Angola on the west coast and Mozambique on the east coast are separated from one another by the other countries of southern Africa. However, they share similar characteristics. Both coastal states were once Portuguese colonies, and both countries won their independence in 1975 after fighting long wars with Portugal. At the end of the wars, many Portuguese settlers fled, taking their wealth with them. This white flight, or departure of trained white administrators and technicians, made the task of the new government doubly difficult.
Reacting to the problems that colonialism and capitalism had created in their countries, both governments committed themselves to a communist economic system, which angered their capitalist neighbor, South Africa. In Angola a rebel group known as UNITA waged war against the new government, and in Mozambique a group known as Renamo, played a similar role. South Africa backed both rebel groups with weapons, money, and, in the case of Angola, troops.
The human cost of these wars was horrifying. Hundreds of thousands of people in Angola and Mozambique died in the fighting. Refugees fled the battle zones and packed themselves into urban areas where they lived in terrible conditions. Under the stress of civil war, the economies of both nations fell apart, and disease and malnutrition were widespread. In Angola, for example, one child out of four died before the age of five. Once able to feed its own people, Angola had been reduced to importing most of its food.
![By jlrsousa (Vestígios de guerra) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://s3.amazonaws.com/cms.accelerate-ed.com/image/b92165dc-6ffc-49af-bf71-ac9a3593bd7e.jpg)
devastation of warfare in the country.
By the beginning of the 1990s, a glimmer of hope for peace began to emerge. South Africa and other nations ended their military involvement in Angola, which held its first free election in 1992. Although fighting erupted again between the new government and UNITA, the rebel group soon lost all international support because it would not agree to peace terms. In Mozambique, the civil war ended, and the government and the rebels worked out a peace agreement.
The outlook for these countries is, therefore, more promising than it has been for decades. Although Mozambique has been ranked as one of the world's poorest nations, its economy grew at a high rate between 1996 and 1998. This is largely due to its wealth of natural resources and huge labor force. In 2000, however, Mozambique suffered devastating floods. In fact, the government reported that more than one million people lost their homes as a result of the natural disaster. As for Angola, observers are hopeful that it may soon again produce enough food for its population.
