Constitution of Angola to remain president until 2022. Angola was a colony of Portugal for more than 400 years from the 15th century. Demands for independence picked up momentum during the early 1950s. The principal protagonists included the MPLA, founded in 1956, the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA), which appeared in 1961, and the UNITA, founded in 1966. After many years of conflict that weakened all of the insurgent parties, Angola gained independence on 11 November 1975, after the Carnation Revolution in Portugal overthrew the Portuguese regime headed by Marcelo Caetano. A fight for dominance broke out immediately between the
Trade unions in Angola Trade unions in Angola Before 1975, while under Portuguese rule, Trade unions in Angola existed primarily as "occupational syndicates" - operating welfare services, but banned from collective bargaining and strike action. Independent African trade unions were illegal, however, some underground or exiled unions existed, and were involved in the struggle for Angolan independence. When the Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (MPLA) came to power in 1975 the National Union of Angolan Workers (UNTA) became the sole national trade union centre. There is now an independent trade union centre as well, the General Centre of Independent and Free Unions of