Bornito de Sousa Baltazar Diogo (born 23 July 1953) is an Angolan politician who was the third vice president of Angola,from 2017 to 2022. He was the vice presidential candidate for the MPLA in the 2017 Angolan general election,running alongside João Lourenço and a member of the Constituent Assembly since 2010. He was officially sworn in as vice president on 26 September 2017. [1]
De Sousa was born in Quéssua,Malanje Province,Portuguese Angola. His father,Job Baltazar Diogo,was a primary school teacher,Quimbundo-Portuguese translator and once imprisoned by the Portuguese security agency,PIDE-DGS. His mother,Catarina Manuel Simão Bento "Katika",was a housewife. [2]
He studied at the "Amor e Alegria" Primary School,at Quéssua Methodist Mission in Malanje and the United Methodist Church School in Luanda. [2] He also attended the Liceu Nacional Salvador Correia de Sáe Benevides in Luanda. He obtained a degree in law from Agostinho Neto University and a science degree from Escola Superior do Partido. [2]
He started as a MPLA militant in Luanda (Marçal district) at the age of 16,in 1969,influenced by the events happening in neighbouring Congo,the arrest of his father,Job Baltazar Diogo,and his maternal uncle,Dr. Luís Micolo. [2] He was imprisoned at St Paul prison in Luanda and São Nicolau (present-day Cape Verde) by the PIDE from January 1971 to May 1974. He was released in May 1974 after the 25 April Revolution,together with his brother,General Baltazar Diogo Cristóvão. [2] He started his career by serving as the first National Secretary of the JMPLA. [3] In 1976,he became the political commissar of the Angolan Armed Forces. [2]
He was the president of the Constitutional Commission of the National Assembly,that was responsible for drafting the 2010 Angolan constitution. [2] He was also the president of the MPLA Parliamentary Group until February 2010,when he was named Minister of Territorial Administration on 2 February 2010, [4] and was reappointed to the office on 1 October 2012,after the 2012 elections. [3]
De Sousa was heavily criticised in Angola when his daughter,Naulila Diogo,spent $200,000 on dresses on the American reality show Say Yes to the Dress in 2015,more than any other bride had ever spent at the New York clothing store in the show. [5] [6] He responded with Facebook posts that mocked popular demands for his resignation over the unaccounted funds. [5] De Sousa and his daughter responded with a libel lawsuit in Portugal against British writer Oliver Bullough for the criticism covered in his 2018 book Moneyland:Why Thieves and Crooks Now Rule the World. [6] They also brought a criminal defamation case against Portuguese activist Paulo de Morais who publicly denounced de Sousa for lavishly spending large sums of money while Angola remained impoverished,but the case was dismissed in November 2022. [7]
He was married to Maria JoséRodrigues Ferreira Diogo. [8] and has 4 daughters:Nhenze Mpasi Diogo Mendes,Njolela Chili Diogo,Djamila do Carmo Diogo and Naulila Katika Diogo Graça. [2]
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The People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola,from 1977–1990 called the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola –Labour Party,is an Angolan social democratic political party. The MPLA fought against the Portuguese Army in the Angolan War of Independence from 1961 to 1974,and defeated the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) in the Angolan Civil War. The party has ruled Angola since the country's independence from Portugal in 1975,being the de facto government throughout the civil war and continuing to rule afterwards.
JoséEduardo dos Santos was an Angolan politician and military officer who served as the second president of Angola from 1979 to 2017. As president,dos Santos was also the commander-in-chief of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) and president of the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA),the party that has ruled Angola since it won independence in 1975. By the time he stepped down in 2017,he was the second-longest-serving president in Africa,surpassed only by Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea.
Malanje is the capital city of Malanje Province in Angola,with a population of 455,000,and a municipality,with a population of 506,847. Projected to be the thirteenth fastest growing city on the African continent between 2020 and 2025,with a 5.17% growth. It is located 380 kilometres (240 mi) east of Angola's capital Luanda. Near it are the spectacular Calandula waterfalls,the rock formations of Pungo Andongo,and the Capanda Dam. The climate is mainly humid,with average temperatures between 20 and 24 °C and rainfall 900 to 130 millimetres in the rainy season.
Lúcio Rodrigo Leite Barreto de Lara,also known by the pseudonym Tchiweka,was an Angolan revolutionary,physicist-mathematician,politician,anti-colonial ideologist and one of the founding members of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA). He served as General Secretary of the MPLA during the Angolan War of Independence and Angolan Civil War. Lara,a founding member of the MPLA,led the first MPLA members into Luanda on 8 November 1974. He swore in Agostinho Neto as the first president of the country.
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This article lists events from the year 2017 in Angola.
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Events in the year 2021 in Angola.
General elections were held in Angola on 24 August 2022 to elect the President and National Assembly. Incumbent president João Lourenço was eligible for one more term. The MPLA was re-elected with a reduced majority,winning 124 seats with 51% of the vote. The main opposition party,UNITA won 90 seats with 44% of the vote. The Social Renewal Party (PRS),the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) and the Humanist Party of Angola (PHA) each won two seats. The elections were the closest in Angolan history between the MPLA and UNITA.
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Events in the year 2022 in Angola.
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