Cabinda Province

Cabinda (formerly called Portuguese Congo,

In 1885, the Treaty of Simulambuco established Cabinda as a protectorate of the Portuguese Empire, and Cabindan independence movements consider the occupation of the territory by Angola illegal. While the Angolan Civil War largely ended in 2002, an armed struggle persists in the exclave of Cabinda.^[9] Some of the factions have proclaimed an independent Republic of Cabinda, with offices in Paris.

History

Portuguese Congo

Portuguese explorers, missionaries, and traders arrived at the mouth of the Congo River in the mid-15th century, making contact with the Manikongo, the powerful King of the Bakongo tribe. The Manikongo controlled much of the region through affiliation with smaller kingdoms, such as the Kingdoms of Ngoyo, Loango, and Kakongo in present-day Cabinda.

Over the years, the Portuguese,

Portugal first claimed sovereignty over Cabinda in the February 1885 Treaty of Simulambuco, which gave Cabinda the status of a protectorate of the Portuguese Crown under the request of "the princes and governors of Cabinda". This is often the basis upon which the legal and historical arguments in defense of the self-determination of modern-day Cabinda are constructed. Article 1, for example, states, "the princes and chiefs and their successors declare, voluntarily, their recognition of Portuguese sovereignty, placing under the protectorate of this nation all the territories by them governed" [sic]. Article 2, which is often used in separatist arguments, goes even further: "Portugal is obliged to maintain the integrity of the territories placed under its protection". The Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC-R) argues that the above-mentioned treaty was signed between the emissaries of the Portuguese Crown and the princes and notables of Cabinda, then called Portuguese Congo, giving rise to not one, but three protectorates: Cacongo, Loango, and Ngoio.

Through the Treaty of Simulambuco in 1885 between the kings of Portugal and the princes of Cabinda, a Portuguese protectorate was decreed, reserving rights to the local princes and independent of Angola. Cabinda once had the Congo River as the only natural boundary with Angola, but in 1885, the Berlin Conference extended the territory of the Congo Free State along the Congo River to the river's mouth at the sea.

During this time rubber was harvested and traded in Cabinda. Atrocities such as the cutting of hands were also committed there, although comprehensive reports on these atrocities were more scant and less publicly known compared to the neighbouring Congo Free State.^[10][11]

Administrative merger with Angola

By the mid-1920s, the borders of Angola had been finally established in negotiations with the neighboring colonial powers. From there on Angola and Cabinda were treated distinctively under the Portuguese constitution of 1933 until January 15, 1975 under the Alvor Agreement.

The Portuguese constitution of 1933 distinguished between the colony of Angola and the protectorate of Cabinda, but in 1956, the administration of Cabinda was transferred to the governor-general of Angola. The legal distinction of Cabinda's status from that of Angola was also expressed in the Portuguese constitution of 1971.^[12] Yet, when Angola was declared an "overseas province" (Província Ultramarina) within the empire of Portugal in 1951, Cabinda was treated as an ordinary district of Angola. In 1972, the name of Angola was changed to "State of Angola".

Under Portuguese rule, Cabinda was an important agricultural and forestry center, and in 1967, it discovered huge offshore oil fields. Oil, timber, and cocoa had been its main exports until then. The town of Cabinda, the capital of the territory, was a Portuguese administrative and services center with a port and airfield. The beaches of Cabinda were popular with Portuguese Angolans.

After independence of Angola from Portugal

A 1974

Ethnic grounds for self-determination

The arguments for self-determination are based on Cabindans' cultural and ethnic background. Prior to the

In January 1975, Angola’s MPLA, FNLA and UNITA liberation movements signed the Alvor Agreement with Portugal, to establish the modalities of the transition to independence. FLEC was not invited.^{[citation needed]}

On 1 August 1975, at an OAU summit in

The National Union for the Liberation of Cabinda (Portuguese: União Nacional de Libertação de Cabinda; UNLC), a militant separatist group, emerged in the 1990s under the leadership of Lumingu Luis Gimby.^[15]

In April 1997, Cabinda joined the

Although the Angolan government says FLEC is no longer operative, this is disputed by the Republic of Cabinda and its Premier, Joel Batila.^[citation needed]

Earlier increases in the

In July 2006, after ceasefire negotiations in the Republic of Congo, António Bento Bembe - as a president of Cabindan Forum for Dialogue and Peace, and vice-president and executive secretary of FLEC - announced that the Cabindan separatist forces were ready to declare a ceasefire. Bembe is the leader of the "Cabindan Forum for Dialogue", an organization which represents most Cabindan groups^{[citation needed]}. The peace was recognized by the United States, France, Portugal, Russia, Gabon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Japan, South Korea, the European Union and the African Union.

"We're going to sign a cease-fire with the Angolans who in return have accepted the principle of granting special status to Cabinda", he announced, implying that while his group is resigned to be a part of Angola, they have gotten a promise of some form of autonomy.^[17]

From Paris, FLEC-FAC contended Bembe has no authority or mandate to negotiate with the Angolans, and that the only acceptable solution is total independence.^[18]

Togo football team bus attack

On 8 January 2010, the bus carrying the Togo national football team traveling through Cabinda en route to the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations tournament was attacked by gunmen, even though it had an escort of Angolan forces. The ensuing gunfight resulted in the deaths of the assistant coach, team spokesman and bus driver, and caused injuries to several others as well.

An offshoot of the FLEC claimed responsibility. Rodrigues Mingas, secretary general of the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda-Military Position (Flec-PM), said his fighters had meant to attack security guards as the convoy passed through Cabinda. "This attack was not aimed at the Togolese players but at the Angolan forces at the head of the convoy", Mingas told France 24 television. "So it was pure chance that the gunfire hit the players. We don't have anything to do with the Togolese and we present our condolences to the African families and the Togo government. We are fighting for the total liberation of Cabinda."^[19]

Economy

See also:

FLEC-FAC also increased its activities during 2000 with the more widely publicized kidnapping of three Portuguese workers employed by a construction company, while FLEC-R kidnapped another five Portuguese civilians. These hostages were not freed until June 2001, following diplomatic intervention by the governments of Gabon and the Republic of the Congo

.

Municipalities

The province of Cabinda consists of four

municipalities (Portuguese: municípios); listed below with their areas (in km²) and populations at the 2014 Census and according to the latest official estimates:^[21]

Name	Area (in km2)	Population Census 16 May 2014	Population Estimate 1 July 2019
Belize	1,360	19,561	22,514
Buco-Zau	1,979	32,792	37,741
Cabinda	2,273	624,646	718,915
Cacongo	1,679	39,076	44,974
Provincial Totals	7,290	716,076	824,143

The city of Cabinda contains 87% of the provincial population. The other three municipalities lie to the north of the city.

Communes

The province of Cabinda contains the following communes (Portuguese: comunas); sorted by their respective municipalities:

• Cabinda Municipality: – Cabinda, Malembo, Tanto-Zinze
• Cacondo Municipality: – Cacongo, Dinge, Massabi
• Buco-Zau Municipality: – Buco-Zau, Inhuca, Necuto
• Belize Municipality: – Belize, Luali, Miconge (Miconje)

Geology

Two giant

oil fields, the Malonga North and Malonga West were discovered in 1967 and 1970, respectively, both pre-salt or pre-Aptian producers.^[22]

^{: 198–199}

Located in water depths of 50 to 75 m, oil was discovered in Barremian deposits in 1971, then the Cenomanian section in 1979.

Four offshore oil fields, the Wamba, Takula, Numbi and Vuko, are located in the greater Takula area, producing from the

Upper Cretaceous, Cenomanian Vermelha sandstone deposited in the coastal environment.^[22]

^: 197

Cretaceous and Paleocene vertebrates, including fossil turtles as Cabindachelys[23] have been collected from Lândana.

List of governors of Cabinda

Name	Years in office
Evaristo Domingos Kimba	1975–1978
Luis Doukui Paulo de Castro	1979–1980
Manuel Francisco Tuta a.k.a. Batalha de Angola	1980–1982
Armando Fandame Ndembo	1982–1984
Jorge Barros Chimpuati	1984–1991
Augusto da Silva Tomás	1991–1995
José Amaro Tati	1995–2002
José Aníbal Lopes Rocha	2002–2009
Mawete João Baptista	2009–2012
Aldina Matilde Barros da Lomba Katembo	2012–2017
Eugénio Laborinho	2017–2019
Marcos Alexandre Nhunga	2019– 2022
Mara Regina da Silva Baptista Domingos Quiosa	2022-

^[24]

Up to 1991, the official name was Provincial Commissioner

See also

• Early Congolese history

References

1. Agência Angola Press
   . 5 May 2016. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
2. ^ "Sub-national HDI - Area Database - Global Data Lab". hdi.globaldatalab.org. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
3. ^ André Gomes Capita Nionje, Arquitetura tradicional em Cabinda Comuna do Tando-zinze Aldeia de Lucula-zenze Cabinda-Angola, Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias, 2019
4. ^ Collelo, Thomas (editor) (1989) A Country Study: Angola Federal Research Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., Appendix A, Table 2, Cabinda, Archived 2 March 1999
5. ^ "Refugees from Angola's Cabinda enclave cautious about returning". www.unhcr.org. 7 March 2005. Retrieved 7 March 2005.
6. ^ 2009 Human Rights Report: Angola United States State Department (11 March 2010) accessed 2023-12-21
7. ^ "Sport and terrorism: A deadly game". The Economist. 11 January 2010. Retrieved 11 January 2010.
8. ^ Cabinda, Angola Archived 27 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine, ICE Case Studies Number 129, 2004 by Alan Neff
9. JSTOR 26298526
   . Retrieved 24 June 2023.
10. ^ "Mutilation and brutality".
11. ^ Van Reybrouck, David (2014). Congo: The Epic History of a People. London: Fourth Estate. ISBN 978-0-00-756290-9.
12. ^ "Portugal's Constitution of 1976 with Amendments through 2005" (PDF).
13. ^ ^{a b} "Mambu Ma Nzambi Kabinda". Federal government of Kabinda Free State.
14. ^ United States State Department (8 April 2011), "2010 Human Rights Report: Angola"
15. ^ Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (Frente para a Libertação do Enclave de Cabinda—FLEC) Global Security
16. ^ "worldholdings.co.pdf" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 April 2017. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
17. ^ (Reuters): Cabinda separatists say ready to sign ceasefire Retrieved 2 November 2007.
18. ^ Angola: Cabinda Separatists Divided Over Peace Talks allafrica.com - 14 July 2006 accessed 21 December 2023.
19. ^ Sturcke, James (11 January 2010). "Togo footballers were attacked by mistake, Angolan rebels say". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
20. ^ Porto, João Gomes. "Cabinda: Notes on a soon-to-be-forgotten war". Iss.org.za.
21. ^ Instituto Nacional de Estatistica, 2019.
22. ^
    ISBN 0891813330
23. ^ Myers, T. S., Polcyn M. J., Mateus O., Vineyard D. P., Gonçalves A. O., & Jacobs L. L. (2017). A new durophagous stem cheloniid turtle from the lower Paleocene of Cabinda, Angola. Papers in Palaeontology. 2017, 1-16
24. ^ "Histórico dos Governadores" (in Portuguese). cabinda.gov.ao. Retrieved 3 March 2019.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cabinda.

• Official Website of Republic of Cabinda
• Official website of province governor
• Information on this province at the Angolan ministry for territorial administration
• Information on this province at Info Angola
• Official "Republic of Cabinda" website
• Official Website of Republic of Cabinda in Exile F.L.E.C (English)
• US government statistics from 1988
• "Kabinda" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). 1911. p. 623.
• Exploitation of people of Cabinda alleged
• Province geographical info at geoview.info