Angola is planning to privatise many of its more than 250 state-owned firms, but there are fears that the process could be marked by cronyism and cement the oil-rich nation’s reputation as one of Africa’s most corrupt. In an interview with Reuters, Angola’s secretary of state for public enterprises said there were too many state-owned companies.
Human rights groups accused Angola on Wednesday of intimidating their activists ahead of elections next year and urged the European Union to press the African country to stop the harassment. Amnesty International, Global Witness and other NGOs said a firm EU response was needed to ensure groups could continue their work in preparation for the elections.
Angola’s state-run diamond company wants foreign companies as partners to tap what it believes are vast pockets of the precious gems, a company official said on Thursday. Angola, the world’s fifth biggest in terms of value, is exploring only about 40% of the territory believed to have potential for diamond mining.
Members of Angola’s main opposition party streamed into a conference hall on Thursday to cast ballots in a leadership race overshadowed by the ghost of Jonas Savimbi. The two candidates vying to lead the party, incumbent Isaias Samakuva and challenger Abel Chivukuvuku, both have claimed to be ”Savimbistas” of sorts.
Angola may extend the period for registering voters for its first elections in over a decade, fuelling concerns among some political observers that the ballot in the oil-rich nation could be delayed further. An estimated 7,5-million Angolans are being registered for elections next year and in 2009, seen as an important democratic test for the country.
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/ 22 November 2006
Just south of Luanda lies one of Angola’s biggest construction sites, part of a plan to transform the ramshackle capital of one of Africa’s top oil producers into the best city money can buy. Freshly laid roads wind between a 120-store shopping mall, a state-of-the-art health club, schools, clinics and luxury condominiums.
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/ 16 November 2006
Angola has rolled out a massive voter-registration drive ahead of its first elections since 1992, but questions remain over when the long-awaited polls will take place in the oil-rich nation recovering from civil war. President Jose Eduardo dos Santos was the first of Angola’s 13-million people to register on Wednesday for elections that could take place as early as next year.
The giant sable, unique to Angola and believed by many to be extinct after one of Africa’s longest and most bloody civil conflicts, is alive, well and breeding. But news of its survival could pose the biggest threat to its existence yet. Conservationist Pedro Vaz Pinto, said photographic and DNA evidence he had finally managed to obtain were conclusive proof of its survival.
Southern African countries will launch a scheme in November to try to end the trade in blood diamonds, funding many of the continent’s conflicts, a senior regional official said on Sunday.