Angola: president fires top army, intelligence bosses
Questioned by the Prosecutor General’s Office in a corruption case, General Geraldo Sachipengo Nunda, Chief of Staff of the Angolan Army was thanked.
On March 26, the country’s Deputy Attorney General, Luis Benza Zenga, revealed the indictment of General Sachipengo Nunda and three other senior officers in a $50 billion fraud investigation.
He was replaced by General Antonio Egidio de Sousa Santos.
Several other senior army officials were also fired on Monday by the president, including two deputy chiefs of staff and the chief of foreign intelligence services.
The dismissal of the senior officers of the Angolan army was decided by President Joao Lourenço despite a law passed a few weeks before the departure of Dos Santos.
This law froze for eight years appointments to senior positions of security forces.
Since taking office, the Angolan president has made the fight against corruption one of his priorities.
Mr. Lourenço did not hesitate to dismiss many relatives of his predecessor José Eduardo dos Santos, who gave him the reins of the country after thirty-eight years of rule.
