On the 28th of April, Vladimir Putin spoke on the phone with João Lourenço, on the initiative of the Angolan President, as reported by the Kremlin press service. Good old friends served (at the time) exactly for that. At the time, the possibility was assumed that the MPLA could use the Russian strategy in Ukraine in Angola, claiming that the only way to defend itself was to “denazify” UNITA… Putin is failing, as Donald Trump failed, and João Lourenço turned around. for Joe Biden.
SAccording to the Russian agency RIA Novosti, at the request of João Lourenço, President Putin “brought information about the causes and objectives of the special military operation to protect Donbass and also made fundamental assessments of the situation of negotiations with Ukrainian representatives”.
“Satisfaction with the level of friendly relations achieved was expressed by both sides”, indicates the Russian agency. That was, remember, just eight months ago.
“Commitments to its development, including cooperation in the commercial, economic, scientific and technical spheres” were also highlighted in the conversation, said the Russian regime’s propaganda agency.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Western leaders on March 3 of having plans for a “real war” against Russia, which can only be nuclear. Eritrea, Belarus and North Korea are fully supportive. Angola and Mozambique also subscribed but in a non-formal way, as the MPLA explained in an “off” to Chief Putin. However, despite being a general formed, decorated and formatted by the Russians, João Lourenço has now (and until you see…) his dear leader (Putin) given a turn to the big billiards.
“If some people are planning a real war against us, and I think they are, they should think carefully,” Lavrov said. “We will not let anyone destabilize us,” he assured. I could well paraphrase Agostinho Neto and say that “we are not going to waste time with judgments”.
Perhaps, because UNITA had, at the time, a diametrically opposed position to that of the MPLA on this subject, it was assumed that MPLA sepoys would use the thesis that UNITA is a neo-Nazi party in the electoral campaign. They didn’t do it with all the letters, but they were close. But, after all, UNITA was also right in this Russia/Ukraine matter, as it now recognizes (without recognizing) João Lourenço.
In March, the US ambassador in Luanda, Tulinabo Salama Mushingi, stated that the position assumed by Angola (MPLA) of non-condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine would not affect relations with the United States, guaranteeing that the two countries would “ continue to work together.”
Angola, said Tulinabo Salama Mushingi, is one of the US’s four strategic partnerships in Africa and will continue to do so. “For us, a vote on this matter does not affect our relationship, we will continue to work together”, she said.
Angola abstained, at the beginning of March, in the UN General Assembly vote that condemned the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation with 145 countries in favor and five against. In total, 35 countries abstained, including 17 African countries. By refraining from condemning the aggressor, unlike UNITA, the MPLA assumed the condemnation of the attacker. It would only be worrying if Angola were not a solid democracy like Russia, Eritrea or North Korea…
“On this issue, we can all agree on the facts of what has happened in this region: one country has attacked another, one country is bombing another and destroying their way of life. They are facts. But when it comes to voting time, each country has the right to decide how to vote. What is clear is that the majority of countries in the world voted in favor of this resolution and only five voted against it, but it is not worth spending a lot of time discussing how each country voted”, underlined the North American diplomat.
Tulinabo Salama Mishingi added that the matter had been discussed with the Angolan counterpart: “We explained our position and Angola explained its, that’s what we do. On what we agreed, let’s move forward; when we do not agree we will wait and continue to discuss”. It was predicted that until the free world managed to “transform” Vladimir Putin from bestial to beast, the MPLA would continue to consider him bestial. However, João Lourenço realized that Putin is very close to being considered a beast and that, as such, he will not be able to surpass the value of the Public Offer for Purchase (OPC) offered by the USA in relation to Angola.
On whether the fact that Russian companies that are being sanctioned could open more doors to American companies, Tulinabo Salama Mishingi considered that the priority is to give Angola and Angolans “choices”.
The diplomat stressed that companies must act in a transparent manner and admitted that conflict situations open up opportunities, but also some challenges.
With regard to the challenges (within the scope of the OPC), he noted that North American companies are struggling with the language factor, as well as complex bureaucratic processes that must be done with more clarity, namely regarding the procedures that companies must follow.
“But we are not focusing too much on the challenges, we are focusing on the opportunities”, continued the diplomat, noting that “there is a clear political will” for the country to progress, adopting measures to fight corruption and promote economic diversification. Something that the MPLA has promised to do for… 47 years. It only promises because, admittedly, if it fights corruption effectively, it enters into a rapid process of self-extinction.
“These are opportunities, (Angola) is a large country, with 30 million people, which has regional leadership, stability and security”, elements that US investors are looking for.
“We believe in success here, it is a sign that we can succeed in this region, in addition to South Africa, which is an English-speaking country”, he added.
Tulinabo Salama Mushingi, 63 years old, was born in the then Democratic Congo (today the Democratic Republic of Congo), when that country was still under colonial domination by Belgium, and studied at the Instituto Superior Pedagógico in Bukavu, where he obtained a degree and a master’s degree .
Later, after emigrating to the United States, he obtained another MA from Howard University and a Ph.D. in Linguistics from Georgetown University in 1989. His dissertation was the use of Swahili as a medium of education.
Mushingi joined the State Department in 1993 and worked at the US Embassy in Mozambique between 1994 and 1996. He also held diplomatic posts in Tanzania, Morocco and Malaysia.
Tulinabo Salama Mushingi was the first American citizen born in Africa to be ambassador to a country on the continent and, in an interview in 2013, stated that “it would have been a privilege to represent the United States of America in any country in the world, but to go to Africa as the first naturalized African American is more special to me…. (because) I can demonstrate that when opportunities open up for people in these African countries, there can be hope”. Mushingi speaks Portuguese. The first Portuguese-speaking African country where Mushingi was ambassador was Guinea-Bissau, although he resides in Senegal.
Joe Biden is rich and ungrateful
SAccording to the DIP (MPLA Information and Propaganda Department), via Jornal de Angola (JA), several topics of common interest between Angola and the United States of America were under analysis, in Washington, during the meeting – September 2021 – which President João Lourenço had with the US Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan.
The meeting, which lasted more than an hour, says DIP, was considered “excellent” by the then US ambassador to Angola, Nina Maria Fite, who lamented the impossibility of Joe Biden being present due to unavoidable commitments (he had gone to the barber).
“It was an excellent meeting. They had a very broad discussion on various topics of mutual interest”, underlined the diplomat, who highlighted Jake Sullivan’s key role in the Administration of President Joe Biden. Incidentally, it is believed that Jake Sullivan is actually as or more important than Joe Biden. If this were not the case, presumably, João Lourenço would not accept taking a picture with an employee… a minor.
For being a very important person (very, very, said the MPLA) in the White House, added Nina Maria Fite, this also means a great advantage for Angola and for President João Lourenço to have this type of discussion.
According to Nina Fite, the meeting was framed in the strategic cooperation between the two countries, which shows, more and more, how the USA and Angola have this “deep cooperation”. Joe Biden will have even considered postponing the haircut to be with the President of the MPLA.
The United States has highlighted the MPLA’s leadership role in pacifying the Great Lakes Region, as well as ending slavery. As president of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, Angola has already organized three mini-summits on the situation of peace and security in the Central African Republic.
In 2019, Angola was one of the facilitators, together with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), of the Memorandum of Understanding, signed in Luanda, between Rwanda and Uganda.
Speaking to the press, at the end of his visit to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which at the time marked its 5th anniversary, the Head of State said he was deeply touched by what he saw. “What we saw is something quite exciting, because this is part of our common history, of Africans and those of the diaspora”, he underlined.
“All the suffering that our brothers have gone through over the centuries, since the time of slavery, touches our hearts deeply and, for this reason, we have to establish a closer connection between African countries and our African diaspora, part of which is in the United States”, he reinforced.
João Lourenço could probably be just as moved if he visited the mass graves where the thousands of Angolans that their national hero, Agostinho Neto, had murdered in the massacres of May 27, 1977, were buried. Or not?
Questioned whether the approximation would pass through the return of this diaspora, the Head of State, who was accompanied by the First Lady, Ana Dias Lourenço, put aside the idea of a definitive return, but rather the maintenance of a connection with the origins that, probably , go back to the time of the first MPLA militant, Diogo Cão…
“I took a concrete step in this area, I just invited the Tucker family to visit Angola to share their experience with the National Archives of Angola, with universities and with our communities. This will happen soon. Today it is this family, tomorrow it could be another, so that they can maintain the connection with their origins, which is the African continent”, he concluded.
The Tucker family is descended from the first slaves who were brought to the United States from Angola in 1619. It is clear that, as a matter of identity, the MPLA continues to increase the number of internal slaves (20 million poor), thus ensuring that your DNA will not be tampered with by any democratic option.
The National Museum of African-American History and Culture is an imposing building, located near the White House, built to preserve the legacy of Afro-descendants in the USA. In the various compartments, it narrates the journey of the slaves brought to America, the role of some African sovereigns, including Queen Ginga Mbande, whose portrait is displayed, in close-up, at the entrance to one of the galleries.
“The museum narrates the history of African Americans, from the arrival of the first slaves, to the American colonies, American independence and the paradox of freedom, participation of slaves in the construction of the White House and Capitol, emergence of the abolitionist movement, struggle for civil liberties , as well as the rise of Barack Obama to the Presidency of the United States and much more”, writes the DIP/MPLA envoy (Jornal de Angola).