Huila Province

Huíla
Province
Serra da Leba, a mountain range in Huíla Province
Map of Huíla Province in Angola
Country	Angola
Capital	Lubango
Government
• Governor	João Marcelino Tyipinge
Area
• Total	79,023 km2 (30,511 sq mi)
Population (2014 census)
• Total	2,354,398
• Density	30/km2 (77/sq mi)
Time zone	WAT (UTC+1)
Area code(s)	035
ISO 3166 code	AO-HUI
Website	www.huila.gov.ao

Huíla is a province of Angola. It has an area of 79,023 square kilometres (30,511 sq mi) and a population of 2,354,398 (2014 census). Lubango is the capital of the province. Basket-making is a significant industry in the province; many make baskets out of reeds.

From the Portuguese Colonial War (1961–1975) to Angola's independence, and the subsequent civil war in Angola (1975-2002) Huíla was directly affected only during relatively short periods of time. Cassinga was abandoned by its European supervisors, and the mine fell into neglect during the ensuing Angolan Civil War. The following year it was occupied by the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN), military wing of the South West African People's Organization. PLAN subsequently adopted Cassinga as a staging point for insurgent raids on South-West Africa, about 250 kilometres to the south. Their bases soon became a sanctuary for local refugees during the Namibian War of Independence.

In 1978, PLAN's presence in Cassinga attracted the attention of the South African Defence Force. Operation Reindeer saw paratroops of the 44 Parachute Regiment supported by bomber and strike aircraft launch an air assault on 4 May. The six-hour assault claimed approximately 600 lives, including four SADF soldiers, sixty Cuban soldiers and over five hundred PLAN combatants and South West African exiles. Cassinga was the site of more fighting during Operation Askari, in December 1983.

The post-colonial development in Angola has seen the establishment of two universities in Lubango (the state Universidade Mandume, named after a leader of the Ovambo in the fight against the occupation by the Portuguese, as well as a campus of the Universidade Privada de Angola. Tourism is emerging, largely involving white entrepreneurs from Namibia, which the provincial government is actively seeking to attract.