Luanda -Angola celebrates Saturday 48 years since it achieved national independence proclaimed on November 11, 1975.
This year, the central act of the festivities takes place in eastern Lunda Sul under the motto:"11 November: United for the Development of Angola".
After nearly five centuries of Portuguese colonial rule, independence was solemnly proclaimed by the President of the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), António Agostinho Neto, who was subsequently sworn in as the first Head of State of the then People's Republic of Angola.
The proclamation of independence on November 11 represented the culmination of a heroic National Liberation Struggle, which began on February 4, 1961, when patriots, imbued with common ideals and armed with machetes confronted the colonial power storming prisons in Luanda province to free Angolans imprisoned for defending self-determination.
The action took place between two other uprisings, that of Baixa de Cassanje, in Malanje, on January 4,1961, against exploitation and forced labour in the cotton fields, and that of the attacks on police stations, on March 15 of the same year in the north region of Angola.
All of these patriotic demonstrations were preceded by ancestral resistance to colonial presence and occupation, which took place between the end of the 15th and 16th centuries in different kingdoms of the Angolan territory.
The road to freedom included, in the recent past, the Alvor Agreement signed in January 1975 in Portugal between the Portuguese government, the MPLA, National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA), which resulted in the coloniser recognising Angola's right to independence.
With the maintenance of territorial integrity as a main key for the country's development and with independence Angola started to develop mutually advantageous political and economic cooperation relations with other nations around the world.
In addition to the central act in Saurimo city, Lunda Sul, led by the Minister of State and Head of the President’s Civil Office, Adão de Almeida, the Monument Flag will be hoisted at the National Museum of Military History in Luanda.
Still in Luanda, a wreath will be laid on Independence Avenue, an act that will be presided over by the Minister of State and Head of the Military Affairs Office of the President of the Republic, Francisco Pereira Furtado.ADR/VIC/MRA/AMP
