Angola

UPDATED: Angola’s former president dos Santos dies at 79

cde.news desk 8 July 2022, 14:10 · 1 min read

epa06151754 President of Angola Jose Eduardo dos Santos waves to supporters during an election campaign rally for Joao Lourenco (unseen), the candidate of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), in Luanda, Angola, 19 August 2017. Recent polls by the Presidency office indicate that the currently ruling MPLA party will have 38 per cent of the votes, while 32 per cent will be gained by Angola's opposition party National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and about 26 per cent of the votes will go to the Broad Convergence for the Salvation of Angola ? Electoral Coalition (CASA-CE). The opposition party UNITA announced that it will form a coalition government with other opposition parties, if the MPLA, that has been ruling the country for 42 years, will lose the elections. The elections will be held on 23 August. EPA/MANUEL DE ALMEIDA

Angola’s former president Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who ruled Africa’s second biggest oil producer for nearly four decades, has died aged 79, the Angolan presidency said on Facebook on Friday.

The former president died at 11:10 am Spanish time at the Barcelona Teknon clinic following a prolonged illness, the presidency said.

A spokesperson for the Barcelona Teknon clinic where he was being treated declined to comment.

Dos Santos had been receiving medical treatment since 2019.

Portuguese news agency Lusa reported last month that the former president was admitted to an intensive care unit at a clinic in Barcelona.

One of Africa’s longest serving leaders, dos Santos stepped down five years ago. His rule was marked by a brutal civil war lasting nearly three decades against U.S.-backed UNITA rebels – which he won in 2002 – and a subsequent oil-fuelled boom.

He was replaced in 2017 by President Joao Lourenco, who despite being from the incumbent’s People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), swiftly moved to probe allegations of multi-billion dollar corruption during the dos Santos era, targeting the former leader’s children.