Angolan President says it’s Human to think about Succession

Perhaps, the thinking of succession blindfolded Maummar Gaddafi to the reality when  protests began and he felt Libya will be left in no capable hands on his departure if sudden and swift as the revolution came, hence, he was extremely defiant.

Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, Africa’s second-longest serving ruler, said he has thought about a transition of power almost 12 months after winning another five-year term.

“Yes, of course, it’s only human to do that,” Dos Santos said in an interview with Portuguese television channel SIC posted on the broadcaster’s website. The full interview is set to air today after 8 p.m. in Lisbon.

The 70-year-old won a new term at the helm of Africa’s second-largest oil producer in August 2012 in the first national elections to determine a president in 20 years. Manuel Domingos Vicente, the former head of state oil company Sonangol EP, was named vice president.

Dos Santos, who came to power in 1979 and is currently the longest serving ruler in Africa after President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, said he is in favour of growing Angolan investment in Portuguese companies.

“Sonangol has taken the first steps and in some cases it has been successful and in others not, but what matters is that it advances,” Dos Santos said. Sonangol is Banco Comercial Portugues SA’s biggest shareholder with a 19.4 percent stake, according to the website of Portugal’s second-biggest publicly traded lender by market value.

Angola seems the only African country that appears to be more of a real trading partner now to its erstwhile colonial master than been looked upon as a 'colony' like in the case of former French colonies and indirectly, the former British colonies. Portugal ran to Angola during the financial downturn.