In 1970, dos Santos returned to Angola, which was still a Portuguese territory known as the
Overseas Province of Angola. and Politburo of the MPLA in
Moxico in September 1974. At the MPLA's First Congress in December 1977, dos Santos was re-elected to the Central Committee and Politburo. The war was also marked by intense foreign intervention, since the
Soviet Union and Cuba backed the MPLA government and the U.S. and South Africa supported UNITA as a way to limit the expansion of Soviet influence in Africa. From 1989 until 1991, the
United Nations Angola Verification Mission I and from 1991 until 1995, the
United Nations Angola Verification Mission II took place. On 29 and 30 September 1992, after 16 years of fighting that killed up to 300,000 people,
general elections were held in Angola, under
United Nations supervision. Dos Santos led the field in the first round with 49%; his main rival, Jonas Savimbi, won 40%. Under a constitution adopted earlier that year, since dos Santos finished just short of an outright majority, he would need to win a
runoff election against Savimbi to become Angola's first constitutional president. This second round never took place, as UNITA declared it did not recognize the election. A three-day war ensued, during which the
Halloween Massacre occurred, when MPLA forces killed tens of thousands of UNITA protestors nationwide. Savimbi then decided to give up on the elections, alleging
voting fraud, and immediately resumed the civil war. While recognized as an official political party by the Angolan government, UNITA agreed to demobilize its armed forces, made up of 50,000 fighters, and agreed for them to be integrated into the national security forces. Following that decision, the
UN Security Council reopened United Nations offices in Angola and established the United Nations Mission in Angola (UNMA), aimed at consolidating peace in the country.
Governance issues after end of civil war 2001-2016 ,
Lula da Silva In 2001, dos Santos announced that he would step down at the next presidential election. In December 2003, he was reelected as head of the MPLA and no further presidential election took place, despite their announcements for 2006, then 2007, and finally 2009. In August 2006, he obtained a MoU with the
Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda. After the
2008 Angolan parliamentary election, the ruling MPLA won a landslide victory, and it started working on a new constitution, which was introduced early in 2010. Under the terms of the
new constitution, the president is elected by
first-past-the-post double simultaneous vote for the same term as the assembly, and may serve a maximum of two terms. Each participating party nominates a presidential candidate as top of its list, who must be clearly identified on the ballot paper. The top candidate of the party receiving the most votes is elected president.
George W. Bush welcomes President dos Santos to the
Oval Office, 2004. Dos Santos reportedly escaped an assassination attempt on 24 October 2010, when a vehicle tried to intercept his car as he was returning from the beach with his family. His escort opened fire, killing two passengers in the vehicle, and weapons were found on board. This incident has not been confirmed by any other source. In February–March 2011, and then again in September 2011, demonstrations against dos Santos were organized in Luanda by young Angolans, mostly via the
Internet. In the
2012 legislative election, his party, the MPLA, won more than two-thirds of the vote. As dos Santos had been the top candidate of the party, he automatically became president, in line with the constitution adopted in 2010. In September 2014, dos Santos announced the end of the coupling of the position of provincial governor with provincial first secretary of the MPLA. This measure aimed to improve the operation of the provincial administration and the municipal administrations, as a way to adjust the governance model to a new context and bigger demand for public services.
Economy during a meeting in 2006
Dmitry Medvedev whilst the latter was on a
state visit to Angola in 2009 Once a
Marxist-Leninist, dos Santos allowed a partial
market economy to emerge as the
collapse of the Soviet Union was in progress. Dos Santos subsequently abandoned Marxism-Leninism completely and allowed Western firms to invest in Angola's major oil fields. Angola became Africa's second-largest oil producer and third-largest
diamond producer during dos Santos' tenure in office. Despite the country's natural resources, most Angolans remained in poverty:
Succession, 2016-2017 meets José Eduardo dos Santos at the Presidential Palace in Luanda, 2011 Dos Santos announced on 11 March 2016 that he planned to retire in 2018. This timetable would mean that he would leave office after the next election, scheduled for 2017. In December 2016, the MPLA chose
João Lourenço, the Minister of Defense and Vice-President of the MPLA, as the party's top candidate and therefore its presidential candidate for the
2017 legislative election, indicating that dos Santos would step aside prior to 2018. Dos Santos stated on 3 February 2017 that he would leave office following the election later in 2017, with Lourenço slated to succeed him. He remained President of the MPLA and was therefore expected to continue playing a key role at the top of Angolan politics through the leadership of the ruling party. His children
Isabel dos Santos and
José Filomeno dos Santos held key economic posts at
Sonangol and the
Fundo Soberano de Angola, respectively, suggesting their father retained considerable influence.
Controversial issues Dos Santos led one of the most corrupt regimes in Africa by ignoring the economic and social needs of Angola and focusing his efforts on amassing wealth for his family and silencing his opposition, while nearly 70% of the population lived on less than $2 a day. Dos Santos became wealthy when he first took power, and began amassing larger assets during and after the Angolan civil wars. When the ceasefire occurred and large portions of the economy were partially privatized, he took several emerging companies and industries. He helped arrange similar takeovers of several other natural resource industries. According to
Transparency International, Angola had a reputation as one of the world's most corrupt countries by the end of Dos Santos' reign. Eventually the Angolan Parliament made it illegal for the president to have financial holdings in companies and organizations. In response to this, dos Santos supposedly began arranging for his daughter to receive the financial
kickbacks and assets from these companies. Dos Santos then began using the government to take direct control of stakes in companies offered as kickbacks, which he indirectly controlled and reaped the benefits of and managed to retain large corporate assets through proxies. Among others, these include firms such as Banco BIC, founded by dos Santos family billionaire associate
Américo Amorim,
Boston Consulting Group,
McKinsey & Company,
PwC,
Eurobic, and a shell company called Athol Limited. According to Angolan media reports, Brave Ventures, a firm run by Swiss art dealer
Yves Bouvier, was also implicated in
money-laundering activities in its role as a subcontractor for a French consulting firm tasked by dos Santos to oversee the development of the public health system. Along with this, the government budget had grown over a decade to 69 billion dollars in 2012 through oil revenues. The
International Monetary Fund reported that 32 billion in oil revenue went missing from the government's ledger before it was found spent on "quasi-fiscal activities". ==Personal life and death==