African Media Barometer ANGOLA 2010 Executive Summary After almost three decades of a devastating war that involved the government of the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the former rebel movement of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), Angola regained peace at the beginning of 2002. The end of the war marked the beginning of a new era of reconciliation, reconstruction and development, all of which constitute, essential preconditions for the full enjoyment of fundamental freedoms and rights enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of Angola as well as other international legal documents to which the country is party. Since the end of the armed conflict Angola has made considerable progress in its effort to establish democratic institutions and consolidate the rule of law. In this context, the first multiparty parliamentary elections since 1992 were held in 2008, and were won by the MPLA. A new constitution has been in force since 2010, safeguarding fundamental rights and freedoms in line with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights as well as other relevant international treaties ratified by the national assembly. Section 56, paragraph 1 of the constitution declares that the Angolan state recognises these fundamental freedoms and rights as “irrevocable” and expresses a commitment to bring about “the political, economic, social, and cultural conditions as well as peace and stability in order to guarantee their implementation and protection…” Section 40, paragraph 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Angola states that: “Everyone has the right to freely express, disseminate and share their thoughts, ideas and opinions through word, image or any other means, and to inform oneself and to be informed without any impediments or discrimination”. Section 44 of the constitution covers the freedom of the press. Paragraph 1 specifies that “press freedom is guaranteed and may not be subject to any form of prior censorship of a political, ideological or artistic nature”. Section 44, paragraph 4 of the constitution leaves it to a specific law to define “the ways in which press freedom may be exercised”. Statutory Instrument number 7/06, also known as the Press Law, was promulgated by the President of the Republic on 28 April 2006. It was approved in the context of a new era of peace and multiparty democracy, ushered in by the Bicesse Peace AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER ANGOLA 2010 71