First families fall out
Instead, in office, President Lourenço, 65, has turned out to be - or at least aspires to be - more of a "Gorbachev" figure, throwing caution and precedent to the wind, dragging Angola out of its sluggish, authoritarian past and leading it towards a future that suddenly looks both exciting and precarious. "He's a bulldozer. Nothing he does is discreet. He goes for the jugular," political analyst and Angola expert Paula Roque told the BBC. The first, and most prominent, target of that bulldozing instinct has been the Dos Santos family. Much to the surprise and delight of many Angolans, who had grown tired of watching the former president's family grow staggeringly wealthy, at least in part from government contracts, and who had long feared the prospect of a Dos Santos political dynasty, President Lourenço - or JLo, as he's known to all Angolans - moved fast and aggressively against the former "first family". Isabel dos Santos was brusquely removed from her job running the giant state oil company, Sonangol. Her half-brother received similar treatment at the state's sovereign wealth fund, and soon afterwards found himself in custody and is now on trial for allegedly trying to smuggle some $500m (£380m) out of the country. Jose Filomeno dos Santos has denied wrongdoing. "It feels personal. There is a genuine animus between the two families," said Ms Roque, of JLo's actions. Then came a series of even more dramatic steps, as Ms Dos Santos' business assets in Angola were frozen by a local court, financial documents from within her empire were leaked to investigative journalists, leading to fresh allegations of corruption and damning global headlines. Ex-President Jose Eduardo dos Santos (l) assumed Joao Lourenço (r) would not rock the boat. That was followed, this week, by an announcement that an international arrest warrant would be issued if she did not return home to answer formal accusations of embezzlement. Ms Dos Santos has called allegations revealed by leaked documents entirely false and said that the Angolan government was engaged in a politically motivated witch-hunt. In a statement she said that they showed they were part of a "very concentrated, orchestrated and well-co-ordinated political attack, ahead of elections in Angola next year".Who is Isabel dos Santos?
- Eldest daughter of ex-President Jose Eduardo dos Santos
- Married to Congolese art collector and businessman Sindika Dokolo
- Educated in the UK, where she currently lives
- Reported to be Africa's richest woman, with a fortune of some $2bn
- Has stakes in oil and mobile phone companies and banks, mostly in Angola and Portugal
Who is Joao Lourenço?
- Active in MPLA struggle against Portuguese colonial rule as a teenager
- Part of first group of guerrillas to enter Angolan territory from Congo-Brazzaville
- Received military training and studied history from 1978 to 1982 in the former Soviet Union
- General in the Angolan Armed Forces in post-independence civil war
- Said to be one of the few Angolan generals and politicians free of allegations of involvement in major corruption scandals
'Like a tango in the dark'
In this context, the fate of Ms dos Santos and her business empire (so important to the Angolan economy) could still be settled by negotiations, behind the scenes. "It's hard to say if this is the endgame. The relationship between the Dos Santos family and JLo is very complicated. It's like a tango in the dark," said Darias Jonker, from the Eurasia Group. "They do need each other to varying degrees and ways, but they're also in competition. They're frenemies - so to speak." There's no doubt that JLo - who once compared himself to China's reformist leader Deng Xiaoping - has allowed the winds of change to sweep through Angola. People are seizing the opportunity to speak out, without repercussion, and to challenge decades of repressive, inefficient rule and staggering inequality. But, as the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev discovered to his own cost, truly radical reforms, like revolutions, tend to devour their own.DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
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