South Korean firm plans to build a naval base in Angola

Luanda - A project for the construction of a naval base in Angola starts to be implemented within a year, AKEDA firm has announced.

The announcement was made on Friday by the secretary general of the South Korea’s comapny, Chung Yes Noo, at the end of an audience granted to him by Angolan president João Lourenço.

Chung Si Noo said that the USD1 billion project will focus on the manufacture of small, medium and large-sized vessels.

The company’s manager said that the audience with the Angolan Head of State served, among other things, to provide information on the progress of the project.

"We chose Angola for the project because we think it is a viable country", said the leader of the South Korean company, stressing that, in a first phase, the project will create 5,000 jobs for young Angolans.

The number of jobs is expected to reach 8,000, said Chung Si Noo, adding that the project is in partnership with Angola oil firm, Sonangol.

The construction of a naval base is not the first project by AKEDA in Angola, which in 2020 invested around USD 2 million  in the construction of an electricity plant in Benguela, is part of a memorandum signed with the Private Investment and Promotion Agency of Exports (AIPEX).

 

Environmental crisis represents global challenge - minister

Luanda – Angolan minister for Foreign Affairs Téte António said last Friday in Luanda that the environmental crisis posed a challenge to mankind and requires combined effort in the international context.

The minister made the call at opening ceremony of the 17th Justice Minister´s Conference of the Portuguese Speaking Countries held under the motto “Development of the Legal and Judicial Cooperation to Fight the Environmental Crimes, specially the Wild Life´s crime”.

 

Delivering his speech, Téte António defended coordination of ideas and preventive actions to deal with the practices that cause damage to the environment.

 

The minister highlighted the fact of the event to discuss aspects on crime that benefit individuals, groups or companies which, according to him, call into question the peace, security and the sustainable development of the States.

 

The minister mentioned the cross-border factor as being linked to the complexity in the fight against environmental crimes and the wild life.

 

In turn, the Attorney General (PGR) Hélder Pitta Gróz said that the institution is working with the Ministry of Justice in a joint approach aimed to fight against the environmental crimes.

 

He noted that there are some proceedings under analysis of environmental crimes in the provinces of Huíla and Luanda, but he would not specify the number.

 

The meeting aims to lay down legal and judicial cooperation strategies against environmental crimes.

 

Angola took over the rotating presidency of the Conference of Ministers of Justice of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP), represented by the Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Francisco Queiroz.

GUNHCR to negotiate repatriation of DRC refugees in Angola

Dundo – The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced plans to start in coming days negotiations with the governments of Angola and Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) aimed to resume the repatriation process of the refugees located in Lóvua, Angola’s eastern Lunda Norte province, since May 2017.

In August 2019, there was spontaneous repatriation of 14,724 DRC refugees who decided to leave the Lóvua area back to DRC.

 

The move prompted a tripartite Angola-DRC-UNHCR meeting, whose agreement allowed a new repatriation process of 2,912 refugees to the country of origin.

 

The process was suspended due to the covid-19.

 

According to UNHCR representative in Angola, Victor Tani, an assessment has been underway to determine the number of refugees who want to return home and how many want to remain in Angola.

 

Currently, Lóvua field is home to 6,800 refugees. And over 3,000 scattered in several localities of Dundo city but who are being monitored by UNHCR and by local authorities.

Angolans in Ukraine expected home Sunday

Luanda – Two hundred Angolans who were living in Ukraine are returning to the country this Sunday as of 08pm, the minister of Social Action, Family and Women Promotion, Faustina Alves, announced this on Saturday in Luanda.

The Angolan government will send an aircraft of the flag carrier TAAG to Warsaw, Poland, where the refugees are staying after fleeing Ukraine, due to the conflict with Russia.

Faustina Alves said that Angolan citizens, including children and adults, are currently under the control of the Angolan Embassy in Poland, which is providing humanitarian assistance.

Upon their arrival, the national citizens will be accommodated in two of the Luanda-based hotel units for seven days, as part of the institutional quarantine period imposed by Covid-19.

The minister added that the Executive is monitoring the situation of all Angolans in Ukraine and pledged to provide all necessary information to the family members. 

President João Lourenço visits José Eduardo dos Santos

Luanda – The President of the Republic João Lourenço Friday in Luanda paid a courtesy visit to the former President José Eduardo dos Santos in his Miramar district-based home.

The information is contained in a note posted on the Presidency’s Facebook.

A meeting between the two entities took place on 24 December last year, also at the residence of the former President José Eduardo dos Santos, in Luanda.

Earlier, in September 2021, João Lourenço and José Eduardo dos Santos held a telephone conversation in which they greeted each other.

The former Angolan Head of State returned to the country in September 2021, after spending about two years in Barcelona, ​​Spain.

José Eduardo dos Santos came to power as President of the Republic in September 1979, following the death of António Agostinho Neto, Angola's first president.

He held office for 38 years, until September 2017, when he was succeeded by the current President of the Republic, João Lourenço.