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Vol 37 No 12

Published 7th June 1996


Angola

The state is sick 

The ailing president has sacked all his ministers and seems to be travelling in a different direction from his party

President José Eduardo dos Santos' sacking of Prime Minister Marcolino Moco and his cabinet on 3 June is a belated attempt to rally his troops before they have to start doing business with Jonas Savimbi's political cadres in Luanda. The merging of government and rebel armies is meant to be finished within three months. Dos Santos' sacking of central bank governor António Furtado and banning of foreign exchange dealings is meant to signal a crackdown on the appallingly corrupt and mismanaged forex market. But Angolans are sceptical; Dos Santos is widely seen as heading a weak, divided and discredited party. So discredited that it has taken to locking up foreign priests who criticise its lack of concern for the poor.

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