2020 in Angola

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See also:	List of years in Angola

Events from the year 2020 in Angola.

Incumbents

• President: João Lourenço
• Vice President: Bornito de Sousa

Events

January to March

• 17 January – Italian oil company Eni begins production at the offshore Agogo oil field with an initial extraction of 10,000 barrels per day.[1]
• 19 January – Isabel dos Santos, the daughter of former President José Eduardo dos Santos, is accused in a report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists of embezzling much of her estimated $2.2 billion fortune from Angolan public money through nepotism and corruption. dos Santos refutes the allegations, calling them an "orchestrated attack" by the Lourenço government.[2]

17 February: President João Lourenço meets with United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

• 17 February – A visit by United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo takes place in Luanda, in which Pompeo commends government efforts to reduce corruption within the country.[3]
• 17 March – The Jornal de Angola reports that a debt of $100 million owed to Angola by Chad is to be paid in cattle, with a total of 75,000 cows valued at $1,333 each to be transferred to the Angolese government over the next ten years.[4]
• 21 March – Health Minister Silvia Lutucuta confirms the country's first two cases of COVID-19 after two citizens returning from Portugal days earlier test positive for the virus.[5]
• 23 March – Schools and universities across the country close for a period of fifteen days to limit the spread of COVID-19.[6]
• 29 March - Health Minister Silvia Lutucuta announces Angola's first fatalities from the COVID-19 pandemic – a 37-year old and a 59-year old who had both returned from Portugal more than two weeks prior – with the total number of confirmed cases in the country rising to seven.[7] The country's first recorded recovery from the virus is announced the following day.[8]

April to June

• 11 May – President João Lourenço announces a fifteen-day extension of the national state of emergency, warning that an easing of restrictions would place the country "in serious danger of evolving to community transmission". A total of 43 cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Angola as of this date, with 13 recoveries and two deaths.[9]
• 25 May – The Cabinet announces that the national state of emergency is to end the following day, to be replaced by the lesser "state of calamity" until the provisional date of 9 June.[10]
• 9 June – In an interview with newspaper Valor Económico, Isabel dos Santos confirms that four of the eight Candando supermarket stores in the country will close with the loss of approximately 1,000 jobs, blaming her inability to pay suppliers on the freezing of her assets in December 2019.[11]
• 11 June – The Finance Ministry reports a 48% drop in the value of the country's oil exports for May compared to April, a result of reduced international demand for oil from worldwide COVID-19 lockdowns and lower domestic production in line with other OPEC countries.[12]
• 13 June – The Secretary of State for Public Health, Franco Mufinda, reports the number of cases of COVID-19 in Angola has increased to 138 and the number of recoveries has risen to 19. As of this date six people have died from the virus and 549 remain in quarantine.[13]
• 23 June – The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God of Angola splits from the central management in Brazil after local demands to tackle financial irregularities and discrimination within the organisation go unheeded. The church has approximately 500,000 adherents in Angola.[14]

July to September

• 7 July – The government agrees to OPEC demands to further reduce national oil production until September after exceeding previously agreed quotas in May and June by at least 60,000 barrels per day.[15]
• 14 August – José Filomeno dos Santos, the son of former President José Eduardo dos Santos, is sentenced to five years in prison for misappropriating $500m from the nation's sovereign wealth fund during his tenure as the fund's head.[16]
• 15 August – Prosecutor-General Alvaro Da Silva Joao announces the closure of seven properties across Luanda owned by the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God over claims of corruption and tax fraud.[17]

Births

Deaths

• 26 May – Oscar Lino Lopes Fernandes Braga, Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1931).[18]
• 20 June – Pedro Lima, actor and Olympic swimmer (1988, 1992) (b. 1971).[19]
• 24 July – Kundi Paihama, politician (b. 1944).[20]
• 10 August – Waldemar Bastos, musician (b. 1954).[21]

References

1. Browning, Noah (17 January 2020). Jason Neely; Susan Fenton (eds.). "ENI's Agogo oilfield in Angola begins output at 10,000 bpd". Reuters. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
2. Garside, Juliette; Pegg, David; Osborne, Hilary (19 January 2020). "Revealed: how Angolan ruler's daughter used her status to build $2bn empire". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
3. Anna, Cara (17 February 2020). "Pompeo in Africa visit praises Angola's moves against graft". ABC News. Associated Press. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
4. "Chad 'repaying $100m debt to Angola with cattle'". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 17 March 2020. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
5. Obulutsa, George (21 March 2020). "Angola, Eritrea, Uganda confirm first cases as coronavirus spreads in Africa". Reuters. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
6. "Schools and universities closed due to COVID-19". Agência Angola Press. 24 March 2020. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
7. "Africa: Angola announces first two coronavirus deaths". Deccan Herald. Press Trust of India. 30 March 2020. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
8. "Angola regista primeiro caso recuperado de COVID 19". Platina Line (in Portuguese). 30 March 2020. Archived from the original on 7 April 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
9. "Angolan President declares state of emergency for another 15 days". Jornal Económico. Lusa News Agency. 11 May 2020. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
10. "Angola declares state of calamity amid pandemic". Xinhua. 25 May 2020. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
11. Filipe, Celso (9 June 2020). "Isabel dos Santos fecha metade dos hipermercados Candando". Jornal de Negócios (in Portuguese). Retrieved 28 June 2020.
12. George, Libby (11 June 2020). David Evans (ed.). "Angola's oil export value plunges 48% in May: finance ministry". Reuters. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
13. Vieira, Arnaldo (15 June 2020). "Angola records highest Covid-19 recoveries". The East African. Nation Media Group. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
14. Nascimento, Gilbert (23 June 2020). "Bispos e pastores da Universal em Angola tomam controle de templos e rompem com direção brasileira". BBC Brasil (in Portuguese). British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
15. El Gamel, Rania; Gaddar, Ahmad (7 July 2020). Edmund Blair (ed.). "Angola agrees to comply fully with oil cuts after OPEC pressure, sources say". Reuters. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
16. "José Filomeno dos Santos: Son of Angola's ex-leader jailed for five years". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 14 August 2020. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
17. "Angola orders Brazil evangelical churches to close". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 15 August 2020. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
18. "Bispo emérito de Benguela Óscar Braga morre aos 89 anos". Diário de Notícias (in Portuguese). Lusa News Agency. 26 May 2020. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
19. Henriques, Ana; Rios, Pedro; Coutinho, Isabel (20 June 2020). "Pedro Lima (1971- 2020), o actor de teatro que cresceu na telenovela". Publico (in Portuguese). Retrieved 27 June 2020.
20. "Morreu o general angolano Kundi Paihama". Observador (in Portuguese). Lusa News Agency. 24 July 2020. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
21. "Morreu o músico angolano Waldemar Bastos, nome consagrado da "world music" e voz crítica de José Eduardo dos Santos". Observador (in Portuguese). Lusa News Agency. 10 August 2020. Retrieved 16 August 2020.