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Angola News

  • Angola's Elections Trigger a Crisis of Legitimacy

    ANGOLA, 2017/09/11 As the presidential electoral results in Kenya were being overturned last week by the country's highest court, the post-election crisis in Angola continued to deepen. The opposition lacks legal avenues for recourse and the government is scrambling to hide its crisis of legitimacy. The 23 August elections marked a turning point in the country's political order. It is the biggest challenge the governing People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) has faced since the end of the war in 2002 at the same time as it installed a system of unchecked and unchallenged hegemony.
  • Congo's Sassou hails retiring dos Santos for service to Africa

    ANGOLA, 2017/09/10 Outgoing Angolan president, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, has received praise from his Congolese counterpart, Denis Sassou Nguesso, the ruling MPLA have said. A message accompanying a photo posted on the MPLA’s Twitter handle read: “President Dennis Sassou Nguesso pays homage to José Eduardo dos Santos, for his deeds for peace in Africa.” Dos Santos, 75, bows out as president next 38 years in charge of the former Portuguese colony. He is set to be restored by his former Defense Minister, Joao Lourenco, who led the ruling MPLA into the last elections.
  • Angolan opposition parties formally challenge election results in court

    ANGOLA, 2017/09/10 Three out of the five Angolan opposition parties that contested in the August 23 elections have filed formal appeals at the Constitutional Court demanding the annulment of the results that secured massive victory for the ruling MPLA party. The three parties, inclunding the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), the FNLA and the PRS, filed their petitions on Friday alleging widespread irregularities, AFP reports.
  • Submarine cable deployed in Angola to link Africa to South America

    ANGOLA, 2017/09/09 The project of deploying the initial submarine telecommunication cable in the South Atlantic ocean linking Africa to South America has been launched in Angola’s capital Luanda. The launch of the fibre-optic South Atlantic Cable System (SACS) follows months of marine survey that was completed by multinational telecommunications company Angola Cables in April.
  • UNWTO: International tourism – strongest half-year results since 2010

    AFGHANISTAN, 2017/09/09 Destinations worldwide welcomed 598 million international tourists in the initial six months of 2017, some 36 million additional than in the same period of 2016. At 6%, increase was well above the trend of recent years, making the current January-June period the strongest half-year since 2010. Visitor numbers reported by destinations around the world reflect strong request for international travel in the initial half of 2017, according to the new UNWTO World Tourism Barometer. Worldwide, international tourist arrivals (overnight visitors) increased by 6% compared to the same six-month period last year, well above the sustained and consistent trend of 4% or higher increase since 2010. This represents the strongest half-year in seven years.
  • Why governments need to support the financial sector to meet the unserved needs of smallholder farmers

    BOTSWANA, 2017/09/09 This year, under the leadership of H.E. President Alassane Ouattara and the theme of “Accelerating Africa’s Path to Prosperity: Growing Inclusive Economies and Jobs through Agriculture”, the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) 2017 is shaping up as a premier platform to showcase ongoing evolution in Africa’s agricultural transformation schedule and to scale up the political, policy, and financial commitments needed to achieve the Malabo Declaration and the world development schedule around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Following the launch of the landmark annual Africa Agriculture Status Statement (ASSR) at the AGRF taking place in Cote d’Ivoire from 4-8 September 2017, the major conclusion centres around the power of entrepreneurs and the free market in driving Africa’s economic increase from food production. This is owing to the fact that a lot of businesses are waking up to opportunities of a rapidly growing food market in Africa that may be worth additional than $1 trillion each year by 2030 to substitute imports with high price food made in Africa.
  • International Arrivals To Africa Reach More Than 18 Million In 2017

    BOTSWANA, 2017/09/09 Market Research Company Euromonitor International revealed before this week the key trends shaping travel and tourism in Africa at the 41st Annual World Tourism Conference in Kigali, Rwanda. According to Euromonitor International’s new data, international arrivals to Africa grew by 6.5 % in 2017, to reach 18,550 million, up from 16,351 million in 2012. Key markets such as South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Mozambique, Cameroon, Mauritius and Tanzania accounted for 70 % of international trips to the Sub-Saharan African region.
  • Africa: USA-Africa - No Policy? Bad Policy? or Both?

    BOTSWANA, 2017/08/30 "Africa is terra incognita for the Trump Government: a continent it cares little - and understands even less - about. With no dyed-in-the-wool Trumpian Africa hands available, the government appears ready to cede Africa policy making to career civil servants and a few mainstream Republican appointees." - Matthew T. Page The headline to Page's article in Quartz Africa states that "Donald Trump could be getting his US-Africa policy right by simply not having one." His view is actually additional nuanced, in judging that no policy would likely be only "less bad" than explicitly "bad policy" that may result from better White Home interest in Africa.
  • Africa: U.S. State Department To Get Experienced Diplomat in Key Africa Post

    BOTSWANA, 2017/08/30 Donald Yamamoto, who has extensive diplomatic experience in Africa inclunding two tours as a U.S. ambassador, will take office as Acting Assistant Secretary of National for Africa on 5 September. He is the second career official tapped for a senior policy position on Africa in the Trump government.Donald Yamamoto, who has extensive diplomatic experience in Africa including two tours as a U.S. ambassador, will take office as Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Africa on 5 September. He is the second career official tapped for a senior policy position on Africa in the Trump administration. Senior CIA analyst Cyril Sartor was hired as senior director for Africa at the National Security Council earier this month Key Africa jobs at the Defense Department (DOD) and the U.S. Agency for International Development remain vacant. "Having someone with Don Yamamoto's experience in that post is very significant," Mel Foote, Constituency for Africa president, told AllAfrica. "As Africa confronts a lot of challenges, we want to see responsible U.S. engagement in partnership with African governments and civil society organizations."
  • Angola: Elections / 2017 - Provisional Data Point Out Qualified Majority for MPLA

    ANGOLA, 2017/08/26 The MPLA secretary for Political and Electoral Affairs, João Martins, said on Thursday in Luanda that his party has presently secured a qualified majority resulting from the general elections held on Wednesday. Speaking to the press, he said that at a time at the same time as additional than five million voters were being screened, out of additional than nine million voters, the MPLA can ensure that it has a qualified majority.