Dos Santos retirement announcement to be “analysed”

The ruling MPLA party’s central committee is to convene a special session soon to discuss the ramifications of President Jose Eduardo dos Santos’s announcement that he would not stand for re-election in the next elections planned for 2002 or 2003, Lusa reported. MPLA Secretary-General Norberto dos Santos ‘Kuatakanawa’ announced plans for the meeting on Friday. According to the report, he said preparations a special session had been under way for the past month, since the president informed the party leadership of his decision. Dos Santos has been the Angolan head of state since 1979, four years after the country achieved independence. His decision not to stand for the presidency in the next election was only publicly announced on Thursday. According to the report, MPLA member of parliament Adelino Marques de Almeida told Angolan National Radio on Friday that it was “too early to draw conclusions” about Dos Santos’s withdrawal. “He personally said he wasn’t interested, but he will certainly be confronted by the wishes of the party leadership and the party members”, Almeida was quoted as saying. “He (Dos Santos) said (in the Thursday speech before the MPLA central committee) that the crisis situation is under control and would soon be dominated. This may imply that there will be important developments in the national politico-military situation that may ensure calm and stability in the country.”