Franco-Angolan relations are extremely poor due to the French government's decades-long policy of supporting militant separatists in Angola's Cabinda province. The international Angolagate scandal embarrassed both governments by exposing corruption and illicit arms deals.
Agostinho Neto, the leader of the MPLA, declared the independence of the People's Republic of Angola on November 11, 1975, in accordance with the Alvor Accords.2UNITA and the FNLA also declared Angolan independence as the Social Democratic Republic of Angola based in Huambo and the Democratic Republic of Angola based in Ambriz. The Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC), armed and backed by the French government, declared the independence of the Republic of Cabinda from Paris.3