The

Republic of Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

and the Democratic Republic of the Congo share a 2,646 km (1,644 m) border. Historically, Angola has been closely involved in Congolese politics, taking part in the 1997 war to oust

Mobutu Sese Seko Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga (; born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu; 14 October 1930 – 7 September 1997) was a Congolese politician and military officer who was the president of Zaire from 1965 to 1997 (known as the Democratic Republic o ...

from power. It then intervened during the

Second Congo War The Second Congo War,, group=lower-alpha also known as the Great War of Africa or the Great African War and sometimes referred to as the African World War, began in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in August 1998, little more than a year a ...

in 1998 on the side of the new administration under Laurent-Désiré Kabila. Since the end of the conflict, the Angolan government remained an ally of President Joseph Kabila and supported him militarily. However, Angola's focus on stability in the DRC, compared to Kabila's attempts to remain in power and postponement of elections since the end of his term in December 2016, leading to mass protests, have led to a cooling in relations between the two countries. Since 2003, Angola has regularly conducted mass expulsions of irregular Congolese immigrants. In 2012, Human Rights Watch reported upon the "degrading and inhuman treatment", including sexual violence, of Congolese migrants during state-sanctioned expulsions. These claims centred on expulsions from the Angolan provinces of Cabinda and Lunda Norte to the Congolese provinces of Kongo Central and Kasaï-Occidental. About 30,000 Congolese refugees fleeing from violence in the

Kasaï-Central Kasaï-Central is one of the 21 new provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo created in the 2015 repartitioning. Kasaï-Central and Kasaï provinces are the result of the dismemberment of the former Kasaï-Occidental province. Kasa� ...

region of the DRC due to the Kamwina Nsapu rebellion that began in August 2016 entered Angola. By late 2017, several thousand returned to Congo. In October 2018, about 300,000 Congolese fled Angola, many of them in response to violence in the mining town Lucapa; DRC's foreign minister

Léonard She Okitundu Léonard She Okitundu Lundula (born 8 March 1946) is a Congolese diplomat who has served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and one of the Vice Prime Ministers of the Democratic Republic of the Congo since December 2 ...

summoned Angola's ambassador over the expulsion, demanding a “comprehensive investigation to establish who is responsible for these wrongful acts”.Giulia Paravicini (October 16, 2018)
Congo accuses Angola of violent expulsions, Luanda denies
'' Reuters''.

References

Congo, Democratic Republic of Bilateral relations of the Democratic Republic of the Congo {{Bilateralrelations-stub

See also

References