José Eduardo dos Santos
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| José Eduardo dos Santos | |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 10 September 1979 |
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| Prime Minister | Fernando José de França Dias Van-Dúnem Marcolino Moco Fernando José de França Dias Van-Dúnem Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos |
| Preceded by | Agostinho Neto |
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| Born | 28 August 1940 Luanda, Angola |
| Political party | Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola |
| Spouse | Ana Paula dos Santos |
José Eduardo dos Santos (born August 28, 1940 in Luanda[1]) is the current President, Head of Government, and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Angola.
Eduardo's father was a construction worker from São Tomé and Príncipe. While he was studying in school, he joined the MPLA in 1956 thereby starting his political career. Due to the repression of the colonial government, Dos Santos went into self-exile in France in 1961. He later moved to the Republic of the Congo. From there he collaborated with the MPLA, and soon became the vice-president. To continue with his education, he moved, once again, to the former USSR, where he received an engineering degree from the Azerbaijan Oil and Chemistry Institute.
In 1970 he returned to Angola and joined the EPLA (Exército Popular de Libertação de Angola), a branch of the MPLA, becoming a radio transmitter in the second political-military region of the MPLA. In 1974, he was promoted to sub commander of the telecoms service of the second region and was named coordinator of foreign policy of the MPLA.
He served as the MPLA's representative to Yugoslavia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the People's Republic of China before being elected to the Central Committee of the MPLA in 1974.[2]
After achieving Angolan independence, the rebel groups MPLA, UNITA and FNLA started the Angolan Civil War, which would last 27 years. At the beginning of the war, dos Santos was named president of the MPLA and secretary of foreign policy. He was replaced as secretary in 1976.
After the death of Angola's first president, Agostinho Neto, dos Santos stepped up as president, chief of the armed forces, and president of the parliament in 1979 through internal party elections. He has been Angola's president for 29 years.
The Bicesse Accord was signed in Lisbon with the leader of UNITA, Dr. Jonas Savimbi, in 1991. The treaty promised free elections and integration of members of the UNITA to the new armed forces of Angola, the FAA (Forças Armadas Angolanas). As a sign of goodwill with foreign powers, the MPLA had previously rejected Marxist ideology to present itself as a social democratic party.
On 29 September and 30 September of 1992, elections occurred in Angola. Dos Santos beat Dr. Jonas Savimbi (49.5% vs. 40.7%), but since no candidate had achieved the required 50% of the votes on the first round, a second round of voting was called. Savimbi then quit, alleging voting fraud. Foreign observers and the UN declared the election inconclusive. In parliamentary elections, the MPLA won 54.7% of the vote, with 129 out of 220 seats in parliament. UNITA managed 34.1%, giving them 70 seats.
Savimbi's withdrawal from the second round of elections gave dos Santos much needed foreign support. The United States recognized Angola in 1993. Dos Santos, now rejecting negotiated peace, began fierce military actions against UNITA.
In 1999, dos Santos gained greater power from the Angolan parliament by becoming Secretary of Defense.
In February 2002 the leader of UNITA, Jonas Savimbi, was killed by FAA (Forças Armadas Angolanas - Angolan Armed Forces) troops. The already weakened UNITA surrendered and signed a peace treaty a few weeks later, ending the Angolan Civil War.
In this short period of peace, dos Santos has signed important contracts with corporations interested in extracting oil and diamonds, controlled high inflation, and raised economic growth to an estimated 24%. Despite these economic advances, dos Santos failed to combat governmental corruption, reconstruct public infrastructure, draft a new constitution, or reduce control over the press. Although Angola's natural resources are among the world's richest, the UN Development Program considers Angola one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world. [3] The Mo Ibrahim Foundation in 2005 ranked Angola 38.1 on its "rule of law, transparency, and corruption" scale and 38.3 on its "human development" scale, out of a possible 100 points (on each scale, higher scores represent better results). This has placed Angola in the bottom 10 among African countries in both indices since 2000, when the ranking began. [4]
Dos Santos announced in 2001 that he would step down at the next presidential election.[5] However, in December 2003 he was reelected as head of the MPLA,[6] and it is widely believed that he will be the party's candidate in the next presidential election. It was thought that this might be held in 2006,[7] and then that it might occur in 2007, but in December 2006 it was announced that the next presidential election would be held in 2009.[8]
In November 2006, dos Santos helped to found the African Countries Diamond Producers Association, an organization of approximately 20 African nations founded to promote market cooperation and foreign investment in the African diamond industry.[9]
José Eduardo dos Santos is an Honorary Member of The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation
[edit] References
- ^ In "Ethnicity and conflict in Angola: prospects for reconciliation" Assis Malaquias suggests the possibility that dos Santos was born in São Tomé instead of Luanda
- ^ Louis Gates, Henry; Anthony Appiah (1999). Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, 624.
- ^ "UN Development Report 2006", UNDP.
- ^ "Mo Ibrahim Foundation Rankings"
- ^ "Dos Santos to bow out", IRIN, August 24, 2001.
- ^ "Dos Santos at the helm", IRIN, December 17, 2003.
- ^ "Uncertainty increases over election date", IRIN, February 16, 2006.
- ^ "New delay for Angolan elections", BBC News, December 21, 2006.
- ^ "Angola: African Diamond Producing Countries Ministers Meet" ANGOP, 4 November, 2006.
[edit] See also
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