Slightly less than twice the size of Texas and the seventh largest country in Africa, Angola is home to some thirteen million citizens, including those living in the discontiguous Cabinda Province.

There, despite the end of the Angola civil war in 2002, an armed struggle still exists with some factions declaring an independent Republic of Cabinda free from 'illegal' Angolan rule. (Cabinda Province is a strip of land within the Democratic Republic of Congo of some 3000 sq miles with a population of just over a third of a million. A Portugese colony it was ceded to Angola by the Treaty of Alvor in 1975, however without the consent of a single Cabindian political organisation who remain adamant that the treaty was illegal without their consent and Cabinda was not Portugal's to give away.)

With only 2.65% of its land arable, Angola is reliant on foreign imports and aid to meet the country's food needs. The land itself rises in stages towards a high inland plateau covering almost two-thirds of the country.