Angola & Cabinda (catch all)

[davidbfpo]

BBC report:

Four human rights activists have been jailed in Angola for reported links with a separatist group which attacked the Togolese football team in January.....The BBC's Louise Redvers says the four men are believed to have met with exiled Flec leaders in Paris to try to set up dialogue with the Angolan government in a bid to seek an end to the decades of violent struggle in the province.

Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-10857125

[davidbfpo]

Pre-publication publicity for a new book 'In The Name of The People' by an ex-BBC journalist, Lara Pawson, an event I cannot recall:

On 27th May 1977, a small demonstration against the MPLA, the ruling party of Angola - led to the slaughter of thousands, if not tens of thousands, of people. These dreadful reprisals are little talked of in Angola today - and virtually unknown outside the country. In this book, journalist Lara Pawson tracks down the story of what really happened in the aftermath of that fateful day. In a series of vivid encounters, she talks to eyewitnesses, victims and even perpetrators of the violent and confusing events of the 27th May and the following weeks and months. From London to Lisbon to Luanda, she meets those who continue to live in the shadow of the appalling events of 40 years ago and who - in most cases - have been too afraid to speak about them before. As well as shedding light on the events of 1977, this book contributes to a deeper understanding of modern Angola - its people and its politics; past, present and future.

Link to Amazon:http://www.amazon.co.uk/In-Name-Peop.../dp/1780769059

Reviews on publisher's website:http://www.ibtauris.com/Books/Humani...3DC9E30B2C4%7D

This is a long article written in November 2013, by academic and will have to be read another day. Seems like it was an attempted coup.

Link:http://africafiles.org/article.asp?id=26885

[davidbfpo]

We can currently observe a great variety of ‘morbid symptoms’ of fin de régime in Angola, ranging from the farcical to the tragic. It would appear the government of long-time President, José Eduardo dos Santos, and his ruling MPLA can hear the pealing of the doomsday bells. However, according to the official interpretation, this impending doom is not a result of years of misrule, politics of exclusion, and the recent steep decline in oil prices, which quite dramatically revealed the persistent, gross mismanagement of public revenues, but rather because of the conspiracies of ‘internal enemies’.

Link:http://africanarguments.org/2015/07/...-jon-schubert/

[Misifus]

Another exercise in Western-style Intellectualism. This is precisely what got Angola into trouble in the first place. What are we proposing in this thread? The right to go save the place?

Gringo go home. Leave them alone, they are making progress in their own way.

[davidbfpo]

Another exercise in Western-style Intellectualism. This is precisely what got Angola into trouble in the first place. What are we proposing in this thread? The right to go save the place?

Gringo go home. Leave them alone, they are making progress in their own way.

This thread contains IIRC pointers to information on a country that rarely features in the media and no-one is proposing any course of action.

As for Angolans making progress, I certainly get the impression those in power are making plenty of progress, very few others are.

[Misifus]

...As for Angolans making progress, I certainly get the impression those in power are making plenty of progress, very few others are.

Not true. They are making progress at their pace, which is sufficient for them. I've been there much. Angola and Cabinda. I think that was in my earlier posts from a few years back.

[davidbfpo]

Angola – where oil accounts for nearly half of GDP, more than two-thirds of government revenue and nearly 98% of export earnings – has an estimated break-even oil price of around US$110 per barrel, and is expected to run a budget deficit of at least 7% of GDP in 2015, despite drastically cutting its 2015 expenditure plans. Luanda is currently attempting to issue debt to global investors to fund its budget deficit. But with increased investor risk aversion due to a more uncertain global economic outlook, emerging-market borrowers – already squeezed by exchange-rate depreciation – are likely to incur higher premiums, making hard-currency debt all the more expensive to service. Meanwhile, Angola’s already impoverished general population has experienced severe shortages in food and medicine, prompting public displays of anti-government sentiment despite notoriously unforgiving security forces. Popular discontent is seen as a factor in President Jose Eduardo dos Santos’s surprise announcement earlier this month that he would step down in 2018 after 37 years as head of state.

Taken from an IISS Strategic Comment email.