Former Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos, who died in a clinic in Spain last month and whose remains were recently repatriated, will be buried on Sunday August 28 in Luanda, his 80th birthday, the government announced in a press release. .
“The funeral of His Excellency José Eduardo dos Santos, former President of the Republic of Angola, will take place in Luanda, Sunday, August 28, 2022, at 10 a.m.“, According to the statement received Wednesday by AFP. The former head of state who reigned unchallenged from 1979 to 2017 and accused of having plundered the country’s wealth for the benefit of his family and loved ones, died on July 8 at the age of 79, in a clinic in Barcelona.
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A quarrel opposed his widow and the Angolan government on the one hand, who wanted to repatriate the body for a state funeral, and some of his children who were opposed to it. One of the daughters of the former president,Tchizedos Santos, 44, born from a first marriage, wanted a family funeral in Spain where José Eduardo dos Santos had been living since 2019. She accused the Angolan government of wanting to instrumentalize the burial of her father before elections which will take place. announced tight for the ruling party (MPLA). A Spanish court last week ordered the repatriation to Angola.
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The southern African country, rich in natural resources but with a large part of the population living below the poverty line, votes on Wednesday to choose its deputies. The candidate of the winning party will automatically be designated head of state. Incumbent President Joao Lourenço, 68 and the designated successor to dos Santos in 2017, is seeking a second term. But the ballot is announced as the tightest in the country’s history. The Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), in power since independence from Portugal in 1975, is expected to lose ground against a reinvigorated opposition.
In a context of galloping inflation, severe drought and high cost of living, the opposition candidate, Adalberto Costa Junior, 60, responds to a growing desire to “change“. Joao Lourenço had surprised by quickly turning his back on his mentor once elected, launching a vast anti-corruption campaign to everyone’s surprise and dismissing those close to his former mentor from key positions.