• Big pink diamond discovered in Angola, largest in 300 years
• World's fourth-largest hotelier steps up Africa expansion with Angola deal
• Angola Jan-Sept diamond sales rise to $960 mln

• Paradise Papers: Tycoon made $41m from 'people's fund'
• Analysis - Pressure from below strains Angola MPLA monolith
• Angola deports Congolese, aid report cites abuses

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Positive Trends
Short Summaries of Top Stories

Big pink diamond discovered in Angola, largest in 300 years
30 July 2022 - A big pink diamond of 170 carats has been discovered in Angola and is claimed to be the largest such gemstone found in 300 years. Called the 'Lulo Rose,' the diamond was found at the Lulo alluvial diamond mine, the mine's owner, the Lucapa Diamond Company, announced Wednesday [27 July] on its website. (more)

World's fourth-largest hotelier steps up Africa expansion with Angola deal
3 July 2015 - AccorHotels has sealed a deal with Angolan insurance and investment company AAA Activos to open 50 hotels in the country by 2017, the French company said, as part of its expansion in Africa. The world's fourth-largest hotelier has been expanding in emerging markets such as Africa to counter weaker growth in Europe. AccorHotels has been active in Africa for 40 years and is the continent's leading hotelier by number of rooms. (more)

Angola Jan-Sept diamond sales rise to $960 mln
18 December 2014 - Angola, the world's fourth largest diamond producer by value, exported around $960 million of the gems between January and September, up from around $860 million in the same period a year ago. Diamonds are Angola's second biggest export earner. (more)

Angola upgrades port as it aims to be Africa's busiest hub
25 April 2014 - Angola's main port installed new cranes and provided more training to reduce its cargo unloading time by 80 per cent as the government reviews a plan to build Africa's biggest shipping terminal. 'We have invested in modern loading and unloading infrastructure, human capital and a port pier,' lberto Antonio Bengue, port administrator for commercial, safety and environmental affairs, said in an interview. 'We plan to increase the number of containers handled to more than a million by the end of this year.' (more)

Angola: Award for courageous Angolan anti-corruption crusader
8 November 2013 - Angolan journalist and civil rights activist Rafael Marques has been awarded the 2013 Integrity Award by Transparency International for his efforts to fight corruption in Angola. He is fighting a tough battle. Angola ranks 157 out of 174 countries on Transparency International's Corruption Index, making it one of the twenty most corrupt countries in the world. The award pays tribute to the courage and determination of individuals and organizations fighting corruption around the world. It has been awarded annually since 2002. (more)

Poll: Angola economy to grow in 2013 on oil output rebound
6 November 2012 - Angola's economy is expected to grow strongly next year, boosted by a continued rebound in oil production, a Reuters poll showed on 6 November. The median forecast of 13 economists polled showed gross domestic product (GDP) in Africa's second largest oil producer after Nigeria would grow 7 per cent in 2013. (more)

Angola launches $5 billion sovereign wealth fund
17 October 2012 - Angola on Wednesday launched a $5 billion sovereign wealth fund to invest in domestic and overseas assets by funnelling its vast oil wealth into infrastructure, hotels, and other high-growth projects. Africa's second-largest crude oil producer is looking to diversify its oil-dependent economy by developing infrastructure outside the energy industry. (more)

Angola unveils cabinet, economic ministers keep posts
29 September 2012 - Angola's President Jose Eduardo dos Santos on Friday unveiled proposals for his cabinet following his election win last month, keeping his economic policy team in their posts in the government of Africa's second-largest oil producer. The 70-year-old President's ruling MPLA party won an election on 31 August, obtaining 72 per cent of the votes in only the second polls held since a 27-year civil war in the southern African nation ended a decade ago. According to the cabinet list, Dos Santos abolished the post of Minister of State for Economic Coordination that was created in January to bring Manuel Vicente, former CEO of state oil firm Sonangol, into the government. With oil clients eyeing the government's plans to ramp up crude production and many poor Angolans hoping the MPLA lives up to its pledges to reduce poverty, analysts will be closely watching Vicente's role in economic policymaking. (more)

Angola: Strengthening environmental education programme
17 July 2012 - Participants in the seminar on Environment Management held on 11-18 July, in the capital city of the central Huambo province recommended the local government to work toward the strengthening of the environmental education programme. The entrepreneurs were encouraged to have greater environmental awareness in relation to their projects, as well as greater efforts to protect the environment. The event was promoted by the provincial government of Huambo, Angola. (more)

Rebound seen in Angola economy despite lower oil price
17 July 2012 - Angola's economic prospects this year 'remain favourable' despite a recent easing in global oil prices, the International Monetary Fund said on Monday. 'The pace of economic activity is expected to accelerate, with overall growth close to 7 per cent as oil production rebounds,' the IMF said. Angola is Africa's second-largest oil producer. The IMF said the economy should also be lifted this year by increased government spending in the energy, transportation, and construction sectors. (more)

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Flops
Short Summaries of Top Stories

Paradise Papers: Tycoon made $41m from 'people's fund'
7 November 2017 - An entrepreneur charged with managing the oil wealth of the struggling African state of Angola was paid more than $41m in just 20 months, leaked documents reveal. The payments were made via a complex web of companies set up in the offshore jurisdiction of Mauritius. Jean-Claude Bastos also used his position to help set up large investment deals he stands to further profit from, the Paradise Papers show. ...The leak offers an unprecedented view into what happened to the management fees after being paid into Mr Bastos' company. (more)

Analysis - Pressure from below strains Angola MPLA monolith
10 September 2012 - Angola's showcase Kilamba Kiaxi housing development rises up from an ochre-red African plain, clustered pods of neat apartment blocks in eye-catching pastel shades of light blue, yellow, and grey stretching from horizon to horizon. Kilamba's homes are on sale but their prices are out of reach for most of Angola's 18 million people. The majority live in poverty or struggle to make ends meet in sub-standard housing without electricity and running water in Africa's No. 2 oil producer, where a 27-year civil war ended a decade ago. Angolans of all classes will tell you the 'maka' (a Kimbundu word for 'problems' or 'trouble') of their country is its huge natural wealth, and the question of how it is shared. The United States and Europe, both buyers of Angolan oil, do not want to risk their strategic ties by probing Angola's ruling system too closely, especially given China's big and growing trade and investment presence. Patrick Smith, editor of Africa Confidential says 'This is a classic case of a savvy regime playing off the Americans, Chinese, and the Europeans against each other, with resources everyone wants.' (more)

Angola deports Congolese, aid report cites abuses
24 October 2010 - Angola has deported nearly 200 Congolese citizens, according to humanitarian reports, prompting fears of a new wave of mass expulsions that saw tens of thousands displaced last year. Dozens of men, women, and children have arrived in Congo's southern Bandundu province, which lies on Angola's northern border -- without shoes or adequate clothing -- and some are injured. 'There is a possibility that this could be a new wave of mass expulsions -- perhaps both ways,' Maurizio Giuliano, spokesman for the UN humanitarian affairs office said in an emailed statement. 'If things develop as they did last year, the number could potentially grow to tens of thousands quite rapidly.' (more)

Analysis - Angola terrorist ambush of Togo soccer team wins rebels global impact
10 January 2010 - A murderous ambush of soccer players in Angola has shown how easily insurgents can grab world headlines with attacks on soft targets and inflict international embarrassment on countries by exposing their lapses in security. Analysts said over-confidence or poor security coordination -- or both -- were being examined as possible factors in Friday's attack, which killed two members of Togo's national soccer delegation and the driver of their team bus. Security experts will watch to see if the ambush in Angola's Cabinda enclave, staged by separatists who had been widely assumed to be in gradual decline, triggers copycat attacks in other continents. 'Radical groups monitor this kind of event and draw lessons,' Alex Vines, an Angola expert and Africa section head at Britain's Chatham House think tank, told Reuters. (more)

Togo team ambush casts shadow over Angola event
10 January 2010 - Africa's biggest soccer tournament starts in Angola on Sunday, overshadowed by an ambush on the Togo team bus that killed three people and wounded seven, prompting Togo to pull its team out of the competition. Friday's attack on the Togo team in the northern enclave of Cabinda, staged by a rebel group that the government said recently no longer existed, cast a shadow over an event supposed to show Angola was at peace after years of civil war. The rebels of the Cabindan separatist group FLEC sprayed the Togolese bus with gunfire, killing the bus driver and wounding nine others. Two members of Togo's soccer delegation died on Saturday and one was undergoing surgery in South Africa. It was the second militant attack on a sports team in less than a year. Last March, six policemen and a driver were killed when gunmen attacked a bus carrying Sri Lanka's cricket team in Pakistan. (more)

Angola says it will send troops to Congo
12 November 2008 - Angola announced Wednesday it is mobilizing troops to send to neighbouring Congo, heightening fears that the fighting in this central African nation will engulf other countries in the region. The presence of Angolans soldiers in the volatile region would likely be seen as a provocation to Rwanda, which battled Angolans during Congo's devastating 1998-2002 war. That four-year-conflict ripped Congo into rival fiefdoms, with rebels backed by Uganda and Rwanda controlling vast swaths of territory rich in coffee, gold, and tin in the East. At the time, Angola and Zimbabwe sent tanks and fighter planes to back Congo's Government in exchange for access to lucrative diamond and copper mines to the south and west. The UN Chief called Tuesday for an immediate ceasefire so aid workers could urgently help 'at least 100,000 refugees' cut off in rebel-held areas north of Goma. Fighting in Congo intensified in August and has since displaced at least 250,000 people despite the presence of the largest UN peacekeeping force in the world. UN Officials say both the rebels and Government troops have committed crimes against civilians. (more)

Polio hits Angola
10 August 2007 - Ten people have been stricken with polio since the beginning of 2007 in Angola, a southern African country that was once clear of the crippling disease, raising concerns the virus could spread into neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, and Namibia. In addition to Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo, other previously polio-free countries battling infections from the virus in 2007 include Myanmar, Chad, Niger, and Somalia. (more)

Cholera outbreak in Angola kills 2,760
16 January 2007 - A cholera epidemic, which started in Angola's capital, has spread to all but one of the southwest African country's 18 provinces. Cholera is transmitted through contaminated water and is linked to poor hygiene, overcrowding, and inadequate sanitation. Angola's public infrastructure, including health care and sanitation systems, remains weak after a two-decade civil war that ended in 2002. (more)

Gap between rich and poor widening in Angola
23 October 2006 - The gap between rich and poor in Angola, Africa's second biggest oil exporter, is widening, according to a report sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). More than two-thirds of the country's 16 million people live on US$2 or less a day, and 4 million of those survive on US$0.75 or less a day. Little of the country's oil wealth is reflected in the daily lives of its people. (more)

Angola: Cholera every year if water and sanitation not improved
10 July 2006 - The cholera epidemic in Angola has peaked and new cases are on the decline, but if water and sanitation issues are not addressed, aid agencies expect to be back for another outbreak within a year. (more)