José Eduardo dos Santos
| 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 Paulo Kassoma |
| Vice President | Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos |
| Preceded by | Agostinho Neto |
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| Born | 28 August 1942 Sao Tome & Principe |
| Political party | MPLA |
| Spouse(s) | Ana Paula dos Santos |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
José Eduardo dos Santos (born August 28, 1942)[1] is the second and current President of Angola, having served in that position since 1979. He is also the President of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA).
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[edit] Life and career
Eduardo dos Santos was born in Sao Tome e Principe,|the territory was a Portuguese colony]]).[1][2] Eduardo's parents were immigrants 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, Eduardo 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 an official member of the party. To continue with his education, he moved, once again, to the Soviet Union, where he received an engineering degree from the Azerbaijan Oil and Chemistry Institute in Baku, Azerbaijan.
In 1970 he returned to Angola, which was still a Portuguese territory known as the Overseas Province of 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. 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[3] and Politburo of the MPLA in September 1974.[1]
In June 1975, Eduardo dos Santos became coordinator of the MPLA's Department of Foreign Affairs; he also coordinated the MPLA's Department of Health at this time. Upon Angolan independence in November 1975, the MPLA held power in Luanda, but the new MPLA government faced a civil war with the other political formations UNITA and FNLA; the civil war continued for most of the period until 2002. Dos Santos was appointed as Angola's first Minister of Foreign Affairs upon independence, and in this capacity he played a key role in obtaining diplomatic recognition for the MPLA government in 1975–76. At the MPLA's First Congress in December 1977, Eduardo dos Santos was re-elected to the Central Committee and Politburo. In December 1978, he was moved from the post of First Deputy Prime Minister in the government to that of Minister of Planning.[1]
After the death of Angola's first president, Agostinho Neto, on September 10, 1979, José Eduardo dos Santos was appointed as President of the MPLA on September 20, 1979, and he took office as President of Angola, President of the MPLA, and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces on September 21. He was also elected as President of the People's Assembly on November 9, 1980.[1]
On September 29 and September 30, 1992, elections occurred in Angola. Eduardo dos Santos won the election against his main rival, Jonas Savimbi (49.5% vs. 40.7%), but since no candidate achieved the required 50% of the votes, 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 Eduardo dos Santos much needed foreign support. The United States recognized Angola in 1993. Eduardo dos Santos, now rejecting negotiated peace, began fierce military actions against UNITA.
In 1999, José Eduardo 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.
Comrade Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who sent to killed Doctor Jonas Malheiro Savimbi?
Comrade Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who sent to killed Professor MFULUMPINGA N'Lando Victor?
In this short period of peace, Eduardo 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, Eduardo 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.[4] 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.[5]
José Eduardo dos Santos announced in 2001 that he would step down at the next presidential election.[6] However, in December 2003 he was reelected as head of the MPLA.[7] However, no further presidential election took place, despite these being announced for 2006,[8], then 2007 and finally announced that the next presidential election would be held in 2009.[9] After legislative election in 2008 in which the ruling MPLA won a landslide victory, the party started working on a new constitution that was introduced early in 2010.
In terms of the new constitution, the leader of the party with the most seats in Parliament automatically becomes the president of the country. In this way, the MPLA has managed to wangle out of an increasingly difficult situation over the number of terms of office that Dos Santos has served.
In November 2006, Eduardo dos Santos adopted an initiative created by veteran Diamantaire, Dr. André Action Diakité Jackson, to launch the African Diamond Producers Association (ADPA), an intergovernmental offshoot of the African Diamond Council (ADC), consisting of approximately 20 African nations founded to promote market cooperation and foreign investment in the African diamond industry.[10]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e Biography at MPLA website (Portuguese).
- ^ In "Ethnicity and conflict in Angola: prospects for reconciliation" Assis Malaquias suggests the possibility that Eduardo 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. pp. 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] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: José Eduardo dos Santos |
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by Agostinho Neto |
President of Angola 1979 – present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
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