Later, consequences for FALA personnel in Luanda were harsh with FAPLA veterans persecuting their erstwhile opponents in certain areas and reports of vigilantism.

On 14 November 1991, Generals João Baptista de Matos and Abílio Kamalata Numa were appointed to the Superior Command of the Armed Forces.

It is organized in six military regions (Cabinda, Luanda, North, Center, East and South), with an infantry division being based in each one.

The Navy has been neglected and ignored as a military arm mainly due to the guerrilla struggle against the Portuguese and the nature of the civil war.

From the early 1990s to the present the Angolan Navy has shrunk from around 4,200 personnel to around 1,000, resulting in the loss of skills and expertise needed to maintain equipment.

Most of the vessels in the navy's inventory dates back from the 1980s or earlier, and many of its ships are inoperable due to age and lack of maintenance.

[9] The military of Angola aims to modernize its naval capability, presumably due to a rise in maritime piracy within the Gulf of Guinea which may have an adverse effect on the country's economy.

The BRIFE also included the Special Actions Group (GAE, Grupo de Ações Especiais), which is presently inactive and that was dedicated to long range reconnaissance, covert and sabotage operations.

The Marines Brigade is not permanently dependent of the Directorate of Special Forces, but can detach their units and elements to be put under the command of that body for the conduction of exercises or real operations.

[13] The People's Vigilance Brigades (Portuguese: Brigadas Populares de Vigilância, BPV) also serve a similar purpose.

It has the following lineage: It provides specialized medical assistance in accordance with the military health system; It also promotes post-graduate education and scientific research.

[22] The FAPLA's main counterinsurgency effort was directed against UNITA in the southeast, and its conventional capabilities were demonstrated principally in the undeclared South African Border War.

[23] The FAPLA first performed its external assistance mission with the dispatch of 1,000 to 1,500 troops to São Tomé and Príncipe in 1977 to bolster the socialist regime of President Manuel Pinto da Costa.

During the next several years, Angolan forces conducted joint exercises with their counterparts and exchanged technical operational visits.

[25] Angola is basically interested in the participation of the FAA operations of the African Union and has formed special units for this purpose.

In 2021, the Angolan Parliament approved integration of FAA into Southern African Development Community (SADC)'s mission for peace in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique.