Joao Lourenco sworn in as President of Angola

Joao Lourenco on 26 September 2017 was sworn in as the President of Angola. With this, he became the first new President of Angola in 38 years.

Lourenco took over the position from Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who ruled the country for around four decades.

The People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) has governed since Angola's hard-fought independence from Portugal in 1975, with Dos Santos taking power in 1979.

About Joao Lourenco

• Born on 5 March 1954, Joao Manuel Goncalves Lourenco is an Angolan politician.

• Before being appointed as the President of Angola, he served as the Minister of Defense from 2014 to 2017.

• He has been Vice-President of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) since 2016.

• From 1998 to 2003, he served as the Secretary-General of the MPLA.

• He stood as the presidential candidate of the MPLA in the August 2017 legislative election.

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About Angola

• Angola is a country in Southern Africa.

• It is the seventh-largest country in Africa.

• The capital and largest city of Angola is Luanda.

• The country is bordered by Namibia to the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Zambia to the east, and the Atlantic Ocean to west.

• The country has vast mineral and petroleum reserves, and its economy is among the fastest growing in the world, especially since the cessation of the civil war.

• Angola was influenced by Portuguese colonisation, which began with, and was for centuries limited to, coastal settlements and trading posts established beginning in the 16th century. Independence was achieved in 1975 under a Marxist-Leninist one party state, backed by the Soviet Union and Cuba after a protracted anti-colonial struggle.

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