Eviction policy in postwar Angola

Angola's four decades of civil war continue to have a profound effect on the country's recovery and development. While the end to the war in 2002 and the subsequent extraction of natural resources has fueled the country's economic recovery for a minority, for the majority recovery depends less on natural resource extraction than it does on acquiring and maintaining secure access to land and property upon which viable livelihoods can be rebuilt. However the current large scale evictions in urban and peri-urban areas of the country and the resulting acute tenure insecurity is significantly worrying, and is the single most acute land rights, land policy, and political problem in the country. Aspects of the country's constitution and the development of the postwar land law facilitate eviction, and an important opportunity to upgrade postwar informal land rights has been missed. Land and property rights problems have played a significant role in the country's armed conflicts and social problems, and current trends are constructing a difficult future.