoke of Colonialism in Africa|pages=222-223]

President José Eduardo dos Santos traveled to France, Italy, and Spain, meeting with politicians and business leaders from September 10-14, 1984.cite book|last=Kalley|first=Jacqueline Audrey|year=1999|title=Southern African Political History: A Chronology of Key Political Events from Independence to Mid-1997|page=26]

ee also

*Angolan Civil War
*Arcadi Gaydamak
*Angolagate

References

External links

* [http://www.ambafrance-ao.org/ Embassy of France in Angola]
* [http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/africa/03/10/sprj.irq.angola/index.html Angola resists pressure on Iraq]