Lourenço dismisses Dos Santos' daughter as president of the state oil company

The president of Angola, João Lourenço, today dismissed Isabel dos Santos, daughter of his predecessor in office, José Eduardo dos Santos, as president of the board of directors of the state oil company Sonangol, local media reported.

Nairobi, Nov 15 (EFE) .- The president of Angola, João Lourenço, today dismissed Isabel dos Santos, daughter of his predecessor in office, José Eduardo dos Santos, as president of the council of administration of state oil company Sonangol, local media reported.

Instead, he named the up-to-date state oil secretary, Carlos Saturnino Oliveira, according to a note disseminated by the state news agency Angop, which does not disclose the reasons for this step.

Isabel dos Santos, considered the richest woman in Africa, had been running since June 2016 company, which controls the production of oil -the main income of the country thanks to its abundant deposits- and natural gas.

This movement deals a blow to the legacy of Dos Santos, who remained in power from 1979 until last August, when he handed over the presidency to the 63-year-old Lourenço, who won the elections as the only party candidate ruled Angola since independence in 1975, the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA).

Analysts pointed out that Dos Santos would not stop exercising power despite leave the head of state, having passed last July laws that prevented the dismissal of the heads of the Army, the Police and the intelligence services for eight years.

Likewise, another of the sons of the former president, José Filomeno, is in charge of the Angolan sovereign fund.

In his investiture speech, João Lourenço assured that he would promote a "reform and transformation in continuity" to "keep what is right and correct what is wrong," among which he stressed the need to "eliminate the corruption that threatens the society. "

Angola closed 2016 as the 14th largest oil producer in the world and second in Africa.

The Angolan economy is 45% dependent on oil activities, which represent a 95% % of exports, so the drop in oil prices since 2014 has led to a sharp slowdown of 29.3%.

However, oil production boosted GDP Angolan population by 3.023% between 1994 and 2014, although the widespread corruption during the Dos Santos period in front of the country has meant that, despite this economic bonanza, more than half of the living population with less than two euros per day and Angola occupies the 150th place out of 188 in the Human Development Index.