The Angolan government’s 1 July decision to remove diesel subsidies, sharply pushing up public transport costs, triggered a series of protests. Angola is one of Africa’s biggest oil producers, but many have seen little benefit from its oil wealth and continue to live in poverty. People have taken to the streets in unprecedented numbers to demand an end to corruption and mismanagement, presenting the ruling party, in power for 50 years, with its biggest test. Security forces have responded to incidences of looting and vandalism with lethal violence. At least 30 people have been killed.

Angola marks 50 years of independence this year, but instead of celebrations, the streets have erupted in what may prove to be the country’s most significant protests since liberation. What started as anger over a 33 per cent diesel price increase has unleashed decades of pent-up frustration at a ruling party that has used the country’s oil wealth to enrich elites while most Angolans live in poverty.

The government’s response has been swift and brutal: at least 30 people killed, 277 injured and over 1,500 arrested, with security forces using live ammunition against protesters.

The spark that lit the fire

The government’s 1 July decision to end diesel subsidies provided the immediate trigger for mass unrest. Overnight, the move caused public transport fare increases of up to 50 per cent. This meant the daily cost of getting to work in the capital, Luanda – now US$4.36 – exceeds the US$3.65 a day over half of Angolans earn.

The first protest mobilised on 12 July in Luanda. Police assaulted protesters and used teargas and rubber bullets, detaining 17 people. But this was just the beginning.

The situation escalated at the end of July, when the taxi drivers’ association called a three-day strike. This grew into a mass protest articulating deeper economic and political anger, spreading from Luanda to other cities. These bigger protests were met with an even more violent response. The police responded disproportionately to incidences of looting and vandalism, reportedly firing live ammunition as well as rubber bullets and teargas.

Deeper malaise

The government has been gradually removing fuel subsidies, which long kept transport costs relatively low, claiming they cost around US$3 billion a year. It previously cut them in 2023, a move that also sparked protests.

But the protests reflect anger that runs far deeper than transport costs. Those low costs were one of the few tangible benefits most people received from living in one of Africa’s fossil fuel superpowers. Angola is the continent’s third-biggest oil producer, but while those in the inner circle have got rich off the proceeds, most people’s lives haven’t improved.

Protesters accuse the ruling party – the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) – of corruption, mismanagement and a failure to use oil revenues for the public benefit. Unemployment is high, standing at 54.3 per cent among young people. Pay has stagnated, with the government failing to keep its promise to raise the minimum wage. Inflation has risen, with the subsidy cuts coming on top of hikes in electricity and water prices, and the value of the currency has fallen. Higher transport costs are also pushing up other costs, including of food.

Angola’s oil dependence creates economic pressures. Around 60 per cent of GDP comes from oil, leaving the country exposed to the volatile global market. Oil prices have recently been falling, putting pressure on Angola’s high levels of debt. Like many global south countries, Angola lacks the capacity to refine the oil it produces, meaning it exports crude oil and then imports much of the fuel used in vehicles.

Globally, it’s clear there’s a need to phase out subsidies that benefit the fossil fuel industry as part of a transition to more renewable forms of energy to cut greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate climate change. The COP28 climate summit in 2023 acknowledged the need to act on fossil fuel subsidies, albeit in a final agreement much watered down by oil industry lobbying.

But transitions shouldn’t hit those already struggling the hardest, and must come with investments in alternatives, such as low-carbon and low-cost forms of transport and the creation of employment opportunities for those, like taxi drivers, whose livelihoods may be affected. That’s what climate activists mean when they urge a just transition. But too often that isn’t the case, and governments make high-handed decisions that hit poor people hard. Little wonder protests result.

Voices from the frontline

Florindo Chivucute is founder and executive director of Friends of Angola, a US-based civil society organisation that works to promote democracy, human rights and good governance in Angola.

 

Angola produces large quantities of oil, along with diamonds, yet most people don’t see the benefits. Mismanagement and entrenched corruption are central to the problem. Revenues from natural resources have too often been captured by networks close to political power and channelled abroad or invested in ways that don’t create jobs.

Angola’s dependence on fuel imports makes the situation worse. We don’t have sufficient domestic refining capacity. Instead of using oil revenues to build refineries and strengthen local industry, a system emerged in which those with political connections profited from importing refined products back into the country. This removed incentives to invest in local processing or agriculture. The result is a tiny wealthy elite and a large majority with very low wages and limited access to services.

The protests have marked a turning point. The MPLA has dominated politics since independence in 1975, and large-scale protests are not common. The fact that so many people were willing to take to the streets, particularly in and around the capital, shows growing discontent with the government and ruling party.

The authorities’ reaction has been heavy-handed. Security forces have used teargas and live ammunition in some cases, and carried out numerous arrests, including of union leaders and journalists. In some areas protests were accompanied by looting and, tragically, by deadly clashes with security forces. Civil society has called for investigations into the killings and for accountability for those responsible.

The government’s strategy risks backfiring. By responding with force and detentions, it risks creating a greater sense of mistrust and frustration, which could influence how people engage with political processes as we approach the 2027 election.

 

This is an edited extract of our conversation with Florindo. Read the full interview here.

A pattern of protests

Angola’s protests echo those that arose last year in Nigeria, another major oil producer. Young Nigerians protested against the high cost of living, corruption and poor governance, with economic conditions worsened in part by the sudden withdrawal of fuel subsidies. As in Nigeria, Angola’s fuel subsidy cuts have come at the prompting of the International Monetary Fund, which has a history of demanding public spending cutbacks that impact harshly on the poorest parts of society.

More broadly, around the world, it’s been shown time and again that when governments take economic decisions that make those who have little poorer, including by cutting subsidies or imposing regressive tax increases, people take to the streets to protest. A 2024 wave of youth-led protests in multiple African countries, including those in Nigeria, began in Kenya when the government announced tax increases on essentials.

As 2024’s protests proved, when sudden economic shocks come on top of latent anger at corruption, economic malaise and political failures, they can trigger mass protests that pose fundamental questions to those in power. In Angola, as in countries where people protested in 2024, the response of a state unwilling to concede demands has been violence.

A legacy of repression

The Angolan government’s violent response to the recent protests is nothing new. The MPLA has been at the helm for all of Angola’s 50 years of independence, first when the country was a one-party state amid a civil war, then staying in power following a supposed democratic transition in 1992. Angola held its first free and fair election that year, but when the main opposition party rejected the results and civil war resumed, any hopes of genuine democracy were dashed. The country had a single president from 1979 to 2017, when current president João Lourenço took over. Since 1992, elections have been heavily tilted in the ruling party’s favour. The MPLA only just hung onto power at the last vote in 2022, despite using every trick available to skew the result in its favour.

Lourenço promised reform but that mostly hasn’t happened. Instead, an unpopular government has fallen back on its long-established practice of suppressing protests with detentions and violence. When students protested against poor education conditions in April, police arrested at least 50 people. Eight people were killed in protests triggered by the 2023 subsidy cut, when police fired on taxi drivers in Huambo city. Police also used batons and teargas against a 2023 protest by street vendors in Luanda. That year, Human Rights Watch documented multiple unlawful killings and other serious human rights violations by security forces against peaceful protesters and political activists, and pointed out that police officers rarely face accountability for their actions.

Human rights activists risk being detained and subjected to criminalisation, extensive surveillance, threats and violence. Last year the government passed two laws to further tighten civic freedoms. The National Security Law gives the state the power to ban telecoms services, including radio stations and internet services, and expands the powers of security forces to carry out inspections. The Crimes of Vandalism of Public Goods and Services Law imposes jail sentences of up to 25 years for people who participate in protests that cause service disruptions or vandalism, and gives the state undefined powers to prevent such damage. A draft NGO Statute Law threatens to further increase restrictions on civil society organisations.

The government labelled the latest protests ‘unpatriotic’, and Lourenço praised the security force response. The state has backed its violence with arbitrary detentions. On 19 July, the Criminal Investigation Service detained activist Osvaldo Caholo, accusing him of rebellion and incitement after he gave an interview criticising government policies. His real crime was to have helped organise the 12 July protests and then livestreamed from the demonstration.

Voices from the frontline

Pedro Domingos André ‘Paka’, also known as Pedro Paka, is coordinator of Movimento Fúria-99, a human rights organisation.

 

Civic space is increasingly stifled. Although the constitution formally guarantees freedoms of assembly, association and expression, in practice the state systematically represses critical voices, criminalises peaceful protests and instrumentalises institutions such as the courts, the Criminal Investigation Service, the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Rapid Intervention Police to persecute activists and opponents. Today, criticising the government means risking abduction, arbitrary detention, intimidation and physical assault.

Caholo’s case is emblematic of political persecution disguised as legality. He was arrested on 19 July, allegedly for inciting rebellion, public instigation to commit a crime and public vindication of a crime. But the real reason is that he was one of the organisers of a 12 July march against fuel price increases. He broadcast live from the protest, explaining what he would do if he had decision-making power, and the video was widely shared. He also called for further protests in the following weeks.

The authorities have not presented any solid evidence he committed a crime. The judicial process lacks transparency and the authorities have not offered the minimum procedural guarantees, including presumption of innocence. Instead, they have placed Caholo in preventive detention, using this as a form of advance punishment rather than a legally justified measure, which has reinforced suspicions of political motivation.

 

This is an edited extract of our conversation with Pedro. Read the full interview here.

The way ahead

The situation could worsen as Angola approaches its next election in 2027. The MPLA, with its popularity at a record low, can expect to face its biggest challenge yet. The anger triggered by the subsidy cut has deeper motivations that won’t subside unless the government responds meaningfully to public anger.

Instead, there’s a real danger the government will intensify rather than ease its repressive response, reacting to further protests with more violence and detentions. The government must end its systematic repression, release all detained activists and allow genuine political space for opposition voices. Without fundamental change – including transparent investigations into protest killings, accountability for security forces and real economic reforms that address corruption and inequality – the cycle of protest and violence is likely to escalate.

OUR CALLS FOR ACTION

  • The government of Angola should commit to independent and fully transparent investigations into all protest-related killings and hold those responsible to account.
  • The government should release all detained activists and drop any charges against them.
  • Angola’s international partners should work with the government to end impunity for corruption and help it diversify its economy.

For interviews or more information, please contact research@civicus.org

Cover photo by Julio Pacheco Ntela/AFP