The Presidential Guard Unit () is the

Angolan Armed Forces The Angolan Armed Forces () or FAA is the military of Angola. The FAA consist of the Angolan Army (), the Angolan Navy () and the National Air Force of Angola (). Reported total manpower in 2021 was about 107,000. The FAA is headed by the C ...

presidential guard to the

President of Angola The president of Angola () is both head of state and head of government in Angola. According to the constitution adopted in 2010, the post of prime minister is abolished; executive authority belongs to the president who has also a degree of l ...

. It is also responsible for the defense of the capital of

Luanda Luanda ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Angola, largest city of Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Ang ...

. The special unit specializes in house warfare. The group consists of both male and female members whose mission is to ensure and protect the physical integrity of the President. It is therefore part of the Central Protection and Security Unit (DCPS) in the Military Bureau of the Angolan Presidency. The unit's commander is Lieutenant General Alfredo Tyaunda.

History

The UPG participated in

Angolan Civil War The Angolan Civil War () was a civil war in Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with interludes, until 2002. The war began immediately after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975. It was a power struggle between two for ...

. On 26 November 2003, soldiers from the UGP kidnapped car washer Arsénio "Cherokee" Sebastião and threw him into the sea off the Mussulo peninsula where he would later drown. The reason for this was because of his singing of an anti-

José Eduardo dos Santos José Eduardo Van-Dúnem dos Santos (; 28 August 1942 – 8 July 2022) was an Angolan politician and military officer who served as the second president of Angola from 1979 to 2017. As president, dos Santos was also the commander-in-chief of th ...

rap, with his drowning in front of witnesses being seen as a type of lesson to others with similar sentiments. A beer vendor at the scene described the guards reasoning, recalling that the guards said that "the youth was a bandit, who spoke ill of the president and thus had to be killed." The incident changed the local citizen's relationship with the UGP, with local media groups dubbing the guard as the ''

Fedayeen Fedayeen ( ''fidāʻiyyūn'' "self-sacrificers") is an Arabic language, Arabic term used to refer to various military groups willing to sacrifice themselves for a larger campaign. Etymology "Fidayun" is the plural of "fidayi" ( ''fidāʻiyy'' ...

'' a reference to the military groups willing to sacrifice themselves in service to Iraqi President

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until Saddam Hussein statue destruction, his overthrow in 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Ira ...

. According to the newspaper

Jeune Afrique ''Jeune Afrique'' (English: ''Young Africa'') is a French-language pan-African weekly news magazine, founded in 1960 in Tunis and subsequently published in Paris by Jeune Afrique Media Group. It is the most widely read pan-African magazine. It o ...

, in the course of the 2010–2011 Ivorian crisis, 92 soldiers from the UPG were sent to protect President

Laurent Gbagbo Koudou Laurent Gbagbo
, FPI website . ( G ...

in the presidential residence in

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N'ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the largest city and the former capital of Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of the overall population ...

and repel the Republican Forces of Côte d'Ivoire fought. They are said to have mined the building. The reports were rejected by the Angolan government. In September 2012, 15 UGP soldiers were put on trial for insubordination after being accused of making "demands in a group" in relations to their calls for better wages and working conditions. In 2015, it was announced that the UGP would undergoe a process in which its rapid response capabilities would be strengthened. In 2018, President

João Lourenço João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço (born 5 March 1954) is an Angolan politician who is currently serving as the third president of Angola since 26 September 2017. Previously, he was the minister of defence from 2014 to 2017. In September 2018, ...

ordered the stationing of 5,000 UGP soldiers in the province of Cuando Cubango.

Sources

{{reflist Military of Angola Protective security units

History

See also

Sources