As Angola celebrates its 40 years of freedom from Portuguese control, President José Eduardo dos Santos (pictured) said there is no room for nostalgia or revenge.
Portugal’s Foreign Minister said that the Angolan president made "extremely positive statements" during his speech which marked the end of 14 years of brutal warfare on the 40th anniversary of Angolan independence.
As the Angolan military marched through Luanda during the ceremony, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Rui Machete, was safely in Malta and commented that Angola and Portugal enjoy a good relationship and applauded the "extremely positive statements with regard to Portugal that stated that Portugal was a very close partner and Angola has excellent relations with Portugal."
Rui Machete added that Portuguese policy "has often been criticised by the opposition” but was well-accepted by the Angolans.
The Angolan President, in a message addressed to his nation, said there is not room for nostalgia with Portugal and looks forward to “the continued development of privileged relations that exist between the two peoples and States, founded on a sincere friendship, exemplary solidarity and cooperation with reciprocal advantages.”
Angolan independence was proclaimed on November 11, 1975 by António Agostinho Neto, leader of Angola's Liberation Movement and the first President of Angola, after 14 years of savage warfare with Portuguese troops.
The Angolan president’s daughter, Isabel dos Santos, (pictured below) is under formal EC investigation for many of her business dealings which involve investments in many of Portugal’s top companies in the oil and telecommunications sectors. Portugal has always turned a blind eye to her involvement Portugal's business community, not caring where her money has come from as long as her cheques clear.
The current drop in the international oil price has put Angola in the back foot as revenues dry up affecting Angola’s available cash for infrastructure projects. The president is accused of pocketing a large percentage of oil revenue commissions for his personal benefit.
USD32 billion is known to be missing from Angola's national accounts in the decade to 2012.
President José Eduardo dos Santo’s daughter is the richest woman in Africa amid continuing concern that her significant shareholding in many of Portugal’s top companies has been funded by money stolen from the Angolan state.
Despite Portugal’s bland assurance that Angola and Portugal live and trade in complete harmony, this has not been the experience of many companies, especially for BES in Angola where a missing €3.3 billion started the collapse of Group Espírito Santo in spectacular style.
Previous years' accounts showed that the Angolan government had underwritten loans to BES Angola’s clients but this arrangement was unilaterally annulled by the Angolan presidency, leading to a catastrophic loss.
Comments
The same can be said of the British Empire. For most of it even its own people at home had 'no education, civil rights or health care'.
But how can anything good have come out of an ex-Portuguese colony if the locals had no 'good' role models left behind by the Portuguese to follow ?