Angola–DR Congo border
A border in two pieces: the main line, from the mouth of the Congo along great rivers such as the Kwango and Kasai to Zambia, and a short loop around Angola’s exclave of Cabinda, cut off by Congo’s narrow corridor to the sea. In 2018 Angola expelled some 330,000 Congolese across it in a single month.
Written from cited sourcesLast checked 29 September 2026Suggest a correction
See it on the globe:Angola →DR Congo →
A corridor and an exclave
Portugal’s colony of Angola dated back to a charter of 1575 and later extended north of the Congo River to Cabinda. When King Leopold’s Congo was recognised in 1884–85, a convention of 14 February 1885 split the coast: the Congo state recognised Portugal’s claim to Cabinda, and Portugal guaranteed it a narrow corridor of land to the sea. So the border runs in two parts, about 140 miles around Cabinda and about 1,420 miles inland from the Atlantic along the Congo, the parallel of Noqui, the Kwango, the Kasai and drainage divides to Zambia. Conventions of 1891 added detail.[1]
The 2018 expulsions
In October 2018 an Angolan expulsion order aimed at irregular migrants sent some 330,000 people across the border into Kasai, Kasai Central and Kwango provinces. At the border town of Kamako the UN human rights office heard reports of excessive force by Angolan security forces, verified six deaths, and heard allegations of extortion and arbitrary detention by Congolese forces on arrival.[2]
“In expelling such a massive number of people in such a short time, Angola has placed tens of thousands of families at severe risk”[2]
Timeline
188514 February 1885
Convention
Congo gets a corridor to the sea; Cabinda stays Portuguese.[1]
189125 May 1891
Brussels and Lisbon conventions
The line is refined.[1]
196030 June 1960
Congo independent
Belgian Congo becomes independent.[1]
2018October 2018
Mass expulsion
About 330,000 Congolese are forced out of Angola.[2]
More borders
Sources
- [1]International Boundary Study No. 144: Angola – Democratic Rep. of the Congo (Zaire) Boundary · US Department of State, Office of the Geographer · 4 April 1974
- [2]Over 330,000 Congolese migrants at risk after mass deportations from Angola – UN rights chief · UN News · 26 October 2018
Map geometry from Natural Earth via world-atlas. See credits.