Angola will respect Zimbabwe’s sovereignty: foreign minister
This article was written by Our reporter on 15 June, at 02 : 23 AM
Angola, as a member of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) will not interfere in the internal affairs of Zimbabwe or undermine the country’s sovereignty.
This was said on Friday by the Angolan Foreign Minister Georges Rebelo Pinto Chikoti who is representing President José Eduaro dos Santos at the Extraordinary Summit of Sadc being held in Maputo, Mozambique.
Speaking to journalists soon after his arrival in Maputo, the former guerrilla fighter declared, “Angola’s position is neither to undermine the sovereignty of our brothers in Zimbabwe nor to undermine the internal processes in Zimbabwe.
“Our position is clear. Zimbabwe is a sovereign country, a liberated country and more so one of the first Independent sub-Saharan countries together with Angola.
“We believe it has the capacity to do its own things. In fact it is one of the countries Angola looks for when in need of political advice and support”.
Chikoti said Sadc was ready to assist Zimbabwe with the election process.
“Angola agrees to the process that happened in Zimbabwe, all was consensual, as there was a referendum in which all Sadc countries participated and supported the way it was conducted,” he said.
Mozambique , Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Namibia, the Democratic Republic of Congo are unflinching in their open support for President Robert Mugabe and his status in the region.
Meanwhile, the MDC-T party led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is planning to appeal to Sadc to pressure President Mugabe to reverse his proclamation declaring the date for harmonised elections as 31 July 2013.
“The MDC will be taking to Sadc its commitment to free and fair election which should be held as soon as possible without delay,” the MDC-T said in a statement released on Thursday – a day after the presidential proclamation.
“However, the party will insist on key reforms that have a bearing on the freeness and fairness of the elections.”
Tsvangirai promised Thursday he would go to court to force President Mugabe to abide by the constitution and implement key democratic reforms before polls are called.
But his lawyers, who were expected to file a court application on Friday said they would file only after the Sadc summit. They are hoping that ‘Sadc action’ will make a formal court challenge unnecessary.
President Mugabe wrote a letter to the principals in the inclusive Government saying he called the election in compliance with an order from the Constitutional Court.
Labels: ANGOLA, GEORGES REBELO PINTO CHIKOTI, ZIMBABWE
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(TALKZIMBABWE) Angola will respect Zimbabwe’s sovereignty: foreign minister
This article was written by Our reporter on 15 June, at 02 : 23 AM
Angola, as a member of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) will not interfere in the internal affairs of Zimbabwe or undermine the country’s sovereignty.
This was said on Friday by the Angolan Foreign Minister Georges Rebelo Pinto Chikoti who is representing President José Eduaro dos Santos at the Extraordinary Summit of Sadc being held in Maputo, Mozambique.
Speaking to journalists soon after his arrival in Maputo, the former guerrilla fighter declared, “Angola’s position is neither to undermine the sovereignty of our brothers in Zimbabwe nor to undermine the internal processes in Zimbabwe.
“Our position is clear. Zimbabwe is a sovereign country, a liberated country and more so one of the first Independent sub-Saharan countries together with Angola.
“We believe it has the capacity to do its own things. In fact it is one of the countries Angola looks for when in need of political advice and support”.
Chikoti said Sadc was ready to assist Zimbabwe with the election process.
“Angola agrees to the process that happened in Zimbabwe, all was consensual, as there was a referendum in which all Sadc countries participated and supported the way it was conducted,” he said.
Mozambique , Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Namibia, the Democratic Republic of Congo are unflinching in their open support for President Robert Mugabe and his status in the region.
Meanwhile, the MDC-T party led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is planning to appeal to Sadc to pressure President Mugabe to reverse his proclamation declaring the date for harmonised elections as 31 July 2013.
“The MDC will be taking to Sadc its commitment to free and fair election which should be held as soon as possible without delay,” the MDC-T said in a statement released on Thursday – a day after the presidential proclamation.
“However, the party will insist on key reforms that have a bearing on the freeness and fairness of the elections.”
Tsvangirai promised Thursday he would go to court to force President Mugabe to abide by the constitution and implement key democratic reforms before polls are called.
But his lawyers, who were expected to file a court application on Friday said they would file only after the Sadc summit. They are hoping that ‘Sadc action’ will make a formal court challenge unnecessary.
President Mugabe wrote a letter to the principals in the inclusive Government saying he called the election in compliance with an order from the Constitutional Court.
Labels: ANGOLA, GEORGES REBELO PINTO CHIKOTI, ZIMBABWE
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South Africa and Angola to collaborate on infrastructure development
July 22, 2012
Luanda, Angola
South Africa and Angola, through the Regional Spatial Development Initiative Programme (RSDIP) and the Industrial Development Institute of Angola (IDIA), have signed an agreement on technical cooperation.
The agreement is aimed at further stimulating infrastructure development in Angola, according to South African deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Elizabeth Thabethe on Sunday.
“The intention of the agreement is to support the infrastructure development that is currently taking place in Angola and make sure that small and big industries are supported through such programmes,” Thabethe said.
Speaking during the signing ceremony, Thabethe said the South African government was committed to taking the implementation of the programme to the next level, as infrastructure development was high on Pretoria’s priority list.
Angola’s deputy Minister of Geology, Mines and Industry, Kiala Gabriel, said the agreement would assist with the infrastructure backlog that his country was currently facing.
“We acknowledge the work done by the South African government and businesses in our country. We are now saying our market is ready for investment and cooperation with other countries,” Gabriel said.
The agreement emanates from the Memorandum of Understanding on Trade and Industrial Cooperation the Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies and his counterpart in Angola signed in 2009.
The agreement also marks a great step forward for South Africa – Angola relations. South Africa had until 2009 largely ignored the Angolan market and South African business activity in that country was mostly driven by private businesses mainly in the IT and financial sectors and such businesses rarely liaised with the South African government.
The move also opens great opportunities for an ailing South African economy, with Angola needing an estimated ZAR 20bn spending on infrastructure following years of civil war. Angola is also a top exporter of oil and draws the greatest foreign direct investment (FDI) on the African continent; mostly from China, Russia and Brazil.
- Political Analysis South Africa/APA/SAN
Labels: ANGOLA, INFRASTRUCTURE, SOUTH AFRICA
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The end of refugee status for Angolans in Zambia
By The Post
Sun 24 June 2012, 13:30 CAT
THE refugee status of Angolan refugees in Zambia who fled Angola as a result of the armed conflict between 1961 and 2002 will cease as of Saturday, June 30, 2012. 'Migrations' of this nature are not new to our continent. Most of our people are where they are as a result of fleeing from conflicts.
Our migrations around the savanna were not necessarily in search of fortunes but as a result of fleeing from conflicts within families, clans and tribes. This was easy before Africa was curved into the modern states we have.
At that time nobody was considered a refugee. For centuries, our ancient continent has bled from many gaping sword wounds. We don't want any more conflicts, any more displacements of people, any more refugees. One disturbilising conflict anywhere on our continent is one too many.
Conflict threatens not only the gains we have made but also our collective future. And we should treat the question of peace and stability on our continent as a common challenge. Let's close this history of refugees. Let our people move or migrate from one country to another freely as part of our regional integration and not as a result of fleeing from conflict.
We are proud that our country has been for many decades a home for many Africans fleeing from conflict. The internal peace our country has enjoyed enabled our neighbours to have a home to run to, to escape to, to seek refuge in. We have honoured our human and international obligations to refugees with sufficient honour and integrity. In a few days' time, our Angolan brothers and sisters who were here as refugees will cease to have that status.
But this doesn't mean that they will cease to have anything to do with us. There are some who have to go back to Angola against their wishes. We would love them to stay and make our country theirs, their homeland. But this may not be possible in all individual cases. But as far as possible, we urge our government to extend permanent hospitality to those who need it under any status possible. There are many ways one can make or share with us the hospitality of our homeland. Those who qualify, those who can be taken on as citizens, let them be taken on as citizens. Those who can be taken on as permanent residents, let them make this country their permanent home. There are people who came in here as refugees and have spent most of their lives here. This is the only country they really know. It is inhuman to unjustly deny them the opportunity to stay in Zambia beyond June 30, 2012.
When some of these refugees were leaving Angola, their villages were on fire and have never been rebuilt. They will not be going back to their villages. They will be going back to a country they now don't know. The only country they know is Zambia. And there are also many children of refugees born here who don't know anything about Angola. The only country they know is Zambia. As far as possible, they should be allowed to stay here if they so desire.
However, in saying all this we do appreciate the challenges that this may entail on our government which is struggling to meet the needs of its own citizens. But there is no limit to being humane.
For more than 40 years we have lived with refugees from across the whole sub-region, but we are still there. Allowing those who are already here to stay may be a burden but it will not kill us. We therefore urge our government to bend backwards and accommodate the requests of those who want to remain in Zambia after June 30.
And what this calls for is increased economic cooperation among our countries. There is a lot Zambia and Angola need to do together for the benefit of all our people. And moreover, many Angolans have relatives in Zambia. They share common languages, culture and even chiefs. Where do the Mbunda people of Zambia come from? Is it not from Angola?
Let's find a better and more durable way of dealing with the issues of migrations among our people. And we can achieve this through meaningful regional integration.
As we stand on the threshold of a new African era characterised by democracy, sustainable economic development and a reawakening of our rich cultural values and heritage, regional integration remains our hope. But the challenge on this front is to move from rhetoric to action.
The reality can no longer be ignored that we live in an interdependent region, continent, world which is bound together to a common destiny. We operate in a region which is searching for a better life together. Let us join hands to ensure that we strengthen the democratic initiatives that are being undertaken by our people and the independence of our countries and translate these into peace, prosperity and equity for all our people. And as our consciousness grows about our interdependence, so should all the major decisions that our countries make become subject to common review.
For as long as the majority of people anywhere on the continent feel oppressed, are not allowed democratic participation in decision-making process, and cannot elect their own leaders in free and fair elections, there will always be tension and conflict. And where there is tension and conflict, there is likely to be some people fleeing the tension and conflict and take refuge in other countries. We should never allow any of our countries to have such tensions and conflicts anymore.
It is in the character of growth that we should learn from both our pleasant and unpleasant experiences. The suffering of people in any single country in our region affects all of us no matter where we find ourselves. Peace and prosperity, tranquillity and security are only possible if they are enjoyed by all.
We should never again allow political intolerance to unleash waves and waves of refugees in our region. Nor shall our voices be stifled if we see a sister nation heading toward the path of political intolerance that will result in refugees. The great lesson of our time is that no regime can survive if it acts above the heads of the ordinary citizens of the country.
As for us Zambians having had a peaceful existence since independence, we can fall into the trap of washing our hands of difficulties that others face. Let's always treat the problems and challenges of our neighbours as ours. And be always concerned about their plight and take it as ours as well. The spirit of Ubuntu, that profound African sense that we are human only through the humanity of other human beings - is not a parochial phenomenon, but has added globally to our common search for a better world.
Labels: ANGOLA, REFUGEES
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Angolan refugees to lose refugee status on Jun 30
By Moses Kuwema
Sun 24 June 2012, 13:28 CAT
HOME affairs deputy minister Dr Ngosa Simbyakula says immigration and citizenship laws will begin to apply on all Angolan refugees living in Zambia after June 30.
In an interview with journalists after the reception to mark the world refugee day at the Swedish ambassador's residence on Friday, Dr Simbyakula said after June 30 all Angolan refugees would seize to be refugees.
"Those who qualify will be able to apply and we will consider their applications and then for the others they will need to regularise their stay here with the help of their governments. There are various permits one can obtain in order to be in Zambia, resident permits, study permits or business permits," Dr Simbyakula said.
But United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) country representative Joyce Mends-Cole said her organisation would want the return of refugees to be their choice.
Mends-Cole said the refugees had lived in Zambia over the years and had become Zambians in their hearts and minds.
"We are saying to the government, can you consider some of these people who have shown their love for Zambia and that they are contributing already to the continuing development of Zambia. They want to be here, it's not as if they don't like Angola, they had to flee at a certain time and some of them are no longer familiar with Angola and some have never seen Angola because they were born here," Mends-Cole said.
Mends-Cole said she was hopeful that local integration would become an actuality but that she would want to defer everything to the Zambian government, who would tell her when this was going to happen.
During the same event, Swedish ambassador to Zambia Lena Nordstrom said her country would remain open and tolerant to citizens who would wish to seek asylum in her country.
And Jacob Mphepo, the commissioner for refugees and ministry of home affairs were presented with the plaques of appreciation for the role they continue to play in Zambia's hosting of refugees.
Labels: ANGOLA, REFUGEES
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Angola to supply finished petroleum products to Zambia
By Chibaula Silwamba and Gift Chanda
Sun 08 Jan. 2012, 11:30 CAT
ANGOLA has agreed to supply finished petroleum products to Zambia, says energy permanent secretary George Zulu.
In an interview in Lusaka yesterday, Zulu said Angola had suggested that the two countries form a joint venture, similar to Tanzania Zambia Mafuta (TAZAMA), for the supply of petroleum.
"Angola is indicating that they are ready and have enough finished petroleum products for us to lift from there. We will start with lifting the finished products and then we move on to crude which we will take to Indeni for processing," Zulu said. "President Michael Sata sent first Republican president Dr Kenneth Kaunda as his special envoy to Angola and president Kaunda came back with very positive news that the government of Angola is very much willing to help Zambia secure petroleum products from that country."
Angola, which borders with Zambia in Western and North Western provinces, is Africa's second largest oil producer after Nigeria and is highly tipped to surpass the west African nation this year.
Zulu said energy minister Christopher Yaluma would next week lead a delegation of Zambian technical experts for bilateral meetings in Angola to cement the agreements on the procurement of petroleum from there.
"A technical team is now being prepared as a follow up because our friends in Angola have gone ahead in making preparations to deal with Zambia this January. I am composing a technical team to go and meet their colleagues in Angola so that we can start looking at Angola for fuel," Zulu said. "The intentions of the PF government are to bring the cost of fuel to manageable levels by the majority of Zambians."
Zulu said Zambia's sourcing of petroleum products from afar had led to high landing costs, which were affecting ordinary consumers and hampering national development.
He said, therefore, Angola would be the cheapest source of petroleum products and best option.
"The President has given us ultimatums that we must deal with Angola very seriously and Angola is very serious. This process is being tailored in three phases: the first phase is to start lifting finished petroleum products from Angola to Zambia; the second phase is to set up the railway line. Our colleagues in Angola are doing Benguela railway and here we have to do the same to bring oil at cheaper cost," Zulu said. "The third is to put up a pipe line; we want to work out a joint venture similar to TAZAMA. Angola has invited Zambia to have a joint venture between the two countries so that we can benefit from Angola."
Zulu said Dr Kaunda and the Angolan government had agreed on preliminary areas of cooperation.
President Sata has repeatedly called for sourcing of fuel from Angola.
The President also urged exploration for oil in Western and North Western provinces.
Zambia, a landlocked country with eight neighbours, sources its petroleum products from the Middle East via the port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.
However, the cartel-determined prices of crude oil on the world market, freight and other costs, and partly corrupt middlemen in the procurement process, have made the landing costs high in Zambia.
Meanwhile, energy director Oscar Kalumiana says there are currently no discussions going on regarding the immediate recapitalisation of Indeni oil Refinery by the government.
Kalumiana said the government had no immediate intention to recapitalise the country's sole oil refinery.
He said Indeni has managed to turn around its performance in the recent past using internal resources.
Indeni has been underperforming because of decaying infrastructure, but recent maintenance works have improved the plant's performance, which is estimated to be running at a capacity utilisation rate of over 70 per cent.
The plant needs in excess of US $65 million to make necessary upgrades for the aging refinery.
"Currently there has been no discussion around making that decision to recaptalise Indeni," said Kalumiana on the sidelines of the brief on the fuel situation in the country. "Indeni has come round in terms of making profits compared to other years. They are not making losses…it is back on its feet. In terms of further investment I think that is something that government will have to look at later and make a decision."
Recently, the government said it would not float any of its shares in the 24,000 barrel-per-day oil refinery on the Lusaka bourse or seek another strategic equity partner after buying French oil giant Total's 50 percent stake.
It immediately became unclear as to how the government intended to raise the needed capital to get the plant running at 100 per cent.
Floating shares on the Lusaka Stock Exchange (LuSE) would have also enable Zambians to partly own the refinery.
Indeni initially was jointly owned by Total El Fina EIF and the Zambian government when they both held 50 per cent shares each.
The 38-year-old plant annually shuts down for routine maintenance but the shutdowns usually lead to fuel shortages in the country which also threaten to reverse the country's economic gains.
Labels: ANGOLA, FUEL, TAZAMA
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KK on a reconciliation mission to Angola
By Bright Mukwasa
Thu 20 Oct. 2011, 14:00 CAT
PRESIDENT Michael Sata has sent first Republican president Kenneth Kaunda to Angola to apologise to that government over the MMD's treacherous conduct during that country's civil war led by the late rebel leader Jonas Savimbi.
Speaking at State House yesterday when he received credentials from Sudan, Angola, Royal Kingdom of Norway, South Korea and Finland envoys, President Sata apologised to Angola on behalf of Zambia.
"I must apologise that MMD was very treacherous during your struggle against our late brother Savimbi. I apologise on behalf of Zambia that what our colleagues in MMD did was fraudulent, was greed.
"And as I am talking, our first president Dr Kenneth Kaunda is in Angola. I sent him as my envoy to go and personally apologise to the President," President Sata said.
Savimbi was the founder of the UNITA movement in March 1966, that first waged a guerrilla war against Portuguese colonial rule between 1966-1974, then confronted the rival Movement for the Liberation of the People of Angola (MPLA) during the decolonisation conflict between 1974 and 1975. After independence in 1975, Savimbi fought the ruling MPLA in the Angolan civil war until his death in a clash with government troops in 2002.
"Is it not a shame that Angola will be developing an US$8 million refinery and we are in Zambia and we are not benefiting from what Angola is doing. Through that we will be meeting my brother or send some people we want to link by road, by railway to your great country and see how we can strengthen our mutual benefits."
President Sata said Zambia and Angola had similar problems which had forced some of the people from that country to run into Zambia and there was need to strengthen the relationship of the two governments.
"Those who don't want to go back to Angola, this is their country, they can stay. They are Africans. Those who want to go, they can go. This question of refugees must come to an end because in borderlines people cultivate in Angola, others cultivate in Zambia, people marry in Angola, others marry in Zambia there's no passport when they are doing those."
And President Sata called on African countries to strengthen their co-operations in various areas.
He said his government would also consider opening up missions in countries where there was none.
"The reason we don't cement our relations Africans it's one-way traffic. So we need to have two-way traffic. The Europeans one time they had a plan route sea to sea, Cape to Cairo. How have we failed to achieve that? We understand the difficulties in which your country is going through and in one way or the other, we might not be having armed conflict but we also have the same thing," President Sata said when he received credentials from Sudanese Ambassador-designate Mohammed Isa Edam Balila.
Labels: ANGOLA, INFRASTRUCTURE, KENNETH KAUNDA, MICHAEL SATA
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Zambia apologises to Angola for backing UNITA
Wed Oct 19, 2011 2:05pm GMT
LUSAKA Oct 19 (Reuters) - Zambia's new government apologised to Angola on Wednesday for backing the losing party in the country's 27-year civil war as it tries to repair ties with its oil-rich neighbour.
The move by Zambia's recently elected President Michael Sata is the latest in a series of major policy shifts by the country, which ranks as Africa's largest copper producer.
"As I am talking, our first president, Dr. Kenneth Kaunda, is in Angola. I have sent him as my envoy to go and personally apologise to the president," Sata told Angola's new ambassador Balbina Malheiros Dias Da Silva.
Angola had accused Zambia of backing the UNITA movement, which lost the war to MPLA party of President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos, but Lusaka had previously denied the charge.
Zambia relies on semi-refined oil imports from the Middle East but has been studying plans to import crude oil from Angola and set up a new oil refinery locally. Sata also said Zambia planned more links with Angola by road and railway.
Sata's victory in the September election led to a quick and peaceful transfer of power -- a rare event for Africa. A critic of Chinese investment in the region, Sata swept to power on the back of voters who had seen their economy grow but felt the riches from its mines had not made their way to the people.
He promised to try to make China more accountable for the actions of its firms operating in Zambia.
Sata has also been seeking an apology from another neighbour, Malawi, for the way he was treated during a visit about four years ago.
President Bingu wa Mutharika's government arrested Sata when the then opposition politician travelled to Malawi to visit a former president. Sata was bundled into a car and driven several hundred kilometres before he was dumped at the border and told he could never come back. (Reporting by Chris Mfula; Editing by Jon Herskovitz and Sophie Hares)
Labels: ANGOLA, KENNETH KAUNDA, MICHAEL SATA, ZAMBIA
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Help us fight illegal sanctions, envoy asks Angola
By: Samantha Chidzero
Posted: Wednesday, July 28, 2010 6:40 am
ZIMBABWE'S outgoing ambassador to Angola bid his farewell to that country's vice president, Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos on Tuesday in Luanda and asked for that country to support the lifting of illegal sanctions against the country.
Mr James Manzou was speaking to the press at the end of an audience granted to him by Angolan vice president. He is taking up a new ambassadorial position at the United Nations in Geneva. He said the sanctions have been damaging for Zimbabwe’s economic and social development.
The diplomat said there has been some progress in the functioning of the inclusive Government and in the framework of the creation of the new constitution.
He added that although the economy is growing, it is import for the developed countries to lift sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe as there is no reason for sanctions.
He said he is expecting to count on Angola’s help to fight against the western imposed sanctions.
Mr Manzou said while the economy of Angola was on the rise, there was no large volume of trade between the two countries, due to the international economic crisis and the sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe.
Labels: ANGOLA, SANCTIONS, ZDERA
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Oil: Angola eyes extension to maritime border with Congo
26 March 2010
defenceWeb
Angola is trying to reach an agreement with neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo before it submits a request to the United Nations for its maritime border to be extended to cover an area with huge oil reserves.
The Anglolan parliament approved a resolution on Wednesday that allows the government to enter into talks with the Congo, which last year accused Angola of stealing its oil , about the border extension. Angolan Justice Minister Guilhermina Prata said the goal was to extend Angola's maritime border to up to 350 nautical miles from 200 miles, Reuters reports.
"An agreement with the Democratic Republic of Congo on our northern maritime border will create the conditions for Angola to submit a request (to the United Nations)," Prata told members of parliament. Angola rivals Nigeria as Africa's biggest oil producer.
But Congo, struggling to recover from a 1998-2003 war, has no offshore oil operations. Its narrow Atlantic coastline lies between the main part of Angola and its northern exclave of Cabinda. Under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, coastal states may explore and exploit the natural resources of their continental shelf for up to 200 nautical miles from shore. They can apply to extend their border's outer limit to up to 350 nautical miles in certain circumstances.
Although strong regional allies, tension between the two nations erupted last year after Kinshasa accused Luanda of stealing its oil and later expelled thousands of Angolan immigrants from its land in a wave of deportations. Angola Foreign Minister Assuncao dos Anjos said ties between the two nations are good and denied accusations that Angola was illegally pumping Congo's oil.
"Relations between Angola and the Congo are good," dos Anjos told Reuters on the sidelines of a parliamentary session in Luanda. Asked why Angola planned to request an extension to its maritime boundary, dos Anjos replied: "this extension request comes from a decision by the international community to allow nations to stretch their maritime border."
Brazil said earlier this week it was trying to forge an alliance with African and South American countries to defend seabed mining rights and strategic lanes in the South Atlantic by extending maritime borders. Such a move could render huge profits for nations like Angola, which boasts a similar underwater rock formation to Brazil, which in 2007 made a pre-salt discovery of some 8 billion barrels of crude in its Tupi field.
Labels: ANGOLA, BORDERS, DRC
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Local firm proposes $1.5bn oil pipeline from Angola
By Kabanda Chulu
Tue 01 Dec. 2009, 04:00 CAT
A ZAMBIAN company, Basali Ba Liseli Resources (BBLR) has proposed to set up a US $1.5 billion oil pipeline from New Lobito Oil Refinery in Angola to Kapiri Mposhi aimed at providing reliable and sustainable supply of finished petroleum products.
In this project, BBLR intends to work with the governments of Angola and Zambia, with the collaboration of financing institutions and strategic technical partners in initially constructing a 2,000-kilometre pipeline from the oil refinery in Lobito to Kapiri Mposhi, in Zambia, to transport a minimum of 25,000 barrels per day, of refined petroleum products (12.5 per cent of the proposed refinery capacity).
Earlier this year, the Angolan government commenced construction of a new oil refinery to cost US $8 billion and would produce 200,000 barrels per day of refined petroleum products including petrol and kerosene, among other products.
It is projected that the refinery, being constructed at the Port of Lobito, would be due for commissioning by the end of 2013.
And according to the Angolan Ministry of Oil, 90 per cent of the production would be consumed domestically and within the SADC region while the balance of 10 per cent would be exported to countries outside the region.
Explaining the project concept yesterday, BBLR director Wamulume Kalabo said the goal was to contribute to the enhancement of Zambia’s energy security, in particular, and of the region, in general.
“This is in full recognition of the unavoidable imperativeness of energy to national survival as well as to socio-economic activities.
We realise that to attain and sustain, this goal, there is a need to identify an efficient, secure and sustainable formula to deliver petroleum products to the final users,” Kalabo said. “BBLR wishes to work with the governments of Angola and Zambia as equity partners from the onset, with a riding Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) arrangement for a specific period.
While BBLR’s main motivation is income, the motivations of the governments of Angola and Zambia will be to enhance the business and investment climate of the two countries and the region, through the relative reduction in the pump price of the petroleum products and to reduce energy import bill for Zambia and other beneficiary countries, and hence free resources to funding other activities like, social infrastructure, education and healthcare.”
Kalabo said other intended motivations for the two governments would be to enhance energy security through possible creation of adequate reserves and to enhance regional integration and security through the co-ownership, co-management and co-operation to be created by the project, and to enhance the governments’ revenue through profits from the business.
When asked if due diligence studies had been conducted to determine the viability of the project and if a strategic partner had been found, Kalabo said the Angolan government had done some studies, stating that the best and viable option of transporting petroleum products in the region, including Zambia, was through pipelines.
“We should not continue accessing petroleum from expensive and far places when the commodity can be acquired next door. We have found Global Industrial Solution Incorporation of China and this company will be our EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) partner meaning that they will design, procure and construct and upon completion they will operate the pipeline under BOT arrangement for a period of time then hand it over to us and the two governments will not put any capital but will become shareholders so that the project can secure letters of comfort,” Kalabo said.
“This is a very viable project and it has been well received by various financiers, meaning that the project has been listed for possible funding and they are just waiting for us to secure letters of comfort from the two governments which we want to do under the memorandum of understanding and we have written to the government and we expect response this week.”
Kalabo said finances would also be sourced through BBLR office in South Africa, although the project and company were incorporated in Zambia.
He said the objective was to transport a minimum of 25,000 barrels or 3,972,750 litres per day of refined products from Angola via pipeline to Kapiri Mposhi for purposes of redistribution within Zambia and other countries such as the DR Congo and Malawi.
“Our major objective is to give the Zambians and some countries in the region competitively priced petroleum products, coupled with a reliable and sustainable mode of supply. This will in turn reduce the cost of doing business and enhance the ease of doing business, and in turn enhance the inflow of foreign direct investment, as well as enhance the level of local investment,” Kalabo said.
“If Zambia will be consuming 2,500,000 litres per day, the balance, 1,472,750 litres will go into reserves, and into fulfilling off-take agreements with neighbouring countries.”
Kalabo said petroleum was an unavoidable ingredient in economic development of Zambia and the world at large. He said the petroleum import bill was the single biggest expense import bill for Zambia.
“Besides the constraint the import bill imposes on national resources, the resultant relative high fuel pump prices impacts negatively on the cost of doing business, and hence makes Zambian products and services uncompetitive,” Kalabo said.
It is visualised that the MoU and project structuring should be concluded by end of March 2010 and a comprehensive study will be in place by the end of September 2010 while financing agreement should be targeted for March 2011. Construction works are expected to commence by September 2011 with commissioning of pipeline operations expected by 2016.
“If all would-be equity partners will understand the necessity of the project from the onset, the project preparation timelines from MoU to commencement can be reduced by more than half and the support required will be mainly the political will from both states by way of conceptual buy-in,” said Kalabo.
Labels: ANGOLA, OIL
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Thousands left homeless after evictions in Angola
LOUISE REDVERS | LUANDA, ANGOLA - Aug 04 2009 09:09
Piles of smashed concrete bricks, crumpled pieces of metal, dirty foam mattresses and ripped plastic bags.
This is all that remains of what was home to 3 000 Angolan families who could do nothing but stand and watch as their properties were flattened by government bulldozers.
SOS Habitat, a non-governmental organisation, says more than 15 000 people have been made homeless in the recent forced evictions on the southern peripheries of the capital Luanda, in a string of land clearances to make way for gated condominiums and shopping centres.
"They arrived at around 3am," explained Rosa, a pregnant mother of five who has lived for three years in the area of two neighbouring informal settlements known as Baghdad and Iraq.
"First came the police, and then the machines and they just started to knock down the houses. There was no warning, we had no choice but to leave because of all the police so we just grabbed what we could and then watched as they pulled down our homes," said the 29-year-old.
Many of those affected claim they have documents signed by the municipal administrator giving them rights to the land.
But according to the provincial government of Luanda, the families were occupying the area unlawfully and therefore will not be provided with alternative accommodation.
"The people who say they have documents do not have documents. That land was being occupied illegally," said vice-governor Bento Soito.
He added that many people claiming to have lost their homes were from elsewhere in Luanda but had gone there in the past two weeks
to try to claim some compensation from the government.
CONTINUES BELOW
"It is not a new phenomenon," he said. "People have done this before."
But the people in the neighbouring Baghdad and Iraq settlements are sticking by their stories.
"For the first time, I managed to get a plot of land with paperwork. I saved up money from my job and bit by bit I have built my home all on my own. Now we are told the land has a new owner and we must leave," said Pedro Manuel (24).
"There is so much land in this country, the government does not need to take land from its own people."
The issue goes deeper than the debris left by bulldozers, warned Luiz Araujo, director of SOS Habitat, an Angolan housing NGO.
"Something must be done, not just about these people who have been left with nothing, but about this situation of forced evictions and these ongoing human rights violations," he said.
"If nothing is done, it is going to lead to a revolt and it's going to create conflict which could end up being very serious and something that no one wants because we have had enough war in this country."
An early taste of this sentiment was seen last week when around 200 of the former residents protested outside Parliament.
The demonstration was short-lived as armed police moved quickly to disperse the crowd who were chanting "give us back our homes" --
but it was a rare display of anger in a country where few dare to challenge the authorities.
Vice-governor Soito accepts the capital's housing problem is "critical", saying Luanda's overcrowding is a hangover of the civil war which only ended in 2002 and destroyed the country's infrastructure.
The 27-year conflict saw millions cram into the capital where they have remained in informal settlements with little access to power and water, many of which sit opposite luxury housing estates favoured by the Angolan elite and expatriate oil workers.
President José Eduardo dos Santos, who has been in power for 30 years, pledged last year to build one million homes by 2012 and there are ambitious plans to regenerate neighbourhoods across the capital.
Luanda governor Francisca Espirito Santo told a conference on the city last week that improving housing and living standards was a government priority to reduce poverty, and pledged a shake up of the land allocation system.
But, while the conference delegates discussed the proposals over a lavish buffet lunch, just a few kilometre away in Baghdad and Iraq, people sat among piles of rubble, wondering what would happen next. - AFP
Labels: ANGOLA, HOUSING
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Angola presidential vote seen delayed until 2010
Written by chama
Wednesday, July 15, 2009 4:26:13 PM
LUANDA (Reuters) - Prospects for Angola's post-war presidential poll to take place in 2009 receded on Wednesday after the group in charge of drafting a new constitution, a precondition for the vote, said it was likely to need more time.
The Constitutional Commission, comprised of members of parliament, said in a statement that work on a new constitution could take longer than expected. The new constitution was due before September 23.
"After this, it is clear that there will be no time for elections to be held this year," Justino Pinto de Andrade, an economist and political analyst at Luanda's Catholic University told Reuters.
The ruling MPLA party, which won 81 percent of the vote in elections last year, has said a presidential poll can take place only after the new constitution is approved.
The presidential vote will be the first since the end of Angola's three-decade long civil war in 2002 and only the second in the southwestern African nation's history.
President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, 67, won the first round of Angola's presidential election in 1992, which took place during a lull in fighting between the ruling MPLA and rebels from the opposition UNITA party.
But UNITA former leader Jonas Savimbi, killed by government troops in 2002, refused to accept the results and the fighting resumed. Dos Santos has been in power for 30 years.
The new constitution will decide, among other things, whether a president is elected through parliament or by popular vote -- as is currently the case.
It could also pave the way for multi-billion dollars deals in Angola's oil sector. Angola rivals Nigeria as Africa's biggest oil producer.
Major oil companies like Chevron and Total have been waiting for the opening of a new bidding round for Angola's offshore oil blocks. The last tender was suspended because of the 2008 parliamentary elections.
Labels: ANGOLA, ELECTIONS
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Namibia, Angola to build $7 billion power plant
Written by James Macharia and Agnieszka Flak
Wednesday, April 22, 2009 6:14:34 PM
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Namibia and Angola plan to build a joint $7 billion hydro power plant on a river that runs along their common border to produce 400 megawatts of electricity, a senior government official said on Tuesday.
Daniel Zaire, the deputy director for electricity at the Namibian ministry of mines and energy, told Reuters the construction of the project on the Kunene river would start by next March, and would be carried out by Brazilian companies. The plant would be built on a 50/50 basis by the two countries despite the financial crisis, Zaire said.
"The construction will take between five to eight years, and may kick off in March next year once all feasibility are completed," Zaire said on the sidelines of an Africa power conference in Johannesburg.
"The project will be financed by the two governments, development agencies and some banks in South Africa," he said.
He said reliance on imports from South Africa's state utility Eskom had put Namibia in a vulnerable position, and it wanted to widen its power supply alternatives.
Namibia, a producer of gold, diamonds, uranium and copper, faces a shortfall of power and imports electricity from neighbouring South Africa, itself beset by power shortages.
Across the border, Angola, which rivals Nigeria as Africa's biggest oil producer and depends on oil exports for 90 percent of its income, suffers frequent power blackouts.
Namibian power officials said the country was expanding its power supply, but development of its big Kudu gas-to-power project, has again been delayed, partly due to disagreement over commercial terms, as well as technical difficulties in piping the gas from the ocean.
The original plan was for Kudu to supply 800 MW of power under a joint development agreement with Eskom.
Bertholdt Mbuere, chief operating officer at Namibia's state utility NamPower, said he expects a decision to be reached on Kudu by August. He said the parties involved would decide whether to have Eskom as part of the project, or whether Kudu would generate half its capacity to supply Namibia only.
Mbuere said power expansion costs had risen, but he was confident that with government support, international funding and its own healthy balance sheet, NamPower would fund the projects.
"The crisis (which had seen power demand fall) is our window of opportunity to expand our generation capacity, bring up those projects which were in the pipeline, expedite them and bring them onstream as soon as possible," he told Reuters.
The country has rolled out a 13.9 billion Namibian dollar investment programme until 2013 to increase capacity, and expand its transmission network to cope with rising demand from mine expansions in the country.
Labels: ANGOLA, INFRASTRUCTURE, NAMIBIA
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Our unknown 3,092 cholera deaths
Julia Guercia – Opinion
Sat, 20 Dec 2008 14:15:00 +0000
DISCLAIMER: This article was originally written in Portuguese. We had to seek translation services for it. Any misrepresentation of facts was not deliberate.DEAR EDITOR – The World Health Organisation has called for a doubling of efforts to combat the cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe. We are all concerned about the deaths of Zimbabweans from the cholera outbreak in that country, especially because cholera is a simple disease to treat and in this day and age, people should not really be dying of this disease.
My own country, Angola has been battling with the epidemic for almost a decade now. We have not had the same exposure and hence our efforts have been kept under wraps from the international community.
As you all know Angola is a country with substantial deposits of oil and many Western countries invest in the country and quietly remit the wealth to their own countries, so Angola has been spared the media onslaught that Zimbabwe has had. This onslaught, in one hand, has been helpful for concerned donors and humanitarian agencies to come to Zimbabwe. On the other, it has been used for propaganda purposes.
Unfortunately, our people die today and the world is spared that news. I have been working with French and Portuguese small agencies to ensure the survival of my people – day in and day out. We have appealed to all the rich oil companies to help eradicate this disease but that has never happened.
Let me give you the shocking statistics, Mr. Editor.
In 1987, Angola had over 16,000 reported cases of cholera and 1,510 deaths from the disease. In 1988 alone, a year later there were 15,100 cases. Between 1997 and 2005 no one reported cholera in the country. It was kept under wraps.
Between February 2006 and May 2007, there were 82,204 reported cases of the epidemic with 3,092 cholera related deaths. The outbreak reached 16 out of 18 provinces. This year alone, the cases are already in the thousands although the official statistics are not yet out
I do not mean to diminish the extent of the crisis in Zimbabwe, but would like to highlight that my country has been left off the international radar. Angola has huge resources, is a rich country with a lot of oil revenues that could be used for the betterment of the lives of our people.
Please allow the world to see this reality that is unfolding out our countries and the politicization of the plight of people. If all the rich companies that invest in Africa were concerned about public health all of these crises that we experience today would have been a thing of the past. There should be corporate social responsibility by all these big oil and mineral companies that make huge profits, but fail to look after the populations of the countries they make the money from.
BP or British Petroleum made profits of US$17.29 billion in 2007 yet today we still have to fight hard to get NGOs and humanitarian agencies to support our efforts.
This is the story of our African continent and the plunder of its riches today.
Julia Guercia – Opinion
Portugal
Labels: ANGOLA, CHOLERA, COLOUR REVOLUTIONS, NEOCOLONIALISM
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Rebels in the Congo accuse Angola, Zimbabwe
Associated Press
Wed, 05 Nov 2008 01:59:00 +0000
REBELS in Congo are accusing Angola and Zimbabwe of mobilizing troops to fight in Congo in a repeat of a 1998-2002 war that drew in armies from a half-dozen African nations. Rebel spokesman Bertrand Bisimwa has offered no proof of the allegation, which Zimbabwe denies. Angola has not yet commented. Congo's government appealed last week for help from longtime ally Angola.
A resurgence of Congo's long-running fighting on August displaced some 250,000 people, but has since subsided. The conflict is fueled by tensions left over from Rwanda's 1994 genocide. In 1998 the war sucked in a half-dozen countries. Angola and Zimbabwe fought for Congo in exchange for access to copper and diamond concessions. Rwanda and Uganda backed rival rebel factions.
AP
Labels: ANGOLA, DRC, ZIMBABWE
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Lift Zimbabwe sanctions - Angola
Our reporter
Wed, 23 Jul 2008 10:30:00 +0000
ANGOLA yesterday urged the European Union to lift all sanctions against Zimbabwe because they pose an obstacle to negotiations aimed at ending that nation's political and economic crisis.
“There is no reason to justify the maintenance of these sanctions,” Foreign Minister João Bernardo Miranda was quoted by Bloomberg in an interview yesterday on state-run Angolan National Radio. “The EU should very soon lift all sanctions against the leaders of Zimbabwe.”
The E.U. announced yesterday it will add 37 people linked to President Robert Mugabe's ruling party to its list of 131 people who are targeted with sanctions. The measures, including asset freezes and travel bans, came a day after President Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai signed an agreement to begin crucial talks to end the crisis in the country.
Talks between Mugabe's ruling party and Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change should be supported by the international community, Miranda said.
“This dialogue is for real, therefore it is practical that the international community to help to establish a new political order in Zimbabwe.”
President Mugabe won the June 27 presidential runoff election which Tsvangirai withthdrew from, alleging a state-sponsored campaign of violence against his supporters.
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown has given mixed signals in his reaction to the signing of the MoU in Zimbabwe.
Speaking on Monday after a meeting with Kenyan President Raila Odinga, Brown said: “The signing of an agreement this week between Zimbabwe's leaders is a welcome step forward, and I applaud those who worked to deliver it,” adding that “it must be matched by an end to violence against the MDC, and full humanitarian access for NGO's.”
However, Brown also said that, ”Any transitional government must represent the will of the people, as demonstrated so clearly at the end of March.”
He also justified the imposition of further sanctions on the government of President Mugabe saying, “In the meantime, we will continue to take action against those responsible for the violence, as the E.U. did yesterday (Tuesday 22 July, 2008) in expanding sanctions” against the government of Zimbabwe.
Labels: ANGOLA, SANCTIONS, ZIMBABWE
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Lift sanctions, Angola tells EU
Herald Reporters
Zanu-PF and MDC-T negotiators flew to South Africa yesterday evening to begin talks to resolve the country’s political and economic problems as Angola called on the European Union to lift the illegal embargo against Harare. The call came on the same day as the Zanu-PF Politburo held an extraordinary meeting in Harare where it endorsed dialogue. Meanwhile, Russia said the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding vindicated its position at the United Nations Security Council to oppose more sanctions against Zimbabwe.
The ruling party negotiators, Cde Patrick Chinamasa and Cde Nicholas Goche, and their MDC-T counterparts Tendai Biti and Elton Mangoma were on the same South African Airways flight to Johannesburg.
Airport officials confirmed the four negotiators were travelling on the same plane that was scheduled to take off at 1810 hours.
MDC negotiators Welshman Ncube and Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga were believed to have already flown to South Africa.
On Tuesday, Cde Chinamasa said the talks would begin today at an undisclosed venue.
The negotiating teams have two weeks from Monday — the date of the signing of the MoU — to complete the talks and reach agreement.
South African President Thabo Mbeki is brokering the talks.
An extraordinary Zanu-PF Politburo meeting yesterday gave the party negotiating team the green light to continue with the dialogue in line with the negotiating parameters as spelt out in the MoU.
In an interview soon after the meeting yesterday evening, party deputy secretary for information and publicity Cde Ephraim Masawi said the party’s supreme decision-making body met and was briefed on the MoU.
He said the meeting expressed satisfaction with the MoU and gave the nod to the party’s negotiators to continue with their work.
"We met as the Politburo to be briefed of the signing of the MoU and chart the way forward. The issues that came up were whether we accept that our people should continue in these negotiations.
"We gave Cde Chinamasa and Cde Goche the green light for them to go ahead with the negotiations within the parameters signed by the principals," said Cde Masawi.
"We were briefed about the role of the facilitator, South African President Thabo Mbeki, and the party felt that he was fighting hard to find solutions to an African problem."
Cde Masawi said the extraordinary Politburo meeting hailed the good work being done by President Mbeki.
Russia, which recently vetoed a United States draft sanctions resolution on Zimbabwe at the UN Security Council, on Tuesday said that its decision to block the economic embargo had been justified by the signing of the MoU by the country’s three main political parties.
Speaking to the Press after a meeting with his Venezuelan counterpart, President Hugo Chavez, in Moscow, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev repeated that he had confidence that dialogue, and not sanctions, was the best way forward.
"Our position on this issue has been consistent from the outset, and these consultations (the ongoing dialogue) prove that this position is justified. I hope that during these consultations, all basic agreements will be reached to calm the situation," he said.
Russia’s foreign ministry also issued a statement welcoming the start of talks in Zimbabwe.
"Russia welcomes this decision, which opens up the route to overcoming the internal political crisis in the country. We call on leading political forces in the country to continue to show a constructive approach in the name of national unity and accord," the ministry said in a statement on its website.
AFP reports that Angola yesterday called on the European Union to immediately lift sanctions against the
Zimbabwean leadership, warning they could derail the negotiations.
"The EU should lift all sanctions on the leaders of Zimbabwe as soon as possible," Foreign Minister Mr Joao Miranda told state-run RNA radio.
"There is no reason to justify the maintenance of these sanctions. All obstacles liable to endanger the progress of negotiations should be removed."
Mr Miranda’s comments come a day after EU foreign ministers widened sanctions against Zimbabwe despite the signing of the MoU by President Mugabe, MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC’s Arthur Mutambara to pave way for the talks.
Mr Miranda, whose government is one of Zimbabwe’s staunchest allies in Sadc, said it made no sense to propose new sanctions at a time when Zimbabwe’s ruling party and opposition were talking.
"This dialogue is for real," he added.
Labels: ANGOLA, EU, MDC, SANCTIONS, ZANU-PF
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Angola urges EU to lift sanctions against Zimbabwe
Bloomberg/Zimbabwe Guardian
Wed, 23 Jul 2008 10:30:00 +0000
ANGOLA urged the European Union to lift all sanctions against Zimbabwean officials because they pose an obstacle to negotiations aimed at ending that nation's political crisis. “There is no reason to justify the maintenance of these sanctions,” Foreign Minister Joao Bernardo Miranda said in an interview today on state-run Angolan National Radio. “The EU should very soon lift all sanctions against the leaders of Zimbabwe.”
The E.U. announced yesterday it will add 37 people linked to President Robert Mugabe's ruling party to its list of 131 people who are targeted with sanctions. The measures, including asset freezes and travel bans, came a day after President Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai signed an agreement to begin crucial talks to end the crisis in the country.
Talks between Mugabe's ruling party and Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change should be supported by the international community, Miranda said.
“This dialogue is for real, therefore it is practical that the international community to help to establish a new political order in Zimbabwe,” Miranda said.
President Mugabe won the June 27 presidential runoff election which Tsvangirai withthdrew from, alleging a state-sponsored campaign of violence against his supporters.
Bloomberg/Zimbabwe Guardian
Labels: ANGOLA, EU, JOAO BERNARDO MIRANDA, SANCTIONS
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Boader security worries chief
By Mwala Kalaluka and Mulimbi Mulaliki
Wednesday July 09, 2008 [04:00]
SENIOR Chief Ndungu of the Luvale people of Zambezi district has said insecurity levels on the border between Zambia and Angola in his chiefdom are becoming an issue of great concern. And chief Ndungu has said about K80 million is required to successfully hold this year’s Likumbi Lya Mize traditional ceremony of the Luvale people in Zambezi. Chief Ndungu said in an interview yesterday that illegal cattle trade was rife in the area because wide stretches on the border were unmanned.
“That is my major concern. The border is too wide from Western Province to Mwinilunga, but we only have one immigration post at Chingi in Chavuma,” he said. “Illegal trading is going on without the government getting any revenue, especially in cattle. It has been my view always that the government should legalise trade of cattle between Zambia and Angola, so that the government can benefit.”
Chief Ndungu pointed out that as long as the government did not move in to sufficiently secure the border between the two countries, the cattle population in his chiefdom would be wiped out in the next five years.
Chief Ndungu said it was disappointing that two years after the government embarked on a programme to reconstruct the Cordon Line from Shangombo to Mwinilunga, little progress had been recorded.
And people in Zambezi have complained of high water tariffs being charged by the water utility company.
The residents complained that the water tariff charges by the North Western Water Supply and Sewerage Company were too high as compared to other utility companies in the country.
During a Service Delivery Forum organised by the Caritas Diocese of Solwezi, the residents resolved to start drawing water from the river as they could not afford the charges.
Kambanji Chidata, a Zambezi resident, complained that water was no longer a necessity but a luxury as it has become too expensive for poor people in the rural areas to afford.
Another resident, Rodgers Sakuhuka, wondered whether the local authorities that formed the company in the province were involved in the running of the company.
And Caritas Solwezi coordinator Frederick Nabanda said development was demand-driven, as government was no longer implementing projects, which communities do not want in their areas.
Labels: ANGOLA, BORDERS, CHIEF NDUNGU
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