Organizational Capacity and Resources
At present, there seems to be very limited cyber troop capacity in the country. However, the
Angolan government seems to be increasingly cooperating with China on surveillance and
security: in December 2019 President Lourenço opened the Integrated Centre for Public
Security financed by China and operated by forty-five employees who were trained in China
(Macauhub, 2020). Additionally, in early 2019 it was announced that Angola and Rwanda had
signed a deal to cooperate on security and public order in the interest of their citizens. This
cooperation reportedly includes the sharing of technical advice and information of interest to
law enforcement, though observers suggest that the development and execution of the project
will take years (Agência Angola Press, 2019; Kuteesa, 2019). Whether these activities also
reflect intentions by the Angolan government to establish or increase their cyber troop
capabilities remains somewhat unclear, however, reports indicate that Angola is starting to
increase their activities and capacity: the state has been planning to invest 11 million USD a
year into cybersecurity, and opposition parties have accused the MPLA of targeted
disinformation campaigns against them (Agência Angola Press, 2019; VOA, 2020).
Table 3: Cyber Troop Capacity in Angola
Team Size
Resources
Spent Activity Levels
(USD)
11 million annually
Temporary
Coordination
Decentralised
Capacity
Measure
Low
Source: Authors’ evaluations based on data collected. Blank spaces indicate no evidence was found.
References
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