ANGOP

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Angola News Agency, ANGOP, is a public-owned, neutral and anti-partisan news broadcaster dedicated to informing and empowering people with accurate, in-depth and compelling content that upholds the value of truth and liberty.​

See below for the latest headlines

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A New Era For Angola​

Emperor Ngola has formally proclaimed his ascension to the newly created imperial throne of Angola. The coronation of the emperor marks a new era for Angola as it officially brings about the end of the 25-year civil war that has ravaged the country.

Since 1975, Angola has been locked in a constant civil war between the MPLA and UNITA as they’ve battle for dominance, costing over 800,000 lives and leaving 4 million displaced. The war became exacerbated as if became victim to foreign rivalries of the Cold War, becoming yet another proxy war between the West and the Soviets.

Following the breakdown of numerous ceasefires and peace talks, the MPLA and UNITA were finally able to reach a compromise, deciding to introduce a political system reflective of Angola’s pre-colonial era.

After only days in office, Emperor Ngola has already made way pioneering Angola into the future by introducing a series of new reforms, laws and legislation by imperial decree. Such examples include:

• Stricter gun ownership laws.
• Prohibiting discrimination based on race, gender, sexuality, nationality, religion, disability, language, or social status.
• Decriminalization of homosexuality.
• Decriminalization of contraception and abortion.
• Freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and freedom of media.
• Outlawing of use of excessive force on civilians by law enforcement.
• Permitting the presence of local nongovernmental organizations (NGO) to engage in human rights-related work and allowing the publication of reports without government approval.
• Outlawing of religious activities that involve or result in physical or mental neglect and abuse, such as animal sacrifices, shamanism, and exorcism.
• Officially legalising private property ownership.
• Freedom of movement throughout the nation, with the only exception regarding areas where mine fields are or suspected to be present.

Furthermore, in order to maintain peace within Angola and prevent another collapse in inter-governmental affairs, rigorous laws regarding political parties and partisan politics have been introduced, limiting the influence and role political parties play in government. Under these new laws, political parties are discouraged and independent, non-aligned movements are favoured.

 

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Anti-Corruption Campaign​

In a speech to the Imperial National Assembly, Emperor Ngola has unveiled his anti-corruption campaign with his goal to “rid Angola of the parasitic selfishness” that has plagued the country since its independence and “reintroduce the values of honour, integrity, honesty, care and determination” into the government and civil service.

25 years of civil war and a Soviet planned economy has left corruption rampant across all aspects of governance. The most recent survey ranks Angola as having the 2nd highest crime rate in the world, second only to the war-torn dictatorship of Turkey. Government reports and domestic surveys concludes that the vast majority of crime committed within Angola is tied to corruption, both directly and indirectly.

The former president, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, has been accused of creating this endemic corruption by ignoring he everyday needs and concerns of citizens and instead leveraged the country's oil wealth to accumulate a massive fortune for himself and his family. Over time, corruption evolved into a variety of schemes involving companies controlled by the party elite, primarily the MPLA, and their patronage networks that operate in all sectors of the economy. Systemic corruption has only been possible on this scale because all the vital organs of the state (military, police, judiciary, legislature, bureaucracy, and media) has been operated by those who prioritize their private interests within the patronage system over the responsibilities of their public position.

The nation’s business environment has been described as “one of the most difficult in the world” because of pervasive corruption and cumbersome bureaucratic procedures. Public servants routinely demand bribes; paying such bribes has now become an ordinary part of doing business in Angola. Angolan citizens often must also pay bribes to access basic public services such as healthcare, education, vehicle registration, and business permits. Police officers often extort payments at checkpoints.

The Emperor has announced his dedicated to resolve this national crisis once and for all. Only hours after this announcement, already 851 current and former government employees and civil servants have been arrested on corruption charges, ranging from police officers and judges to administrators and MPLA party officials.

 

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Government Announces Largest Housing Initiative In African History​

Post-war construction is finally underway to rehome those most affected by the civil war. Throughout the 25-year war, millions migrated and were displaced across Angola. Their primary destination - Luanda.

Luanda, built to house just 300,000 people at the time of national independence in 1975, is having to cope with severe over-population, currently housing 9 million residents and estimated to house up to 15 million within the next 13 years. This unsurprisingly has created a housing shortage crisis that is only expected to worsen in the current climate.

Despite the city undergoing a construction boom, fuelled by oil and energy exports, the majority of housing development has catered to the national elite nurtured by former corruption, meanwhile the housing market for the average and low income households remain unaffected. Consequently, over a third of the city's population lives in informal 'slum' settlements whilst a total of more than two-thirds reside in households with poor access to water and electricity. To make matters worse, a large proportion of these settlements are classed as illegal, thus regularly being demolished with no housing alternatives for the now homeless residents. On average, 15,000 residents are forcibly evicted every week to make way for demolition work.

The task of housing construction has been left to the private sector with little assistance from the central government of Angola. However, the private housing market has evidently not provided enough adequate housing to meet demand and modern living standards. Thus, the government has now intervened to construct and provide a targeted 2 million households in the Luanda metropolitan area alone by the end of 2003. These households will be built specifically for average to low income households. Furthermore, the ownership of the properties will be allocated to their newly assigned residents, assigned by the local authorities on a needs basis. Additionally, landlordism on these new properties is banned until 2020, ensuring full equality for homeownership.

Should the project be a success and live up to the promises made by the government, it will render Luanda one of the most developed urban areas in the developing world. However, even if the project does prove a success, due to the inevitable change in local demographics of the city, questions and challenges arise regarding the provision of transportation, education, healthcare and employment, among other factors, immediately following the projects completion.

 

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A New Aviation Hub For Africa​

Today marks the official completion and opening of the New Luanda International Airport. After 22 years of on-off construction, Angola’s newest airport, situated in the Bom Jesus commune 41km east of Luanda city centre, will replace the Quatro de Fevereiro Airport as the primary international airport of Luanda and Angola.

Constructed to serve an annual capacity of 15 million passengers and 50,000 tons of cargo, the $3.8billion airport will be the aviation hub of southern Africa, ranking as the 3rd largest airport in Africa by annual passenger capacity.
Already the transfer of Quatro de Fevereiro Airport’s 44 air routes to New Luanda International Airport is underway. With a significantly increased capacity, the new airport has a target of reaching a total of 167 destinations across Angola and the world within the next 6 years.
Though the airport was constructed to facilitate the capacity for the forecasted passenger demand for the next 30 years, due to the faster-than-expected growth of Luanda since the airport’s initial proposals were issued 22 years ago, calls are already being made to evaluate further expansion of the airport.

Following the opening, proposals are currently underway to develop a new urban centre situated around the airport, unofficially being referred to as ‘Airport City’.

With the replacement for Quatro de Fevereiro Airport now in operation, plans are being drawn to decommission the 2nd runway of Quatro de Fevereiro to repurpose the land for urban expansion. The decommissioning of the 2nd runway and its service access roads will open a massive area of 2.86km2 within the city centre for urban development, drastically increasing construction opportunities and boosting the government’s rehousing initiatives.

 

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57,000 Refugees In Angola Granted Permanent Residence​

In an unprecedented move, the Angolan Government has offered Permanent Residence Status to refugees currently settling in Angola. Angola hosts 57,000 refugees and asylum-seekers from across Africa, 42% of which originate from Angola’s northern neighbour, the Congo.
This new status for refugees now provides refugees and asylum-seekers with the means and the rights to live, work, study and travel in Angola indefinitely and will no longer face restrictions pertaining to their refugee or immigration status. Furthermore, under the permanent residence status, refugees are now also eligible for access to public funds and welfare in Angola.

In an interview with ANGOP, Minister of State Madalena Francisco had this to say:
“For almost 3 decades of war, 550,000 Angolans were forced to turn to refugee status abroad. For decades these people, Angolan people, went without a home, without secure food access, jobs, education and health, among many other basics. They had nothing and no help was offered by anyone. They became forgotten citizens of the world overnight. Now those 550,000 Angolans have returned and are home safe, but we now also have 57,000 people within our borders who are in the exact situation our people were in just years ago. By giving them permanent residency, they can become part of society and we can provide them with the help they need to rebuild their lives. We are giving these refugees opportunities that Angolan refugees could have only dreamed of. We are doing it for the betterment of mankind and the Angolan nation.”

Under this scheme, permanent residence also provides a direct path to obtain Angolan citizenship under a simplified process after just 4 years of uninterrupted continuous residency in Angola.

When asked if permanent residence would be an option for all new refugees and asylum-seekers, the Minister of State stated that it would be an option in which eligibility would be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

The move has been celebrated by local humanitarian agencies and campaigners for promoting self-reliance and independence for refugees; an alternative solution to refugee camps and supports opportunities for refugees to be independent of aid.

However, numerous Members of the National Assembly have publicly expressed their opposition to this policy, fearing that this initiative may trigger a mass exodus of refugees from fellow African countries, particularly Zimbabwe, the Congo, South Africa, Guinea and Cote d’Ivoire, destined to Angola in hopes to benefit from greater economic opportunities and civil rights arising from a potential permanent residence status.

Nevertheless, this policy has undoubtably made Angola one of the world's most refugee-friendly countries overnight.