New Angola leader seeks to boost SA ties

LUANDA: Angola’s newly elected President Joao Lourenco is on a two-day visit to South Africa seeking closer relations with South Africa, AP reports say.

Lourenco, who will leave South Africa today, had already met with President Jacob Zuma who visited Angola earlier this week.

The leaders of the region’s two largest military powers are expected to discuss leadership succession plans for regional neighbours Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Mutual interests include a calm post-Robert Mugabe transition in Zimbabwe and pressuring President Joseph Kabila of the DRC to set a firm date for new elections as Angola in particular wants a stable neighbour that ceases providing Angolan rebels from the northern oil province of Cabinda a base from which to launch attacks.

Since winning the presidency from former president Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who ruled the country for nearly 38 years, the 63-year-old incumbent has taken steps to show he is breaking away from the former government despite both being members of the ruling party, the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola.

One of Lourenco’s first diplomatic changes was to appoint a new Angolan ambassador in South Africa in an endeavour to improve bilateral relations.

Other steps on the home front include firing Dos Santos’s daughter, Isabel, who had chaired the powerful state-owned oil company Sonangol and is reported to be Africa’s wealthiest woman.

Lourenco has also appointed a number of new ministers and replaced key security personnel.

Dos Santos, however, remains the leader of the ruling party and is still able to influence how Angola is run.

Angola’s soaring 29% inflation and 26% unemployment are challenges that the new president has to grapple with.

Angola is Africa’s second-largest oil producer and a member of Opec and is struggling to reduce its dependence on oil production, which accounts for almost all of its foreign exchange and trade due to the economic shocks experienced when oil prices plummet.

To this end, Lourenco has implemented an ambitious six-month plan that includes consolidating taxes and limiting public debt.