Half a Century of Post-Independence Strife in Angola and Mozambique

Angola and Mozambique both celebrated fifty years of independence in 2025. The politics of each country have been marked by a fractious past. Both endured internal conflict until the 1990s, as social divisions that were a legacy of Portuguese colonial rule became politicized amid Cold War rivalries. Today, both southern African states are still under the rule of the same parties that declared independence in 1975 and cling to the vestiges of their legitimacy as liberation movements. Formal opposition politics also remains constrained by its origins in nationalist rivalry; a more credible challenge to the incumbents comes from an increasingly lively street politics.