Economics
Angola Leader Secures Economic Grip Naming Daughter as Oil Boss
- Isabel dos Santos appointed as state oil company chairwoman
- Dos Santos pledged to quit “active politics” in two years
Angola President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos.
Photographer: Alain Jocard/AFP via Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos tightened his family’s grip on sub-Saharan Africa’s third-biggest economy two years before he has indicated he’ll leave office by naming his billionaire daughter Isabel as chairwoman of the state oil company.
The appointment “shows that President dos Santos doesn’t trust anyone else and moreover that he’s looking to have a dynastic succession,” Markus Weimer, an analyst for Horizon Client Access Inc., an energy investment advisory group, said Friday by phone from London. “It’s a very strong indication that Isabel will also be considered a possible leader when he retires in 2018.”