Two high-ranking officers were among 25 people killed when a Russian-made military helicopter crashed due to bad weather in the Angolan province of Cuanza-Norte.
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.
Angola’s civil war may have ended, but the behaviour and attitudes of its people are still dominated by violence, with women often on the receiving end.
At least 500 people have died of famine in the last four months in camps in Angola holding members of the former Unita rebel group.
The 14-nation Southern African Development Community opens a two-day annual summit Wednesday in Angola, as the region faces a growing threat from famine and Aids but also new hopes for peace as the host nation emerges from a 27-year war.
Angola’s Unita rebel movement, which transformed itself into a political party after the oil-rich southern African state last year ended its 27-year-long civil war, on Tuesday began picking a successor to slain leader Jonas Savimbi.
Angola’s army on Monday began choosing 5 000 former Unita rebels to join the ranks of the military under a peace pact bringing an end to almost three decades of civil war.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and the leader of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Joseph Kabila, on Friday signed a peace agreement aimed at ending the war in the vast central African nation.