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The oil and diamond boom enriches the party but doesn't feed the people

The view from the presidency at Futungo de Belas is bright. With peace and victory, Angola is on the path to becoming an oil- and gas-fuelled industrial economy to rival Nigeria and South Africa. Yet about a tenth of the population survives under threat of starvation and chronic disease, and millions more exist barely at subsistence level. Angola could finance development from its own resources, given enough job-creating productive investment; over 90 per cent of present investment is about pumping oil or digging diamonds. Investors are not certain that the peace is permanent and dislike doing business with the Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola government (AC Vol 43 No 8)....

(This article contains approximately 1290 words)

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Keywords:

Nigeria, South Africa, Britain, Portuguese, Brazil, Canadian, Spanish, Pierre Falcone, Arkady Gaidamak, French, Switzerland, Russia, Daniel Devaud, Elisio de Figueiredo, Singapore, Joaquim David, José Eduardo dos Santos, José Leitão, Vitaly Malkin, Boris Yeltsin, Fernando Dias dos Santos 'Nando', Isabel dos Santos, Helder Vieira Dias 'Kopelipa', Congo-Brazzaville, In the catering business, Julio Bessa, Antonio van Dúnem, João de Matos, Armando da Cruz Neto, Futungo de Belas, Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola, par excellence, União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola, Casa Militar, fait accompli, Entreposto Comercial, Forças Armadas Angolanas