Africa-Press – Angola. The visit of the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, to the province of Cuando Cubango, where he witnessed tactical maneuvers by military brigades of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA), was the political highlight of the week that ends Saturday.
João Lourenço stayed two days in this province. He witnessed at the Soba Matias military base, in an area of 10,500 hectares prepared for this purpose, a military exercise that portrayed the fictitious war scenario, but with real fire, as part of the annual training of FAA personnel.
The scenario was based on an operation by personnel from the three branches of the FAA, namely the Army, Air Force and Navy, in defense of the national territory, confronted by an invasion of “hypothetical” enemies.
The act was also witnessed by the Minister of National Defense and Veterans of the Fatherland, João Ernesto dos Santos, general officers of the different defense and security bodies, members of the government, among other individuals.
Also worthy of mention was João Lourenço’s trip to Malanje province, where, for a few hours, he assessed the operation of the main undertakings in the energy and water sector.
The President of the Republic, who was received by the local governor, Marcos Nhunga, visited Laúca, one of the largest hydroelectric dams in the country, with an area of 24,000 hectares and a reservoir of 188 square kilometers and a global budget of four billion dollars Americans, to see how it works.
In the presence of the Minister of Energy and Water, João Baptista Borges, and other members of the Angolan Executive and local authorities, he also visited Capanda, a hydroelectric plant with a power station inaugurated in 2004, which has four turbines, with an installed capacity of 130 megawatts, each one that in all, makes 520 MW.
This week, President João Lourenço received the former leader of UNITA, Isaías Samakuva, in an audience to address, among other matters, the creation of the Jonas Malheiro Savimbi foundation and political, economic and social aspects of the country.
Jonas Savimbi was the founding leader of UNITA in 1966. He died in 2002.
In the parliamentary field, in the week just ended, the presidents of the parliaments of Angola and Zambia, respectively Carolina Cerqueira and Nelly Butete Mutti, expressed, in Luanda, the commitment to reinforce relations of cooperation and friendship between the legislative bodies of the two countries .
Carolina Cerqueira emphasized her availability to work on the definition of a new strategy for strengthening inter-parliamentary cooperation with Zambia in order to create, later this year, the Angola and Zambia Parliamentary Friendship Group.
During this period, the National Assembly (AN) proceeded with the appreciation of the Proposal for the General Labor Law which will go to the final global vote on the 25th of May of this year.
On the Legislative initiative of the Executive, the proposal for a Law reintroduces, among others, the employment contract for an indefinite period as a rule and the only form of constitution of legal and labor relations, and deserved the consultation of trade unions, employers’ organizations, academics, judicial magistrates , Public Prosecutor’s Office and Public Administration staff.
The participation of a delegation from the National Assembly, headed by deputy Pedro Sebastião, in the meetings of the permanent committees of the Parliamentary Forum of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), held in the city of Johannesburg, South Africa, also deserved attention.
Also that week, the coordinator of the Statutes Revision Commission of the International Institute of Ombudsmen (IOI) for the African region, Florbela Rocha Araújo, presented in Vienna, Austria, proposals to change some articles of the organization.
These are article 10 on loss of membership and article 7 on procedures for applying for membership of the organisation.
At the same time as the proposal, the Angolan ombudsman also made contact with her counterparts, with a view to bringing the parties together, exchanging experiences and strengthening institutional cooperation.
Another highlight was the acknowledgment, by Zambia’s attorney general, Mulilo Kabesha, of the advances and successes achieved by Angola, within the scope of asset recovery and the fight against corruption.
Mulilo Kabesha, who is on a week-long working visit to Angola, to exchange experiences, within the scope of asset recovery, made contact with the Attorney General of the Republic, Hélder Pitta Gróz, and with entities linked to the Financial Information Unit “UIF”, General Coffer of Justice “CGJ”, Institute for the Management of Assets and State Participation “IGAPE”, Assets of the Ministry of Finance and the National Directorate of Investigation and Penal Action “DNIAP”.
For More News And Analysis About Angola Follow Africa-Press
