Angola marks independence anniversary |10 December 2013

A reception was hosted on Friday by the Nairobi based Angolan Ambassador Ambrosio Lukoki to mark his country’s 38th independence anniversary which actually fell on November 11.

Guests at the reception, which took place at the Wharf Hotel, included government ministers, members of the diplomatic corps, director general (DG) for Protocol, Treaties and Consular Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ralph Agrippine, other high government officials and the small local Angolan community.

Angola gained its independence from Portugal on November 11, 1975 after a hard fought 13-year long fight for freedom.

As he toasted to the wellbeing of the two countries’ respective Presidents James Alix Michel and José Eduardo Dos Santos and to the health of the two peoples, Ambassador Lukoki recalled his country’s long walk to freedom as well as the post independent civil war which followed.

However, he assured that his country has now turned the page of war and is now embarked on an ambitious development programme.

“The central idea of the Angolan government is stability, growth and employment. Without economic, political, social and institutional stability there will not be sustained economic growth and without this, employment will not rise, nor will the wealth and incomes of the citizens and families,” he said.

The Angolan ambassador has also affirmed that Angola is firmly engaged in the promotion and consolidation of peace, national reconciliation and democracy which he says are fundamental to political stability.

He has also reiterated his country’s commitment to bilateral, regional and international cooperation, where Angola believes that states should rely on dialogue in order to maintain international peace and security.

Mr Agrippine returned the ambassador’s toast andsaid that our two countries share the vision of sustainable development.
 
Through Ambassador Lukoki he asked Angola to, as a country with a long coastline, help Seychelles develop and champion the blue economy concept.

Mr Agrippine described Angola’s economic growth as a revenge on war.

“What we are witnessing today is the revenge of the Angola spirit on the plight of wars as since the return of peace in 2002 Angola is enjoying an economic boom. Angola’s double digit economic growth rate is not only pushing back the frontiers of poverty and under development domestically, but also contributing to that unprecedented economic effervescence of the African continent,” he said.

Angola had been at war for 40 years -- between 1962 and 2002. The south eastern African country fought for 13 years for its independence and after 1975, was further embroiled in a civil war which opposedfor 27 years its two main political and former liberation movements, the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA).

The Angolan community in Seychelles is one of the smallest foreign contingents, counting only seven members.