ANGOLANS will enjoy risk-free viewing of the solar eclipse of June 21 thanks to a government expenditure of three million dollars on protective glasses, the science and technology ministry said on Tuesday. The total eclipse, which will cross Angola along a 200km band, will last the longest – more than four and a half minutes – in Sumbe, the capital of Kwanza Sul Province. The ministry has imported two million protective glasses to be distributed free to peasants and schoolchildren, deputy minister Pedro Teta said. Businesses have imported another four million pairs, which are to be tested by a special eclipse commission. The government has appealed for bids to renovate hotels in Sumbe, which is some 270km south of Luanda, to accommodate an expected influx of foreign visitors. The band in which the sun will be fully eclipsed by the moon will traverse southern Africa, passing through Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique. – AFP