Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos will on Tuesday start his first state visit to South Africa, a trip aimed at deepening diplomatic ties between two of the region’s major economies.
His visit follows President Jacob Zuma’s trip to the oil-rich state in 2009, which confirmed a detente with Africa’s top producer of crude after decades of strained relations under apartheid and the early years of black-majority rule.
Zuma will host talks with his Angolan counterpart in Pretoria on Tuesday, said an official schedule, before they head to Cape Town the next day, where dos Santos will visit Robben Island, the prison where former president Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for 18 years.
Relations between the two countries were marred during the apartheid era as South Africa sided with UNITA rebels who were fighting dos Santos’s Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, (MPLA) during its civil war.
After the end of apartheid in 1994, former presidents Mandela and Thabo Mbeki favoured a negotiated settlement to the civil war, a stand opposed by dos Santos until the conflict ended in 2002.
Under Mbeki, the two nations also feuded over how to handle the crisis in Zimbabwe and the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
‘A very big deal’
A South African government statement said the visit was meant to “strengthen bilateral and economic ties between the two countries”.
Dos Santos, who has been in power since 1979, does not often make state visits within the continent or elsewhere.
“When he decides to go on an official visit to a foreign country, it’s a very big deal,” said Edward George, an Africa analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit.
“It really does mark a change in relations with South Africa. Angola is keen to establish itself as a competing pole of interest in Africa between Nigeria and South Africa,” he added.
Oil production has propelled Angola into a major investment destination for global companies seeking a slice of its rapidly growing economy, since the end of the war eight years ago.
But decades of strained ties have seen South Africa lose out on lucrative reconstruction jobs dominated by China, Brazil and Western countries.
Business deals
Zuma’s visit last year, however, saw him sign a clutch of business deals, in mining, banking, agriculture and oil.
The oil agreement will see South Africa’s PetroSA partner with Sonangol, Angola’s state owned oil firm in exploration, refining and distribution.
Angola and Nigeria are the biggest oil producers on the continent but dos Santos’s state has only one refinery and must import 50 percent of its petrol. South Africa, however, produces very little crude but has the second-biggest refining capability in Africa, behind Egypt.
The main imports from Angola to South Africa include minerals, chemical products and building materials.
South African exports to Angola amounted to R5,5-billion in 2009, while Angola’s equivalent figure was R12-billion, Pretoria said.
The dos Santos visit is expected to address proposals for easing visa requirements and establishing a bilateral commission, which was left unsigned during Zuma’s trip to Luanda last year.
Belarmino van Dunem, a specialist in international politics at the Lusiada University of Luanda, said the reciprocal visit marked a further step towards a new partnership.
“The sympathy between the two men (Zuma and dos Santos) is undeniable,” said van Dunem. “Diplomatic relations between the two countries is improving and the visit marks a new era.” — Sapa