Angola has ended its planned “strategic partnership” with Portugal. The announcement came from Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos, who justified his decision with “the current political climate” which is “not adequate to building a strategic relationship”.
“Things are not going well with Portugal,” the head of Portugal’s former colony stated earlier this week, during a speech at Angola’s National Assembly.
The Angolan President went on to say: “Organisations from Western countries have deliberately caused uproar to intimidate Africans who want to accumulate assets and become rich.
“So the general idea has been created that a rich African man is corrupt and should be suspected of corruption.”
The Portuguese government reacted to Eduardo dos Santos’ speech by issuing a statement saying it had been “surprised” to hear Dos Santos’ comments. However, the government stressed its efforts to build a healthy relationship with Angola, which the country felt was justified by the “special bonds” that connect the two countries.
Angola’s state-run newspaper Jornal de Angola ran an editorial piece which slammed Portugal’s “elite”.
“If criminals can go around telling lies about high-ranking officials of the Angolan government in a democratic country, then the right conditions are not guaranteed to continue a strategic partnership,” the newspaper’s piece reads.
“If in Portugal individuals with judicial power are allowed to disrespect confidentiality in order to defile our legitimate representatives, then the best their political representatives can do is courageously admit that they are in no shape to interact with Angola.”
Relations between Portugal and Angola have always been sensitive but are believed to have taken a stronger blow when Portuguese Foreign Minister Rui Machete apologised for probes concerning suspicions of possible corruption into business deals involving senior Angolan officials.
Machete was even called before a parliamentary committee in Lisbon due to his statements, which opposition parties believe should have led to his dismissal.
Portugal’s Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho said, however, Machete had used an “unfortunate expression” in an attempt to appease Angola.
The strategic partnership was aimed at encouraging economic and political relations between the two nations.
Currently, there are hundreds of Portuguese companies who carry out business in Angola and at least 150,000 Portuguese are believed to work there, especially in the country’s capital, Luanda.
A summit between the two countries was planned for February 2014 but is now at risk due to the countries’ soured relationship.
