Ten-Year Review: Signatory Angola pledged to ratify the convention, but the government has never submitted a ratification request to the parliament for consideration and approval. Angola has participated in all the convention’s meetings and it has voted in favor of the annual United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution promoting the convention since 2015.

Angola disclosed in September 2017 that it does not possess any stocks of cluster munitions and commented on past use. Angola is not known to have produced or exported cluster munitions.

Policy

The Republic of Angola signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008.

Angolan representatives have promised the country’s commitment to ratifying the convention over the past decade, but the ratification request has never been provided to the parliament for consideration and approval.[1] Angola last provided an update on its ratification status in 2017.

Existing legislation, such as Angola’s Penal Code and constitution, ensure implementation of the convention’s provisions. In September 2017, Angola said it views existing laws and regulations as “sufficient to charge, prosecute and punish any national or foreign citizen who in the Angolan Territory develop, produce, acquire, stockpile, retain or transfer to anyone directly or indirectly, assist, encourage or induce anyone to engage in any activity prohibited under the Convention of Cluster Munitions.”[2]

Every state party must provide an Article 7 transparency measures report detailing the actions they are taking to implement and adhere to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Angola has not provided an Article 7 report, but, in 2017, Angola shared the summary of a draft Article 7 report for the period 2009-2016.[3]

Angola participated extensively in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It did not attend the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008, but signed the convention in Oslo in December 2008.[4]

Angola has participated in every Meeting of States Parties of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, most recently the Ninth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2019, where it did not provide an update on its ratification. Angola attended the convention’s First Review Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia in 2015 and has participated in regional workshops on the convention.[5]

In December 2019, Angola voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution that urges states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[6] It has not condemned the use of cluster munitions in Syria or other recent conflicts.

Angola is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Production, transfer, and stockpiling

Angola is not known to have produced or exported cluster munitions.

In September 2017, Angola told States Parties that it does not possess any cluster munitions as its stockpile was destroyed by 2012. It said that disposal teams from the Angolan armed forces and HALO Trust destroyed a total of 7,284 submunitions from stocks in 2005–2012.[7] According to the statement, the highest ranks of the Angolan army and Ministry of Defense have confirmed they no longer possess cluster munitions.

Angola still must provide a transparency report for the convention to formally confirm that all its cluster munition stocks have been destroyed.

Use

Deminers in Angola have cleared unexploded submunitions and other remnants of air-delivered cluster munitions from at least eight of the country’s 18 provinces, most in the south and southeast of the country.[8] However, a lack of firm evidence means it is not possible to conclusively attribute exact responsibility for the past use of cluster munitions in the country during fighting between the government of Angola’s armed forces and rebel UNITA (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola) forces from 1975 until as late as the year 2000.

In 2017, Angola told States Parties that there was “very limited” information about the past history of cluster munition use. It said that cluster munitions were used after the country became independent in November 1975 when “the racist regime in South Africa with heavy air force and artillery … carried [sic] out a series of attacks to the southern and southeastern provinces of Angola to prevent the independence, with the excuses of following the freedom fighter of SWAPO and ANC [independence movements for Namibia and South Africa respectively] inside Angola and also to stop the government forces attacking the rebels movement UNITA supported by USA.”[9]

According to the statement, Angola said its territory rapidly “became a cold war battlefield, with the Angolan government forces supported also by Soviet Union and Cuba.” It said:

The war planes from South Africa Air Force were used on a daily base [sic] to strike government forces, SWAPO and ANC positions and other areas of the country indiscriminately. In that period, the Angolan Air Force also attacked UNITA positions to retaliate their extemporaneous ground attacks. This was the time when Clusters Munitions were used in Angola.

The types of cluster munitions cleared by deminers in Angola include Soviet-made RBK 250-275 cluster bombs.[10] In 2016, HALO Trust cleared two Alpha submunitions during survey operations in Cunene province along with the remnants of CB470 cluster bombs. In September 2017, Angola said the Alpha bomblet was developed in Rhodesia in 1970 and later in South Africa in the 1980s.[11]