SU25-cover:Layout 1 22/2/10 13:52 Page 1 · PDF fileNow in Portuguese A Portuguese translation...

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UniversoMARCH 2010

Job doneAngolan oil minister José Botelho de Vasconcelos ends his yearas Opec president at thefirst ever Opec summitin Luanda

100m years BCFabulous

fossils found

High lifeLuxury

skyscrapersin Luanda

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MARCH 2010 3

CONTENTS

Sonangol News

2 SONANGOL UNIVERSO

Universo is the international magazine of Sonangol

Board MembersManuel Vicente (President),

Anabela Fonseca, Mateus de Brito, Fernando Roberto, Francisco de Lemos

Sonangol Department for Communication & Image

DirectorJoão Rosa Santos

Corporate Communications Assistants

Nadiejda Santos, Lúcio Santos, Cristina Novaes, José Mota,

Beatriz Silva, Paula Almeida, Sandra Teixeira, Marta Sousa

Publisher Sheila O’Callaghan

EditorAlex Bellos

Art DirectorDavid Gould

Sub EditorRon Gribble

Advertising DesignBernd Wojtczack

Circulation ManagerMatthew Alexander

Project ConsultantsNathalie MacCarthyMauro Perillo

Group PresidentJohn Charles Gasser

Universo is produced by Impact Media Custom Publishing. The views expressed inthe publication are not necessarily those ofSonangol or the publishers. Reproduction inwhole or in part without prior permission isprohibited.

This magazine is distributed to a closed circulation. To receive a free copy: [email protected]

Circulation: 17,000

6 Snow Hill, London EC1A 2AYTel + 44 20 7002 7778Fax +44 20 7002 [email protected]

Cover: AFP/Getty Images

4 Angola news briefingInternational Monetary Fund approves $1.4 billion loan; National Bank of Angola and Unitel study ways to enable banktransactions via mobile phones;President José Eduardo dos Santos addresses MPLA congress;Yuri da Cunha becomes first Angolan artist to sign contractwith Sony; TAAG begins flights toCape Town and Havana; Angolaplans science and technologymuseum; Standard Bank of SouthAfrica to operate in Angola

5 Figured outA snapshot of Angola in numbers

6 Rising againA special report into the housing sec-tor in Luanda, which is growing againafter the slowdown in 2009. Newbuildings for high-end customers andfor the emerging middle classes arebeing built

14 Homes for workers The Sonangol co-operative Cajueiro isbuilding houses for its employees allover the country

16 A winning spectacle The Africa Cup of Nations in Angola was won by Egypt, while the host nation put on an amazing show

20 Monsters of the deepAngola is a gold mine of prehistoricfossils, and even has a speciesnamed after it: the Angolasaurus.We speak to the palaeontologists digging up the past

26 In splendid isolationUniverso travels to the beautiful islands of São Tomé and Príncipe,Angola’s closest cultural neighbour, which is expanding its tourism industry

32 Sonangol news briefing

34 A day to rememberA report of the Opec end-of-year summit that took place in Luanda

48 Oil for saleAn interview with LucindaGuimarães

50 The Big PictureThree Angolan trees

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Letter from the editor

As we enter the second decade of thenew century it is worth looking athow Angola has transformed over

the past decade. The country has justorganized the two highest-profile eventsthat have ever taken place within its bor-ders. Both are from different spheres, buttogether they show just how far thecountry has come.

The first event to take place was theannual end-of-year summit of the Organi-zation of the Petroleum Exporting Coun-tries (Opec), which was held in Luanda’snew Talatona Convention Center. Angolawas the venue because it held the Opecpresidency in 2009, and the president tra-ditionally hosts the end-of-year summit.

The second event was the Africa Cupof Nations. The football tournamentrequired Angola to build four brand newstadiums, open many hotels and upgradeits transport infrastructure. Even thoughAngola was knocked out in the quarterfi-nals, the country kept on cheering untilthe final whistle blew.

But Angola’s newfound confidenceand aspiration can be seen not just bylooking at the stadiums or the new con-vention centre: any visitor to Luanda cansee in the skyline a country that is lookingtowards the future. We also have a reportabout the growing construction industry,which is bringing homes to the people.

Angola is unrecognisable from what itwas only ten years ago: it’s exciting to thinkhow much further it will develop in theyears to come.

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Now in PortugueseA Portuguese translation of the

1971 book Angola, written by

Professor Douglas Wheeler of the Uni-

versity of New Hampshire, has just been

published in Lisbon by Tinta-da-China.

The translation has new material includ-

ing an updated historical chronology,

bibliographies and an essay outlining

Angola’s history from 1971 to 2009.

Good scienceAngola is planning a science and

technology museum for Luanda and

three technology parks in the provinces of

Uíge, Huambo and Luanda. Maria Cândida

Teixeira, the Minister of Science and Technol-

ogy, said the idea was to invest in science

and research and boost the country’s aca-

demic facilities: “We continue to strengthen

ties with all the scientists of different research

areas.” The plan puts an emphasis on educa-

tion and training, she added, as well as sup-

porting the public and private institutions of

the various branches of scientific knowledge.

MARCH 2010 5

2000$36billion

Angola’s national carrier TAAG has begun direct flights to Cape Town in South Africaand the Cuban capital Havana. It will fly twice a week to Cape Town, the first directservice to the coastal city from Luanda. Theflights are likely to be popular with Angolansand expats, especially those travelling to theWorld Cup in June. The Havana flight willhelp transport the thousands of Cubanteachers and doctors who are currentlyworking in Angola and will be a useful link for Angolan students who are attending universities in Cuba. Online tickets are nowavailable from the airline’s new website –www.taag.com – which also offers onlinecheck-in facilities and flight timetables.

LAM of Mozambique has joined the growing list of international carriers servingAngola with twice-weekly flights between Luanda and Maputo. Kenya Airways andRoyal Air Maroc (RAM) have also expressedan interest in flying directly to Luanda.

Angola’s consumption of the totalAfrican beer market

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Angola news briefingCall to account

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New bankSouth Africa’s largest bank, Standard

Bank, is to begin operating in Angola in

2010. The bank, which has a representative

office in Luanda, had been given the green

light from the Council of Ministers to start

business in the country. Clive Tasker, chief

executive of Standard Bank Africa, said that

the firm planned to open a full service bank in

Angola with an emphasis on corporate and

investment banking.

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Popular singer Yuri da Cunha has become thefirst Angolan artist to sign a contract withSony Music. The deal was sealed in Milan,Italy, and will last for six years. There are plansfor a ‘Best of’ album, a possible collaborationwith Italian star Eros Ramazzotti and the international marketing of his music. DaCunha’s third and most recent album KumaKua Kié featured music from a range of stylesincluding semba, kizomba and zouk.

Global star

More destinations

number of jobs set to be created bythe Angola LNG project in Soyo

value of the Angolan government’s2010/11 budget

7%number of foreign journalists whoapplied for accreditation to coverthe Africa Cup of Nations in Angola

1,500

Mobile bankingThe National Bank of Angola (BNA) is

studying ways to work with mobile-phone

operator Unitel to allow people to make payments

through their mobiles. There are plans for cus-

tomers to be able to access their bank accounts

through their phones and make payments to

government organisations. António André Lopes,

administrator of BNA, said: “We hope that the

system of paying through a mobile phone will

offer a greater convenience to the client.”

The International Monetary Fund hasapproved financial funding for Angolaworth around $1.4 billion. The loanaims to help the country cope with theeffects of the global economic crisisand the drop in liquidity, due largely tolower oil prices. The terms of the dealalso include a reform agenda aimed atmedium-term structural issues to fostergrowth in the non-oil sector.

Following approval of the arrange-ment with Angola, Takatoshi Kato, IMFdeputy managing director, said: “TheAngolan authorities are to be com-mended for their strong commitment toa comprehensive reform programme

that addresses the macroeconomic imbalances which emerged in the faceof the global economic crisis. The programme includes a determined effort to restrain public expenditure,while providing adequate resources forsocial spending and vital infrastructureprojects.”

In addition, the World Bank hasopened a credit line worth $30 millionto boost agriculture in Angola. The financing will support 120,000 smallproducers in the provinces of Bié,Huambo and Malanje by giving themtechnical assistance to improve theiryields and boost the rural economy.

IMF loan approved

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President José Eduardo dos Santos hascalled for “zero tolerance” on corruption in abid to halt what he has called the “squander-ing of resources”. Speaking to members ofthe MPLA central committee just before theparty’s sixth congress, the president said theparty had been “timid” in holding things toaccount through the courts and parliament,and that this had been “exploited by irre-sponsible people and those of bad faith”.Dos Santos was re-elected as president ofthe MPLA after winning the vote during thecongress which was held in Luanda in December and attended by more than 2,000party members.

per cent estimate for Angola’s GFPgrowth (global facilitation partnershipfor transportation and trade) in 2010

628,526tonnesamount of cement imported into Angola during the second quarter of 2009

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PROPERTY

MARCH 2010 76 SONANGOL UNIVERSO

RISING AGAINAfter the boom of 2008 came the slowdown in 2009. But in 2010the construction industry is back on track. Homes are being builtacross Angola for those on high, middle and low incomes ➔

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Sunset strip: an artist’simpression of Luanda’sbay from the Sky CenterCondominium

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8 SONANGOL UNIVERSO

PROPERTY

From his office in Luanda’s tallestbuilding, José Walter Pontes’ viewacross the city centre is spectacular.

Inside, it is also pretty amazing: his ultra-modern, window-lined office is furnishedwith black, white and chrome fittings.

“With this building we wanted to bringFirst World quality to Luanda,” said Pontes,general manager of ESCOM Imobiliária, thecompany that built the 102m-high ESCOMbuilding. “I started with this project fromthe very bottom and now it is finished I amprivileged to be here on the 16th floor.”

At the very top, the building has smartpenthouses. In the middle there are officesand at ground level a dramatic entrancearea with floor-to-ceiling modern art and acluster of boutique shops. It has already become a landmark on Luanda’s skylineand is the first of a total of four towerswhich will eventually make up the Sky Center Condominium.

But it is not just luxury building thatAngola is seeing. Construction of homes formiddle and low-income families is also tak-ing place all over the country, including aSonangol project that has built more than3,000 houses (see p14).

The Sky Center Condominuim, how-ever, is the most visible of all the projects.One of its towers, Sky Residence I, will have76 apartments, three penthouses, under-ground parking, a shopping area, a swim-ming pool, squash courts and a gym.Another tower, Sky Residence II, will have22 floors and 62 apartments. Sky Business(20 floors of office space) will be part of thesame building linked by an undergroundshopping mall, a food court and a parkingarea.

SqueezeWith many of these apartments on the market at over $1 million they are certainlynot run-of-th- mill purchases. Yet, accord-ing to Pontes, 25 per cent of Sky Residencehas already been sold before a single brickhas been laid. In addition, all of the Sky Business offices have been leased, he said,proving that despite the financial slowdownof 2009 there is still plenty of life in the Angolan economy.

Pontes said this with relief since it hasbeen a tough ride for Angola over the �

Tall order: the ESCOMbuilding is, at 102m,

the highest in Luanda

MARCH 2010 9

Viewpoint: Pontes on theroof of the ESCOM building

Fantastic four: The Sky CenterCondominium will eventuallylook like this

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10 SONANGOL UNIVERSO

past year following the fall in oil prices, atumble in international foreign reservesand a subsequent squeeze on the US dollar.After initial GDP growth predictions for2009 of 11.8 per cent, Angola grew by only1.3 per cent, a sharp decline on the previ-ous four years of double-digit growth.

As well as less money being availablein the state coffers, a number of theconstruction projects which began in 2008suddenly seemed more ambitious thanever. “Without doubt there were some difficulties during 2009 as we saw a retrac-tion of international money and a slowdown within the Angolan market,” saidPontes. “We believe that the first quarter of2010 will start to be more favourable to theproperty market.”

With the upmarket apartments covered by projects such as the Sky Center,and the Torres Atlântico, which opened inDecember, Pontes said that there had beena shift in priority towards affordable familyhomes for the country’s emerging middleclass. The giant advertising billboardsaround Luanda are still advertising prop-erty, but the focus has moved from luxuryto family living.

Now, the new targets for constructioncompanies are Angolans who are well-edu-cated and earning decent salaries but are crammed into tiny city-centreapartments.

We believe that the first quarter of 2010 will start to bemore favourable to the property market“ ”

In a bid to meet this demand, ESCOMhas just signed a deal with Mota-Engil andFundação Lar do Patriota for a $1.5 billiondevelopment covering 80 hectares in thesouth of Luanda providing affordable family homes. The location is key to decen-tralising Luanda, which is overcrowded andunder-resourced.

New roads“We are trying to decentralise,” said Pontes.“We have good new roads now around thecity, especially the route which goes fromBenfica to Cacuaco. This is encouraging

developers to build further outside of Luanda because people want and need thatspace which we don’t have in the centre.”

Working on a smaller scale but in asimilar vein is Brazilian construction giantOdebrecht – the company behind many ofthe new gated condominiums which havesprung up in Talatona in recent years butare out of reach of many Angolans. Odebrecht’s Monte Belo development hasbeen part funded by Chevron’s Angolan operating arm, Cabinda Gulf Oil Company,and will have 100 homes for employees.

An Odebrecht spokeswoman said �

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The Torres Atlântico onthe Marginal has officeand residential space

José Walter Pontes



PROPERTY

MARCH 2010 13

that there were plans to develop partner-ships with more oil companies and banksto help facilitate loans for workers to beable to afford their own houses.

Affordable housingThe private companies are not working onthis alone – providing affordable housing iscentral to the government’s national plan.President José Eduardo dos Santos pledgedduring the run-up to the 2008 legislativeelections to build one million homes by2012.

He repeated this promise last year atthe first national housing conference andsaid the country’s housing problem wasone of its biggest. The president said toomany people were living in “a chaotic anddisorganised way without the necessary infrastructures. This is a very serious prob-lem and in the long term could lead to social instability.”

Establishing the National HomesCommission, dos Santos called for greater

regulation of the housing market andprices, in part through a reduction in thecost of construction materials, and therewas talk of creating a fund to help low-in-come families get on the property ladder.

A number of public-private partner-ships has been started and building hasbegun in many parts of the country. In De-cember, José Ferreira, Minister of Urbani-sation and Housing, told local media: “Thegovernment may even succeed in buildingmore than one million homes by 2012 be-cause the current rate of construction isgoing so well.”

He said that the first homes under thescheme could be handed over in the firstquarter of 2010 and that 89,000 hectares ofland had already been allocated for low-cost housing schemes. This strategy isworking hand-in-hand with the govern-ment’s long-term plans to “requalify” largeswathes of Luanda which have degeneratedinto slums due to overcrowding.

One thing that unites those at the bot-

tom of the property sector with those at thetop is the battle against the high cost ofconstruction materials. Importing theseitems pushes up costs and adds time toconstruction projects.

New cement factories are starting toopen and, in time, this will reduce the costof imports which come mostly from China.The government has also announced that construction materials imported into thecountry for social housing projects are to beexempt from customs duties.

Good futureAs well as basic construction materials,there are also plans to import self-buildhome-construction kits for people to buyfor a one-off price and then build a housethemselves once they have secured a plotof land. Allocation of land plots is underway in big cities and an effort is being madeto organise what has previously been anunregulated system.

As the cement begins to set in Angola’sproperty market, economically the next 12months look to be steadier for the countrytoo. This is partly thanks to oil prices beingback at around the $70 a barrel mark, butthe situation has also been boosted by a$1.4 billion loan from the InternationalMonetary Fund. This will help resolve thecountry’s liquidity problems and, in thelonger term, stabilise the kwanza.

The shock to the economy caused bythe fall in oil prices triggered the govern-ment to channel more investment into thenon-oil sector. As well as reducing depend-ence on oil, this investment into agricultureand industry should eventually reduce theneed for imports and bring down costs.

With so many people still in need ofquality housing and with so much space inwhich to build, Angola’s property marketlooks to have a good future, and in manyways remains central to the country’s development. �

The government may even succeed in building more thanone million homes by 2012 because the current rateof construction is going so well“ ”

José Ferreira, Minister of Urbanisation and Housing

The condominium, Atlântico Sul, (this pictureand below), offers luxury living in south Luanda

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PROPERTY

HOMES FORCajueiro is a Sonangol co-operative that has already built over 3,000

houses for employees working for Sonangol and the Ministry of Oil. “It is the biggest social project in Angola,” said Carlos da Cunha,

Cajueiro’s president. Cajueiro was created in 2000 in order to enable oil-industry workers

to have their own homes, which were out of reach on the open market because of the high cost of real estate in Angola.

The co-op buys pieces of land and builds condominiums.The apartments are then sold to Cajueiro members atbuilding cost only. Sonangol employees receive anotherdiscount of 40 per cent of the price of their homes fromtheir employer. Cajueiro members are also allowed to payfor their apartments over a period of ten years.

SubscriptionAny employee of either Sonangol or the oil ministry may apply to join Cajueiro. Once accepted, they pay a subscription fee for two years of $50 to $200a month, depending on the house they are applying for. After this period, themembers are put on a waiting list. As soon as a house is available, the memberbuys it, and the subscription fee is deducted from the sale price.

“We have members interested in the top-quality houses, but we buildmore low-category to middle-category houses,” said da Cunha. The co-opdoes not get any money from the state, but it is helped by the local authori-ties, which sometimes donate pieces of land. “It is very helpful to us and itis great for their towns as well: not only do we build houses, we alsobuild roads.”

Most of the houses that are already occupied are situated in Luanda, but there are also 121 inhabited houses in Soyo, about 100in Lobito and another 61 in Namibe. By 2012, there should be settlements in Malanje, Lubango and Porto Amboim, andCabinda.

In Luanda, there are three price ranges, depending on thetype of house and the area. The current value of a 90 sq m low-category house with a yard in the popular area of Viana, in the Cajueiro Velho condominium, which was bought for $17,500 at thebeginning of the project, would now be worth about $200,000 on theopen market.

Ana Maria, a Sonangol employee, has been living in the Gepa condominium situated in Samba, in Luanda’s southern suburban zone,since 2002. She bought a three-bedroom house, with two bathrooms, for$37,000. “We always have water, and power as well, thanks to the generators. And it is safe, of course.” �

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MARCH 2010 17

CUP OF NATIONS


Hat trick: The Egyptian teamcelebrates winning the final 1-0 against Ghana, their thirdsuccessive Cup victory

SPECTACLEA WINNINGA football frenzy of singing, dancing, fireworks and hugging each other with joy washow Angolans celebrated their successful hosting of the Africa Cup of Nations

It was four years in the preparation andexpectations were extremely high, butAngola’s Africa Cup of Nations did not

disappoint and was a true Festa de Futebol. Even though Egypt may have won the

title – beating Ghana in the final 1-0 to lifttheir third Cup of Nations trophy in a row –for many Angola was the true winner forhosting such a successful tournament.

The competition began with a spectac-ular opening ceremony of fireworks, musicand dancing played out to a full capacitycrowd of 50,000 at Luanda’s modern 11th ofNovember super stadium. The openinggame also proved to be a worthy spectacle,although it was less than pleasing for Angolan fans who saw their 4-0 lead overMali frittered away in the final 11 minutesto 4-4.

VictoryA few days later, a decisive 2-0 victoryagainst Malawi propelled the Palancas Negras, as the Angolan team is known, tothe top of their group and triggered unprecedented scenes of partying as thou-sands ran out into the streets screamingand cheering, jumping on cars and taxisand hugging each other with joy.

Even more red, black and gold Angolanflags were tied to cars and balconies as thewhole country got caught up in a footballfrenzy, making as much noise as possiblewith plastic trumpets and whistles. Else-where, at the other three stadiums inBenguela, Cabinda and Lubango, some unexpected results in the group stages �

Cracker: Fireworks lightup the sky during theopening ceremony

Horn of Africa:Palanquinha, or Little

Antelope, was thetournament mascot

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– including Gabon beating Cameroon, andIvory Coast drawing with Burkina Faso –kept people on the edges of their seats andmade for an interesting quarter final roundof Angola v Ghana, Ivory Coast v Algeria,Egypt v Cameroon and Zambia v Nigeria.

Cameroon and Ivory Coast – the teamswith the most stars from European and Pre-miership clubs – were the surprise losers,along with Angola, who could not find theback of the net during their quarterfinal andwent out to a young but feisty Ghanaianside which beat them 1-0.

The Palancas Negras defeat plungedthe country into a 24-hour depression, andthe tears running down the faces of theplayers as they left the stadium to face theglare of the world’s media summed up howeveryone felt.

Captain Kali, who came close to equal-ising in the second-half injury time, told re-porters after the game: “We wanted to win so badly. It was good to be in the

quarterfinals. At the end of the day, the onlydifference between us and them was thatthey scored – we did not.”

GustoBut despite Angola being out, there wasplenty of quality football still to be played.The government appealed to the Angolanpeople to pick themselves up and get behind the remaining teams, which theydid with gusto, almost filling the stadiumsand creating lively atmospheres for thesemifinals and finals.

The January 8 attack in Cabinda, whichkilled two members of the Togolese footballdelegation, cast a shadow over the start ofthe tournament and elicited unwantedheadlines around the world for Angola. Asplinter group of the guerrilla organisationFlec (Front for the Liberation of the Enclaveof Cabinda) claimed responsibility for theshooting, and now the Angolan governmentis working with France, where a number of

Flec leaders live in exile, to bring the perpe-trators to justice.

Condemning the attack in his speech atthe opening ceremony, President José Eduardo dos Santos called for the games tocontinue in Cabinda – and Angolansshowed their natural resilience by lookingforward, enjoying the football and not allowing the shooting to detract from thetournament.

Egypt, despite coming to the tourna-ment off the back of being knocked out ofthis year’s World Cup by regional rival Algeria, looked strong from the start andwon all their games convincingly, only conceding two goals.

The Egypt v Ghana final was not themost action-packed game of football, butone goal was all Egypt needed to seal theirglory and win the trophy for a record seventh time.

Ghana did well to be runners up sincethey were missing their three best players –

Michael Essien, Stephen Appiah and SulleyMuntari – and fielded eight of last year’sunder-20 World Cup-winning side.

DramaticThe final, like the opening match, wasplayed to a full house at the stadium in Luanda and it was followed by a dramaticand colourful closing ceremony with music,acrobatics and fireworks. The gold Cup ofNations trophy was flown onto the pitch bya jet-propelled rocket man in a silver spacesuit, and President dos Santos presentedthe winning team with their medals.

The scenes of jubilation among theEgyptian players and their fans were sharedby the Angolan organisers, the tens of thousands of staff and volunteers whomade the tournament happen, and the An-golan people. “It’s been like a party for ourcountry. It’s the first time that we organiseda championship like this and it has madethe Angolan people very happy,” insurance

worker José Rodrigues, 45, told Universo. “It has also been useful and beautiful

for our football and it will help develop ourfuture players,” he said. “We may have lostthis time, but in the next two years we willdo better.”

As well as the four new super stadiumsin Luanda, Benguela, Cabinda andLubango, which cost $600 million, a further$400 million was spent on rebuilding airports, laying new roads and upgradinghospitals. Thanks to the Cup of Nations, Angola also now has a host of new hotels, aprivate taxi system and a reinforcedtelecommunications network.

Cândido Carneiro, a Luandan busi-

nessman who runs Trevgol tour company,said: “I don’t have any doubt whatsoeverthat the results on Angola’s economy arepositive from the point of view of the infra-structures that we have gained, not just thefour stadiums built from scratch, but alsothe other stadiums which were rehabili-tated.”

He admitted that due to high prices notas many tourists as had been hoped hadmade it to Angola, but he said that the investment made now will pay off in thelonger term. An increase in supply meanshotel prices will eventually come down andmake the country more attractive. “It’s likea snowball effect,” he said. �

Clockwise from left: Angola’s Flávio reacts during the quarterfinal match between Angola andGhana; an Angolan fan holds up a banner for Haiti; Samuel Eto’o and Mohamadou Idrissou ofCameroon celebrate after scoring a goal against Zambia during their group stage match; BurkinaFaso fan watches the match between Ghana and Burkina Faso; Egyptian players celebrate with thetrophy during the award ceremony after beating Ghana; Egyptian fans cheer for their national teamin the Ombaka stadium in Benguela

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DINOSAURS


The marine reptile Angolasaurus is just one of the manyprehistoric species found in Angola ➔

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DINOSAURS

Angola, like many African countries, has an abundance of natural resources. But as well as its oil, diamonds, iron ore and copper, Angola is also rich in fossils. According

to researchers, it is “a museum in the ground” waiting to be explored.

Angola’s fossil wealth was first noticed by the Portuguese inthe 1960s but only now are palaeontologists making remarkablediscoveries. Dr Octávio Mateus of the New University of Lisbon isfull of enthusiasm for Angola’s underground potential.

“Angola is just amazing for fossils,” he said. “We have found alot of places which are the best in the world in terms of fossils, andwe keep finding new fossilised animals so it’s very exciting. Angolais a museum in the ground with lots t o be seen.”

Dr Mateus is a lead member of PaleoAngola, a group of researchers from Portugal, Angola, the United States and theNetherlands, who have been digging for fossils in Angola. PaleoAn-gola senior team member Dr Louis Jacobs of Dallas’ SouthernMethodist University describes Angola as the “final frontier forpalaeontology”.

“Due to the war, there has been little research carried out sofar, but now we are getting in finally and there is so much to find,”he said. “In some areas there are literally fossils sticking out of therocks.”

Wiped outThe team’s biggest find was in 2005 when Dr Mateus uncovered fivebones from the front left leg of a sauropod dinosaur on the coast inBengo province, just north of Luanda. Since then, the majority ofthe skulls and skeletons uncovered by the team, which has focusedon coastal areas in Namibe and Bengo provinces, has been fromturtles, sharks, plesiosaurs and mosasaurs.

Plesiosaurs and mosasaurs – of which the Angolasaurus is a species – are marine reptiles that lived at the same time as dinosaurs, which are believed to have been wiped out when an asteroid hit Earth 65 million years ago.

The PaleoAngola team is planning to return to Angola this Julyand continue to focus on the coast, but with a view to going furtherback to the Triassic period, 200 million years ago.

Dr Mateus said: “There have been a number of fish found �

MARCH 2010 23

We have found placeswhich are the best in theworld in terms of fossils, andwe keep finding new animals,so it’s very exciting. Angolais a museum in the groundwith lots to be seen

“”Dr Octávio Mateus, of the New University of Lisbon

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DINOSAURS


from this period, but so far no vertebrates or dinosaurs. The fishthat have been discovered were seen by geologists who were map-ping the area for minerals and they weren’t so interested in the fos-sils and didn’t study them very much.

“What we want to do is revisit the areas where the geologistshave been, but with a palaeontologist’s eye, to see what the fossilscan tell us. We don’t know if we will find anything or not, but Angola keeps surprising us so we hope it stays that way.”

Much of Angola’s fossil richness is down to a series of latitude shifts tens of millions of years ago which saw the landmove through desert and tropical zones. Today, the country remains tropical in the north at its border with the Democratic Republic of Congo and arid desert in the south where it meetsNamibia.

Part of the drive for recovering fossils is to find out more aboutcontinental shifts and to try to get a more exact date of when SouthAmerica split from Africa and the southern Atlantic was formed.

“Fossils can date how animals migrated from one place to an-other and how continents moved through time,” said Dr Mateus.“From fossils we can work out when terrestrial animals were nolonger able to cross from Africa to South America and whenmarine animals were.”

As vital as this research is to discovering more about our world and how and when things happened, finding money to fund the studies is not easy. A month’s field expedition with a transit through the capital Luanda can run into tens of thousandsof dollars.

So far, PaeloAngola has found support from the National

Geographic Society, the Petroleum Research Fund, the SouthernMethodist University, the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Luandaand Portugal’s national airline TAP, but Dr Mateus said more spon-sorship was the key to secure future research.

Tourist attraction“We’re looking forward to our trip in July very much, but it doesdepend to some extent on what funding we can get,” he said. “DrJacobs has applied to the National Science Foundation in the USand if we get that it will be awesome, so we’re keeping our fingerscrossed because if that doesn’t come through it could all be a bittricky.”

As well as looking into Angola’s past, the PaleoAngola projectis also looking forward with a view to developing Angolan scien-tists and academic institutions, and it is working in collaborationwith Agostinho Neto University in Luanda and the Private Univer-sity of Angola in Lubango.

Dr Jacobs, who in the past headed Kenya’s National Palaeon-tology Museum, said: “The idea, as well as to do this research, is totrain Angolan scientists so that they can run their show. Angolansshould be able to use their own unique resources in museums toteach future generations about their country and the world. Every-body likes dinosaurs and, in the long-term, this could become atourist attraction.”

Dr Mateus added: “We want to do this work with the Angolans, for the Angolans. This project is only successful if theAngolans are applied and engaged as well. That’s a very importantpoint for us.” �

Image: Natural History Museum, Universityof Oslo/Handout/Reuters/Corbis

The abundance of fossilsin Angola, particularlythose of large ocean-based predators, demon-strates that the sea alongthe ancient coast of An-gola was productive 90-95million years ago whenthe creatures were alive.

Angolan waters arealso productive today,with the Benguela currentsweeping cold nutrient-enriched waters up thewest coast of Africa fromthe southern Atlantic.However, the Benguelacurrent is only about sixmillion years old. The ex-planation for the produc-tivity of the waters whenthe fossils were alive liesin the Earth’s climaticzones and the geographicposition of the African

continent at the time. Oil and gas were

formed over millions ofyears by the decay of organic material and in-creases in pressure andtemperature throughcompression of layerupon layer of sediment.

Being able to track regions of high organicproductivity in areaswhere dinosaurs andmosasaurs once lived,and the geological con-text of the fossils found,helps geologists under-stand the ancient oceans’currents and the move-ment of continents.

This in turn gives cluesto the history of petro-leum-source rocks, wherewe can today drill to findcrude oil and gas.

Oil and dinosaurs – a connection?Artist’s impression of a larger plesiosaur catching a small one.The plesiosaurs were marinereptiles that lived contemporane-ously to the dinosaurs, who livedon land. Plesiosaur fossils havebeen discovered in Angola

Octávio Mateusand Mike Polcyn


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ISOLATIONIN SPLENDIDAngola’s closest cultural ties are with the tiny archipelago of São Tomé and Príncipe,which is now becoming a paradise for tourists. Sarah Monaghan reports ➔

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Iam in a fairytale scene. Abandonedcolonial buildings surround me, thejungle having wreathed its way around

them like Mayan temples. A banana treehas invaded the hall of the casa do patrão(the master’s house) and lianas are clam-bering across its peeling ceilings. Is Sleep-ing Beauty lying upstairs?

A shutter flaps in the wind. I climb amarble staircase. From a balustrade bal-cony onto which the sun spills comes thereflected sparkle of turquoise waters andthe view of a palm-fringed beach below.The chlorophyll green of the jungle leadingdown to the shore is lit by the hot orange offlame trees and the flash of a yellow-breasted sunbird.

Time seems to have stopped onPríncipe. I am part of a living history lesson.This plantation, Roça Sundi, encircled byturreted walls, was once the island’s biggestcocoa estate and a former home to the Por-tuguese royal family. In its grounds a rust-ing steam locomotive still sits on corrodedtracks. Until 40 or so years ago, it wouldhave carried fresh cocoa beans through thejungle to the coast for export to Lisbon.

It is little wonder that São Tomé andPríncipe give a sense of being a tear in thefabric of time. Positioned off the West Coastof Africa, the islands are, in geographical

terms, at the centre of the world – the clos-est land mass to the point in the Atlanticwhere the imaginary line of the equatorcrosses the zero meridian. Older geologi-cally than the Galapagos Islands, they areso isolated that many plant and birdspecies are endemic.

SlavesCarlito is my guide. He, like many islanders,speaks Lung’iye, a Creole tongue, as well asPortuguese. His ancestors came from CapeVerde and were part of the import of thou-sands of slaves brought in by the Por-tuguese from the 15th century onwardsfrom its African colonies. Toiling a six-dayweek, with only the songs of their home-land to break the monotony, their effortsmeant that by the early 20th century the is-lands had become one of the world’s largestcocoa producers. Carlito’s father was stillworking for a Portuguese plantation ownerin 1975 when independence was declared.

Today, oil exploration has begun off-shore, and tourism and investment arebringing a new optimism. Cocoa and coffeeproduction is restarting and many of theold plantation houses are being restoredas rural hotels, attracting adventurous trav-ellers keen to trek the rainforests, lounge onthe deserted beaches and explore thecrumbling colonial splendour.

In the capital city, São Tomé, a Por-tuguese chain has just opened a five-starhotel complete with infinity pool over the

bay where the first Portuguese ships landedin 1470. Along the coast, the prettiestbeaches dotted by fishermen’s shacks areearmarked for holiday developments.

On Príncipe, I base myself at Bom BomIsland Resort. Pagoda-style bungalows siton a shoreline overhung by coconut palms.Each evening I cross a long wooden pier,through which the waves splash, to aforested islet and a simple restaurant wheretables are decorated with tropical flowers.

The other guests are a group of Portuguese, an Englishman and his grand-son here for the excellent sports fishing,and two adventurous tourists from Paris,Oscar and Ludwig, who have spent the pastweek trekking on São Tomé, staying in re-stored roças, the old feudal plantations.

It is so delightful here that it would beeasy to simply sit on my veranda with anovel, watching fallen coconuts wash inand out, and that is exactly what I do on myfirst day. The next day, I go scuba diving.The volcanic ocean floor and the mix of equatorial currents make for a fantastic underwater show of fan corals, turtles, barracuda and rays.

Oscar, Ludwig and I set off on quadbikes the following day. We rumble pastclapboard houses painted tropicalturquoise, fuchsia or yellow. Their residents wave and call a welcome goodmorning: “Bom dia!” We reach Roça BeloMonte, another example of tumbledownsplendour high on a hill. “It’s gorgeous. I �

Angola’s historical, economic and cul-tural links with São Tomé and Príncipeare so strong that they even feature onthe back of the 5,000-dobra note, whichdepicts São Tomé’s most impressiveplantation, Roça Agostinho Neto. Origi-nally named Rio do Ouro, it was re-named Agostinho Neto in 1979 after thefirst Angolan president and poet (1922-79) to celebrate the political, militaryand financial help his government gaveto the young republic. His bust stillgreets visitors on arrival at the roça,where there are plans to convert the for-mer hospital building into a universitycampus for the island.

Historically, Angola’s most significantrole in the history of São Tomé andPríncipe is perhaps found at the fishingtown of São João dos Angolares in theeast of São Tomé. The Angolares, a fish-ing people populating the coastalstretches from Santa Catarina in thewest down to Ilhéu das Rolas in thesouth, have fascinated the local imagi-nation for a long time.

A distinct socio-cultural group ofseveral thousand, they speak their ownlanguage, N’gola. For centuries, mys-tery surrounded the question of how theAngolares came to be on the island.Legend tells that the Angolares are thedescendents of a slave ship fromAngola shipwrecked here, whose ReiAmador led the most successful slaveuprising in 1595. He remains a nationalhero and is very important to the Ango-lares and Santomean identity. TheAngolares’ Creole culture remains alivein language and rituals, in bulaué musicand the work of local artists. The dra-matic works of Fernando de Macedo(1927-2006) focus on Angolar historygiving voice to this history of San-tomean society. Macedo, a Portuguesewriter who styled himself as a descen-dant of the last Angolan king, cele-brates the landscape and the force oftradition on the island. You can impressthe locals here with a few words of theirN’gola. language: Ma vira-ó? Everythingok? N’ sabóa! Everything is fine!

The Angolan connectionRoça Agostinho Neto


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MARCH 2010 31



want to buy this house and restore it to aboutique hotel,” sighs Oscar. He is too late.A Portuguese company has had the sameidea…

FootprintThe sun has come out. Below is Praia Ba-nana, a curve of white sand with gin-clearwater that was once the setting for a Bac-ardi rum commercial. There’s not a singleother footprint in the sand on this picture-perfect beach. We run to dive into the sea.

It is a 40-minute hop in a propellerplane across the 150km of ocean thatdivides Príncipe from São Tomé and its ‘in-ternational’ airport – grass grows betweenthe cracks on the runway and goats andhens roam outside. Two hulking rusting1950s propeller planes sit on a slipway.

In São Tomé’s tiny capital I wander thestreets, making small talk with money-changers with battered briefcases, and ad-miring colonial-style buildings with ornatewooden balconies that would not look outof place in Havana. Overlooking it all is thelumbering white fortress of São Sebastião,built by the Portuguese in 1576 and now thenational museum. The curator moves astone trap door. Rebellious plantationworkers used to be placed in the dungeonbeneath and dealt with by the tide.

Swarming the capital’s main square aresaffron-yellow taxis alongside a raucousmarket where women sit with pyramids oflimes, tomatoes and chillies, or piles ofspiny breadfruit and pockmarked jack-fruits. Others have enamel bowls, balancedon their heads, from which poke the jaggedtails of peixe voador (flying fish).

Three hundred and sixty degrees ofocean mean that fish is always on the menuand during my stay I eat plenty, from shar-ing a simple meal of grilled fish and bread-fruit with fishermen over a beach fire to anelaborate tasting menu of traditional San-

tomean cuisine at Roça São João. This restored roça is the perfect exam-

ple of a successful rural ecotourism ven-ture. Run by celebrity chef João Carlos Silva,whose TV series On the Plantation withMoustaches has been hugely popular inAfrica, it has six simple but elegant guestbedrooms with views over the forest downto the fishing village of São João dos Ango-lares.

SpicesThe six-course tasting lunch uses spicesthat echo a heritage stretching fromMozambique to Angola and to Cape Verde.I savour rice fish balls with saffron and co-riander; grilled tuna with vanilla seeds;omelette de micoco, a thyme-like herb, andthe national dish calulú, a stew made fromsmoked chicken and fresh herbs.

On my last evening at Café e Compa-nhia, a bar where tables spill into the street,I meet a young Santomean painter, KwameSousa. His Impressionistic work of exuber-ant colours and local scenes sells for highprices in Lisbon and is on display at thecity’s Teia D’@rte Gallery that exhibits workby native artists and those from former Portuguese colonies.

“Life is so real here and the colours areso unreal,” enthuses Kwame. In recentyears, he says, the islands have become anartistic mecca. To prove the point, he in-vites me to a street party near the gallerywhere we see more innovative work onshow and where a kizomba band plays asensual but stomping rhythm that has itsroots in the music’s Angolan heritage.

I leave São Tomé and Príncipe in a blurof colour: from the bright yellows and pur-ples of cocoa pods; to the pink of the porce-lain-like rose endemic to the isles; to thecobalt waters that shine through the palmtrees, this is a dazzling country that offers avery warm welcome. �

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His Impressionistic work of exu-berant colours and local scenessells for high prices in Lisbon and is ondisplay at the city’s Teia D’@rte Gallery“

”Sarah Monaghan travelled to SãoTomé and Príncipe with Africa’s Eden(www.africas-eden.com). Activitiesdepend on the season and includeguided island-exploration tours,plantation visits, trekking, birdwatch-ing, whale watching, sea turtle nightviewing, quad biking, sports fishing,kayaking, snorkelling and diving.

From Europe: You can travel to SãoTomé and Príncipe directly from Lisbon with TAP or via Gabon withAir France, Gabon Airlines, Royal AirMaroc or Lufthansa, with a connect-ing flight to São Tomé (one hour fromLibreville) with the EquatorialGuinean airline CEIBA on Mondaysand Fridays. Africa’s Eden’s own airline Africa’s Connection connectsSão Tomé with Príncipe.

From Angola: STP Airways flies eachWednesday to and from Luanda; The Angolan airline TAAG flies twicea week, Sunday and Friday.

The local currency is the Santomeandobra ($) although euros are widelyaccepted. Portuguese is the linguafranca; French is also widely spoken,and some English.

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Healthy outlookEsso Angola has pledged to spend $3.5million on social programmes and com-munity investments in the country dur-ing 2010. The money will be channelledthrough non-governmental organisa-tions focusing on public health and edu-cation. “These programmes help toprevent illnesses, reduce poverty andstimulate the economic development,which in turn means more people and

communities across Angola benefit aswell,” said Jim Seale, general director ofEsso Angola, a subsidiary of US giantExxonMobil. Since 2000, the ExxonMobilFoundation has invested more than $23million in social, education and healthcommunity initiatives. Esso Angola hasbeen operating in Block 15 Angola since1994 and is the largest producer of oil inthe country.

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China dateSonangol will be putting Angola on the

world map when it takes part in Expo

Shanghai 2010 from May 1 to October 31 in

China. More than 70 million people are ex-

pected to visit the event which has the

theme ‘Better City, Better Life’, based on im-

proving urban environments. There will be 12

pavilions on the site which covers a total

area of 5.28 sq km and spans both sides of

the Huangpu River.

NEWSSonangol news briefingSonangol celebrated its

34th anniversary on February 25 and, to mark

the occasion, chairman ManuelVicente gave his annual mediaconference and an update onthe company’s performanceand plans for 2010.

Last year was an importantmilestone for the Angolan oilindustry. Angola held the rotating presidency of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) in 2009 and hosted the annualend-of-year summit in Decem-ber. The decision of the summitto maintain production levelshas helped keep the price of oil stable, and we devote 14 pagesto the event in this section.

This year promises to bevery exciting for Sonangol withdevelopments on several fronts.As we report here, the companyhas won the contracts to develop two oilfields in Iraq.Also, Angola has signed oil co-operation documents with Ecuador, which holds the current Opec presidency,and India.

On the home front, Sonan-gol’s birthday programme of activities for its 9,000-plus employees and their families included sports events and acelebratory lunch.

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Safety firstJosé Botelho de Vasconcelos, Angola’s

Minister for Oil, has called for more control

to improve the safety of oil workers and protect

the natural environment. Addressing a seminar

on regulation within the industry, the minister

said it was important to make sure all oil

companies were operating within the rules. He

said the oil ministry would be working to ensure

all industry activity was adequately checked and

regulated.

ship gas company, was among the dele-gation. He said discussions had beenheld on Indian investment in liquefiednatural gas projects in Angola. “We havetalked about sourcing LNG from theproject which is due to start commis-sioning in December 2012, and alsoabout the possibility of participating in asecond LNG project as a promoter andtaking equity,” he told reporters.

IraqSonangol has won deals to develop twooilfields in northern Iraq. The Qayaraand Najmah fields are said to havereserves of over 1 billion barrels of oil.Sonangol signed the exploration agree-ment during a bidding auction held inDecember in Baghdad. The company islikely to work in partnership with for-eign companies to explore the reserves.

EcuadorAngola has signed a letter of intent withEcuador to help explore and produce oiland gas. The agreement was signed inQuito by Angolan oil minister JoséBotelho de Vasconcelos and his counter-part Germánico Pinto. Sonangol willpartner with Ecuador’s state oil com-pany Petroecuador to develop projectsin the country’s Amazon region.

IndiaSonangol has signed a memorandum ofunderstanding with India’s Oil and Nat-ural Gas Corp (ONGC) with a view toboosting co-operation between the twocompanies. ONGC chairman R.S.Sharma said that the document “willshow the co-operation between the twocompanies to work together in thefuture for exploration activities in An-gola. We have also agreed that the twocompanies can work together for co-op-eration in third-world countries andalso in India.”

Earlier, India’s Minister for Petro-leum Murli Deora met his Angolancounterpart José Botelho de Vasconce-los to discuss the deepening of ties inthe overall energy sector. Travelling withDeora, who was also visiting Sudan,Nigeria and Uganda, were several keyIndian energy companies, among themGail (India) Ltd and Indian Oil Corp.

Shri B.C. Tripathi, chairman andmanaging director of Gail, India’s flag-

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A DAY TO REMEMBERAngola’s first ever Opec summit, to mark the end of its inaugural year holding the

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Opec family photo, taken in Luanda on December 22, 2009: Dr Rilwanu Lukman, the Nigerian Minister of Petroleum Resources; Bernard Mommer,Venezuela’s Governor to Opec; Ms Nawal Al-Fuzaia, Kuwait’s Governor for Opec; Abdullah El-Badri, Opec General Secretary; Mohammad bin Dhaen al-Hamli, the UAE's Minister of Energy; Shokri Ghanem, the Libyan Chairman of NOC; Ali al-Naimi, Saudi Arabian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral

Resources; Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah, Qatarian Minister of Energy and Industry; José Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos, Angolan Minister of Petroleum and Presidentof Opec; Paulo Kassoma, Angolan Prime Minister; Chakib Khelil, Algerian Minister of Energy and Mines; Hussain Al-Shahristani, Iraqi Minister of Oil; Al-Husayn Mirza,Bahrain’s Minister of Oil; Khatibi Tabatabai, Iran’s Governor for Opec; and Germánico Alfredo Pinto Troya, Ecuadoran Minister of Mines and Petroleum

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In December, representatives from all 12members of the Organization of PetroleumExporting Countries arrived in Luanda for

the 155th Opec summit. The day-long confer-ence was a great opportunity for Angola toshow the international community that itcould host such a high-profile event, coming asit did only a few weeks before the first matcheswere played in the Africa Cup of Nations.

Angola is the most recent member coun-try of Opec, having joined in 2007. Two yearslater, in January 2009, Angola was given theannual rotating presidency and José Botelhode Vasconcelos, Angola’s Minister for Petro-leum, took over as Opec’s president for the next12 months.

It is Opec tradition that the end-of-yearsummit is hosted by the presiding nation. Forweeks before it took place, the Angolan mediareflected national excitement about the eventand Botelho de Vasconcelos became the mostwanted man in the country. The new monthlyfinance magazine Exame pictured him on thecover of its launch issue with the headline ‘MrOpec’, with an in-depth interview inside. A fewdays before the summit, the press corps arriveden masse from capitals including London,Paris, Johannesburg, Lisbon and Dubai.

International reporters were particularlyinterested in the Luanda summit because it hasbeen a turbulent few years for Opec. In the finalquarter of 2008, oil prices dropped consider-ably, a direct consequence of the global eco-nomic crisis. In December of that year, as theprice of a barrel of oil fell to under $40, Opecdecided to make significant cuts in oil produc-tion in an effort to stabilise prices. It was Opec’sbiggest ever production cut.

In 2009, Angola took over the Opec presi-dency in testing circumstances – a great chal-lenge for the rookie nation, especially sincecutting production is a double-edged sword:prices may rise, but if production drops so mayrevenues. In Angola, the oil sector represents80 per cent of revenue and 97 per cent of exports. �

Top: Delegates at the summit

Bottom left: Hussain Al-Shahristani, IraqiMinister of Oil

Bottom right: José Botelho de Vasconcelos,Angola’s Minister of Petroleum during an interview

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All of the Opec member nations’ oil minis-ters were present in Luanda, except for Iran’sminister, Masoud Mir-Kazemi, and Kuwait’sminister, Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah Al-Sabah,who were represented by their Opec governors.The representatives of four non-Opec coun-tries, Egypt, Bahrain, Oman and Indonesia,were attending the summit as observers.

Angolan preparations for the event included the opening of the country’s first five-star hotel at the Talatona Convention Center,where the VIP guests had luxury chalets.

The summit began with a welcome speechby Botelho de Vasconcelos. “When we acceptedthis presidency, we knew that it would be diffi-cult,” he said. “But we didn’t hesitate to face thechallenge. Today, we can announce withoutfear of mistake that we managed to fulfill ourgoals.”

When Angola took over the presidency inJanuary last year, oil prices were still very low.They improved during the year and by Decem-ber were fluctuating between $70 and $80 abarrel, a price considered ideal by most of thecartel’s members. “At between $70 and $80,everyone is happy,” said Saudi Oil Minister Alial-Naimi. “The current price is good for consumers, producers and investors.”

Botelho de Vasconcelos said that the increase in the oil price was not just due to theproduction cut; in the second half of 2009 themarket had reached some kind of “serenity”thanks to the improved economic outlook inAsia and Europe. He added that he was proudof Angola’s presidency because the country wasstill in a phase of rebuilding and that comply-ing with the quotas was a real sacrifice. Themeeting also confirmed that Opec had decidedto maintain oil production at current levels.

Later, Paulo Kassoma, Angola’s Prime Minister, expressed his concern for the planetand his intention to adopt measures in favourof sustainable development, such as invest-ments in clean-technology projects and imple-menting radical changes in production and consumption habits.

After the speeches, the ministers met for ashort closed-door meeting and then went �

Top left: Al-Husayn Mirza, Bahrain’s Minister of Oil

Top right: Libyan General Secretary of Opec, Abdullah El-Badri

Bottom: Paulo Kassoma, Prime Minister of Angola

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briefly to the Presidential Palace to meet An-golan President José Eduardo dos Santos.

In the afternoon, Botelho de Vasconcelosand Opec secretary general Abdalla El-Badrigave a press conference that lasted for an hour.The two men remained encouraging and posi-tive: El-Badri repeated that the current oilprices were “suitable for producers and con-sumers” and Botelho de Vasconcelos declaredthat different economic signs on a global scalemade them think that the price would remainat this level in 2010.

They also renewed the call on non-Opecoil producers to support oil-market stabilisa-tion, since the restoration of market equilib-rium was “a burden which Opec membercountries are unable to bear alone”.

In the official statement after the pressconference, the cartel warned that “althoughasset market prices have rebounded and eco-nomic growth has resumed in some parts ofthe world, it is not yet clear how strong ordurable the recovery might be ”.

Concerning Angola, Botelho de Vasconce-los said that one of the next big challenges forthe country would be the new refinery inLobito, which should be ready in 2014. Angolacurrently consumes 75,000 barrels of petrol aday and still imports half of its daily needs.

In conclusion, El-Badri made a very com-plimentary comment on Angola’s presidency ofOpec: “I would give an ‘A’ if I had to qualify thisperiod of Angolan presidency,” he said.

The Angolan media praised the summit.Weekly private paper O País ran with the head-line ‘Mission Accomplished’, saying that thepresidency had ended well. And the nationaldaily paper Jornal de Angola considered that“the Angolan presidency of Opec was positive”.

A year ago, Angolans were very aware thatthe smooth running of the Opec presidencywould help create a positive image of Angola’scapacity to govern. Twelve months later, asBotelho de Vasconcelos handed over the pres-idency to Ecuador’s oil minister GermánicoPinto, he seemed very satisfied that he hadmanaged to maintain a form of cohesion insidethe oil cartel throughout a difficult time. �

Top left: Ali aI-Naimi, Saudi Arabian Ministerof Petroleum and Mineral Resources

Bottom left: The international press corps

Right: Manuel Vicente, Sonangol Chairman

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Delegates came from all of Opec’s 12members – Algeria, Angola, Ecuador,

Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar,Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and

Venezuela – and four observer countries:Egypt, Bahrain, Oman and Indonesia

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Angola’s first five-star hotel opened itsdoors in December to welcomeministers and guests to the Opec

summit. The Talatona Convention Hotel,which is adjacent to the convention centrein Luanda Sul where the Opec meeting washeld, was officially inaugurated by President José Eduardo dos Santos.

The five-storey building has 201 rooms,including 20 suites and a presidential suite,as well as 20 villas, each with two bedroomsplus additional accommodation for a driveror other staff. Rooms, which range from$600 to $5,000 a night, are air-conditionedand have internet and other communica-tion facilities.

There are 12 meeting rooms, aswimming pool, a gym, tennis

courts, beauty-treatment

rooms and a number of restaurants andbars. These include Sabores do Mussuloserving seafood; La Piazza Del Forno, serv-ing Italian cuisine; Brent’s Bar, a meetingplace and cocktail lounge; and the PebblesClub for night entertainment.

At the opening, Minister of TourismPedro Mutindi said: “This business repre-sents another asset for the growth of thecountry’s hotel and tourism industry.”

Maria Idalina Valente, the Minister ofCommerce, added: “With progress alreadyachieved in many fields, the country deserves to have a facility of this level.”

A mixture of national and expatriatestaff make up the hotel’s workforce of 400and in January the hotel formed the base forthe Confederation of African Football in Angola for the Africa Cup of Nations.

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Images from the Opec summit:(clockwise from bottom left) an interior from the Talatona

Convention Hotel; Angolan art; host-esses; “The Thinker” – a symbol of

Angola; dancers

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NEWS

OIL FOR SALECan you tell us a little bit about your career?I started work at Banco Standard Totta in July 1975 and later workedfor the Ministry of Industry, Imavest Company, Tornang Companyand from 1985 to 2006 at the Ministry of Petroleum. Since July 2006I have been working for Sonangol.

What are the main features of your job as commercialdirector? The aims are to guarantee the execution of all the commercialisa-tion operations for crude oil and refined products in order to maximise the acquisition of proceeds; to strengthen Sonangol’simage as a competitor company on the international market; andto support our subsidiaries abroad by providing solutions to theirconcerns.

How many people work in your department and howis it structured?There are 31 people in my department, which is structured as follows: secretary, crude oil department, inspection departmentand products department.

What are the products that you sell and who areSonangol’s main customers?We have exported mainly crude oil and some fuel oil, nafta, gasoil,gasoline and Jet A-1. We have tried to diversify our customers butthey are mainly from China, the United States and Europe.

Can you give an idea of the volumes of sales and howthey have grown?Angola’s petroleum activity has risen over the last few years and thevolume of sales increased according to the production level.

How would you like your department to develop overthe next few years?I hope my department will turn into an autonomous business unitwhich is more efficient.

Looking ahead, what are the challenges for yourdepartment?The main challenge is to keep the team members motivated andto constantly improve their professional skills so that they are readyto face new developments in the oil sector.

How important is Angola’s membership of Opec toyour department?Opec’s main objective is to guarantee crude-oil price stability onthe international market, to avoid volatility and guarantee stableproceeds to its members as well as a continuing supply of crude oilat a fair price. Since Angola is a country that depends mainly on oilrevenues, I support the idea of having stable prices and my depart-ment positively contributes to reach this objective.

How do you see the future of the oil industry inAfrica?Africa is, and will continue to be, a critical component of world energy supply. It is rapidly expanding its exportable energy-re-source base to include natural gas and, over time, can also be expected to become a significant exporter of petroleum products asit builds new refinery capacity. This growth will require new skillsand create new employment opportunities across the African con-tinent. The challenge for Africa will be to develop these human resources quickly. I am pleased to say that considerable progress isbeing made on this front, both in Angola and across the continent.

How does it feel to be one of the few womendirectors at Sonangol?I am certainly proud to be one of the few women directors at Sonangol. It strives to encourage and promote those individualswho have the capacity to lead the company and the country forward in the new economic era in which we find ourselves. Sonangol’s management does not consider that an individual’sgender plays any role whatsoever in their ability to succeed and tohelp others to succeed. I am proud to be part of an organisationthat recognises this fundamental fact. �

Lucinda de Carvalho RibeiroGuimarães

Born Luanda March 5, 1956

Graduated in Economics atAgostinho Neto University in 1984

Lucinda Guimarães

An interview with Lucinda Guimarães, Sonangol’s commercial director

Sonangol strives to encourage and promote thoseindividuals who have the capacity to lead the companyand the country forward in the new economic era inwhich we find ourselves“

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MARCH 2010 51

Cabinda

Uíge

Bengo

Luanda Kwanza Norte

Malanje

Kwanza Sul

Lunda Norte

Lunda Sul

Kuando Kubango

Huíla

Cunene

Namibe

Benguela

Huambo

Zaire

Bié


ZAMBIA

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLICOF CONGO

NAMIBIA

CONGO

Moxico

BOTSWANA

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Dav

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THE BIG PICTURE:

TREESAngola has a rich flora including many species of trees. This is not surprising with its

varied terrain, ranging from coastal plains to mountain escarpments and highplateaux, and with a wide-ranging climate producing deserts in the south, equatorial

tropical jungle in the north and a great area of grassland savannah in the centre. Here welook at three of the country’s most interesting trees.

BaobabThe African baobab,known in Angola asthe imbondeiro, is na-tive to much of Africa andis regarded as the largestsucculent plant in the world. The enor-mous rather squat trunk can reach 28min girth while the tree seldom reachesmore than 25m in height, so that manytraditional Africans believed that Godplanted the tree upside down. It is thearchetypical large solitary tree of thesavannah, although in Angola it alsogrows in woodlands and in coastal re-gions. It has large, white, sweetly-scentedflowers visible at night which are mainlypollinated by fruit bats, although largeinsects and birds also visit to collect thenectar. Many stories are told about thistree: for example, if a person eats one ofthe flowers they, in turn, will be eaten bya lion, while sucking the seeds mayattract crocodiles.

The imbondeiro has large velvet-skinned fruits called mukua or múcuawhich have been described as looking likelarge rats hanging from the tree by theirtails. They contain an off-white powderymaterial that can be made into a refresh-ing drink which is rich in vitamin C andhas twice as much calcium as milk. In2008, the fruit was given approval by theEuropean Union to be used in smoothiesand cereal bars. The trunks of the imbon-deiros are so massive that those with hol-low centres have been used as houses,storage barns and even as pubs and rain-water reservoirs. The leaves can becooked fresh as a vegetable and thefibrous bark is good for making mats.

Lifuá or DoukaThe province of Cabinda has a wonderfulabundance of trees, producing valuabletimber. Thirty-six different species ofsuch trees are listed by the Angolan Min-istry of Agriculture. The lifuá or douka isone of these. The lifuá occurs in a geo-graphical area stretching fromCameroon in the north, down throughGabon and the Congos and then on to theMayombe (or Maiombe) forest ofCabinda. The trees tend to grow singly orin groups of three or four and have a di-ameter of up to two metres. Their greatclean trunks grow to such a height thatthey can burst though the forest canopy.

The green, then yellow, fruits grow upto 10cm in diameter and are each filledwith a sweet-smelling orangey pulp. For-est elephants travel great distances tosearch out the ripe fallen crop, and theirwell-worn trails throughthe jungle mark outtheir movementsfrom one lifuá treeto another. The ele-phants perform avaluable task in thedispersal of the treeseeds. Conservationistsare concerned that over-logging of the lifuá will ad-versely affect these forestelephants.

Workers sawing up thetimber of both lifuá andmakoré wood have to becareful as the dust cancause respiratory irrita-tion, dermatitis and con-junctivitis.

Mopane The mopane cannot match the imbon-deiro or the lifuá for size and presencebut it is an important food plant for thevaluable mopane ‘worm’. The tree is slimand grey-trunked, usually growing toabout seven to ten metres in height, al-though it can reach 30 metres. It has acrown of rigid, irregular branches andgrows in a riparian habitat along theCunene River amongthe dryforests ofsouthern An-gola – as well asin parts of Namibiaand other countriesin Southern Africa.

Its leaves are often described as beautiful and elegant, or like butterflies,and they close up in the heat of the sun topreserve moisture. Where the trees arenumerous, little grass grows beneath.The leaves have a turpentine odourbrowsing families of elephants sometimesstrip off the leaves and bark and snapand push over the trees. The mopaneworms which also eat the leaves are thecaterpillars of the magnificent mopaneemperor moth. These caterpillars canreach 10cm in length and are an impor-tant part of the diet of many local peoplewho consider them a great delicacy.They are rich in protein, usually roasted,and a trade in the dried caterpillars hasalso evolved.

Some 34 species of bird feed on thesenutritious insects. There is concern else-where in Africa that a possible over-har-vesting of the caterpillars mighteventually make them extinct.

SU25.map.pp50-51:SU24 23/2/10 10:23 Page 50

SON

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ISSUE 25 – M

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H2010

UniversoMARCH 2010

Job doneAngolan oil minister José Botelho de Vasconcelos ends his yearas Opec president at thefirst ever Opec summitin Luanda

100m years BCFabulous

fossils found

High lifeLuxury

skyscrapersin Luanda

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