The Angolan Civil War was a conflict that followed the Angolan War of Independence. The Alvor Agreement, which granted Angola independence, established a transitional government, which soon fell apart. There was a power struggle mostly between two opposing political parties: the MPLA and UNITA. The civil war was influenced by various international agendas, like that of the Soviet Union, the United States of America, and Cuba. After a period of peace between 1988 and 1992, the war started again before finally coming to its end in 2002 with the death of the leader of UNITA.

With the peace agreement of April 2002, 27 years of civil war was over, but now the Angolan government faced the challenge of rebuilding the country. Agricultural production was complicated due to the many land mines that had been thrown across the country, and poor conditions led to outbreaks of cholera and the deadly Marburg virus. It is estimated that the civil war displaced more than four million people. At the same time, separatist groups in Cabinda, which is rich in oil, wanted independence. The government settled a peace agreement with them in 2006.