Researchers Pedro Seabra and Vasco Martins contributed the chapter entitled “Angola“ to The Handbook of African Defence and Armed Forces, published by Oxford University Press in 2025 and edited by Evert Kleynhans and Marco Wyss. The chapter was made available in the online edition of Oxford Academic on 28 February 2025.
This publication represents a relevant contribution to the study of the evolution of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) in the post-civil war period, which began in 2002. After more than three decades of internal conflict and the presence of various international actors, the FAA faced the challenge of redefining its mission and role in the new national and regional context.
The chapter analyses how the FAA was used in different roles – from instruments of national reconciliation, to internal repression, to external power projection – and discusses the different degrees of priority and effectiveness with which these missions were carried out. In particular, the authors explore the impact of the legacy of armed conflict, the processes of disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR), and the fragmentation of authority in the security sector.
By identifying these structuring elements, the text helps to understand not only the military capabilities currently available, but also the functional overlap between state institutions and Angola’s limited predisposition to engage consistently in security dynamics at continental level.