Luanda, Angola | AFP | Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos’s daughter, reportedly Africa’s richest woman, has been cleared to head the national oil company Sonangol, after a court rejected a legal challenge. Isabel dos Santos was put in charge of Sonangol in June in a move some analysts said …
Read More »ANGOLA: 40 years of total control
How the reign of Dos Santos shaped Angola Angolans endured a bloody civil war and extreme poverty as for nearly 40 years power rested solely in the hands of autocratic President Jose Eduardo dos Santos. State radio’s announcement that he will stand down next year appears to be the beginning …
Read More »Angola’s President Dos Santos to stand down in 2017
Luanda, Angola | AFP | Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who has ruled for 37 years, will stand down before next year’s general election, state radio said Friday citing sources in the ruling MPLA party. The autocratic Dos Santos, 74, became president in 1979, making him Africa’s second-longest serving …
Read More »Angola: Fidel Castro’s big African adventure
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Southern African leaders paid glowing tributes to the late revolutionary icon Fidel Castro, but if one country will forever be heavily indebted to his leadership of Cuba, it is Angola. Castro sent tens of thousands of troops when oil-giant Angola became embroiled in a …
Read More »Angola: 37 ex-opposition fighters face coup charges
Luanda, Angola | AFP | Thirty-seven former fighters from Angola’s main UNITA opposition party go on trial Friday accused of attempting to stage a coup earlier this year, the state news agency Angop reported on Thursday. Members of the group face charges of planning an armed assault against the presidential …
Read More »Angola seeks smooth exit for Kabila in DR Congo
United Nations, United States | AFP | Angola said Wednesday that a date must be set for presidential elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo that will allow a smooth handover of power from President Joseph Kabila. Angola and France will be leading a Security Council visit to the DR …
Read More »Angolan state oil company mirrors nation’s troubles
Luanda, Angola | AFP | Angolan state-owned oil company Sonangol rode the commodities boom that drove the country’s extraordinary growth after civil war ended in 2002, but today it symbolises a national economic crisis. The Luanda-based company has increasingly been in focus since Isabel dos Santos, the billionaire daughter of …
Read More »OIL: Angolan lawyers pose landmark challenge to president
Luanda, Angola | AFP | A group of Angolan lawyers has filed a landmark petition challenging veteran leader Eduardo dos Santos’s nomination of his daughter, Africa’s richest woman, as the head of the national oil company. Isabel dos Santos was named head of troubled oil firm Sonangol in June in …
Read More »Angolan Jose Eduardo dos Santos’ pledge to quit in doubt
Luanda, Angola | AFP | Will he go, will he stay? Angola’s President Jose Eduardo dos Santos last week began his 38th year of largely unchallenged rule after promising to step down in 2018. “I have decided to leave political life in 2018,” the 74-year-old leader told party officials of …
Read More »Angolan president sacks finance minister
Luanda, Angola | AFP | Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos on Monday sacked his finance minister Armando Manuel, the presidency announced, as the country battles an economic crisis caused by sinking oil prices. No reason was given for the dismissal of the 44-year-old London-educated minister who has held the …
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