Africa-Press – Angola. The Embassy of Angola in Gabon has registered around 415 Angolans, who are basically dedicated to small businesses (trade).
It is estimated that more than a thousand Angolans and their descendants live in Gabon, most of them without any documentation that identifies them as national citizens.
The Angolan community in Gabon, which faces problems of insertion in the local labor market, resides mainly in the cities of Libreville (capital), Franceville and Port-Gentil.
The Diplomatic Mission of Angola, through its consular services, carries out a campaign to register the Angolan Community in that country.
The registration of Angolan citizens in the diaspora is a priority for the Government and constitutes a fundamental step towards solving the numerous problems that compatriots face.
Speaking to ANGOP, the vice-president of the Angolan Community in Gabon, Francisco Sumbo, informed that the social reintegration of Angolan citizens in the French-speaking country has not been easy.
The official made it known that many Angolans entered Gabon without documents and now need to be protected socially and legally, noting that, for the most part, they live from small businesses, “many are traders, carpenters, bricklayers and mechanics”.
The president of the Angolan community in Gabon, Rafael Domingos, owns a car repair shop.
Rafael Domingos emphasized that, as responsible for the association, they have mobilized the community for moments of celebration, such as the date of Independence of Angola and the youth party.
He recognized, on the other hand, the efforts of the Embassy, through the consular services, to solve the problems that affect his compatriots.
“In the beginning, people were afraid to come to the Embassy, but now they come without problems and without any embarrassment. The resolution of the legal situation of the Angolans here is necessary”, he stressed.
He recalled that those responsible for the Community were received by the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, during his state visit to Gabon, in December 2022, who promised to resolve the legal situation of Angolans in that country.
He informed that, in a short time, the Embassy took the initiative of the census, “we prepared the lists and even my children already have a birth certificate and it is hoped that the process will continue so that the staff can have identity cards”.
Profile
Francisco Sumbo, a former seminarian, was born in Tando Zinze, in Cabinda and settled in Gabon in 1989, where he continued his studies (master’s degree in philosophy) and a doctorate in anthropology.
He is currently a professor at the Omar Bongo University and delegate of the Inter-University Research Pole at the French-Gabonese University Saint Exupery.
He remembers that he started teaching at the Omar Bongo University (at the time he had Moisés de Oliveira (of Angolan origin) as Rector, under the influence of a Portuguese woman (Dona Graça), who headed the Philosophy department at that institution of higher education.
Political-diplomatic relations
Political-diplomatic cooperation relations between Angola and Gabon were established in 1975.
The two countries express the desire to increase cooperation in sectors of common interest.
They established the regulatory legal framework for technical, scientific and cultural economic relations with the signing of the General Cooperation Agreement and the Agreement creating the Bilateral Commission, on 15 January 1982, in Libreville.
Since then, two sessions of the Bilateral Commission have been held, namely, the first in Gabon and the second in Angola, in May 1985. The third would be held, in 1987, in Gabon, which is still awaiting its completion.
Cooperation between Angola and Gabon focuses on the sectors of Agriculture, Oil and Mines, Maritime Transport, Industry, Commerce, Education and Culture, Health, Youth and Sports.
The two States signed, in Libreville, two agreements on visa suppression in diplomatic and service passports and also on political consultations, within the scope of the visit made by the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, to that country, in December 2022.
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