Cuando Cubango
Encyclopedia
Provinces of Angola
Angola is divided into eighteen provinces:-See also:* ISO 3166-2:AO, the ISO codes for Angola....
of Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
and it has an area of 199,049 km² and a population of approximately 140,000. Menongue
Menongue
Menongue is a town and municipality in Cuando Cubango Province in Angola.It is the terminus of the southern railway from Namibe.-History:Menongue, formerly Serpa Pinto, was originally named for Alexandre Alberto da Rocha de Serpa Pinto, a late 19th-century Portuguese explorer of the interior of...
is the capital of the province. The governor of the province is General Eusebio de Brito. According to 1988 US government statistics, the provincial population was 125,600, with just 3,600 living in urban areas. Municipalities in this province include Cuchi
Cuchi
Cuchi is a town and municipality in Cuando Cubango Province in Angola.-Transport:It is served by a station on the southern main line of South Angolan Railways.-External links:*...
, Cuangar
Cuangar
Cuangar is a town and municipality in Cuando Cubango Province in Angola. The town lies on the Okavango River, opposite the town of Nkurenkuru, Namibia....
, Cuito, Rivungo
Rivungo
Rivungo is a town and municipality in Cuando Cubango Province in Angola. It is situated on the Cuando River. It had a population of 53,000 people in 2006....
, Cuanavale
Cuanavale
Cuanavale is a town and municipality in Cuando Cubango Province in Angola....
, Mavinga
Mavinga, Cuando Cubango
Mavinga is a town and municipality in the Cuando Cubango province of Angola. The area spans 44,347 km² and contains about 30,000 inhabitants. It comprises the communes of Mavinga, Cunjamba/Dime, Cutuile and Luengue....
, Calai
Calai
Calai is a town and municipality in Cuando Cubango Province in Angola....
, Dirico
Dirico
Dirico is a town and municipality in Cuando Cubango Province in Angola....
and Longa.
The name of the province derives from that of the Cuando
Cuando River
The Cuando River is a river in south-central Africa flowing through Angola and Namibia's Caprivi Strip, into the Linyanti Swamp on the northern border of Botswana...
and Cubango rivers, which flow through the eastern and western edges of the province, respectively.
Geography
Cuando Cubango is traversed by the northwesterly line of equal latitude and longitude. It is located in the extreme south-east of Angola. To the north and north-east it is bordered with Moxico Province, and in the west - the provinces of Huila and Cunene.In the south of Cuando Cubango it borders Namibia, and to the east - Zambia.
Natural history
Considerable natural habitat previously existed within the province, although much of these areas has been destroyed during the period 1965 to 1991 during the CubaCuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n intervention years. In particular, the area was previously suitable habitat for the endangered Painted Hunting Dog, Lycaon pictus, which is now deemed extirpated in the local area.
Jonas Savimbi and UNITA
Throughout much of the 1980s and 1990s, Cuando Cubango served as the location for the primary base camp of Angola's UNITAUNITA
The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola is the second-largest political party in Angola. Founded in 1966, UNITA fought with the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola in the Angolan War for Independence and then against the MPLA in the ensuing civil war .The war was one...
rebel movement, led by Jonas Savimbi
Jonas Savimbi
Jonas Malheiro Savimbi was an Angolan political leader. He founded and led UNITA, a movement that first waged a guerrilla war against Portuguese colonial rule, 1966–1974, then confronted the rival MPLA during the decolonization conflict, 1974/75, and after independence in 1975 fought the ruling...
. The rebel movement received support from the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as part of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
conflict against Angola's Marxist government, which was supported by the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
and other communist states.
Savimbi and UNITA maintained a large and clandestine base camp in the Cubando Cubango town of Jamba. The camp was protected by anti-aircraft weapons and included an air strip, which was used for the delivery of military and other supplies, which typically arrived from neighboring Zaire
Zaire
The Republic of Zaire was the name of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo between 27 October 1971 and 17 May 1997. The name of Zaire derives from the , itself an adaptation of the Kongo word nzere or nzadi, or "the river that swallows all rivers".-Self-proclaimed Father of the Nation:In...
. The Angolan Civil War
Angolan Civil War
The Angolan Civil War was a major civil conflict in the Southern African state of Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with some interludes, until 2002. The war began immediately after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975. Prior to this, a decolonisation conflict had taken...
ultimately became one of the most prominent conflicts of the Cold War, with both the United States and the Soviet Union depicting its outcome as important to the global balance of power.