Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi said Thursday that his country was seeking to join the East African Community, a regional political and economic bloc. The DRC shares borders with four of the six members of the bloc, and Tshisekedi said on a …
Read More »Angola president holds unprecedented talks with civic groups
Luanda, Angola | AFP | Angolan President Joao Lourenco, elected last year as the country’s first new leader in nearly four decades, met civic groups on Tuesday in unprecedented talks as part of his reforms. The meeting was marred by presidential staff refusing entry of investigative journalist Rafael Marques …
Read More »Angola president vows investment drive, graft fight
Luanda, Angola | AFP | President Joao Lourenco pledged on Monday to kickstart the ailing Angolan economy with a push to attract foreign investment to end its “excessive” dependence on oil revenue and return to growth. Delivering his state of the nation address to parliament, Lourenco also vowed to continue a …
Read More »Angolan leader denies tensions with predecessor despite clean-up campaign
Luanda, Angola | AFP | Angolan President Joao Lourenco on Monday denied “any tension” with his long-serving predecessor Jose Eduardo dos Santos, many of whose relatives and friends he has sacked from public office in a fight against corruption in the oil-rich southern African nation. In November, within three months …
Read More »ANALYSIS: How president Lourenco is stamping his authority on Angola
Luanda, Angola | NEWS ANALYSIS | On 15 November, as most of southern Africa’s attentions turned to the military takeover ensuing in Zimbabwe, Angola’s President João Lourenço took a set of dramatic steps. Acting with lightning speed, he fired the entire board of Angola’s state oil company Sonangol, including its chair Isabel dos Santos. Later that day, …
Read More »Angola swears in Lourenco, first new president for 38 years
Luanda, Angola | AFP | Jose Eduardo dos Santos’s 38-year reign over Angola finally came to an end Tuesday when his hand-picked successor Joao Lourenco was inaugurated as president at a ceremony in Luanda. Lourenco read an oath in which he vowed “on my honour to devote myself” to the …
Read More »Daunting challenges facing Angola’s new president
Luanda, Angola | AFP | Angola’s incoming president Joao Lourenco faces a slew of challenges that include dwindling oil prices, rampant poverty, soaring unemployment and the long shadow cast by his predecessor and his family. These are the key tasks that will confront him on his first day in the job …
Read More »LOURENCO: Angola’s political Lazarus
Luanda, Angola | AFP | Angola’s new president, Joao Lourenco who will be sworn in Tuesday, is a former general who spent several years in the political wilderness after angling for the top job in the 1990s. Since then, Lourenco, 63, convinced key regime players he was the right man …
Read More »Angolan opposition parties file complaint on election result
Luanda, Angola | AFP | Three Angolan opposition parties on Friday filed a complaint against the outcome of nationwide elections on August 23 that asserted the 42-year grip of the ruling MPLA party. Representatives from the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and two smaller parties, the …
Read More »Angola vote marks new era as Dos Santos ends 38-year reign
Luanda, Angola | AFP | Angola goes to the polls Wednesday in a historic election marking the end of President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos’s 38-year reign, with his party set to retain power despite the country’s economic crisis. The MPLA (People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola), which has …
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