Category: Politics

The MPLA’s election plan

The action plan for the electoral campaign of the ruling People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), which formally starts on July 31, contains strategies that need to be made plain for all to see, in the interests of peace, political stability, and the distinction between party and state. For the first phase of the campaign, MPLA defines the need to pay special attention “critical areas to ensure order and tranquillity among voters”. To this end, MPLA envisages to “instruct activists, sympathizers and friends of the MPLA and other voters not to take part in any actions that may suggest electoral impropriety, and to refrain from practising any kind of violence against other political parties or their activists.” It also underscores the need to “denounce political parties, civil society organizations and citizens who incite voters to violence, disturbance or electoral fraud.” The communications and security committee of MPLA’s electoral […]

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General Zé Maria’s Partisan Plot to Destabilize the Army

For the last few months the head of Angola’s Military Intelligence and Security Service (SISM), General António “Zé” Maria, has created a secret discussion group aimed at fostering a climate of instability within the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA), in such a way as to justify purges. This strategy is known as the “purification of the FAA”. The scheme also aims to divert attention away from the ever-deteriorating socio-economic situation of most Angolan citizens and the government’s inability to deal with it. It also serves as a distraction from the uncertainty over when and how President dos Santos will relinquish power. Maka Angola has learnt from insiders that the other main participants in the discussion group are the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Patriotic Education, General Egídio de Sousa Santos “”Disciplina””, and Lieutenant-General João António Santana “Lungo” of the Security Studies Office within the Intelligence Bureau of the Presidency. […]

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The Logic of Democracy in Angola

I am reading this and I can’t believe it. So I read it again: “When people, including some politicians, say that there is a dictatorial regime in Angola, this is not true”, says Paulo de Carvalho, professor of the Faculty of Social Science of the Agostinho Neto University, in Luanda. He made this statement at a conference organised by the Centre for African Studies of the Institute of Political and Social Science in Lisbon (ISCSP), under the theme “Democracy and citizens’ rights in Angola”. In order to substantiate his belief, Paulo de Carvalho referred to an event which had taken place a while back in the Mário Soares Foundation in Lisbon, where the journalist and human rights activist had criticised the Angolan regime, and the scholar had replied to him thus: “If there was a dictatorial regime in Angola, you, my friend, Rafael Marques, would not be here speaking on […]

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Regedor Capenda-Camulemba Detido nas Lundas

Lisboa (Lusa) – O ativista e jornalista angolano Rafael Marques afirmou hoje à Lusa que a polícia angolana prendeu um chefe tradicional que foi sua testemunha no julgamento do processo Diamantes de Sangue, no qual responde por difamação. “Está detido desde as 09:00 (08:00 em Lisboa) no Comando Municipal da Polícia de Capenda Camulemba e quem me prestou a informação foi o próprio secretário” (do chefe tradicional), disse à Lusa Rafael Marques. De acordo com o jornalista e ativista de direitos humanos angolano, não foi formalizada qualquer queixa contra o soba Mwana Capenda ,que prestou declarações a um tribunal em Lisboa, este mês, em conjunto com Linda Moisés Rosa, outra testemunha de Rafael Marques no processo que o opõe a vários generais angolanos, que o acusam de difamação pelo conteúdo do livro “Diamantes de Sangue”. Além de serem testemunhas no processo judicial, os dois angolanos denunciaram abusos de direitos humanos […]

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Isabel dos Santos’ Diamonds and Husband

Isabel dos Santos, the billionaire daughter of the Angolan president, is the main beneficiary of the diamond trade in Angola. This involves simple arrangements in Angola, and more sophisticated ones abroad. Forbes magazine recently published an article in which this author investigates the partnership set up by Isabel dos Santos, through her husband Sindika Dokolo, and the Angolan state for the acquisition of the Swiss jeweller De Grisogono. This brand is known to be the favorite choice of movie stars and fashion celebrities including Sharon Stone and Heidi Klum. Maka Angola expands on this investigation and puts it in context. On February 27, 2012 a Maltese-registered company, Victoria Limited, acquired 72.5 percent of De Grisogono Holding S.A. The shareholding soon increased to 75 percent. A press statement by De Grisogono founder Fawaz Gruosi at the time when the shares were sold said the deal was worth more than US$100 million. […]

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Chaos in the Angolan Military Intelligence and Security Service

A group of 10 generals and 12 colonels in the Angolan Military Intelligence and Security Service (SISM) have been waiting for the last six months to be sworn in to discharge the duties following their appointment by President José Eduardo dos Santos. The officers, appointed on 19 June 2013, include Lieutenant General Carlos Miguel de Sousa Filipe, who will be serving as SISM deputy chief; Brigadier Pedro Minguela, as head of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) Military Counterintelligence Directorate; and Rear Admiral Domingos Baptista, as head of the Angolan Navy Military Counterintelligence Directorate. Maka Angola has learned from an unofficial source that the situation has created considerable embarrassment in the directorates to which those generals and senior officers were appointed. Documentation in the restructured directorates continues to carry only the names of former officers and it is up to the appointees to make decisions and sign on behalf of their […]

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The Attempted Coup in Angola

The second-in-command of the Angolan National Police, Chief-Commissioner Paulo de Almeida, recently surprised many Angolans when he claimed there had been a coup attempt against President José Eduardo dos Santos. Interviewed by the Angolan Catholic broadcaster Rádio Ecclésia shortly before Christmas, Chief-Commissioner Almeida said the demonstration that took place on November 23, in protest at the deaths of political activists Cassule and Kamulingue, had ulterior motives. “We have proof that [the demonstration] was in order to seize power. We have proof that it was an attack on power,” he said. “This was not a demonstration.” He said that the demonstration had been repressed in order to prevent a seizure of power, and insisted that the various attempted demonstrations that have taken place in Angola since 2011 have not been peaceful. From his point of view, the idea of a peaceful demonstration is simply an excuse for grabbing power. I enjoyed […]

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The European Commission’s Problem with the Truth on Angola

Recently, on November 19, the president of the European Commission, Mr. José Manuel Barroso, instructed the EU High Representative and vice-president of the Commission, Baroness Catherine Ashton, to respond on his behalf to queries on the detention of Angolan activist Nito Alves, a minor, and the charges brought against him. Mr. Barroso is a very well known and controversial figure in Angola, for his promotion of the first peace agreement in the country, in 1991, signed between President José Eduardo dos Santos, and his nemesis, the late rebel leader Jonas Savimbi. At the time, Mr. Barroso was the Portuguese minister of Foreign Affairs. He has since cultivated a close friendship with President Dos Santos, and has been favouring him in the international arena. President Dos Santos has been enlisting more senior Portuguese politicians to help him shield the corrupt deeds and human rights abuses of his government. In exchange, he […]

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The Absent President and Angola’s Future

In the last few months, health concerns have prompted President José Eduardo dos Santos to make several trips to Spain for medical treatment. According to sources who spoke to Maka Angola on condition of anonymity, the President was evacuated to Barcelona on November 9 after falling in the Presidential Palace. Maka Angola has established that the President suffered a prostatic renal crisis, which required him to spend at least 30 days under observation. This is why he missed the Independence Day celebrations on November 11 for the first time ever. A medical expert explained to Maka Angola that a prostatic renal crisis is a condition in which the urine flow is obstructed by an enlarged prostate and production of urine ceases, necessitating dialysis in the case of kidney failure. “In the case of kidney failure, a very serious and often fatal situation, patients need regular dialysis. The failure of one […]

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Kopelipa Kamanguista no Zimbabué

Documentos confidenciais dos serviços secretos zimbabueanos (CIO), recentemente divulgados, revelam o envolvimento central de entidades chinesas, do general Kopelipa e da Sonangol no tráfico de diamantes no Zimbabué. Trata-se de tráfico de diamantes porque a sua comercialização não passa por canais formais de venda, mas através de esquemas obscuros, incentivados pelas autoridades zimbabuenas. A investigação, levada a cabo pela jornalista sul-africana Khadija Shariffe, detalha sobretudo o apoio que os chineses, em parceria com o chefe da Casa de Segurança do Presidente da República de Angola, general Manuel Hélder Vieira Dias “Kopelipa”, prestaram ao presidente Robert Mugabe, de 89 anos, para a sua vitória eleitoral, em Julho passado. Financiamentos secretos, em troca de diamantes, e a concepção e gestão de mecanismos de fraude eleitoral constituíram os principais eixos de apoio da coligação sino-angolana. Maka Angola publica o extrato da investigação referente à participação do general Kopelipa na operação, assim como da […]

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